Chicken Cacciatora

Sometime ago, a friend gave me a bottle of white wine and since no one drinks wine at home, it was just sitting in my pantry. I finally decided to use the wine to cook this delicious Chicken Cacciatora recipe from Delia Smith. 

This dish brings me fond memories of my mother's cooking because she used to make this often when I was young. The aroma of succulent pieces of chicken gently simmering away in a concoction of white wine and tomato sauce is simply irresistible. 

The tomato sauce is thick with the aroma of onions and rosemary and is very flavourful and it goes wonderfully with the chicken pieces served over steaming rice or pasta. 

This is for Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event, hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Grab the HTML Code for the event here. This is my last Cook Like A Star post for the month. Thank you to everyone who took part and for your support!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Doreen from my little favourite DIY, at this post.

This is for Made with Love Mondays by Javelin Warrior. 

Chicken Cacciatora (Serves 4)

From Delia Smith's How to Cook Book Two and The Delia Collection: Chicken

• 1 x 3 lb (1.35 kg) Traditional Free Range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
•  1 tablespoon olive oil
•  2 large-ish onions, peeled and thickly sliced
•  1 lb 8 oz (700 g) ripe red tomatoes
•  2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
•  1 level tablespoon tomato purée (I used about 10 tbsp for more sauce)
•  1 level tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, bruised and finely chopped
•  1 bay leaf
•  10 fl oz (275 ml) dry white wine (I used normal white wine)
•  1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
•  salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method

• First of all heat the oil in the casserole over a high heat and season the chicken joints with salt and pepper. Then, when the oil gets really hot and begins to shimmer, fry the chicken – in 2 batches – to brown it well on all sides: remove the first batch to a plate while you tackle the second; each joint needs to be a lovely golden-brown colour all over. When the second batch is ready, remove it to join the rest.
• Now add the onions to the casserole, turn the heat down to medium and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until they are softened and nicely browned at the edges. Meanwhile, skin the tomatoes. To do this, pour boiling water over them and leave them for exactly 1 minute before draining and slipping off their skins (protect your hands with a cloth if they are too hot), then chop them quite small.
• When the onions are browned, add the garlic to the casserole, let this cook for about 1 minute, then add the tomatoes, tomato purée, rosemary, bay leaf, white wine and white wine vinegar. Now add some seasoning and bring it up to the boil, then let it bubble and reduce (without covering) to about half its original volume, which will take about 20 minutes. Now add the chicken pieces, stir them around a bit, then put the lid on and allow to simmer gently for 40 minutes (I reduced the simmering time to about 20 mins as I wanted to retain the tenderness in the chicken), until the chicken joints are cooked through. This is good served with green tagliatelle, noodles, rice or a simple vegetable.