Chicken Cacciatore

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins Preparation Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 6 chicken legs, bone in (can remove skin if desired)
• 4 chicken thighs, bone in (can remove skin if desired)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup flour
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 5 -6 cloves garlic, crushed
• fresh mushrooms, quartered
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
• fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 -3 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons italian spices
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Recipe

• 1 mix salt, pepper& flour together.
• 2 wash chicken (taking off excess skin& roll in flour mixture).
• 3 put a little onion& a bit of the garlic& a few whole basil leaves in 3/4 the oil, then brown chicken on all sides in the oil.
• 4 remove from the pan and drain on paper towels (may need to add more oil as you go along).
• 5 remove gristle from pan, leaving the oil; add the onion& half the garlic and stir until onion is just wilted, then add, zucchini& mushrooms- cook, stirring for a moment (not long, it will also be cooking in the oven).
• 6 place the browned chicken pieces into a large oven-proof casserole& pour the onion-veggie mixture over the chicken.
• 7 in the same frying pan, add the rest (1/4 cup) of the oil& add the other half of the garlic, then add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, italian spices, and wine.
• 8 simmer a few minutes.
• 9 pour over the chicken, cover and bake in a 350 degree oven about 45 minutes or until the chicken is done; then, uncover the chicken, top with chopped basil& parmesan and bake an additional 15-20 minutes to allow cheese to melt& sauce to thicken.
• 10 serve with rice with a little of the sauce on top.
• 11 note: to reduce fat& calories, you can remove the skin from the chicken& omit the olive oil from the sauce.
• 12 i prefer to remove the skin while eating- the basil& chesse form a kind of crust so you can still have that without the skin.
• 13 cooking with the skin on keeps the chicken moist.