Cacciatore is an Italian dish that is usually a stew made with local ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms added to meat. Chicken cacciatore is a popular version of the dish, but heart-healthy versions use boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. The dish can be made in a crock-pot and served with whole-wheat pasta, polenta, or brown rice. Fresh ingredients are recommended for the best flavor.
Cacciatora translates to Italian as hunter and refers to food that might be prepared over an open stove, usually a stew, with local ingredients such as onions, tomatoes and mushrooms added to the meat. You may be more familiar with Cacciatore spelled as hunter, which is mostly an Americanized version. One of the most popular foods prepared in the cacciatore style is chicken all cacciatore, which translates to chicken cacciatore or chicken cacciatore stew.
Most cacciatore meals use a whole meat carcass, minus the giblets, and simply cut the carcass into easy-to-eat chunks and often include slices of salami or other spicy sausage. Both rabbit and chicken can be prepared this way, and the bones are left in most cases. The meat is stewed in the cacciatore sauce, made of tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms, red wine if you have it on hand, and perhaps other vegetables. Several Italian spices can be used, and bay leaf is especially common. The meat is cooked in most cases until it literally falls off the bone. The simmering of the meat in the sauce makes for a very flavorful meat and a delicious meal.
You’ll find chicken cacciatore in many Italian restaurants, but anyone following a heart-healthy diet may find a restaurant’s versions too high in fat. This is mainly because the skin is left on any meat used, which adds extra flavor. As the cacciatore style is popular, there are now numerous healthy versions for the conscientious eater.
The main difference between the heart-healthy versions and the regular style of chicken cacciatore is that boneless skinless chicken breasts are preferred over the cut of a whole chicken. You can also use turkey breasts, pork cutlets, or a variety of other low-fat cuts of meat. Since you don’t want the chicken breasts to completely fall apart, they can be cooked for a slightly shorter cook time than regular cacciatore. They should still be simmered for several hours to absorb the wonderful flavors of the sauce.
With a minimum of olive oil used to prepare a low-fat cacciatore, you can have a pleasant, low-cholesterol dish. If you present the final meal served with whole-wheat pasta, polenta or brown rice, you have a very well-balanced meal with lots of flavour. The traditional cacciatore is more likely to be presented over durum wheat pasta, but polenta and white rice are also likely choices.
If you don’t have much time to cook, there are numerous recipes for cacciatore made in pots. This is actually one of the easiest crock-pot meals to make since it doesn’t usually require flouring and frying the meat before assembling the ingredients. Most purists suggest avoiding cacciatore recipes that suggest using tomato sauce or tomato paste as a base. You can definitely get away with using canned fresh tomatoes, or if you have plenty in your garden just use freshly picked ones. In general, the fresher your ingredients, the better the final product.
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