Chicken cacciatore with penne

July 7th 2010

My first blog, wow amazing where will this lead me?

Home from work tonight to find a pack of chicken tenderloins waiting to be cooked for dinner. My first instinct was to knock up a Chicken Parmigiana with Mashed Potatoes and Grean Beans, but once I started in on the sauce I noticed some Kalamata Olives and Sun Dried Tomatoes and suddenly I was creating my take on Chicken Cacciatore with Penne.

Starting with a sliced onion and a little olive oil in my heavy based frying pan, then adding red and green capsicum, whilst they were cooking on a low heat I diced some crushed garlic, slice a red chilli which I added along with the kalamata olives, sun dried tomato's and a teaspoon of dried italian herbs mix. The aromas are building nicely now, after a couple of minutes I added the sliced chicken tenderloins, letting them rest in the middle of the pan to brown for a minute then turning to do the other side and then mixing in with the other ingredients, stirring occassionally. I let this cook for 2 - 3 minutes, then add a cup of dry white wine, deglazing the pan and getting any bits stuck to the pan into the sauce with my wooden spoon. I then add 3 very ripe fresh tomatoes, mix them in and top it off with 2 cans (440 grams) diced tomatoes.

I like to add the fresh tomatoes so as there are some chunky bits in the finished sauce. Now I place the lid on the pan and turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes whilst I cook the penne.

Once the penne is cooked, it is drained, I make the final adjustments to the sauce seasoning with salt and pepper and add the pasta to the sauce, mix in well, turn the heat off and let it sit for a few minutes whilst I set the table.

Served up with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and garlic bread, mmm Bon Appetit, oh and a glass of Jo's favorite red, of course!!