Chicken Cacciatore

Wow, I forgot how fantastic this is.

I made my basic tomato sauce, using 2 big cans of tomatos on low overnight in the crockpot with the lid cracked to allow it to reduce.

In the morning, I added fresh basil and rosemary, and half a bottle of wine, along with well cooked carrots, celery, onion, garlic and 2 pounds of caramelized thin sliced mushrooms. To that, 2 12 oz cans of tomato sauce, and 1 of paste, and a generous squish of anchovy paste from the tube, and since I like the funk, a teaspoon of shrimp powder. Then mixed italian seasoning, salt, pepper flakes to taste, pinch of sugar if it needs it. About a half cup of grated romano brings it home.

My thing about tomato sauce is keeping the temp low to preserve the acids. The classic Jersey grandma with the bubbling boiling cauldron for two days is another kind of sauce. I want my sharp acid notes.

K sauce is done, then last night I marinated bone-in chicken thighs in various potions, Dale's, vinegar, soy sauce, random salty spice mixes that sounded good. Drained those, shake with flour in ziploc bag, the panfry for 5 minutes per side, in small batches. Bone in is just better for this dish, it should be rustic and it just tastes better.

Traditionally this gets braised in the sauce, but I am a daredevil, and laugh in the face of convention. Nope, we're going to bake the rest of the way with a water tray below. 45 minutes at 225 to get core temp of the bones up, then another half hour-45 at 400 ish until it stops dripping fat.

I chose angel hair pasta today, drained and buttered. I made a huge batch to make 8 work lunches. Bagged up 2 handsful of  pasta into a sandwich bag with a thigh on top, and into that bag goes a tiny snack bag full of the sauce.

Man oh man does that all go together well. I really wonder why I don't see it on menus anymore, at least around here.

All done eating, everything cleaned up. That WAS quite a bit of work, probably 3 hours on my feet and more hours waiting around, but maybe kinda worth it.