Chicken cacciatore

[Dickman]

I love to cook! One of my favorite dishes is my own version of chicken cacciatore, I thought I would share it here.

Baked chicken breast, cut into pieces when cool

Cooked Orzo 

1 Jar pasta sauce 

1 Jar of roasted red peppers

1) 8 oz can of mushrooms

Chicken broth or stock

Water

Oregano

After cooking the chicken and orzo, I add them to a large saucepot. Then all of the ingredients go into the pot, I sometimes add things like parsley, chicken bouillon, cooked sliced up Italian sausage. I let it all simmer for a bit on medium, and it's done! I don't always measure stuff. I usually just put in whatever amounts that I want. If I make a larger batch I have leftovers that I can either have the next day or freeze. I don't make it often because there is a lot of work, but when I do, I always enjoy it!

[MikeBiDude]

Even better with rabbit. I don’t use “jar” or “can” of anything! Fresh tomato, pepper, etc.

[samhexum]

17 minutes ago, MikeBiDude said:

Even better with rabbit. 

[BSR]

13 hours ago, MikeBiDude said:

Even better with rabbit. I don’t use “jar” or “can” of anything! Fresh tomato, pepper, etc.

I think the original recipe used rabbit (hunters shoot rabbit, not chicken).  We Americans just switched in chicken because because chicken is cheap and available everywhere in the US whereas rabbit quite the opposite.

In pretty much any chicken recipe, you can sub in rabbit and get a far richer, yummier dish.  Sorry, Bugs.

[pubic_assistance]

15 hours ago, Dickman said:

.....all of the ingredients go into the pot......I don't always measure stuff.  I don't make it often because there is a lot of work,

I'm guessing you don't cook often if this "recipe" seems like a lot of work.

This is the sort if thing I would make if I were in a hurry.

A "jar of pasta sauce" ?? Haven't done that shortcut since college.

Curious that you use roasted red pepper instead of fresh. The slight crunch of fresh peppers always seemed essential to a cacciatore.

Thanks for sharing.

Edited February 10, 2024 by pubic_assistance
grammar

[Rudynate]

21 hours ago, Dickman said:

I love to cook! One of my favorite dishes is my own version of chicken cacciatore, I thought I would share it here.

Baked chicken breast, cut into pieces when cool

Cooked Orzo 

1 Jar pasta sauce 

1 Jar of roasted red peppers

1) 8 oz can of mushrooms

Chicken broth or stock

Water

Oregano

After cooking the chicken and orzo, I add them to a large saucepot. Then all of the ingredients go into the pot, I sometimes add things like parsley, chicken bouillon, cooked sliced up Italian sausage. I let it all simmer for a bit on medium, and it's done! I don't always measure stuff. I usually just put in whatever amounts that I want. If I make a larger batch I have leftovers that I can either have the next day or freeze. I don't make it often because there is a lot of work, but when I do, I always enjoy it!

I would sautee the chicken breasts and use the pan drippings to flavor the sauce and only add the sauteed chicken at the very end to keep it from overcooking. 

[Rudynate]

6 hours ago, BSR said:

I think the original recipe used rabbit (hunters shoot rabbit, not chicken).  We Americans just switched in chicken because because chicken is cheap and available everywhere in the US whereas rabbit quite the opposite.

In pretty much any chicken recipe, you can sub in rabbit and get a far richer, yummier dish.  Sorry, Bugs.

"Cacciatore" is Italian for "hunter."  Hunter-style means a dish made wit hunter sauce - no matter the country hunter sauce has mushrooms.  In France, sauce chasseur is made with brown sauce and mushrooms.  In Germany, Jaeger sauce is made brown sauce, mushrooms, usually bacon.  In Italy, cacciatore sauce is made from tomato, onion, bell pepper and mushroom. 

[TelaramundItaly]

Italian "Pollo alla cacciatoraA" has many regional variations, the classical has no bell peppers nor mushrooms, just canned tomatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, red wine and parsley, but almost every family has her own recipe

[+ azdr0710]

for the freshest chicken......

[+ nycman]

10 hours ago, Buzzeryn said:

I'm all about those hearty, flavorful dishes that you can just throw together and let simmer. Plus, the flexibility to adjust ingredients based on what's on hand is a total lifesaver. Have you ever named your chickens?

You joined a website about male escorts 14 hours ago…… to tell us this?

[Redwine56]

On 3/20/2024 at 5:26 AM, nycman said:

You joined a website about male escorts 14 hours ago…… to tell us this?

You just never know what you're getting into.  

[+ Italiano]

On 2/10/2024 at 2:52 PM, Rudynate said:

"Cacciatore" is Italian for "hunter."  Hunter-style means a dish made wit hunter sauce - no matter the country hunter sauce has mushrooms.  In France, sauce chasseur is made with brown sauce and mushrooms.  In Germany, Jaeger sauce is made brown sauce, mushrooms, usually bacon.  In Italy, cacciatore sauce is made from tomato, onion, bell pepper and mushroom. 

