Amazing Chicken Cacciatore

When chicken leg quarters were on special this week at Papa's Country Meat Market, I bought 3 pounds and set about making a taste sensation.

      
This charming little store is only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during the week. It's a much nicer place to buy meat than our only other option in town... Food Lion. It's service with a smile and at least one story. This is the best thing about living down south. The people are incredibly friendly. 

Chicken Cacciatore

3 lbs. chicken leg quarters

½ yellow bell pepper, sliced

½ red bell pepper, sliced

1 large sweet onion, sliced

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 large tomatoes, diced (or a second can of diced tomatoes)

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 beef bouillon cube

1 cup red wine

1 TB dried oregano                   

2 TB fresh basil, chopped

Olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Remove skin and all visible fat from chicken. Salt and pepper chicken on both sides. Saute a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides for about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Remove drippings and oil and wipe pan out. Return pan to heat and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. (If you don’t care about extra fat in your cacciatore, go ahead and use the fat and the flavors left from the chicken without adding extra oil.)

When oil is heated, add peppers and onions, oregano, salt and pepper. Saute a bit over medium high heat until softened, then add sliced garlic. Saute but do not brown. Add tomatoes, beef bouillon, and a cup of wine. Return chicken to the pan. Cover and let simmer on medium, reducing temperature as needed, until chicken begins to fall off the bone. Remove chicken, pull meat off bones, and return meat to pan.

At this point, add the chopped basil and taste for seasonings. You may want to add a bit more wine, turn the heat up, and allow it to cook for a minute without covering. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Cover pan and continue cooking for another ½ hour or more.

Serve with pasta, some freshly grated cheese, bread, and a nice dry light style Italian wine. (I enjoyed Nero D’Avola with this – a Sicilian wine, that I cooked with and served at dinner.) 

Serve with a simple salad of green leaf lettuce, spinach and arugula. Combine juice of ½ lemon and twice the amount of olive oil, a clove of crushed garlic, salt and lots of pepper. Pour over lettuce just before serving.