Pollo alla Cacciatora alla Nigella alla...Sorta

Lately I have actually been getting up early enough on Sundays mornings to catch Nigella on the Food Network. It kind of chaps my hide that they only play her at 9:30 am on Sundays, without any re-runs, but they play Rachael Ray and such all the dang time. Same with Jamie Oliver's new show...it's only on 8:30 on Saturday mornings! Is that really when his demographic is watching TV? Do they even want his show to succeed? O.K., enough of the ranting and on to some food.

So this past Sunday, Nigella made her "Express" version of Chicken Cacciatore. Looked easy and yummy, so I made it tonight. I strayed from her recipe, though, and mine wasn't quite AS express as her. But it was still pretty darn simple and really darn tasty.

Sorta-Nigella, Sorta-Iron Stef Chicken Cacciatore

-1/4 lb. bacon, chopped
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 medium white onion, chopped
-5 garlic cloves, minced
-2 shallots, chopped
-2 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
-2 tsp. fresh thyme, stripped from stems
-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut into quarters
-1 tsp. celery salt
-3/4 cups white wine
-2 cans diced tomatoes
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-1 can cannelloni beans
-salt & pepper

In dutch oven, cook bacon in olive oil until brown. Add onions, shallots, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Cook until starting to soften. Add chicken pieces, in batches, getting some brown coloring on them. Sprinkle chicken with celery salt as you cook them. Once all the chicken is browned, but not necessarily cooked through, add everything back to the pot and add white wine. Scrape any yumminess from bottom of pot and bring everything up to a boil. Add tomatoes and sugar, cover and simmer for like 30-45 minutes. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as needed. Add drained cannelloni beans. Cook until beans are hot. If needed (I needed it) add a slurry of cornstarch and cold water to thicken. Serve over whole wheat egg noodles with freshly shredded pecorino romano cheese.

This was good tonight, but I have a feeling that tomorrow it will be even better. Three cheers for Chicken thighs!!!

Lamb & Potato Stew

Here in the Lou we've been hit with sleet and freezing rain and other "wintery mix" precipitation. The streets are dangerous and being outside is a miserable experience. One of the news anchors called the stuff on the ground "Little pellets of DANGER!" Ha! Anyway, it was an evening that called for a hearty stew. I had just recently bookmarked this recipe for Greek potato stew. I loved the addition of kalamata olives! Of course, Jack wouldn't have been a very happy stew-eater unless I added some sort of meat. Lamb was the logical choice, right? I picked up what the store had...2 shoulder blade steaks. I don't know a lot about lamb, but these weren't very expensive, and they looked like they might be a good cut for stewing...a good amount of fat and connective tissue. Without further ado...

Lamb & Potato Greek-ish stew

1 Tbsp. olive oil
9 red potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 lamb shoulder blade steaks, cut up into bite size pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 medium onion, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup kalamata olives, sliced
16 oz. tomato sauce
2 cups stock
1 Tbsp. oregano
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper

Salt lamb. In a dutch oven, brown meat, including the bones, in olive oil. Add garlic, shallots, onion and oregano. Stir until they just start to soften. Add potatoes and stir to coat everything with flavor goodness. Add tomato sauce, stir to coat, then add stock and bay leaves. Simmer for like 45 minutes to an hour, until potatoes are soft. Serve with crumbled Feta cheese.