As Seen On TV...or as tasted

A couple of days ago, I was watching "America's Worst Cooks" on the Food Channel, and Anne Burrell's team was making her version of Chicken Cacciatore with squash. Just thinking about it made me want to make it for dinner. Plus, we were expecting close to 8" of snow Tuesday night, so it would be a great dinner to have for the cold weather.

This is a recipe from Saveur Magazine. It's called a Hunter's dish, because this dish was often made before a big hunt so that the hunter would be full of energy. The hunter's wife always made this dish, and so is named after her.

Pollo alla Cacciatora.
Serves 4

Ingredients

8 pieces of chicken (thighs and drums)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 28-oz can of peeled, whole tomatoes, chopped and juice reserved

1.5 cup white whine

1 tsp Italian dry herbs

1 bay leaf

1 cup Italian parsely, finely chopped, 1 tbsp reserved for garnish

0.5-1 cup chicken stock

Olive oil

Salt/Pepper to taste

Method

In a deep pan on medium high heat, saute onions until golden (~5-8 minutes). Add garlic and saute (3-4 minutes). Push the onions to one side and add the chicken and brown (4 min each side). Add wine and cook until liquid is gone (8-10 min).

Add tomatoes and juice, dried herbs, parsely, bay leaf and season to taste. As the tomato liquid reduces, add chicken stock to keep the pan moist. Simmer for 45 min uncovered.

Garnish with parsley. Serve with white rice or steamed potatoes.

Chicken is so easy...

Last night, I had taken out a whole chicken out of the freezer, but I didn't know what to make. On the way home from work, I was thinking to myself that I hadn't had roast chicken for a long time. I came home, turned on the oven to 350 degrees and started preparing my bird. Well, the oven beeped at 350, but when I checked my new oven thermometer, it only read 250! Damn it; 100 degrees off, what a piece of crap. Crank it up to 450. After rinsing and drying the bird, I laid the bird out, made some incisions around the wish bone, pulled it out and cut down the middle to separate the breasts...Seasoned both sides with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I had some left over pesto from a long time ago, but it seems to be alright....drizzle that on top of the bird skin side up. I got this cool cordless electronic thermometer as a gift, where I can be in the office while keeping my eye on the temperature of the bird (180F). Before it reaches 180, it says, "Your food is almost ready!" Few minutes later, it goes "Your food is done." Perfect! I poke it and the liquid runs clear.

I make angel hair pasta sauteed with some garlic, olive oil, frozen spinach (rinsed and squeezed) and this roasted red pepper tapenade. They go so well together (the chick and the pasta). Try it!

TH