Chicken and “Chicken-Less” Cacciatore with CEimB

It was Craving Ellie In My Bellie (CEimB) night!   Read on troops!

Ted picked out the chicken in the grocery store. I asked “would you prefer boneless breasts?”  He said “No. The bone in breasts will have more flavor”.  So we bought a huge package of 5 Jumbo Chicken breasts (left overs in mind).  Skin attached. 

The Substitutions:

For my version, the “chicken-less” version, I used “Quorn” Naked Cutlets and canned mushrooms.    For both dinners I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Here is a picture of the ingredients used and offerings of other tid bits.

I didn’t need the red wine. I had enough white for both dinners.  See those 3 red peppers? They were SO small, but adorable little things!  That was one big, honkin’ onion and Ted isn’t real enthusiastic over onions, so I used 1/2 for him and 1/2 for me.  The vine ripe tomatoes were delish!  Finally, the olive oil used was infused with sundried tomato, garlic and fresh rosemary.

Chicken Cacciatore Starting Ingredients (chicken looks pretty ugly raw)

• I had to skin the chicken.  Can you even imagine what this was like for a Vegetarian?!  Lets just say, it wasn’t one of the most pleasing experiences.  Pause was taken after skinning to thoroughly wipe down the sink, counter, salt and pepper grinders with  Disinfecting Wipes.  Where was Ted during all this fun?  Well, he totally bailed on me by going to get the oil changed in the car.  But that’s ok, because I made SUCH a mess cooking this dinner, and the rule is If You Don’t Cook It, You Clean It.
• After the skinning chore,  I worked 2 pans.  Browning the bird and browning the “pseudo” bird.  One pan got away from me…if you see something black in a pan later in this blog….well, I give!  The other pan was over crowded and barely browned. I knew that right from the get go that there were too many chickens in the coop (get it? …ok lame), but soldiered on anyway.  I browned the chicken for 12 minutes total, due to their size and the fact that I had over crowded.
• I let the onions and peppers soften for 6 minutes due to adding more than the recipe called for.
• After adding the wine, I increased the heat to medium-high to reduce for 6 minutes.
• The recipe was followed here on out.
• The vegetable added was oven roasted brussel sprouts. Steamed, drizzled with EVOO, s & p, and in the oven for 40 minutes at 350.

The comments:   Ted …”I like the sauce. The chicken is putting up a fight”.  Jo … ” I like it. The sauce is really good”. 

Here’s Ted’s dinner, done as per Page 204 of “The Food You Crave” by Ellie Krieger.

Chicken Cacciatore

a close up view

Now… Jo’s “Chicken-less Cacciatore”. You’ll notice it is a lot drier looking.

a close up of the NON -Bird

Now I present….and prepare for the worst…. the OTHER side of Jo’s chicken….

The "black" side of working 2 dinners

Yep. I let side one of browning the Quorn get away from me.  Oh well… that stuff happens.

It was a fun recipe. Ted has lots of good left overs.  My only negative comment would be (and this was due to my over zealousness by doing 2 different courses at one time), a bit too much adding and timing for a week night.