Chicken Cacciatore

I must admit that I am a Italian food snob only because my Mom made the best Italian food. As a matter of fact my Italian Great Grandmother taught my Mom how to cook and in turn my Mom passed on the importance and the love of good homemade food to me. I have made the recipe simpler and easier to make without compromising any flavor.

If you want a one pot meal that all you have to do is plop the ingredients into a pot and let it simmer for a few hours than this baby is for you. I love how the chicken is so tender that you can cut it with a fork. Another bonus is the aroma of this dish simmering on a cold day will delight your sniffer like only Italian food can do. Mangia!

• 1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/3 cup white wine, the drinkable kind
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic from jar
• 2 bay leaves
• about 4 -6 oz fresh white mushrooms, cleaned & sliced thin
• 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• flour for dusting

Add first 7 ingredients to a 4 1/2 qt pot, stir well and simmer covered over low heat for 1 hour. 

Dredge chicken breast onto a plate covered with flour,  lightly coating the chicken. Add raw chicken breast (yes raw), one at a time to simmering sauce laying them on their side so that all will fit in the pot. Once all chicken breasts are coated and in the pot cover with a lid and simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally if you want. 

The only thing you need to be careful about is that the heat is not too high as to burn the sauce. Or too low, you will want to see light bubbles simmering away not a boil. It will take some time to get to this point of simmering since we are cooking on a low heat. 

I buy individual frozen portions of chicken breasts and have even started this dish with frozen chicken and it is still scrumptious! The olive oil adds a nice flavor to the sauce and I found that I could skip browning the chicken in the oil and still get the same great flavor by simply adding it into the sauce. 

I always serve my Cacciatore with Angel Hair pasta or Capellini imported from Italy. I love the thin pasta and it cooks in mere minutes. Serves six.

If you want to make this in a crockpot I would recommend you cook it for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.

My one pot wonder of pure deliciousness!