Who Knew My Dad's Chicken Cacciatore Was So Simple?!

There were always three things my dad made really well when I was growing up; Pizza, Chili, and Chicken Cacciatore (ok, four including the fudge he makes at Christmas, and actually five if you include his Chicken Marsala, I forgot about that one...).  Not too long ago Nick and I went over to my parent's house for dinner and my dad was in the kitchen whipping up his "famous" chicken cacciatore.  right away I was having childhood memories wash over me.  It was great (oh to be a kid again!). I soon  realized the reason why he loves making this dish so much is because it's incredibly easy, yet tastes like someone slaved over it for hours.




Typical of my dad, there aren't really any colors other than red and white.   Why not add some green for a true Italian meal (aka: Italian flag)?!  No, for my dad (and me, I guess) the simpler the better.  That being said, I'm a fan of adding vegetables to any dish when I can, and this one lends itself well to the addition of more veggies.  Anyway, here is my dad's recipe (with my addition of some green peppers!)......

Guy Casagrande's Chicken Cacciatore

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 large Chicken breasts, bone in

1 large green (or red) pepper

1 can roasted tomatoes **

1 can tomato sauce **

 6 garlic cloves (whole) **

Spices to taste: oregano, crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

1.  Boil chicken breasts in water for 30 minutes.

2.  After the chicken is finished cooking take it out and let it cool on a cutting board.  Once cooled, pick the chicken off of the bone and put it aside.

3.  In a large skillet cook garlic cloves (~6) in olive oil until the garlic is slightly soft, then add in chicken, 1 can of tomato sauce, and 1 can of Italian tomatoes.  Add spices and simmer for 30 minutes with lid on.

4.  Next, add 1/4th cup white wine (cooking wine or regular drinking wine) and a cut up green pepper and simmer 1 more minute with lid off.   

5.  Serve over polenta or mix with brown or white rice.

**NOTE:  If following a low FODMAPs diet this may not be the best recipe.  If you want to give it a try, look for canned tomatoes that have zero onion or garlic added, and the same goes for canned tomato sauce (good luck with that one, you may need to just make your own sauce by blending tomatoes in a blender and adding a dash of garlic olive oil.  Another option is to use Rao's Sensitive Formula Marinara Sauce).  The 6 cloves of garlic can be used in this recipe for flavor, but do not eat the cloves.

See the garlic clove?? I wanted to eat it so bad!!  But, I didn't.  I gave them all to Nick.  His Italian blood can handle the garlic.  I'm so jealous.  Why can't this Italian handle it?!

My computer crashed a few weeks ago, did I tell you?  It was my favorite laptop of all time, and it was so dear to my heart, but yet it had a better place to go, far up in heaven, I suppose.  It took with it all of my favorite photos, and I'm too cheap to have them restored on my other computer.  I mean, I have the backup here at home, so if I ever really need the photos I can get them, but for now I'll just tell you that for the next couple weeks you'll have to consider me a Dietitian Who Loves to Post Healthy Recipes, instead of a Food Blogger Who Can Take Half-Way Decent Photos (because, my photos are all old and not my updated versions I had saved, please, bear with me!).  You don't really care about the photos though, right?! I mean it's all about the ingredients and the information...right?! Yeah.

That being said, these are old photos, and despite the fact that this Chicken Cacciatore doesn't look so amazing, it truly is.  For as simple as it is to make, it's pretty fantastic.  And, like I said, try it over some warmed polenta and you'll be in heaven.  And if you like this recipe, you might also like this Slow Cooker Chicken Marinara Chicken and Veggies recipe from a few months ago.

QUESTION:  Is there a favorite recipe that your mom or dad made when you were growing up ?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday, and an even better weekend.  I'll be spending my Friday at the Ohio Dietetic Association Conference.  It should be fun.  Afterwards I'm going to a wine and food event at work (but if you saw my Instagram and Twitter post from yesterday, you'll know that I'm probably not going to go too crazy on the wine!).  Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd