Black olive recipe: Chicken cacciatore with black olives

This cacciatore is a classic Italian dish with tender chicken thighs, tomatoes, red wine, garlic and black olives.

Chicken cacciatore, alla cacciatora in Italian, meaning “hunter’s-style chicken”. Marcella Hazan explains that “there has always been a hunter in nearly every Italian household, every Italian cook prepares a dish with a claim to that description”.

Chicken cacciatore can be prepared in a number of ways. In this recipe, we use tomatoes, red wine, garlic and some black olives.

Ingredients:

6 Bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, fat edges trimmed off
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
3 tbsp Hanoli Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
1 (6 oz) can Olympias Kalamon black olives, drained
⅓ cup Flour (optional)
1 Red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 Shallots, ½” sliced
8 oz Crimini mushrooms, ends removed, sliced
6 Cloves garlic, thinly sliced or roughly chopped
1 cup Chicken stock
1 cup Red wine (like pinot noir)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 (14 oz) can Crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes, optional
Fresh basil, optional
Parmesan, optional

Instructions:

Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Season it with salt and pepper on both sides.
Heat the oil in a braiser pan set over medium-high heat.
Place the flour on a plate. Gently dredge the chicken in the flour on both sides. This is optional. If you skip this step, the chicken will brown a little less quickly and the sauce will be slightly less thick

4. Place the chicken into the hot oil skin side down for 5 minutes, without disturbing (adjust heat if browning too quickly) flip and repeat on the other side. Remove the chicken from the pan onto a plate.

5. Toss the bell pepper, shallots and mushrooms into the pan and sauté for 4 minutes until the onions begin to soften, add the garlic for the last minute or two of this step.

6. Add the chicken stock, wine, Italian seasoning and stir to combine. Nestle the chicken thighs back into the liquid. Bring the liquid to a boil then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 7 minutes.

7. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and olives and simmer for 20-25 minutes longer until sauce has thickened and the internal temperature of the chicken thighs registers 165°F on an instant read thermometer.