Chicken cacciatore recipe

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 4 chicken thighs

• 4 chicken drumsticks

• 1 red onion, chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• ½ bunch sage, leaves picked

• ½ long red chilli,deseeded, finely chopped

• 300g mushrooms,thickly sliced

• ¹⁄³ cup tomato paste

• 1 cup dry white wine

• 400g can whole tomatoesin juice

• 500ml chicken stock

• ½ tsp whole peppercorns

• Sea-salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to season

• Mashed potato, to serve

Preheat oven to 200°C.
Heat oil in a large wide heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Cook chicken, in batches, for 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from pan and set aside. Add onion, garlic, sage, chilli and mushroom to pan. Cook for 5 minutes or until onion is soft. Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add wine, tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil then add chicken.
Cover pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened slightly. Season and serve with mashed potato.
With a twist: Cacciatore potato pies (image below)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Follow Steps 2-3 for Chicken Cacciatore recipe (left), omitting mashed potato. Lightly grease 6 ovenproof ramekins and an oven tray with cooking oil spray. Thinly slice 6 small, peeled desiree potatoes.

Arrange slices, overlapping, on prepared tray, into 6 circles about the same size as top of the ramekins. Brush with melted butter and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until potatoes turn golden around the edges. Meanwhile, shred chicken from bones. Put a little of the chicken and sauce mixture into each of the prepared ramekins. Top with potato rounds. Bake for 20 minutes or until potatoes are golden, and filling is hot.

Step 4

Andre Martin