Chicken Hunters Style Pollo Cacciatore Recipes

HUNTER'S CHICKEN STEW (POLLO ALLA CACCIATORA)

Steps:

• Chicken cacciatora seems to be reasonably well known in Britain because it's the classic pre-packed dish you find in Italian food ranges in supermarkets (which, to be honest, never taste of much). When you get the real deal cooked at home with love and passion it's a totally different experience. It's a simple combination of flavours that just works really well. Cacciatore means 'hunter', so this is obviously the type of food that a hunter's wife cooks for her fella when he gets home from a hard morning spent in the countryside. This is also a great dish for big parties, as it looks after itself in the oven. In the picture I've made it for about 12 people.
• Season the chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl. Add the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the wine. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the fridge.
• Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Dust the chicken pieces with flour and shake off any excess. Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of olive oil, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one side.
• Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic. Fry gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with their reserved marinade. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1½ hours.
• Skim off any oil that's collected on top of the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary. Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, and serve with a salad, or some cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti.

HUNTER STYLE CHICKEN CACCIATORE

Steps:

• Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large pot over low heat, and cook and stir the garlic until tender but not browned, about 3 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes with their juice, and mash with a potato masher to leave the tomatoes in chunks. Stir in tomato paste, red wine, sugar, oregano, basil, salt, and black pepper, and mix until the tomato paste is smoothly combined into the sauce. Bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring often, while you prepare the vegetables.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the carrot and celery until tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir into the sauce. In the same skillet, cook and stir the green peppers and onions until the onions are translucent, 5 to 8 more minutes; mix them to the sauce. Heat 1 more tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet, and cook and stir the mushrooms until they give up their liquid, about 10 minutes; stir the mushrooms into the sauce. Allow sauce to simmer while you cook the chicken.
• Beat the eggs in a bowl. Place the flour in a separate shallow bowl. Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dip chicken pieces in egg, then dredge in flour. Tap off any excess flour, and brown the chicken pieces in the hot oil until browned on both sides, about 15 minutes. Set the chicken pieces aside.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Spoon about 1 cup of the tomato sauce into the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Place the chicken pieces into the Dutch oven, and pour remaining sauce and vegetables over the chicken; cover.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is tender and no longer pink inside, about 1 hour. If sauce begins to boil harder than a simmer, reduce oven heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• About 15 minutes before serving time, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Stir in the linguine pasta, bring back to a boil, and cook, stirring often, until the linguine is tender but still slightly firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the pasta well.
• Turn the linguine out onto a large platter, and top with the chicken and sauce. Sprinkle with parsley and Parmesan cheese to serve.

CHICKEN HUNTER'S STYLE (POLLO CACCIATORE)

Steps:

• Carefully remove the bones from the chicken pieces or have this done by the butcher. Cut each breast half in two, crosswise.
• Heat one tablespoon of oil and cook the onions, stirring, until lightly brown. Set aside.
• Heat the remaining one-third cup of oil in a heavy skillet or casserole.
• Dredge the pieces of chicken lightly in flour and shake off the excess. Add the pieces, skin side down, to the skillet and cook until golden on one side, about three minutes. Turn the pieces and cook on the second side, about three minutes.
• Pour off the fat from the skillet and add the butter and garlic to the chicken. Add the onion, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to blend. Add the wine and cook about one minute.
• Add the chicken broth and marinara sauce. Bring to the boil and cover closely. Let cook, covered, over high heat about 15 minutes or until tender. Serve with portions of polenta.

POLLO ALLA CACCIATORA (CHICKEN CACCIATORE)

Steps:

• Warm the olive oil in a large saute pan set over medium-high heat. Stir in the peppers and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Stir the mushrooms into the pan and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 8 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and brown lightly on both sides, about 15 minutes in all. Remove the chicken from the pan to a platter and set aside. Pour the wine into the pan and stir to incorporate any cooking juices. Add the garlic, onions, and rosemary and cook until the onions are slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand or the back of a slotted spoon as you add them to the pan. Return the chicken to the pan, along with any juices that have accumulated on the plate. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Stir the peppers and mushrooms into the chicken. Return to a simmer, cover, and cook to blend in the flavor of these ingredients, about 10 minutes. The stew may be set aside at this point for several hours before reheating and serving with bread to dip into the sauce. Variation: Rabbit cut into serving portions may be substituted for the chicken. Omit the peppers. Quarter rather than slice the mushrooms. To the basic recipe add 2 all purpose potatoes, peeled, halved and each half quartered. Stir these into the stew at the same time the rabbit is returned to the pot. stir 6 kalamata olives into the stew along with the mushrooms during the last 10 minutes of cooking.;

CHICKEN HUNTER'S STYLE: POLLO ALLA CACCIATORE

Steps:

• Rinse the chicken, pat it dry, and season with salt and pepper. In a large casseroleset over moderately high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of the oil until hot. Add the chicken and cook it until no longer pink on all sides. Transfer to a plate. Heat the remaining oil in the casserole over moderate heat until hot. Add the onion, carrot, and salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the tomato, garlic, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves, and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes more. Return the chicken to the casserole, add the wine, and reduce it over moderately high heat for 1 minute. Add the water, bouillon cube, sun-dried tomatoes, dried red pepper, if desired, and more salt to taste, bring to a boil, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes more, or until chicken is tender. Add olives and cook 5 minutes more. Transfer chicken to a serving plate and reduce sauce over moderately high heat until lightly thickened. Discard bay leaves, spoon sauce over chicken, and sprinkle with parsley.