Around these parts, we often talk about the food of the poor. However, we don’t mean it in a disrespectful way, but we are rather in awe of how some of the best dishes were born because people had to get creative and use whatever they found in their kitchen.
That is an art in itself too, because it’s not enough to take 10 random ingredients, throw them in a pot and hope the result will be edible, but it’s about finding the right balance…just like this authentic Italian chicken cacciatore recipe.
The chicken cacciatore is a traditional Tuscan recipe, which is very popular across Italy, especially in the northern parts of the country where another popular recipe hails from, minestrone. I
t’s a simple recipe, but incredibly tasty, thanks to ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, and red wine, which enhance the flavor of the chicken.
The origins of this authentic Italian chicken cacciatore recipe, once again are to be found among poor people, using chicken bred by farmers.
The dish is so popular that it even has its own national day on the 15th of October. “Cacciatore” actually means “hunter” in Italian and some say that the first cacciatore dish didn’t even have chicken, but rabbit meat. However, in true Tuscan style, we are going with the authentic one.
- 1 chicken
- 3 stalks of celery
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1 cup of red wine
- 400 g peeled tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 carrots
- 1 bunch of parsley
- ½ cup of extra virgin oil
- black pepper as needed
- salt as needed
First, clean the chicken thoroughly and cut it into pieces. Don't peel off the skin, as it will give it more flavor.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken pieces on both sides for about 10 minutes, until golden.
At this point, add the finely chopped onions, garlic, the chopped carrots and celery, with a pinch of salt, pepper and rosemary, and leave it all in a sauté for another 5 minutes.
When the mix gets a nice color, pour red wine over the chicken and let it evaporate.
Then add the tomatoes, cover with a lid and let it cook on medium heat for 30 minutes (or until the chicken is well cooked and soft) during which, if the chicken becomes dry, add a bit of water or broth.
Once cooked, add the chopped parsley and serve the chicken with polenta or mashed potatoes.
Note
When you fry the chicken, to make it lighter, you can remove from the pan the grease spilled from the skin. After adding the tomatoes in the pan, you can also add a sprig of thyme and a little nutmeg to give it an extra touch of flavor.
Calories: 336kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 192mg | Potassium: 479mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 5370IU | Vitamin C: 14.6mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 1.6mg
Other Tuscan Recipes:
Great recipe!
In Abruzzo, cacciatore is made with garlic, rosemary, white wine and olive oil. At our house, we use rabbit.
This child of mine has the most fickle pallet I’ve ever eneeuntcrod. Feta, dijon, pickles? Yes! But try and get her to eat a freaking peanut butter sandwich (or any other normal, easy, kid food) and you’re up a creek.
Great recipe. I loved chicken cacciatore and made this for my family on Sunday, they all loved it!
Really yummy. This is now a regular in our house!
The kids love it!
Awesome! Happy you guys love it!
Love how you explain Italian cooking
So simple to see and watch.
And yes if only Apple would have a aroma sensor that we could smell your cooking!!! Bravo !!!
Grazie mille Bob! I am glad you enjoyed it!
I’m going to try this recipe out its the seems to be the most traditional one I have seen, my brother is into web designing and programing and though I know this might seem to have been something simple I love the max bar you put in to adjust the amounts of the ingredients by the serving number so simple but yet so awesome and convenient I have never seen that on a recipe page before so thank you!
Grazie mille Philip! I hope it turned ok great.
My family is from southern Italy; we don’t add carrots or celery to the dish. We make it with double the onions and use bay leaf instead of rosemary and red wine vinegar, instead of the wine, which gives the dish an extra dimension.
Grazie mille for sharing your version Patricia! Every home has its own variation.