I wanted to make it five year old friendly so I left out the mushrooms, onions and peppers which are usually in the recipe. My son has taken the new stance that everything that smells is bad. This already had a smell which was one strike against it. Of course, the smell was amazing and had my husband and I ready to eat it!!
The first step was breading the chicken cubes. I always keep a bag of the cubes in the freezer so this is a perfect recipe to use them on.
Add 2 tbsp oil to the pan and brown the chicken on each side.
Once the chicken cubes are brown, you can push them over to the side of the pan so that they stay warm or remove them and put on a plate or bowl.
I went with the tomato sauce and decided to use 15 oz because that was the can that I had. It is always better for me to use the stuff that is open and not add another open can with diced tomatoes. I put the pile of the spice packets next to the sauce so that I would be ready to add them when it was time.
I added all of the tomato paste and the seasonings from the packets.
Mix it all together and simmer on the stove until the pasta or rice is ready.
I started the water a little late for the pasta but you might want to start it while you are still browning the chicken.
I tossed the pasta in the sauce to coat and put it on the plate topped with the chicken. It smelled amazing and tasted even better. We haven't had chicken pasta before and we will be making it again soon.
I hope that you try this recipe for you and your family. It was a nice change for us and we really enjoyed the flavor of the sauce so we might even try the sauce for our pasta too. Let me know what you think after you try it!!
Chicken Cacciatore
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp marjoram leaves
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp crushed rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
1/4 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken cut into 1 inch cubes
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
15 oz tomato sauce (originally only 8 oz)
Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Coat the chicken evenly with flour mixture.
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add chicken to the pan but make sure it isn't touching or it won't brown evenly. Brown on one side and flip to brown on the other side. Move the chicken to the side of the pan as it is completely cooked until you cook all of the chicken through.
Start pasta cooking to make sure it is cooked when the chicken is done.
Add tomato sauce and remaining seasoning to the pan of chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to love and simmer 5 minutes or until pasta is done. When pasta is completely cooked, drain the pasta and toss the pasta in the sauce. Serve with chicken served on top of pasta.
In original recipe but not in mine:
8 oz mushrooms thinly sliced
1 c onion, coarsely chopped
1 c green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
This could easily be mixed together for a side dish to the main meal with a little of the sauce from the other dish so that those who like those veggies can still enjoy the whole dish.
Note: This would also be good on top of rice to make a little bit of a different meal.
If you have a food processor, its a great tool to sneak those veggies in that kids hate. My kids eat peppers and onions pureed up into tomato sauce all the time and are clueless (and mushroom too sometimes). Tomato sauces are great for hiding other veggies. One of their favorite sauces actually involves cooking and eggplant till soft and blending it up and adding it to the sphagetti sauce. Cracks me up when they devour it. Thanks for the blog. I love following the blogs of the fellow moms who live in northern Virginia.
ReplyDeleteSo funny because we aren't a big fan of texture here and I often blend everything to make it smooth. We all like it better and there is no picking and complaining from my son or husband :) I haven't done it with eggplant though. I would have to sneak that one past my husband. My tummy is not a fan of green peppers so those never go in but I will try it next time with the rest. So glad to meet another mom from Northern VA :)
DeleteOh yum!! I'm going to have to try a GF version of this!!
ReplyDeleteSuper easy switches to make it Gluten Free on this one. I hope that you like it. My husband and I keep joking that these recipes taste like they are from a restaurant and it seems like the missing link is the marjoram which is a spice that I don't normally cook with. I am totally figuring out lots of new recipes with my new favorite and very flavorful spice. I told my mom that and she said that she had never cooked with....obviously the reason why I haven't either :) Gotta love new recipes to expand the menu (and the palate).
DeleteI haven't had marjoram in my spice cabinet in years. I'll have to add one to my herb garden this summer so I can stock up for the year.
DeleteLet me know how the fresh stuff is because ours is the dried ones. I might have to grow it but I this year is going to be basil and a new rosemary plant because ours didn't make it this year. Most of my other herbs didn't fair that well before because I am horrible with plants and we have too many animals that like to visit :)
DeleteWow, that looks yummy! I think may have that McCormicks packet too! But alas, there are no chicken cubes in my freezer. I will keep this in mind the next time I find a good deal on chicken.
ReplyDeleteThey have chicken in the butcher counter at HT for $1.99 all the time at my store. Do you have the same thing? I usually get a big batch from Aldi's when it goes for $1.49 or $1.69 per pound and I cut it all up in different things based on what we are going to eat like chicken tenders, chicken cubes and fajita chicken (which is really small so that I can fry them up in the pan really fast). In the summer, I put some marinate on them so that we have them already marinating when they are defrosting. It is the easiest way that I have found to make my menu plan because the stuff is already all cut up and ready to go :) I hope that you try your McCormick recipe and if you get a chance to get them cheap or free again, make sure you try Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes and the Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas because those are our two other favorites! I don't have the packets any more but I keep the recipe card and pull it out all the time!! YUM!
DeleteThis is the kind of recipe my boys would absolutely LOVE, Alison! I am totally going to have to try this. I don't think I've ever made cacciatore before! Thanks so much for sharing on Saturday Night Fever! I hope to see you again tonight!
ReplyDeleteHope you try it soon and your family loves it!! It is really tasty.
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