Chicken Cacciatore

Well, it was a success, one of my boys said this was the best thing he ever tasted! I must admit, it was really good and all the ingredients I had at home(I take great pride in that)! In culinary school we had practicals where all the ingredients were under a black box and we had to "create". To this day, I love this challenge and when the kids ask what's for dinner I excitedly tell them, "black box cooking", groans... Last night though was a different story. Traditionally, chicken cacciatore calls for mushrooms, however I did not have any and the reason is no one in my family likes mushrooms (except me) but I did have some beautiful little fingerlings that I used as a substitute. Also, I used egg noodles but I think pappardelle pasta would be perfect. I added the parsley at the end to give it a little color. I don't think this dish needs more then about 4 1/2 hours but mine cooked 8 since I was gone most of the day, so just leave it in the crock pot if you are gone. Another suggestion, I buy Bell and Evans boneless, skinless chicken thighs at Sunset, they are a really good quality chicken, if you can't find boneless, no worries, the bones will add flavor to the sauce. Incidentally, for those of you that have commented on my journey, I had no pasta or cheese, just wine! Enjoy~


6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 green pepper julienne
½ cup diced inions
3 garlic cloves minced
1 ½ cups of fingerling potatoes; quartered
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
½ cup of white wine
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 tsp. oregano

1 lb. pappardelle pasta or wide egg noodles
Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Italian flat leaf parsley

In a sauté pan add about 11/2 Tbls. olive oil, add chicken and brown (will not be cooked all the way). Add remaining ingredients to your crock pot except pasta, parmesan and parsley, stir well and add chicken. Cook in crock pot until the chicken is fork tender about 4 ½ hours, remove rosemary twigs and add parsley, spoon over cooked pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serves 4.