Chicken Cacciatore

Makes 2 vast, or four ample, servings (serving a crowd?)

1 medium fryer (about 3 lb) quartered
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion (8 oz), chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups tomato purée (or 1 cup tomato sauce and 1 cup tomato juice)
approx 1 teaspoon basil
approx 1 teaspoon oregano
1 bay leaf
2 dashes celery salt
¾ cup sliced mushrooms (3 oz)

Special equipment

a large, deep frying pan

Method

Brown the chicken in the oil. Remove. Fry the onion and garlic in the remaining oil until golden. Put the chicken and all the remaining ingredients back into the pan and simmer until done, about an hour. Serve with red pilaf, a/k/a Wiglaf's Spiced Red Offal®

Notes

Based on a family favorite. Cacciatore means ‘hunter-style’, that is, with wild mushrooms, onions, and earthy spices; see the discussion under Hunter's Chicken.

Suggestions

Seasoning is very much to taste, and varies to whim. Try throwing in some green peppers or different varieties of mushrooms.

Returning to this recipes after some fifteen years, it strikes us as too plain. It needs some zing to make it outstanding. How about some black olives, especially our favorite, calamatas, as suggested by an associate based on her family's tradition. Or something more flavourful than plain button mushrooms.

First served: Samhain 1995
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Last modified: © December 2009