Cooks and Books: Chicken Cacciatore

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore

Difficulty: Easy
Cooking Time: <90 minutes
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 Chicken thighs with skin and bones (I used 1 Costco pack), rinsed and pat dried
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, smashed with a knife
Oil
2 bay leaves
1¼ cup Marsala wine
1 (28oz) whole/diced tomato can
2 cubes vegetable bouillon
2 Tbsp. dried oregano (or you can just put 1 Tbsp.
4 Servings of your favorite cooked pasta
Finely chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. Sprinkle salt and pepper generously on the chicken. Cut onion, mushrooms, and garlic.

2. In a large skillet or pot (I used my Le Creuset braiser), heat the oil on medium heat and cook garlic and bay leaves till fragrant.

3. Lower the heat to medium low and sauté onions until tender.

4. Meanwhile in a cast-iron skillet (or a large skillet), heat oil on high heat. When the skillet is hot, cook the chicken with the skin side facing down first. Do not crowd the pan and do in batches if necessary. Be patient and do not flip over until one side is nicely browned (11-13 minutes).

So this is what’s going on right now.

5. Now onion is soft and the bottom side of chicken is nice brown color.

Add mushrooms into the onion and cook till tender.

In the cast-iron skillet, flip the chicken over and cook the other side until browned (11-13 minutes).

And continue cooking….

6. When both sides of the chicken are browned, transfer to a plate and repeat until all pieces of chicken are done. If there are no more batches, transfer the chicken into the onion mixture, skin side up.

7. Add wine, tomatoes, bouillon, and oregano. Break the tomatoes into small pieces with wooden spatula. Cover with the lid and lower the heat. At a gentle simmer, cook for 60 minutes. Add salt and pepper to adjust taste if necessary.

8. The picture below is after 60 minutes of simmering. Remove the chicken into a serving platter, and increase the heat to high. Let the sauce reduce for about 2 minutes. The sauce should start thickening.