Pollo alla cacciatora is served in many regions of Italy, but when you see lots of fresh rosemary and tomatoes it is a dead giveaway—you know it is from Tuscany. And in this case the dish is typical of Maremma, straightforward and elementary, with nothing more than good chicken, good tomatoes, and fresh rosemary to make it delicious. This dish ought to be done in advance, as it gets better as it sits. Though it is delicious served as is with just some crusty bread, I especially love it with polenta. And when it is too hot to cook polenta, some tubular pasta, like rigatoni, will do just fine. If you have some left over, just pluck the meat off the bones and save it for another meal, to dress pasta or make a risotto with it.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Recommended Equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Rinse the chicken, and pat the pieces dry. Season all over with 1 teaspoon salt.
Step 2
Pour the olive oil in the pan, and set over medium-high heat. Lay chicken pieces in the pan, skin side down, to brown for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn them over and brown another 2 to 3 minutes. Scatter the sliced garlic into the hot fat, in between the chicken pieces, then drop in the rosemary stems, and sprinkle the peperoncino over.
Step 3
Keep turning the chicken pieces until they’re nicely browned all over, 10 minutes or so, then pour in the tomatoes. Slosh the tomato can with a cup of water, and pour that in too. Sprinkle over it another 1/2 teaspoon salt, raise the heat, and turn and stir the chicken in the tomato juices as they come to a boil.
Step 4
Cover the pan, leaving it a crack ajar, and adjust the heat to maintain a steady bubbling in the pan; cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and turning the chicken. Remove the cover and cook another 20 minutes or more, until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the tomato sauce is slightly reduced but still loose.
Step 5
You can serve right away, but I prefer to let the chicken cool in the sauce and reheat later.
