Chicken alla Cacciatora

There are few dishes that are more tasty than this particular one, Chicken alla Cacciatora, an Italian dish that is filling, slightly sweet, and truly fabulous. This dish is also very easy to make, and can be made to feed more or less people, as you need. You can just increase the amount of tomatoes in the recipe to increase the sauce, as just one simple way to make this dish go further. If you have made an entire chicken up with this recipe, then this dish can freeze really well. In fact, this Chicken alla Cacciatora may even taste better when it sits over night in the refrigerator! Any way you serve it, though, the fabulous flavor of this dish belies just how quickly and easily you can put it together for dinner tonight.

This particular dish starts with the dark meat, the thighs and drums. That is terrific. You could also just use the white meat, if that is what you and your family prefers, or a mixture of both meats. You can decide what your family wants. This recipe also includes mushrooms, onions, shallots, and other great ingredients. They add lots of nutrition and plenty of flavor. If you do not have shallots, or cannot find any at the grocery store where you shop, you can simply substitute more onions. They will provide a slightly richer, sweeter and more robust flavor than the shallots, but since onions and shallots come from the same Allium family, the taste should be comparable between them. Mushrooms are always delicious in tomato-based pasta dishes. Here, mini Portobello mushrooms are used, as well as Porcini. Both of these particular mushrooms do provide a rather more robust, nutty and buttery flavor, so if you can find them, be sure to use these varieties in the recipe for a truly great result. If you cannot, do not be afraid to substitute plain cremini mushrooms. They also taste great.

Other ingredients include great sources of fiber, such as the celery. This often overlooked and humble vegetable is a powerhouse of nutrition. Use plenty in this recipe. It will add great flavor, plenty of fiber, and help fill people up. An excellent oil, olive oil, is recommended here. If you have not switched yet to olive oil, try it with this recipe. Olive oil has a unique and delicious flavor. It is also a unique oil for all the nutritional properties that can be found in this oil. As the name of the oil implies, olive oil is made by pressing olives. Depending on how the process is done, and how many times the same olives are pressed, helps to determine the quality and flavor of the oil. Cold pressed olive oils are believed by some pundits to be the best in terms of health benefits. There are some studies to support this contention. Recent research has compared the anti-inflammatory results of using extra virgin olive oil (the EVOO that Rachel Ray always uses on her show!). The studies show that the EVOO does cause a drop in inflammatory markers (so it's anti-inflammatory properties are superior) in the EVOO rather than non-EVOO oil.

Find out how to make this recipe and many others at the website, Cooking with Nonna, by following the link below.