Chicken Cacciatore

In the final chapter, entitled "Keeping the Good" Silvia and her family gather for a dinner commemorating Vince's graduation from high school at a restaurant called The Central Cafe.  This was the name of a restaurant in Hammonton where my mom and I would go to eat gnocchi with marinara sauce. One of the dishes they order is Chicken Cacciatore and you can find the recipe below from simplyrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS

·         One 3 1/2 pound chicken, cut into pieces

·         2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

·         1 cup thinly sliced onions

·         2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

·         Salt and freshly ground pepper

·         1/3 cup white wine

·         2 cups peeled and chopped, firm ripe tomatoes (or canned plum tomatoes in their juice)

METHOD

1 Rinse chicken and pat dry. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat, add the onions and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally. Push the onions to the side. Season the chicken pieces with salt on all sides. Add the chicken pieces, skin-side down. Cook until the chicken skin is golden brown, then turn pieces over and brown on the other side. Add the garlic to the pan and cook a minute more.

2 Sprinkle pepper over the chicken. Add wine and simmer until reduced by half. Add the tomatoes, lower the heat and cover the skillet with the lid slightly ajar.

3 Cook the chicken on a low simmer, turning and basting from time to time. Cook until the thighs are very tender and the meat is almost falling off the bones, about 40 minutes. If the stew starts to dry out, add a couple tablespoons of water.

Yield: Serves 4-6.