Chicken Cacciatore!!

     Chicken Cacciatore is one of those dishes that when you make it the whole house smells good, don't be surprised if the smell seeps out into the neighborhood and friends start ringing your doorbell with a knife and fork in hand!  Growing up we didn't eat this a lot, but when we did I remember thinking "we should have this more often!"  This is an old school Italian dish that you don't see a lot of in restaurants but is very good.
     Okay here is what you will need:
                                                    1 large chicken cut up in pieces
                                                    1 large onion sliced
                                                    8 cloves of garlic minced
                                                    2 peppers (any color) roughly chopped
                                                    1 lb. of mushroom sliced in large pieces
                                                    1 1/2 cups white wine
                                                    2 cans San Marzano tomatoes
                                                    2 bay leafs
                                                    Bundle of fresh thyme and oregano
                                                    Sea salt
                                                    Freshly ground black pepper
                                                    Red pepper flakes
                                                    Olive oil to coat pan
                                                    1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar

 Start with the chicken,  you can buy the chicken already cut up or whole and cut it yourself.  I prefer to cut the breasts in two pieces, one whole breast is just too big.  If you prefer dark meat like me you can make this dish with all leg/thigh portions,  the dark meat is so much more tender and juicy, but since the wife and kids like white meat I use the whole chicken.  Get out your biggest pot and get it nice and hot, add some olive oil to the bottom of the pot.  Now after seasoning your chicken with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, add it to the pot skin side down, don't over crowd the chicken, work in batches if you have to removing browned chicken to a plate, you want it to get a nice golden brown on both sides, if you over crowd the pan it will steam and never get brown!  

At this point you are not cooking the chicken all the way through, just browning it. Remove it to a plate and set it aside.

                                                                       
  After your chicken is all browned and removed, drain any excess fat from the pot, if you need to add a little more olive oil do so.  Now add your onions, a pinch of red pepper depending on how much heat you want, and some sea salt.  Sweat the onions until they start to become translucent, then add your chopped garlic, saute for about a minute or two.  Now add your chopped peppers, I like to leave them a little big so they don't melt away, if you like olives now is the time to add them.  After a couple more minutes add the mushrooms, also chopped in large pieces (white button mushrooms and cremini's work great) followed by the wine.  You can use either red or white wine, whichever you prefer, don't use a cooking wine (if you wouldn't drink it why would you put it in your food?) and definitely don't use an expensive bottle of wine, just an average wine that you would drink.

Cook on high until the liquid reduces by about half, then add the canned tomatoes and snuggle the chicken back in the pot with any juices on the plate, add the fresh oregano and thyme bundle and taste for salt and pepper.  Bring the pot to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

       I like to add a little brown sugar at this point, with all the acid from the tomatoes, wine and bitterness of the peppers it needs to be balanced out.  Partially cover the pot and cook on low for 45 minutes to an hour.  If you start to lose to much of the sauce, add a little chicken stock or water, you want the level of the liquid to be about equal to the chicken. When it is finished cooking, remove the chicken to a serving plate and cover with the sauce, be sure to get some mushrooms and peppers in there.  My mom used to cook her's in the oven and roast some potatoes and add them right in with the chicken and the sauce, the potatoes would soak up some of the sauce, they would melt in your mouth and were just awesome.  I made it this time with some angel hair, mostly because I didn't have time to do the potatoes but I do recommend you do them if you can.  Enjoy!