Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Daily Bite: Pollo alla Cacciatora

(Chicken Cacciatora)

For the past couple of weeks I have been on a mission to find the tastier recipe for “Pollo alla Cacciatora” and after trying all the different variations my Grandma had patiently saved in her cookbook….I got it!

This is definitely my favorite and the sauce is unbelievably delicious just with the chicken or over pasta.

Here it goes:

Cut a big onion in a half and soak it in cold water for about half an hour. Pat it dry with a paper towel and sauté in a large pan with 2 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil and a little tsp of lard (this will give the meat and the sauce an amazing taste, but if you prefer you can just use the olive oil).
When the onion is cooked, about 5 minutes, put it aside.
Cut in pieces a 3 lbs chicken and braise it in the same pan with the leftover oil. Add the onion, salt and pepper to taste. Add half a cup of dry red wine (I personally prefer it with dry white wine, but both options are really good) and about 1 to 2 cups of tomato sauce. This is usually to your taste. If you would like to use the sauce for some pasta you can definitely add more tomato sauce.
Let it boil in the sauce for about 20 minutes to half an hour and serve hot.

This is one of the simplest recipes. Has a lot of taste and doesn’t need any spices. There was a note at the bottom of Grandma’s recipe: Questo non e’ un piatto per gli stomachi deboli (This is not suitable for delicate stomachs!)

Marian: This is for you, my dear. I hope you like it and enjoy the earthy flavor of it. Sorry I didn’t post a photo, I forgot to take one last time and I think if I cook again Chicken Cacciatora…my husband will divorce me. There is a limit for everything…yes, even for a man!

1 comment:

Mariana said...

Yeeeeees! Fantastic!!! On my way to copy and paste and add it to my recipies binder. Thanks so much. I will have to pass on the lard just because I haven't seen any here! (the dutch are a bit...annal about fat, and % of calories and tose things... even if they loose taste by rejecting it).
This is sort of the type of recipe that I had...good to know quantities!
Can't wait to try it out.
Thanks so much! Now it's my husband's turn to eat chicken for weeks in a row! hahah thank yours for the great service performed!