Growing up, we had pasta about 3 nights a week.
Even today, if you ask me for my choice of carbohydrates for lunch or dinner-I would choose pasta over anything else. I know that that might not always be the case for my husband Nino, who was raised on rice for many of his meals, but he has adapted since being married to me, so everyone is happy. Thanks Babe!
This recipe is for my mom’s FAMOUS Chicken Cacciatore, or “Hunter’s Stew.”
Ingredients:
1 medium white onion roughly chopped
1 medium red onion roughly chopped
1 large red bell pepper roughly chopped
1 large green bell pepper roughly chopped
2 containers of mushrooms chopped in quarters (Traditionally, we use fresh button mushrooms-but for this batch of sauce we used fresh shitake.)
1 whole chicken cleaned, washed, and cut into parts. (We made a very big batch so we used 1 1/2 chickens.)
2 cans of whole tomatoes (800 grams each)
(Mama had marinara sauce made already so we used this instead.)
Salt & Pepper, Dried Basil & Parsley
3 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
Flour
a cup or so of white wine
Spaghetti, Capelini, or Linguine
It’s easy to throw this “Hunter’s Stew” together once you prep all the ingredients.
After your chicken is clean and cut, salt and peppered, dredge it in flour, and brown on medium high heat. After you brown each piece of chicken set it aside. You will need a large pot to simmer the sauce, so after it’s browned you can actually just put it in the pot already. (But don’t turn the pot on yet.)
Next you have to saute the onions. Be sure to cook the onions until they are crystalline or it can overpower the sauce.
Add the chopped peppers when the onions are already soft. You can saute both of these together. Be sure not to brown this mixture.
By this time, you have already added your browned chicken, and the whole tomatoes (or marinara sauce) to the pot.
When the onions are crystalline and the peppers are slightly softened you can add these to your chicken and tomatoes.
When cooking mushrooms of any sort-it’s really important to cook them on high heat so that they don’t sweat. Raise your temperature on your frying pan and cook the mushrooms quickly.
Add the mushrooms to the other ingredients, and season with a few leaves of fresh basil, a dash of dried basil, and a dash of dried parsley. Also add three cubes of chicken bouillon at this time.
Add a little bit of wine. It’s always been my understanding that if you won’t drink it-don’t cook with it. White wine is best for this dish.
Here’s the tricky part-you don’t want to walk away from it at this point.
Bring the pot to a boil.
After it has been brought to a boil, lower the heat to a low setting. Simmer this on low heat for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Give it a gentle stir every now and then because you don’t want to break up the chicken, but you also don’t want for it to stick to the bottom.
I like to serve the chicken and the pasta in separate dishes. Be generous with the sauce, it’s so yummy you will want to put an extra bowl of it on the table too.
Don’t forget your grated cheese!
