Lunch · Dinner · Italian

Chicken cacciatore

Name: Chicken cacciatore
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1kg Chicken thighs, skin on; 1 tbsp Olive oil; 1 Brown onion; 2 Peppers; 3 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced; 1 tsp Dried oregano; 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar; 2 tins Chopped tomatoes; 1 tbsp Tomato purée; 1 cube Chicken stock cube, made up to 150ml; 100g Pitted Kalamata olives; 15g Fresh parsley; 4 slices Sourdough, to serve

Golden chicken thighs braised with peppers, tomatoes and olives. Mop up the sauce with sourdough.

Start to finish: 1 hr 10 min
Hands-on: 31 min
In the fridge: 3 days
Freezes: Yes

Contains gluten, celery, sulphites

Ingredients

4 portions

1kgChicken thighs, skin on
1 tbspOlive oil
1Brown onion
2Peppers
3 clovesGarlic, thinly sliced
1 tspDried oregano
2 tbspRed wine vinegar
2 tinsChopped tomatoes
1 tbspTomato purée
1 cubeChicken stock cube, made up to 150ml
100gPitted Kalamata olives
15gFresh parsley
4 slicesSourdough, to serve

Plus salt, pepper and water.

Method

1
Season the chicken all over. Heat the oil in a large casserole or deep lidded frying pan over a medium heat and lay the thighs in skin side down. Fry for 10 minutes without moving them, until the skin is deep golden and crisp, then turn and brown the other side for 2 minutes. Lift onto a plate.
14 min, mostly hands-off
2
Meanwhile, slice the onion, cut the peppers into strips and thinly slice the garlic. Crumble the stock cube into 150ml boiling water.
3
Pour off all but 1 tbsp of the fat. Cook the onion and peppers in the pan for 8 minutes, until soft and starting to colour, then add the garlic and oregano for a minute.
4
Splash in the vinegar and let it bubble away, scraping up the brown bits. Stir in the tomatoes, purée and stock, then nestle the chicken back in, skin side up and sitting just above the sauce.
5
Simmer with the lid ajar for 30 minutes. Scatter in the olives and cook for 5 minutes more, until the chicken is tender and cooked through with no pink near the bone, and the sauce is thick.
36 min, mostly hands-off
6
Season and scatter with chopped parsley. Serve, or leave to cool and portion into tubs, two thighs to each.

On the day

Reheat, covered, until piping hot all the way through, so the chicken stays moist. Serve with thick slices of sourdough for the sauce.

Cook’s tip

Keep the skin above the sauce as it simmers. It will not stay crisp, but it keeps its colour instead of going pale and flabby.