chicken cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore is a traditional Italian dish combining chicken, mushrooms, roasted bell peppers, tomatoes, oregano, onions, anchovies and basil leaves. Usually dark meat is used, which is fattier in order to yield a more luscious sauce. Usually the meat is cooked until it literally falls off the bone but I like my meat to be in one piece so I cut the cooking time by a good 20 minutes.

Chicken Cacciatore can be served alone with a good loaf of bread so soak up all the goodies, or it can be served with pasta or rice.

Chicken Cacciatore is fairly easy to prepare and it is a wonderful dish to prepare for large parties. Even tough the dish is a bit lengthy so plan accordingly!

Chicken Caccitore is definitely a comfort food. The flavor of this dish is so wonderful and so tasty.

1 jar of roasted red bell peppers
Extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (31/2-pound) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces or 10 to 12 chicken legs
6 garlic cloves, halved lengthwise
1 onion, sliced thin

1 can of whole tomatoes
1/2 lemon, sliced in paper-thin circles
3 anchovy fillets
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch fresh basil, hand-torn ( 1/4 bunch to flavor the base, 1/4 bunch to finish the dish)
1 cup dry white wine

Sliced onions and flake peppers are sautéed in a hot pan until the onions are brown, about 5 minutes or so.

While the onions are cooking, I am preparing the base of the Cacciatore by chopping roasted bell peppers and garlic, slicing thinly 1 lemon, and hand crush the can of whole tomato.

Once the onion are brown, bell pepper and garlic are added to the pan and are sautéed for a few minutes.

Next, add the lemon slices, hand crush tomatoes, anchovies, oregano, and garlic to the pan and let it simmering for a good 20/30 minutes. This is the base of the Cacciatore.

While the base is simmering, I am browning the chicken lightly coated with flour.

The Chicken are nicely brown and are put aside.

After simmering for 30 minutes, I am adding white wine and basil into the pot.

The chicken is added to the pot and again let it to simmer for another 30 minutes or so.