Chicken Cacciatore with Minimum Fuss

The good thing about renting an apartment when vacationing with 2 toddlers is that I still get to eat good food without having to stress about how they would behave in a restaurant, since I can cook the food myself. I have no problem bringing them out to restaurants most of the time back home, but I have some reservations about eating dinner out when in another country just because I don't know how the restaurants would react to food all over the floor. Plus I actually like buying local produce and recreating the food in my own rented kitchen. Well yes of course, it depends on which country I am in, but this time being in Italy and having eaten at many authentic Italian restaurants and Italian restaurants in Italy when I was sans kids, recreating certain dishes was actually fun for me. Kinda like playing the Italian mama (minus the big hips I hope!)

So this time, it was Chicken Cacciatore, or Hunter's Style Chicken Stew. There are uncountable variations of this classic, but mine is a minimum fuss, no alcohol style, adapted for the busy mom with 2 kids everywhere. Especially after a day out of sunny and windy fun in the mountains.

  

 And then we came back, all hungry and happy, to a warm comforting stew

 

 For the chicken

• 3 chicken legs (I prefer this to breasts as I find breasts too dry. Plus the bones in the chicken legs actually add to the flavour of the stew, without having to resort to additional broths or worse, glutamate-filled granules)
• Dried Italian herb seasoning 
• Salt and pepper 
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• 3 or more tablespoons of olive oil

Mix all ingredients together and season the chicken legs with it. This can be done the night before if you are one of those mommies who plan ahead what to cook. But if you are more like me and tend to cook at the spur of the moment, just leave it aside while the oven warms up to 180 degrees. Once the oven is heated, just slide the chicken pieces onto the middle shelf and let it cook until the skin is brown because white chicken skin is NOT pretty in a stew. Should take about 30 minutes, turned once.

In case you have no oven, which was exactly what happened to me in my rented apartment, you can fry the chicken pieces in some oil in a frying pan. For this method though, to make sure that that the chicken pieces cooked quickly, I bashed them unmercilessly flat. It did cook quicker, but there was a lot of wiping up of the oil splatters and the whole apartment smelt of chicken after that. But at least it was a delicious smell.

For the Gravy

• A can of Italian tomatoes or passata (pureed tomato)
• 1 onion, chopped roughly,
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 capsicums/bell peppers, chopped as roughly as the onions
• 1 zucchini (in keeping with the Italian vege theme) also chopped likewise
• 1 carrot, well ditto above
• Dried Italian herbs
• Shakes of salt and pepper
• 2 or 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup of apple or grape juice (both works for me, instead of wine)
• A handful of olives
• A dash of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons or so of olive oil

Add olive oil to a heated pan. Add the garlic and onions and bay leaves with a pinch of salt to prevent them from burning. When the onions are transluscent, add the other chopped vegetables and slick them in the aromatic oil. Then add the juice and then the dried herbs and pepper, and more salt if needed. Let the stew boil merrily and then add the olives and balsamic vinegar to balance the salty sweetness.

When the chicken pieces are brown enough (they do not have to be completely cooked through), add them to the pot and put the lid on and let the flavours envelope and meld together. The longer, the better although I generally let them simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the chicken meat is tender enough to melt from the bone and the gravy has reduced and is slightly thickened. You can add more water or juice if you want more gravy, but also add some flour if you want your gravy thicker. Then let it simmer some more while you sort out your holiday pics or dance around with your kids.

Once the taste and the consistency are to your liking and the chicken flesh comes off easily from the bone, it is time to eat! I served mine over leftover boiled potatoes, but you can just as easily serve it with mashed potatoes or pasta. Yummyyumyum.

Buon Appetito!