Chicken Cacciatorie, on the Stovetop or in the Slow Cooker

I first made Chicken Cacciatorie in grade eight.  My mother was often out and about, with her many activities, and when she was not home after school, it was my responsibility to make dinner for the family.  Coming home from school, and finding chicken in the fridge, I wanted to make something other than "Shake and Bake", so, I pulled out my cook book, and looked for something that we had ingredients for.  There were frozen carrots and onions in the freezer, and canned tomatoes and spaghetti in the cupboard.  We didn't have any garlic, but we did have garlic salt.  Chicken Cacciatorie looked like it would work.  I thought cacciatorie sounded Italian, so, substituted my Uncle Dave's  Italian Herb mixture for the seasonings called for in the recipe.  Chicken Cacciatorie became and instant family favourite.

Over the years, this recipe has evolved, as have my cooking skills.  It continues to be a staple comfort food for my family, so when Claire, in her last week before crits and exams, was grumbling about the quality of take out food available in her university town, it was Chicken Cacciatorie that I prepared and dropped off as a care package.

Chicken Cacciatorie

6 chicken thighs with bone in
2 medium onions coarsely cut
1 shallot finely cut
3 or 4 cloves of garlic depending on size
olive oil
2 cups chicken stock for stove top, or 1 cup for slow cooker
1/2 cup of red wine
1 28oz can of stewed tomatoes, preferably San Marano tomatoes
2 or 3 large carrots, peeled and coarsely cut
2 parsnips, peeled and coarsly cut
1/2 cup of dried black olives
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
1branch of rosemary
2 or 3 bay leaves depending on size
1/2 teaspoon of pepper corns
1/4 teaspoon of dried chile flakes
salt and peper
parmigiano reggiano shavings

Heat olive oil in large cast iron pan.  Cook onions, shallots and garlic until soft. Set a sisde.  Brown chicken, and add onion mixture back into pan.  Add chicken stock, tomatoes and wine. Add herbs, carrots and olives and pepper corns and chile flakes.  Bring to boil, turn down heat, cover and simmer for about an hour.  Spoon off any oil or fat that is on the surface.  Remove chicken and vegetables and reduce liquid by half over medium heat.  Replace chicken and vegetables in liquid.  Taste and salt as required.

I also cook this in my slow cooker, reducing the chicken broth by half.   The night before, I  brown the chicken and sauté the onions.  I put the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker,  carrots next, and then everything else on top.  I leave the crock from the slow cooker in the fridge overnight, and then the next morning, before leaving for work, take it out of the fridge, place the crock back in the slow cooker and set it at low for the day.  If for cooker has a timer, set it for 6 hours,  however I have found an extra couple of hours still works.  When I get home, I remove the chicken and carrots, turn the slow cooker to high, remove the lid  and reduce the fluid to half.  Adjust seasoning, return chicken and vegetables to crock and serve.

This is good on it's own, or served over pasta. Finish with cheese shavings.

Vegetarian Chilli

Vegetarian Chili

When my daughter decided to become a vegetarian in grade school, I was motivated to ensure she was eating a balanced diet, however, I was not as thrilled about the idea of eating food that tasted overly righteous.  I had visions of the sixties and seventies and all those vegetarian restaurants that served brown mush. Equally as unappetizing was the idea of tofu disguised as fake meat.

Chilli had been a family staple, and substituting chunks of portabello mushrooms for the meat provided some depth and and texture while not straying too far from our family fav, even if it was dangerously close to a brown mush dish.

If I am organized, the night before, I soak the beans in water with an onion, some thyme and a bay leaf on low in the slow cooker.  Alternately,  I use canned beans in the chili the day of.

When cooked in a slow cooker, the flavours tend to be more complex, because they have the time to meld together.  This recipe also works well on the stove top, in heavy pot and of course, tastes better the next day.

Serves 6 with left overs

• 1 cup of dried black beans, or 1 14 oz can
• 1 cup of dried kidney beans, or 1 14 oz can
• 1 cup of well washed quinoa
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 3 large onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, cut into 1" squares
• 1 zucchini, cut into 1/4" slices
• 1 red pepper, cut into 1" squares
• 5 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 28 oz  can of whole tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 -2 tablespoons of chilli powder depending on the amount of heat you are comfortable with
• 1/2 dried chili, seeds removed to lessen the heat,
• 1/2 teaspoon Spanish piquant paprika,
• 11/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 branch of fresh thyme, or about 1/2 teaspoon of dried
• 1/2 cup of red wine,
• 2 tablespoons of coco powder
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoons of pepper corns
• 2 bay leaves
• smokey salt, salish
• fresh cilantro

