“Breakfast for Dinner”. “Soup for Dinner”. “Freezer Food”. “Starchy Sides”. Each chapter has been completed, and truly amazing meals have been produced under the tutelage of Ree Drummond. I look forward to repeating several of these recipes, and tweaking others to make them more to my family’s tastes. But now… now we are getting down to brass tacks. Now it’s time to start making dishes that I am, at best, skeptical about enjoying. Naturally, if one is going to make EVERYTHING in a cookbook, the logical starting point is with the food that looks most delicious, right? Unfortunately, this approach inevitably leads to the least appealing recipes piling up at the end. So it was with grim determination that I set out to make Recipe #118, Chicken Cacciatore, rounding out the chapter, “Comfort Classics”. Fun fact: cacciatore translates to “hunter” in Italian; when is the last time anyone hunted a chicken?? Further research clarified that it just means a meal prepared hunter-style, referring to a protein cooked with vegetables and herbs. Thanks Wikipedia!
Guess what? I really LIKED Chicken Cacciatore! Doesn’t it look good?? And I had very low expectations. Some of that is my own fault; I only had skinless chicken thighs, and to quote Ree directly out of the instructions, “just be sure to leave the skin on, or you’ll regret it the rest of your life!” I have to agree with her; I am deeply regretting the lack of delicious, crispy chicken skin (one of my favorite food groups!), but the lightly floured and butter-browned poultry still turned out to be scrumptious. Also, I did not have mushrooms of any kind. Since Safeway is off-limits, I had to substitute with just about the only produce I have left in the house: frozen celery. 
Not as in, “I went out and bought frozen celery on purpose”, more like I put the celery in the garage fridge and it has been so insanely cold, the poor stalks froze solid. There is a reason that frozen celery is a not “a thing”. It’s pretty gross when it thaws out. Limp and floppy. No good for ants-on-a-log, but to braise with other vegetables? Perfect! Finally, a main component of this recipe was the dreaded bell pepper. Red ones. Green ones. Supposed to be added in big, fat slices. NOT HAPPENING. So in came my mini-sweet peppers to the rescue. I used about 3-4 of these sliced into slivers, because I didn’t want any huge chunks; they practically dissolve when they are small enough!
With these substitutions, I realized I basically ended up with a combination known in Louisiana as “The Holy Trinity” (onions, celery, green bell pepper). This is a classic veggie base for just about all things Cajun, which explains why I’m not a huge fan of New Orleans cuisine… Except shrimp etouffee, because that s**t is BOMB! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, immediately travel to the French Quarter and try it out!)
Back to my point… All these veggies sautéed in butter and oil, then a bunch of white wine (excuse to finish the bottle while cooking!) along with a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes. Here again, I did not have what she called for–just a 14 oz can of diced–so I made up the difference with a can of tomato SAUCE. Not pasta sauce mind you, but the canned variety that is just a tomato puree. To be honest, I think this is a change I will keep for the future, because I like a really saucy topping for pasta. 
Plus, look how nicely it makes a braising liquid for the chicken! Despite all the steps, the recipe came together very quickly, since everything cooked in one pot, and the whole shebang just finished in the oven for 45 minutes. Last but not least, buttered egg noodles with fresh parsley and Parmesan made the perfect “nest”. The kids loved it, I enjoyed it, and I was proved wrong about a recipe I initially rejected. Just goes to show, you can’t judge a recipe by its cover photo!
Have Book, Will Cook 