Chicken Cacciatore

Grace32's Note:

This is a bunch of recipes I found on the internet meshed together - plus, I added a few of my own ideas! It as not as much work as it looks like - most of the 'cook time' is in the oven. Follow the recipe, and the chicken will 'fall off the bone'. Delicious!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 6 chicken legs, bone in (can remove skin if desired)
• 4 chicken thighs, bone in (can remove skin if desired)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup flour
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 5 -6 cloves garlic, crushed
• fresh mushrooms, quartered
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
• fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 -3 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons Italian spices
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Mix salt, pepper& flour together.
2. Wash chicken (taking off excess skin& roll in flour mixture).
3. Put a little onion& a bit of the garlic& a few whole basil leaves in 3/4 the oil, then brown chicken on all sides in the oil.
4. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels (May need to add more oil as you go along).
5. Remove gristle from pan, leaving the oil; add the onion& half the garlic and stir until onion is just wilted, then add, zucchini& mushrooms- cook, stirring for a moment (not long, it will also be cooking in the oven).
6. Place the browned chicken pieces into a large oven-proof casserole& pour the onion-veggie mixture over the chicken.
7. In the same frying pan, add the rest (1/4 cup) of the oil& add the other half of the garlic, then add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, Italian spices, and wine.
8. Simmer a few minutes.
9. Pour over the chicken, cover and bake in a 350 degree oven about 45 minutes or until the chicken is done; then, uncover the chicken, top with chopped basil& parmesan and bake an additional 15-20 minutes to allow cheese to melt& sauce to thicken.
10. Serve with white rice with a little of the sauce on top.
11. Note: To reduce fat& calories, you can remove the skin from the chicken& omit the olive oil from the sauce.
12. I prefer to remove the skin while eating- the basil& chesse form a kind of crust so you can still have that without the skin.
13. Cooking with the skin on keeps the chicken moist.

Reviews

[stonecoldcrazy]

Very good, I will make this again! I used peppers in leiu of mushrooms and zucchini and used boneless chicken breasts. The chicken was incredibly moist. I would recommend making extra sauce if you plan on serving this with pasta.

[Mad scientist]

This was delicious! I added a green pepper for texture. Served with a lemon risotto recipe from this site, great combination!

[Chef Bex]

I loved this! The only changes I made was to use frozen mixed grilled vegetables in place of the veggies in the recipe. I also did not have bay leaves and I used white wine instead of red because I drank the last of the red (oops!). Last but not least I used skinless breasts to cut down on the fat. It wasn't dry at all. I used convection to bake it but I think with all the juice from vegetables and tomatoes, it really stays moist. SO good the next day or two later!