Gourmet Chicken Cacciatore. The secret is in the sauce!
During all of those “taste tests”, we’ve found that an intensely flavored, “smoky” tomato sauce is the key to a “really” good Chicken Cacciatore recipe. So, start by making sure you have the ingredients on hand for a really fabulously flavored gourmet Homemade Tomato Sauce. Now, keep in mind, that you can double, or even triple, this recipe. So, make sure you have Homemade Tomato Sauce on hand for your next three or four Italian cooking adventures. Just use what you need tonight, then freeze the rest in batches. Fifteen minutes or so before you are ready to begin cooking on a recipe that calls for any amount of tomato sauce or tomato paste, or even canned tomatoes, just take a batch out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave at the regular default setting for 6-8 minutes. (Place it in a plastic bowl in case your freezer bag leaks). It should be about three quarters thawed by then, so just put the tomato sauce in a sauce pan over medium heat until it is warm and reduced to a canned tomato sauce consistency. For this dish, especially, we like to finish the sauce with a T or so of lemon juice and 3-4 T’s of brandy. This final “touch” adds greatly to the “tartness” and “character” of the Chicken Cacciatore sauce. This is not a hard dish, and if the sauce is pretty well ready up front, it only takes about 45 minutes to prepare it. But it is complex enough that your guests or your family will think you slaved for hours. Okay, here are the rest of the ingredients and the preparation instructions for a “fabulous” Chicken Cacciatore!
New Italian Recipes Presents: Ingredients: About 1 T extra virgin olive oil. (The majority of the oil
for this dish will come from cooking the bacon and browning the chicken). Preparation: Cook the bacon until it is crisp, then place it on a paper towel to drain and cool. When it is cool, chop it coarsely. In the same skillet with the bacon drippings, brown the chicken thoroughly on all sides. Remove from pan and reserve. There should still be a couple of tablespoons of oil left in the skillet. If there are not, deglaze with about 3 T of sherry or chicken stock, or add a bit more olive oil. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic. Reduce heat to medium low and cover the pan. Cook for about five minutes. This method will help the vegetables to release their wonderful juices. Remove the lid and add the bacon, balsamic vinegar and the Worcestershire sauce. Mix well with the vegetables. Stir in the mushrooms and black olives, then add the tomato sauce (reduced to canned tomato sauce consistency) and stir all in well. Cover and simmer over medium low heat for 20-25 minutes. Turn the chicken a few times during this process so it cooks evenly. Garnish with Italian parsley. This sauce is so heavenly smoky and richly tart, we like to serve mashed potatoes with the Chicken Cacciatore. A nice herbed rice pilaf would work well, also. Serve this dish with chianti, or with your latest red from American Cellars Wine Club. Buon appetito always!
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