Chicken Cacciatora
This is one of the dishes I served to company when I was first married. My chicken cacciatora differs
from most because I skin and bone the chicken before serving so that you don't need to contend with any
debris in the delicious sauce. Thirty years ago I used to serve this with green beans almondine
and white rice, but today I serve an artichoke first course, crusty bread and a small amount of rice with
the chicken, and follow it with a crisp green salad.
Ingredients
- 3 T. olive oil
- a 2-3 pound frying chicken cut into 4 or 6 parts
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- pepper
- 2/3 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
- 1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
- 1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 2/3 cup crushed Italian tomatoes
Heat oil in a large skillet. Put the flour, and pepper in a bag with the chicken, and shake to coat the
chicken. Brown the chicken on all sides in the oil. Transfer the chicken to a warm plate.
Remove most of the oil from the pan. Deglaze at high heat with the wine, lower the heat to medium,
and add the onion. Cook with stirring for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, pepper, carrots, mushrooms,
garlic, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces as they are done, and
put them on a cutting board. Skin and bone the chicken, discard the debris. Slice the chicken into bite
sized pieces. If the sauce seems thin, heat the sauce
slowly to reduce it before returning the chicken to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.