Sorry to correct. In Italy the original pollo (chicken) or coniglio (rabbit) "alla cacciatora" recipe doesn't have bell peppers or mushroom. Depending on the region it can variate a bit, but generally it has the usual soffritto with carrots, celery, onions and garlic, tomato sauce, herbs, black olives, red wine  and pine nuts.

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, Italiano said:

Sorry to correct. In Italy the original pollo (chicken) or coniglio (rabbit) "alla cacciatora" recipe doesn't have bell peppers or mushroom. Depending on the region it can variate a bit, but generally it has the usual soffritto with carrots, celery, onions and garlic, tomato sauce, herbs, black olives, red wine  and pine nuts.

Interesting. In the US you always end up with bell pepper. Just another American bastardization of a recipe, I suppose.

[mike carey]

13 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Interesting. In the US you always end up with bell pepper. Just another American bastardization of a recipe, I suppose.

'Bastardisation' is one way of looking at it, but there is another way to think about it. That is that a good recipe will be adopted and adapted, it happens here, and I'm sure it happens in the US. If a dish starts as the creation of one chef, it might have a claim not to be changed, but otherwise, in its home region, every cook likely has their own recipe for a local dish. Once a dish has been naturalised in another country, cooks will further adapt it. Some of them will have personal recollections, or a researched understanding, of what a dish was like before it emigrated, and some descendants of the people who also came from the same region will have personal opinions based on either the reality of what the original was, or their post-immigration history of what it became, and many will hold that their family recipe is the only authentic one.

Once a recipe moves into the wider community, it will become a 'general idea' rather than a defined thing. If capsicums (bell peppers to y'all) and mushrooms fit into the 'general idea' then why not. In the bit you quoted, @Italiano said 'but generally it has ...' so that implies scope for some variation, even if those two ingredients are not part of the mix. Let a thousand flowers bloom!

[Rudynate]

On 2/10/2024 at 11:52 AM, Rudynate said:

"Cacciatore" is Italian for "hunter."  Hunter-style means a dish made wit hunter sauce - no matter the country hunter sauce has mushrooms.  In France, sauce chasseur is made with brown sauce and mushrooms.  In Germany, Jaeger sauce is made brown sauce, mushrooms, usually bacon.  In Italy, cacciatore sauce is made from tomato, onion, bell pepper and mushroom. 

When I lived in Germany - my all-time favorite restaurant meal was Jägerschnitzel (Schnitzel hunter-style) pork shnitzel with hunter sauce - a rich red wine sauce with mushrooms and bacon.  Germans make killer gravies and sauces.

[samhexum]

2 hours ago, Rudynate said:

Germans make killer gravies and sauces.

GROSS!  What are you, a cannibal?

Use a different ingredient. Please!

[+ Italiano]

23 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Interesting. In the US you always end up with bell pepper. Just another American bastardization of a recipe, I suppose.

Yes. I see often bell peppers in Italian recipes where they are not supposed to be... A bit like parmesan cheese everywhere

[+ Italiano]

10 hours ago, mike carey said:

'Bastardisation' is one way of looking at it, but there is another way to think about it. That is that a good recipe will be adopted and adapted, it happens here, and I'm sure it happens in the US. If a dish starts as the creation of one chef, it might have a claim not to be changed, but otherwise, in its home region, every cook likely has their own recipe for a local dish. Once a dish has been naturalised in another country, cooks will further adapt it. Some of them will have personal recollections, or a researched understanding, of what a dish was like before it emigrated, and some descendants of the people who also came from the same region will have personal opinions based on either the reality of what the original was, or their post-immigration history of what it became, and many will hold that their family recipe is the only authentic one.

Once a recipe moves into the wider community, it will become a 'general idea' rather than a defined thing. If capsicums (bell peppers to y'all) and mushrooms fit into the 'general idea' then why not. In the bit you quoted, @Italiano said 'but generally it has ...' so that implies scope for some variation, even if those two ingredients are not part of the mix. Let a thousand flowers bloom!

Definitely. For example the original lasagna (in Bologna)  has only "bolognese" sauce, béchamel sauce and parmesan cheese. In the South of Italy they add mozzarella cheese.

Here in the US they add also ricotta cheese and to my taste it's too much, which is generally the case here with Italian recipes, where too many "other" ingredients are added in order to make it "tastier". Italian cuisine is quite simple in general, with good ingredients and some "rules".

No pineapple or pepperoni on pizza, no parmesan cheese on fish/seafood dishes, and no cream on carbonara! 🥳

[pubic_assistance]

12 hours ago, mike carey said:

a good recipe will be adopted and adapted,

Absolutely. 

