Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken, onions, herbs and red wine - what's not to love about Chicken Cacciatore. This one pot dish couldn't be easier to do, and you can make plenty of it, because it tastes even better the next day!

My recipe below will make 2-3 servings, but it's easy enough to just double the ingredients to feed more. And you can pair this dish with your favorite pasta.

I like to cook with wine, mainly white wine, but for a deeper wine flavor, red is the way to go. With slow simmering, the alcohol cooks away. And red wine goes especially well in a traditional Italian tomato and herb sauce.

I used a small airline bottle of red wine and it's just enough for my recipe. And I bet you know where I get my small bottles of wine....yep, the 99c only Store. Any red wine you can find cheaply will do.

I also get dried herbs there too. But if you have a herb garden then use fresh herbs. You can even use an Italian dried herb mix.

Chicken is cheap and I get mine at bargain basement prices from my local Latin market. Of course, you can use organic chicken if you can afford it.

So check back for more cheap$kate chicken recipes, and get going with this flavorful and easy to make Chicken Cacciatore.

Ingredients (2-3 servings)
1/2 chicken - or equivalent in chicken pieces. I used 2 leg quarters, that is, 2 thighs and 2 legs. You can leave on the bones and skin, or remove. I used boneless and skinless leg quarters on sale.
1 whole onion - medium size white or yellow, chopped.
14.5 ounce can of tomatoes - whole, chopped or crushed. The main thing is to have some tomato pieces in the sauce. You could use tomato sauce, just add a chopped whole tomato for some texture.
3/4 cup of red wine - I used a small airline bottle amount.Any type of red wine will do.
2-4 sage leaves - or 1/4 teaspoon dried
2-4 sprigs of parsley - or 1/4 teaspoon dried.
1 small sprig of rosemary - or 1/4 teaspoon dried.
1 bay leaf - fresh or dried.
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Serve with pasta, rice or any favorite dry starch that can soak up the delicious Cacciatore sauce.
*It's okay to use an Italian dried herb mix instead of fresh herbs or individual jars of dried herbs - use about a teaspoon total.

Directions
Heat oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook on the skin side until browned, about 5-10 minutes. Don't move chicken for a few minutes so the pieces brown. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper to taste.

The first few minutes all the liquid will come out, then it evaporates and starts to brown. You don't need to cook the chicken pieces all the way through. You will finish cooking the chicken when you add all the liquid ingredients.

Once one side of the chicken is browned, remove and set aside. It's okay to brown one side, this cuts down on cooking time and you will serve the chicken with the browned side showing anyway.

Add a chopped onion and saute and stir to scrape up the tasty brown bits. Cook onion until it softens, about 5 minutes.

Next pour in the red wine and 1 small can of tomatoes. Stir and break apart the tomatoes if they are whole.

Sprinkle on the herbs. Finally add the chicken pieces. It's okay to use a teaspoon of an Italian dried herb mix instead of fresh herbs or from single jars of dried herbs.

Cook uncovered for about half an hour at a low simmer. The sauce will reduce by half and the chicken should finish cooking all the way through. (Depending on your stove top burner, you can add a quarter cup of water at a time, if the liquid cooks away too fast.)

After the chicken has been cooking for 15 minutes, you can make pasta. Follow the package directions.

The pasta should be ready when the Chicken Cacciatore is ready. Remove the bay leaf. Add pasta to a plate and top with some of the chicken and flavorful tomato sauce. Dig in and enjoy.

(You can break up the chicken pieces when they are done, but it's okay to just serve it up, big pieces and all.)

Onion and Parsley Salad Dressing

Sometimes The Miserly Vegetarian abandons meat and digs into a salad. My wife has a large selection of bottled salad dressings stored in the refrigerator door. Most of them are way too sweet and loaded with additives. Hey, I still use them all the time, but I like to make my own on occasion.

The base ingredients are blended oil, vinegar, a fresh herb and an onion. The onion gives my homemade Salad Dressing a creamy texture and a fresh herb adds fragrance and color. For this recipe I used fresh parsley, but you could also use basil, oregano, sage or any favorite herb. Parsley is quite mild so I added a lot; for other herbs you may want to half the amount I have listed below. (Or add a little at a time when blending.)

If you have an herb garden like me then you can't get herbs any cheaper. Onions and lemons are on sale often enough -- while olive oil is the most expensive item, you are not using that much.

My Onion and Parsley Salad Dressing can be added to sandwiches as well. It would pair perfectly with my Veggie Wrap ( for recipe click here.) Store it in the refrigerator in a sealed container and you may find yourself reaching for it more than those bottled, sugary, mystery salad dressing blends.

So check out the list of salad recipes that would host my delicious dressing. And click on a name to see the recipes of: Under 2 Minute Salad, Thai Cucumber Salad, Watermelon, Mango & Spinach Salad, Warm Steak Salad, Cuban Salad, and a Beet & Tangerine Salad. (Wow, I just noticed how short the list is -- I need to remedy this and come up with more...so do check back for healthier leafy fare.)

Ingredients (about 6 servings)

• 1/2 onion - any type. I used a yellow onion
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 bunch parsley - about a cup.
• Juice of one lemon - about a 2 tablespoons, fresh or from jar. Okay to substitute with vinegar.
• Salt and pepper to taste - optional.

Directions
Remove longer stems from parsley. Roughly chop 1/4 onion so it fits into a blender or food processor.

