Chicken Cacciatore

1 lb. chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces

¼ c. white flour

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

½ c. olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

5-6 cloves garlic, peeled and either crushed or halved

1 6-oz. can tomato paste

1 c. apple or white grape juice

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1½ c. chicken broth

¼ tsp. thyme

¼ tsp. marjoram

½ tsp. salt

1 bay leaf

1 c. sliced mushrooms (or more if you love them. Mushrooms are divine in this dish!)

1 green bell pepper, chopped

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add onions and garlic and stir frequently until onions are tender and garlic is fragrant. Remove with a slotted spoon (this is why you need to keep the onion and garlic pieces big), shake off excess oil (you don’t have to go crazy here, a little olive oil never killed anyone!), and transfer to your blender. Increase heat to medium-high.

In a large Ziploc bag, combine flour, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. black pepper. Add chicken pieces, seal bag, and shake to coat pieces with flour. Dump the entire bag into the hot pan and stir quickly to prevent pieces from sticking together. Sauté until chicken is golden. Remove chicken with slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Turn off the heat under the oil.

While chicken is draining, add juice, vinegar, chicken broth, tomato paste, thyme, and marjoram to the onions and garlic in the blender. Blend until smooth. Place chicken and bay leaf in your slow cooker and then pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer for 90 minutes. When you have about 15 minutes to go, add the mushrooms and the chopped green pepper. Cook until mushrooms and pepper are tender. Remove bay leaf and serve over pasta.

This recipe can be found here.