Hunter's Chicken Stew
Chicken cacciatora seems to be reasonably well known in Britain because it’s the classic pre-packed dish you find in Italian food ranges in supermarkets (which, to be honest, never taste of much). When you get the real deal cooked at home with love and passion it’s a totally different experience. It’s a simple combination of flavors that just works really well. Cacciatore means "hunter," so this is obviously the type of food that a hunter’s wife cooks for her fella when he gets home from a hard morning spent in the countryside. This is also a great dish for big parties, as it looks after itself in the oven. In the picture I’ve made it for about twelve people.
Serves4
Cooking Methodstewing
CostModerate
Total Timeunder 4 hours
OccasionFamily Get-together
Recipe Coursemain course
Dietary Considerationegg-free, low carb, peanut free, soy free, tree nut free
Mealdinner
Taste and Texturegarlicky, herby, meaty, savory, tangy, winey
Ingredients
- 1 x 2kg/4 ½ lb chicken, cut into serving pieces, or use the equivalent amount of chicken pieces
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 8 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
- 1/2 a bottle of Chianti
- Flour, for dusting
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 6 anchovy fillets
- A handful of green or black olives, stoned
- 2 x 400g/14oz tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
Instructions
-
Season the chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them into a bowl. Add the bay leaves, rosemary sprigs and the crushed clove of garlic and cover with the wine. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the fridge.
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Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade, and pat dry with kitchen towels. Dust the chicken pieces with flour and shake off any excess. Heat an ovenproof pan, add a splash of olive oil, fry the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over and put to one side.
-
Place the pan back on the heat and add the sliced garlic. Fry gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies, olives, tomatoes (broken up with a wooden spoon) and the chicken pieces with their reserved marinade. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid or a double thickness layer of foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.
-
Skim off any oil that’s collected on top of the sauce, then stir, taste and add a little salt and pepper if necessary. Remove the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, and serve with a salad, or some cannellini beans, and plenty of Chianti.
Read NextCape Verde Sausage Stew (Cachupa)
2006 Jamie Oliver
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MrTagine 3675948
May 22, 2012
This is a simply fantastic recipe. I was unable to marinate the chicken overnight, but even with a few hours of marinating, it was very flavorful. I baked it in a clay pot for about two hours. Perfect. Another winner from Jamie Oliver.
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