Unfortunately when it arrives on the American shores it's usually dumbed down, not improved.

I would say the only thing that was a brilliant American adaptation that really hit was 🍕 pizza. 

[+ Italiano]

22 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Absolutely. 

Unfortunately when it arrives on the American shores it's usually dumbed down, not improved.

I would say the only thing that was a brilliant American adaptation that really hit was 🍕 pizza. 

I agree. Of course my idea of a GREAT whole pizza remains in Italy, especially in the South with those unique ingredients.

In Naples there is a famous OLD pizzeria (from the end of 19th century) which is so good and popular that you get a ticket and line outside. They only make 3 different pizzas (their Margherita with buffalo mozzarella is unbelievable!), they are BIG and they cost 6 Euros....

https://www.damichele.net/menu/sede_napoli/menu Napoli.pdf

 

But a good slice of NY pizza can be good too!

Edited December 19, 2024 by Italiano

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, Italiano said:

I agree. Of course my idea of a GREAT whole pizza remains in Italy, especially in the South with those unique ingredients.

My understanding..(and maybe I'm wrong)...but pizza as we know it is an American-Italian invention.

The flat breads in Italy had tomato and herbs but no cheese.

It was in New York's Little Italy that they invented the round brick oven version with Mozzarella as a significant ingredient.

Even tomato 🍅 is something that is American. The Europeans always thought it was poisonous until they saw the Native Americans eating it.

 

[mike carey]

13 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Even tomato 🍅 is something that is American. The Europeans always thought it was poisonous until they saw the Native Americans eating it.

True, but they worked that out hundreds of years ago (and directly in Europe not, I think, from observing native Americans directly). I seem to remember an account of Franklin or Jefferson bringing tomato seeds to the US from Europe as food plants, completing the circle as it were. Whether the idea of pizza developed with tomato or that was a later addition I don't know, I'm just happy it ended up being part of the mix.

[samhexum]

On 12/18/2024 at 7:12 AM, Italiano said:

Definitely. For example the original lasagna (in Bologna)  has only "bolognese" sauce, béchamel sauce and parmesan cheese. In the South of Italy they add mozzarella cheese.  Here in the US they add also ricotta cheese and to my taste it's too much, which is generally the case here with Italian recipes, where too many "other" ingredients are added in order to make it "tastier". Italian cuisine is quite simple in general, with good ingredients and some "rules". No pineapple or pepperoni on pizza, no parmesan cheese on fish/seafood dishes, and no cream on carbonara! 🥳

 

15 hours ago, Italiano said:

I agree. Of course my idea of a GREAT whole pizza remains in Italy, especially in the South with those unique ingredients.  In Naples there is a famous OLD pizzeria (from the end of 19th century) which is so good and popular that you get a ticket and line outside. They only make 3 different pizzas (their Margherita with buffalo mozzarella is unbelievable!), they are BIG and they cost 6 Euros....

But a good slice of NY pizza can be good too!

 

14 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

My understanding..(and maybe I'm wrong)...but pizza as we know it is an American-Italian invention...

It was in New York's Little Italy that they invented the round brick oven version with Mozzarella as a significant ingredient.

Even tomato 🍅 is something that is American. The Europeans always thought it was poisonous until they saw the Native Americans eating it.

 

 

1 hour ago, mike carey said:

True, but they worked that out hundreds of years ago (and directly in Europe not, I think, from observing native Americans directly). I seem to remember an account of Franklin or Jefferson bringing tomato seeds to the US from Europe as food plants, completing the circle as it were. Whether the idea of pizza developed with tomato or that was a later addition I don't know, I'm just happy it ended up being part of the mix.

Where does Dominos fit in the evolutionary timeline? 

[mike carey]

6 minutes ago, samhexum said:

Where does Dominos fit in the evolutionary timeline? 

Left field. Left-right out-field to be precise.

[+ Italiano]

22 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

My understanding..(and maybe I'm wrong)...but pizza as we know it is an American-Italian invention.

The flat breads in Italy had tomato and herbs but no cheese.

It was in New York's Little Italy that they invented the round brick oven version with Mozzarella as a significant ingredient.

Even tomato 🍅 is something that is American. The Europeans always thought it was poisonous until they saw the Native Americans eating it.

 

Nope. Pizza Margherita (only with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil, the three colors of the Italian flag) was "invented" in Naples in honor of Margarita Queen of Italy at the end of the 19th century. Don't forget that mozzarella is a Southern Italian cheese, and you have to try it ONLY there to understand how delicious it is, especially the one made with local buffalo (not the American buffalos!) milk.

Of course pasta (noodles) was imported by Marco Polo from China and tomatoes were not known in Europe before the 16th century, but we perfectioned the Art of putting them together