Sending Amore With Chicken Cacciatore!

Ciao, everyone!

We’re back after a wonderful trip to Rome, NY, to visit family and friends for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Having been born and raised in that town in Central New York, I miss the down-home, true-blue Italian cooking that can only be found there!  At one time, you could find it on every street corner.  Now, you need to look long and hard to find that kind of Italian Culinary Experience!  This time, as always, we hunkered down on the night we arrived to partake in the awesome food at The Franklin Hotel!    If you’ve ever eaten there, then ‘Nuff Said!  Anyway, time to get back to The Chef’s recipe of the week.  I think that you’ll like this one.  He’s added a nice twist at the bottom!

My goodness, I can smell it cooking as we speak!

Chicken Cacciatore  – Dutch Oven Style

Cooking Time: 80 min

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Chicken drumsticks, thighs or bone-in chicken breasts (adjust as needed for number of servings)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 fresh mushrooms
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, chopped, undrained
• 1 (12-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 quart Chicken Broth
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary and thyme.
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

1.  In a 5-quart cast-iron Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat.  Sprinkle salt over chicken and cook 20 minutes, until browned on each side, turning halfway through cooking. 
 Remove from pan and set aside.

2  Add onion, green pepper and mushrooms to pan and sauté for about 2 minutes.  Drain off excess liquid.   Add chicken and remaining ingredients to onions and mushrooms; mix well.  Stirring occasionally to keep the sauce from burning, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through.

Serves 2-6 (depending upon the amount of chicken that you choose to include)

WW points plus: Use your guide to determine points based on the amount of chicken and olive oil used.  The rest of the ingredients are pretty much “gratuito!”

An Interesting Option:  Take the Dutch oven out to the gas grill.

Take it out to the Grill!

1.  Adjust the grill temp to 350 degrees F to heat the Dutch oven and cook the chicken as described above.

2.  Then lower the temperature to 300 degrees F for the second step. Once the veggies are sautéed and the other ingredients and chicken are added back to the oven, simmer for 60 minutes, adjusting the temperature to simmer the sauce without burning it.

Well, there you have it in a nutshell…or a Dutch oven, to be exact!  We hope you enjoy and

A presto!

Katherine and The Chef