Chicken Cacciatore!

Chicken Cacciatore

By Jennifer Baca

Prep time: 5 minutes.

Cook time: 20-25 minutes.

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breast halves

3 slices prosciutto

1 clove garlic

1 green bell pepper

1/2 white onion

2 medium tomatoes

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 oz. spaghetti/pasta of your choice

3 tbsp Pinot Grigio

1 tsp of rosemary

1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

I'd never made chicken cacciatore. I'd never even ordered it off of a menu. But I found myself going to Google Recipes typing in "chicken" and looking for something I could make, checking for things I have or don't have, and saw a cacciatore recipe. It looked good, but perhaps a little plain, and the author seemed in the early stages of learning to cook so basic critical paths weren't in place. There was another one in the search results page that included prosciutto, which I happened to have a bit left of with no idea what to do with it. However, that one had lots of "Americanized" concepts, and prepackaged ingredients like canned items and spices I'd rather have fresh, and I didn't much trust the author of the recipe. So I decided I'd take a big risk and create my own recipe, using theirs as guidelines.

I have to take a moment and talk about this prosciutto. We get it at the co-op, and this same brand is what we get for bacon. It's fantastic. Mild, and so perfectly cut. You can see the package through the few slices that I had left. We like putting it on pizza, when we make one from home. So good with some fresh peppers and tomatoes, so I knew it'd be good in this dish!

Directions:

First, I sliced up the chicken and cooked it on the grill top.

While it was cooking, I sliced a bell pepper and diced up a clove of garlic, and "voluntold" my husband to slice up half of an onion and skin and chop 2 tomatoes for me :) He was happy to, he likes helping me with prep, as long as he doesn't see when I make all the flavors come together. He leaves the kitchen for that. He says it'd be like seeing the magician stuff the doves up his sleeves.

I sauteed the onions, bell pepper, and garlic together in EVOO, and when they were soft and browned a bit I put them into a bowl to stay warm. I left some of the garlic in the pan so it'll flavor the sauce.

Then my husband reminded me that I'm supposed to have a pot going for pasta! Whoops! Thanks sweetie! While that was going, I turned off the grill and covered the chicken while it still had some signs of being just barely underdone so that it wouldn't dry out while I finished everything up, to compensate for the fact that I really probably shouldn't have started with chicken. Or, I could have done my chopping prep in advance and already had pasta ready.

In the pan that I'd fried the veggies in, I added the prosciutto, the tomatoes, the pinot grigio (Fetzer is fantastic as a cooking wine), about a teaspoon of rosemary, and Italian Seasoning to taste. I probably threw in a dash of pepper or cumin, too, that'd be typical of me. But I didn't note it.

I cooked it all together on medium low, enough that it simmers but doesn't reach a boiling point. I stopped for a moment to drain the noodles, turned around, and my sauce looked like a dried out marinara! I panicked a little. This is supposed to be a juicy sauce! So I added some of the juice we'd saved that came out of the tomatoes during chopping and another tbsp of wine, and it livened it right back up!

Then it was time to serve it all together! It was so freaking good. The meat was tender, the sauce was a fantastic complement to the veggies and for it feeling so sinful, it was really not unhealthy.

Yield: 2 servings

Calories per serving: 378

Carbohydrates per serving: 35

Fat per serving: 10

Protein per serving: 36
WW+ Points: 9

If you try it, I hope you love it!