Stonker's Chicken Cacciatore
Servings: 4
Level of difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
Chicken - 1.35kg (any kind - an entire chicken, jointed, is traditional, but I've used all sorts. Kids like it best with skinless chicken breast)
Vegetable/sunflower oil
Olive oil 1 tbsp
large onions peeled & thick sliced-2
Tomatoes - 700g fresh/2x350g tins
Big garlic clove peeled/crushed - 1
tomato puree 1 tbsp
rosemary leaves, bruised and finely chopped 1 tbsp
bay leaf 1
dry white wine 275ml
white wine vinegar 1 tbsp
salt and fresh ground black pepper
Method
Season the chicken joints with salt and pepper seasoned flour. (put the whole lot in a plastic bag and give it a good shake - you don't need tons of flour on the chicken, it will scorch and spoil the taste of the finished dish)
Fry the chicken in a casserole in really hot sunflower/veg oil (hot so it shimmers - but not smoking) to brown it well on all sides: each joint needs to be a lovely golden-brown colour all over.
When done, if the oil is black, replace it with fresh olive oil before the next step. Otherwise, add some olive oil to what's left, until you've enough.
Add the onions to the casserole, turn the heat down to medium and cook for 8-10 minutes, until softened and nicely browned at the edges.
OPTIONAL
If using fresh tomatoes, skin them now. To do this, boil them in a pan of water for a minute or two to loosen the skins, before draining and slipping off their skins (protect your hands with a cloth if they are too hot), then chop them quite small.
When the onions are browned, add the garlic to the casserole, let this cook for gently about a minute, until it is soft and sweet: dont let it scorch.
Then add
tomatoes,
tomato puree,
rosemary,
bay leaf,
white wine and white wine vinegar.
seasoning
Bring to the boil,
OPTIONAL
Let it reduce uncovered to about half its original volume, - about 20 minutes.
(n.b. I don't always bother with this bit - just put the chicken in and bung it in the oven at mark 5 for an hour)
MY WAY
Add the chicken pieces, stir them around a bit to sink them, then put the lid on and allow to simmer gently for at least 40 minutes, until the chicken joints are cooked through. Once it's edible, you can keep it on a low heat for ages before serving.
This is good served with green tagliatelle, noodles, rice, polenta, nice fresh crusty bread or a simple vegetable (mash, perhaps?).