A very nice lady, who’s a member of a pet-related message board I’m also a member of, posts great recipes in Cooking forum with pictures (pictures a big help for idiots like me) for each step, and she teaches me online how to cook and does some virtual hand-holding for me. And yesterday, I cooked Chicken Cacciatore following the recipe posted by her, and oh man, I totally surprised myself. Cause it was heavenly. So without further ado, here is the Chicken Cacciatore recipe.

Ingredients (The texts in blue are added by me.)

6 chicken legs (but you can use breasts too) I used 5 legs because I didn’t think 6 will fit in the biggest pan I have, and I was right. We are debating whether Canadian chickens are smaller than American chickens (she’s a French-Canadian).
1/4 cup flour I know, I know, flour is evil.
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (canola) I used about 3 Tbsp according to the special note further down.
1 small onion, diced small Apparently, dicing is the same as chopping.
1 small green bell pepper (or red), diced I used red because I thought it would look better.
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped I love me some garlic, I’m not telling how much I used.
1/2 tsp oregano You know, the dried spice thingmajig
1/2 tsp thyme Again, the dried spice thing. Dried thyme leaves, NOT ground thyme. hehehe
1 tsp salt Usual salt, not the kind you use on the icy road.
1 tsp ground pepper You know, pepper as in salt and pepper.
1 tsp paprika It’s a red spice which fooled me into thinking it’s spicy hot. But it’s not.
2/3 of a can (28 oz) of either diced tomatoes, or whole tomatoes that you chop. I prefer the plum tomatoes, they are meatier, have less juice. I used the plum shaped whole tomatoes. I chopped them on the chopping board, and made a huge mess. I was told later that she does this in a bowl using a fork and a knife.
1 (7-1/2 oz) tomato sauce (NOT tomato paste) I’m pretty sure she added “NOT tomato paste” for my benefit.
1/2 cup red wine Hmm… wine… I usually have some wine at home, but I need to get some cheaper wine for cooking.

Instructions (Not copied verbatim)

Remove skin and fat as much as possible from the chicken. I do this very often to feed my dogs, so I didn’t need any further explanation.

Put the flour in a plastic bag, put the chicken, one piece at a time, into the bag and shake it so that the chicken gets nicely coated with the flour. I used a Ziplock. And it so happens that you’re supposed to shake the bag, not your booty.

Pour the oil in a pan, and brown the meat on all sides. To brown you have to cook at high (but not the highest temperature or they will burn) temperature. I was told that since no body parts of a chicken is shaped like a cube, “brown on all sides” will still leave some parts pink. Boy, was I relieved. I was trying everything to get rid of those pink parts. But then again, there’s a rumor that Canadian chicken legs have cube-like shapes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. You’ll need a big dish for this.

Cook the diced bell pepper, onion and garlic in the same oil in the pan, stirring occasionally until the veggies are tender and onion turns translucent, at high temperature, but not the highest (7 or 8 out of 10).

After they’re done, remove the excess oil. You can do it with a spoon, or tip the pan over the sink, but it’s a bit harder to do and it’s takes experience, or all your veggies will fall in the sink.
***NOTE: What you could also do, is instead of using 1/2 cup of oil to cook just put about 2-3 tbsp of oil, but be more careful that the chicken legs and the veggies don’t stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. As I said earlier, I chose the easy way for myself.

Put the chicken back into the pan and add all the rest of the ingredients and mix well. I couldn’t mix anything because the chicken legs were so big. I was told to take some chicken legs out and mix next time.

Simmer, for at least 1-1/2 hour, with a cover. And at about 1/2 of the cooking time, turn the chicken legs over, and scraped the bottom of the pan. To protect the bottom of a non-stick pan, use a big wooden spoon. Again, I think the wooden spoon reference was for my benefit.