I’ll be honest – I don’t know what ‘Cacciatore’ is – sounds gourmet though, doesn’t it?
While my version is certainly not gourmet, I’ve made it twice and have really been enjoying it, so I am putting it here so I can remember – and of course, if any of you out there dare to try it (or have a tip to improve it), feel free to do so.
Ingredients:
- 6 chicken thighs
- 1 bottle Whole Foods 365 Organic Mushroom Marinara Sauce
- 2 cups fresh grated romano cheese
- 1 large onion, chopped
- a dozen shakes of the canned grated italian cheese
- pinch cayenne pepper
- pinch garlic powder
- pinch oregano
Get a plastic bag large enough for the chicken and put the spices and the canned grated cheese in it, then toss the chicken in. Then close the bag and rub the chicken with the dry spices.
Next, fry the chicken in a little butter with the onions until cooked. Then throw in the sauce, and turn to simmer for maybe 15 minutes.
Take it out of the pan, place in a serving dish, and cover with the fresh grated cheese. You’re done.
A few notes – being this is an experiment, there’s a few issues with this recipe – and a few points to remember:
- The canned grated cheese, from a food-quality standpoint, can range from so-so to awful. Check the ingredients – try to find the ones that are actually cheese as opposed to the ones that are cheese-flavored God-Knows-What. Or leave it out.
- The Whole Foods Organic Mushroom Marinara is about the lowest carb pasta sauce I can find without resorting to the prohibitively expensive Rao’s pasta sauce. Rao’s is good, but the Whole Foods is good enough.
- I’ve been adding the sauce to the fry pan, which has been adding a slightly burnt ‘note’ to the sauce flavor. If that’s not you’re thing, warm the sauce in a separate pot, then transfer the chicken to that pot after done frying.
- I don’t know how to fry chicken to save my life. It sticks to the pan, and pulls the skin off – and I undercooked it once, necessitating giving it a ride in the microwave for a few minutes to be sure I wasn’t eating chicken tartar. Perhaps I should bake it?
- Despite the chicken-frying fiasco, covering the cooked chicken in sauce hides a multitude of sins – no one will know how badly you screwed it up.
As I have been working with so many numbers in my day job as of late, and still haven’t done my taxes, I have no desire to count anything other than what I have to – so I have no calorie, fat, carb or nutrition count for you.
All I can tell you is that I’ve lost 7 lbs. in the past 5 days – and have been eating this stuff. While I am not claiming this to be some ‘magic weight-loss recipe’, whatever its nutritional make-up is, it hasn’t prevented weight loss.
Low Carb Confidential 
I really like the low carb version you have created. I also used to have some trouble with chicken. I finally was able to come up with a fool proof method by blackening it in a pan then finishing in the oven or flattening it so it will cook in the pan. There is a post on my blog with more detail.
I checked your post, Arthur. Some good ideas. I have ruined cast iron in the past, though – I didn’t follow your rules. This might encourage me to try again, though.
What’s your thoughts on the pre-seasoned pans? Are they good or bad?