comfort chicken cacciatore

This chicken recipe dates way back for me. It’s memorialized in writing because I’d used it for a fundraiser recipe book when my kids were in grade school 20 years ago. Since that time, I’ve tweaked it a bit here and there – it’s still always a hit and can be served alongside a nice rice dish or cous cous. Plus, it’s easy to prepare and uses only one pan – so whoo hoo on the clean-up side of things.

ingredients:

  • chicken parts -what you like (I use two large breasts and 4-5 chicken thighs – I cut the breasts in half), remove skin if desired
  • 1/4 cup red cooking wine
  • 28 oz. can stewed tomatoes
  • olive oil
  • a few cloves of garlic, sliced
  • large red pepper, cleaned and chopped into large pieces
  • box of white mushrooms, cleaned and cut into large pieces
  • red pepper flakes to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 Tbspn marjoram
  • 1 Tbspn thyme
  • bunch of parsley

directions:

Heat olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat (enough olive oil to lightly coat bottom of large saute pan).  Once heated through (and before garlic browns), add chicken skin side down. Sear on both sides to hold in juices. Remove chicken from pan. Place red pepper and mushrooms in pan. Heat until red pepper starts to soften and mushrooms release most their moisture. Add the red wine and scrape to loosen bits stuck to the pan. Let wine simmer until it starts to lose its aroma – 3 or 4 minutes. Place chicken back into pan with the red peppers and mushrooms, add the stewed tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, marjoram and thyme. Place cover on skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes. Pull back cover a bit and continue to simmer another 15-20 minutes, to reduce and thicken sauce, until chicken is tender and almost separates from bone. Throw in some chopped parsley, cover for a minute and then it’s ready to serve over rice or cous cous.

I hope you enjoy!

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