I was born and raised mostly on Italian peasant food. One of my all time favorites is my grandmothers chicken cacciatore dinner. I know, itâ??s very simple, but mighty tasty; oh, itâ??s true!

 

The dinner itself takes about 45 minutes to an hour from start to eating time, and costs about $5-6 dollars to feed 4 persons.

 

The meal consists of a simple salad of fresh cucumber, onion, and tomatoes in an olive oil; a BIG load of Vienna bread, and of course, the cacciatore.

 

 

The stuff you need for the cacciatore:

 

1)      1 whole chicken

2)      1 med. onion

3)      1 can of tomato paste

4)      Plenty of crushed red pepper

5)      About ½ cup Olive oil

6)      Salt and pepper

 

The stuff you need for the Salad:

 

1)      2 or 3 medium cucumbers

2)      1 Large Spanish onion (I prefer red)

3)      2 Medium to large tomato

4)      About ¼ cup of olive oil

5)      Salt and pepper & Oregano/Italian seasoning

 

Lets get started:

 

1)      Wash the chicken under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

2)      Salt the chicken. I like kosher salt, but itâ??s not necessary).

3)      Butcher the chicken into pieces no bigger than 2X2 inches.

4)      Chop up the onion.

5)      Mix about ¾ of the can of tomato paste into about 1 cup of H20 and mix it up.

6)      In a large cast iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat until it begins to smoke, or until a bit of water dances over the surface.

7)      Toss about 1 tsp of crushed red pepper into the heated oil.

8)      Throw in the onion.

9)      Before the pepper burns, and when the onion is clear, dump in the chicken pieces until browned on all the edges.

10)  As the chicken browns, start tossing on more of the red pepper, for casually spicy, a couple of Tbs. Itâ??s all up to you how much heat you want. Feel free to do the Emeril thingâ?¦BAM!!

11)  After the chicken browns, pour in the tomato paste and water mixture, and bring it to a low boil and let it cook for a few minutes.

12)  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

13)  Take the skillet off the stovetop, and put it into the oven preheated to 350 degrees.

14)  Itâ??s going to take about another ½ an hour in the oven. You just want to cook the chicken the rest of the way through. This is a semi-dry dish, but add more olive oil and water and/or tomato paste if you want. This is not rocket science. * The trick here is that the olive oil holds much of the spicy heat of the crushed red pepper. Feel free to BAM!! again anytime at will. You want enough oil and sauce to plenty of mopping with the Italian bread.

 

The salad:

 

1)      Slice the cucumbers into 1/8 inch slices, or whatever size cubes you want.

2)      Cut the tomatoes into 8 pieces or so.

3)      Slice up your onion into slivers.

4)      Salt and pepper to taste & oregano/Italian seasoning. (I use a good amount of crushed black pepper)

5)      I donâ??t like vinegar on this salad, but feel free to use it very sparingly.

 

Thatâ??s all there is to it. You now have an authentic chicken cacciatore and cucumber salad, enough to feed 4 people. I personally go through about ½ loaf of the Vienna bread myself, so make sure you have enough.