Chicken Cacciatore with Mushrooms and Capers

What could make chicken cacciatore even better? Mushrooms and capers.

Chicken cacciatore with mushrooms and capers

 

 Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast (or thighs, or mixture), cut thinly or pounded
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 4 oz (about 3/4 regular store package) baby Portobello mushrooms, sliced - I only use the smaller ones in the package
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 28 oz can tomatoes (crushed or diced) with juice (Do not drain!!!)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay or similar) - 3/4 cup if using diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth (reduced sodium is very important) - 3/4 cup if using diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons drained capers (more or less to taste)
• 1.5 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• salt
• pepper

Serves family of 4

Directions

1. Pour EVOO into large sauté pan and put over medium heat
2. Lightly salt and pepper your chicken, then dredge lightly in flour
3. Add chicken to pan when hot. Cook each side until lightly browned, about 4 minutes each side
4. Remove chicken and plate.
5. In same sauté pan, add onion, peppers, mushrooms, garlic. Cook until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Then season (generously) with salt and pepper
6. Add wine, simmer until reduced by half, about 4 minutes **
7. Add tomatoes, broth, capers and oregano. Let simmer for ~5 minutes.
8. Add chicken, turn to coat in sauce. Bring to a simmer.
9. Simmer over medium-low heat until chicken is completely cooked through.
10. Serve chicken covered in sauce and veggies, sprinkle cheese and fresh basil over the top for added flavor. Can serve over rice, pasta, mashed potatoes or as-is.

 

**If you are making this for family with children and worried about the wine, you can reduce the wine for longer, or just omit. The taste will suffer just a bit, but you can rest easier. Personally, I think cooking the wine for 5 extra minutes is fine!

Step 4, Remove chicken and plate

Step 5, Add onion, peppers, mushrooms and garlic and sauté

Step 7b Let sauce simmer for ~5 min before adding chicken

Step 7, Add tomatoes, broth, capers and oregano

 

Crockpot whole chicken

This is a great alternative to buying a rotisserie chicken for a lot of reasons - you can be sure of the chicken you're getting (I was recently told that the grocery stores will sometimes put the "about to expire" chickens into the rotisserie), you can cut down on a lot of the fat, and you can season it however you may want!

It's so easy, this is how I do it

Ingredients

1 whole chicken - make sure nothing is
1/2 onion (white or yellow)
1 lemon
2-4 cloves garlic, depending on how much you like garlic!

Spices

2 tsp salt 

2  tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

 Directions



1. Chop up onion, put on bottom of crockpot
2. Slice lemon. I sliced 3/4 thicker, and put those on the bottom of the crockpot
3. Peel garlic cloves. Place with onion and lemon.

4. Combine all spices in a bowl - or use whatever seasoning you like!



5. Clean the chicken, make sure no giblets, etc., inside.

6. Take the skin off the chicken. This really cuts down on the fat, but because of the way we are cooking it, it doesn't lose flavor or dry out!

7. Rub spices all over the chicken

8. Place the chicken in the crockpot. After this photo, I sliced the remaining lemon thinly and placed on top of chicken with a few sprigs of rosemary.

9. Put crockpot on low and walk away! You don't need to add any liquid, the chicken will cook in its own juices.

I cooked for about 6 hours. You can cook it for as long as you need. Once you take the chicken out, it will literally fall off the bone. I serve it to the family sliced up, and the rest is great for chicken salad.

Enjoy!

Chicken Piccata

I made this last night for my husband, my mom and my father in law and everyone loved it. I used Giada's recipe, with a few adjustments.

Ingredients:

4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied, then cut in half
Salt and pepper, for flavoring

Flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup brined capers (more if you love capers like I do!)
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.
In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. 

When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 1/2 of the chicken and cook for ~3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for ~3 minutes. 

Remove and transfer cooked chicken to plate. 

Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 1/2 of chicken and brown both sides, ~3 minutes each side.

Remove and transfer cooked chicken to plate.
Add the lemon juice, stock and capers to pan. Bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. 

Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for ~3 minutes on each side.

Remove chicken to plate.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. 

Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley and fresh Parmesan.

I served the picatta over rice pilaf with broccoli. 

Easy and delicious!

On a side note, this recipe would be  easy to make a little healthier - don't dredge the chicken in flour, and cut out about half of the butter and oil.

Killer hotdish

This is comfort food at it's finest. It's one of my husband's favorite meals, and the recipe makes enough for plenty of leftovers.

"Killer hotdish"

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
2 (10.75 oz) cans cream of chicken soup
42 oz chicken broth
1/2 cup butter - sliced (you can definitely cut this down - I actually only use about 2 tbsp)
2 cans sliced mushrooms
Egg noodles

Directions:
Place uncooked chicken at bottom of crockpot.
Top with cream of chicken, chicken broth and butter.
Cook on low ~8 hours
Take out chicken and put on plate - use two forks to pull apart until you have a plate full of pulled chicken.
Put chicken back in crock pot.
Add mushrooms and egg noodles. Cook until noodles are done (~30 minutes).
Spoon into bowl and serve!