Easy Speasy Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore

OK boys and girls, this one is soooo easy. When you're plating up this dish, your family or guests' mouths will be watering and they will love it. You'll feel like Bobby Flay, even if you don't look like him.


Prep Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 to 25 minutes

Serves : 4 to 6

Total time to plating and serving: 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces fettuccini, cook al dente
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
4 (about 1 pound) skinned, boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic - smashed - which means that you take a big old knife. Place your garlic cloves (I prefer the already skinned ones that come in a bottle and are available at your local supermarket in the refrigerated produce section). Take the flat end of the knife and place it on top of the clove to be smashed. Take your right or left hand (depending on if you are right or left handed, of course), ball it up into a fist and smash it into the flat end of the knife, making your clove now smashed. :-)
2 cups (about 8 ounces) fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 (26-ounce) jar roasted garlic pasta sauce. I like Classico roasted garlic sauce but use whatever floats yer boat
1 slice of mozzerella or provolone cheese for each breast

DIRECTIONS:

In a shallow dish, combine the flour and Italian seasoning. Coat the chicken with the mixture. In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the chicken in hot oil; remove the chicken from the skillet and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess grease. Add the mushrooms, garlic and onion to skillet; cook and stir until tender. Add the pasta sauce and chicken. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Top each chicken breast with cheese.

Serve with hot pasta. I am making the assumption that you know how to cook pasta. That could be a big mistake on my part.

Cooking pasta - take a large (8 quart) cooking pot, fill it 3/4 way full with water. Add about two tablespoons of Kosher salt and bring to boil. When your water is boiling, add the pasta slowly and reduce heat to simmer. Give the pasta a good stir every now and again to make sure that it isn't sticking together or to the pot itself. You want your pasta to be firm but not crunchy and definetely not mushy. So how do ascertain this desired degree of "doneness" for your pasta you may ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. After about five minutes, you simply take a large fork and fish out a piece of pasta. It is going to be hot as hades, so I suggest blowing on it to cool it off a bit. Then taste it. If it's firm and not crunchy, it's done. Take your pasta off the stove and strain in a collander. Once strained rinse with cold water to remove excess starch.

Now plate everything up and serve to your impressed and hungry guests. Bon apetite` .

This is the type of pot that you want to cook your pasta in. It doesn't have to look like this pot, per se, but you want it to be big. Why big you may ask? I'm glad that you asked. The reason you want a big pot is so that the water molecules have enough room to move around the pasta to cook it thoroughly and evenly. If you use a small pot and jam a 16 oz. package of pasta into it, you'll wind up with mush, that will be better to put to use as wallpaper paste than to serve to your guests.