In a heavy pan, I prefer cat iron, sauté onions in some of the olive oil, add garlic soften. Place in large cast iron pot or slow cooker. Next sauté the mushrooms, and red pepper, add more olive oil if necessary in the frying pan, add zucchini last and soften.  Add chillies, paprika, cumin and turmeric.  Cook for about a minute.  Transfer to the pot.  Add the remainder of the ingredients except the cilantro. If using a slow cooker, turn to low and leave for 6 hours on low, or high for 4 hours.    On the stove top let simmer for at least an hour.  The longer the better.  Taste and add finishing salt if required.   

Serve with fresh cilantro.  My daughter does not eat dairy, however, I will add a dollop of yogurt, or sour cream on top of mine.   

My experimentation with Moroccan cooking began when my brother Jordan gave me a tagine for Christmas a few years ago.  I tried the few recipes that came with the tagine and was hooked and so began my search for recipes that I could cook in this fabulous new vessel.    I started with lamb tagines, and then vegetable tagines and only recently, after my friend Ruth made me a fabulous dinner of chicken with preserved lemons and olives when I visited her in Nice this past Christmas, did I start to experiment with this most traditional of Mediterranean dishes.  

I made this dish recently for a pre-wedding event I hosted, in a tagine and have also used a slow cooker on week nights when entertaining.  Ruth made her dish in a large enamelled French cast iron pot with a tight lid.   

Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives

serves 6                                                                               Preheat oven to 350F

• 6 chicken thighs, excess fat removed
• kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 5 cups of yellow onions, coarsely sliced
• 2 tablespoons of dried coriander
• 2 teaspoons of ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons of finely chopped ginger
• 1 teaspoon of saffron threads
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 cups of chicken stock
• 6 quarters of preserved lemon rind  (note below)
• 1/4 cup of pitted cracked green olives and 1/4cup of dried black olives
• I 400 gram can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro

Salt chicken legs and brown in 1/2 the olive oil.  Set aside. Drain off excess chicken fat and add the remaining olive oil.  Add onions to pan and sauté until a golden colour, add a pinch of salt and the spices and stir for about a minute.

Chop stems of cilantro and add to onion mixture, 

Put the onion mixture in bottom of tagine, pour tomatoes  over onions, and place chicken on top.  Add chicken stock,  and tuck in bay leaves. 

Place lid on tagine and place water in cap at top of tagline.  Place in cold oven and then turn oven on to 180 C 350 F and cook for 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and add lemon and olives. Cover and place back in the oven, then turn off oven and let cool until ready to serve, a minimum of 20 minutes.  Chop fresh cilantro and sprinkle on top before serving.   

Serve with couscous

Preserved Lemons

I have had difficulty finding preserved lemons in all but the most expensive specialty stores, and consequently began preserving lemons myself.  Something that sounds exotic and unapproachable is remarkably easy to prepare with ingredients that are available at every grocery store.   I began by using predominately salt, until Ruth showed me the lemons from a friends garden she had preserved last fall using mostly olive oil.   When I returned home, I immediately started exploring options for preserving lemons and now have settled on a method that combines salt, lemon juice and sometimes spices, topped up with olive oil.  

I put about a half inch of kosher salt in the bottom of a sterilized large mouthed one quart bottle.  After cutting the lemons almost through from top to bottom in quarters, while still leaving attached at bottom, pack each lemon with salt and put in bottle.  Push the lemons down adding thin layers of salt between the lemons.  When the bottle is full, force a more few lemon quarters into the bottle.  Then add fresh squeezed lemon juice to fill all the voids in the bottle.  Top up with lemon juice once the juice has settled.   Put the lid on the jar and turn the bottle upside down a few times, then loosen the lid a bit and leave to ferment.  Every day for a week, turn the bottle over a few times.  Don't forget to tighten the lid before turning and loosen again to allow the gases from fermentation to escape.  If necessary top up with lemon juice to keep the bottle full.  The bottle may ooze a bit for the first week or two as the lemons ferment.  The lemons will be ready in a month. Top up with olive oil, to seal the bottle, to prevent the top layer of lemons from oxidizing.  If you are keeping the lemons more than a few months, storing in a dark place will preserve the colour.  The preserved lemons keep upwards of a year.

I often put a cinnamon stick, some cloves, pepper corns and a few star anise in the bottle with the lemons at the beginning of the process.  My other favourite combination is bay leaves, rosemary and thyme.