Sunday Feast № 2 | Chicken Cacciatore

“Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits.” Elmer J. Fudd might, me – not so much. Not that I have anything against eating one, but I am no cacciatore, that’s “hunter” in Italian, and my hunting, if one can even refer to it as such, is relegated to local supermarkets. So no coniglio alla cacciatora, rabbit hunter-style, here. But pollo alla cacciatora I can do!      As far as any hunter-style dishes go, there are regional variations and every household’s tastes different. There are typical ingredients that go into chicken cacciatore, chicken (of course), onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, wine, but I was fascinated how often the internet provides images of the dish that are red red red, more so than mine ever come out. Then I stumbled onto this in Wikipedia, not that stumbling onto anything in Wikipedia can be called stumbling: “In the United States, cacciatore dishes may be prepared with marinara sauce” according to Diane Phillips in her “Perfect Party Food” book. That explains the red look!      For now I will stick to how I do, and not forget the mushrooms – that always spells hunter-style to me.      The recipe is from “The Food of Italy: A Journey for Food Lovers” with alternatives I use based on what I have successfully “hunted” down.

Fun on the side and after Music Pandora Italian Cooking Channel Drink Alamos Malbec 2013

3 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion finely chopped 3 garlic cloves crushed 1 celery stick finely chopped 150 g/5½ oz pancetta finely chopped 125 g/4½ oz button mushrooms thickly sliced 4 chicken drumsticks and 4 thighs or 8 chicken drumsticks or 8 thighs depending on your "hunting" 80 ml/⅓ cup dry vermouth or dry white wine 2 × 400 g/14 oz tins chopped tomatoes ¼ tsp brown sugar 1 sprig oregano or equivalent amount of dry oregano 1 sprig rosemary or equivalent amount of dry rosemary 1 bay leaf

Heat half of the oil in a large casserole. Add the onion, garlic, celery, and cook, stirring from time to time, over moderately low heat for 6-8 min until the onion is golden. Add the pancetta and mushrooms, increase the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 min. Spoon onto a plate and set aside. Add the remaining olive oil to the casserole and lightly brown the chicken pieces, a few at a time. Season them as they brown. Spoon off any excess fat and return all the pieces to the casserole. Add the vermouth or white wine, increase the heat and cook until the liquid has almost evaporated. Add the tomatoes, sugar, oregano and rosemary (if using dry herbs, either use bouquet garni bag or similar if you want to discard them later), bay leaf and 80 ml/⅓ cup cold water. Bring to the boil then stir in the reserved pancetta mixture. Cover and leave to simmer for 20 min, or until the chicken is tender but not falling off the bone. If the liquid is too thin, remove the chicken from the casserole, increase the heat and boil until thickened. Discard the springs of herbs, or leave if you prefer, and taste for salt and pepper. Toss in the additional sprigs of oregano, or skip, and serve. Serve with white rice, potatoes or bread are more hunter-style, and pasta would do nicely, too. Serves 4, but depending on the size of the chicken portions, or portioning itself, can serve more than 4.