Chicken Cacciatore

Last week, some friends of ours invited us to a wine dinner in Minneapolis at this great little restaurant called The Butcher Block. The meal was fantastic and the wines were superb. We also had plenty of opportunity to chat with the chef, Filippo and the sommelier, Stefano. Through the course of the evening I learned that Stefano and his wife have a blog called Due Spaghetti.

The next day I had to check out their blog. What I discovered was a fabulous blog full of authentic Italian recipes. Every dish looks amazing! I decided I wanted to give the chicken cacciatore a try. It sounded really easy to make and looked so delicious. What I learned from their post was that Italians usually don’t eat chicken with pasta. So instead of serving this dish over pasta, I served it with lots of crusty bread to get every last drop of the wonderful sauce!

I thought this recipe was really easy to make. The chicken was juicy and the sauce was so flavorful and good. Here is my spin on the recipe, but make sure you stop by Due Spaghetti and check it out for yourself!

Chicken Cacciatore

1 whole chicken (you could also use a cut-up fryer)
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 rib celery, cut into 4 pieces
1 medium carrot, cut into 4 pieces
1 handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonney)
2 – 28oz cans whole tomatoes
salt
pepper

Pat chicken dry and if using a whole chicken, cut up into pieces. I cut the breasts into 4 pieces so they wouldn’t be quite so big and omitted the wings, saving them to make stock with later.

Run the tomatoes, with their juices, through the food processor or blender. Don’t over process, though, you still want some texture to the tomatoes.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp butter over medium high heat in a dutch oven. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add to pan and saute for about 4 minutes per side until browned. Remove from pan.

Reduce heat to medium, add remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to pan. Add onions, season with salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until onions are soft, add garlic for about the last minute.