CHICKEN CACCIATORE

I had some canned tomatoes left over from my meal with mussels and tomatoes on Friday night. So I decided to make chicken cacciatore on Saturday night to use up the tomatoes. Cacciare means to hunt and cacciatore means hunter. So in English does this dish mean the chicken of the hunter? Well I did not hunt my chicken but bought it at the grocery store.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Thighs. ( or you can use any part of the chicken you want like breast, leg etc.)
Can of whole tomatoes.
Olive Oil.
Garlic- a couple of buds chopped. Parsley- some sprigs or dried-a tablespoon.
Oregano tablespoon or two.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Mushrooms if you have some. Fresh or canned.

DIRECTIONS

Take the chicken and fry it in olive oil with chopped garlic and  a sprig of parsley.

Using canned tomatoes.

Mash the tomatoes adding them to the pan of chicken. You can drain some of the oil off the chicken if you wish to reduce calories and fat. Some people like to keep the oil-your choice!

Add oregano. If you grow it in the Summer, fresh oregano is best.  Salt and pepper to taste. Cook the dish until done. The chicken should be cooked completely. Usually 20-30 minutes.

It looks rather lonely on the plate. You can serve the chicken and tomatoes over a long pasta like spaghetti or linguine. Or with a side dish.

For our Saturday night meal along with the chicken cacciatore, I made rapini salad with farfalle pasta.  Not a meal for a king! But for this peasant it was very tasty. Barb topped it off with some chilled white wine. And yes- some dessert! A bowl of ice cream!  It was Saturday night!

#chickencacciatore#leftovertomatoestoagooduse#sidedishwiththechickencacciatore#garlicoreganoparsley#grapalovestocook#adolphdimambro

OREGANO/ORIGANO- ERBA ITALIANA

Oregano is a staple in my cooking. At our home in Italy it was in the garden as it now grows as a perennial plant in my summer garden.

Some oregano drying and a pretty picture Barb took years ago. Anyway, oregano grows easily in the garden. Picking the leaves fresh adds flavour to food. I pick the whole plant even with the purple flowers to dry. The flowers  can be cut off or dried if you want!

Here's some of my fresh "crop" this year. I let it dry thoroughly which can take several days. I lay it out on cookie sheets. It needs to be rotated so all the leaves dry. When very brittle and dry, I use my coffee bean grinder to make it into powder form for use all year long.
Barb marks the containers " Adolph's oregano"!
It is good on pizza of any kind! Bruschetta and just sliced tomatoes taste better with oregano. Chicken cacciatore and Greek Salad are other dishes that benefit from it. I know there are different varieties. Maybe I will do some research on the one I have in the garden.
#oregano#oreganointhegarden#harvestingourownoregano#oreganoisgoodinfood#yesitisreallyoregano