Add both to the blender or food processor. Pour in olive oil. Squeeze in lemon juice (filtering out seeds.)

Pulse/blend until onion is pulverized into a creamy liquid. Parsley is cut into small flakes. Oil and vinegar will be well mixed.

Ready to serve when blended. To store, refrigerate in a container with a tight top so you can shake it before each serving. Will keep for about two weeks, or until herbs start to turn brown.

Argentine Chimichurri Sauce

This is the perfect window herb garden recipe. The Argentine condiment, Chimichurri Sauce, is slathered on meat, chicken and just about anything.

It couldn't be simpler to do: just blend together some parsley, oregano, garlic, vinegar (or lime juice) and olive oil. Similar to an Italian pesto, the result is a pungent and herb infused salad dressing-like mixture that is so addicting you'll understand why it compliments so many entrees.

Besides meat, you can serve the sauce on bread, pasta, a baked potato, or any favorite cooked veggie. (And just yesterday I mixed a tablespoon-full into my breakfast egg scramble.)

I first had it a decade ago at an Argentine restaurant on Sunset Boulevard called The Goucho Grill (now gone.) I would always stop there before viewing an independent or foreign film at the next door Sunset 5 mall movie complex (since taken over by Sundance Cinemas.) Sitting at the counter I watch fire spitting up and around slabs of chicken and rib-eye steaks on the smoking grill grating. First, I would order a cold South American beer (usually Christal) and almost immediately a small bowl of Chimichurri Sauce with a basket of fresh baked sliced white bread would be placed in front of me.

It didn't take long for the sauce, bread and beer to disappear. And there was never enough Chimichurri Sauce, so I always asked for more. With a slight heat from raw garlic, the herbs, oil and vinegar (or lime juice) delivered a punch of intense flavor. I usually ordered a half grilled chicken with fries for less than $10. As I returned again and again, the prices climbed until I felt priced out. But I have no complaints -- it lasted a few years (and I even ordered a more expensive rib-eye steak from time to time.)

Now when I go to the Sunset 5 to get an art film fix I first stop by Carney's (just a few blocks West) for a great $3.75 Happy Hour of a burger, fries and a beer (click here to see my video of the best Happy Hour on the Sunset Strip.)

As I mentions earlier, if you have an herb garden then it couldn't be cheaper to make. And parsley is the least expensive herb at regular markets, and is especially cheap in an ethnic market. Oregano is harder to come by, so it's okay to use it dried from a jar.

So next time roast a chicken, grill a steak, or pan fry fish, make sure to drizzle on The 99 Cent Chef version of Chimichurri Sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of parsley - larger stems removed.
• 1/4 cup of oregano leaves - strip off the leaves from the stems. Okay to use a tablespoon of dried oregano.
• 1/2 cup of olive oil - or a favorite veggie oil.
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar - any type, I used white vinegar. You could use lime or lemon juice instead.
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic - fresh or from a jar.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• A spicy addition is 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

Directions
Remove larger stems from parsley - some stem are okay as they are tender and you are going to blender it all.

Strip off leave from fresh oregano - these stems are hard and woody, so try not to add too much of these.

Add herbs to a food processor or blender. Add the chopped garlic. Pour in the olive oil and blender it all together. Pulse blender until herbs are fine chopped, about a minute.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Add red pepper flakes for extra heat. Pulse blender a couple more times and taste.

Hindsight
Chimichurra Sauce if a great meat marinade as well. Just smear it on your favorite protein and let it sit in the refrigerator about an hour, then fire up the grill or broiler.

Some recipes go with a half mixing of parsley and cilantro. You can add extra oil to stretch the sauce out more.

Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Will last a couple of weeks. When leaves begin to brown then it is done for.

If you do not have a blender then just fine chop the herbs and crush the garlic. Whisk in oil, vinegar and garlic.

Chimichurra Sauce is a great condiment that tops any grilled and roasted meat or fish. It makes a flavorful salad dressing, and also goes well drizzled on potatoes or a favorite veggie. Or just set some out with a loaf of fresh bread from you favorite grocery or deli bakery.

Chickpea Salad with Chorizo

I get recipes from everywhere - from websites to newsprint - but I never duplicate them word-for-word. Mainly, that's because a lot of recipes rely on expensive ingredients (which I must change,) or the list is so long that I have to take a machete to it! But, I've managed to pull a rabbit out of the pan more times than not. It's easy to substitute cheaper chicken for costly bovine, or peanuts for pine nuts. However, every once in a while I manage to find all the ingredients in a recipe for the right price.

I always look forward to the food section that's published every Thursday in our local newspaper, the Los Angeles Times. I've also gotten my share of recipe ideas from the Times' food blog Daily Dish (click here.) They generously encourage their readers to try out the published recipes. In the first week of January they highlighted the 10 Best Recipes of 2011 (for all the recipes, click here.)

One entree really caught my eye: Chickpea Salad with Chorizo, which uses Spanish Chorizo. This chorizo is a cured meat, somewhat  like prosciutto and salami. (But very different from easier-to-get Mexican Chorizo, which I've used for several recipes, like here.) I picked up a few packages of thin-sliced Chorizo at my local 99c only Store. For this entree, the chorizo comes straight from the package - just roughly chop and mix with veggies for a Spanish-style tapas. (A tasty cheap substitution would be easy-to-find salami.)

It's a luscious dish made with budget priced chickpeas (or garbanzo beans,) black olives, cherry tomatoes, parsley, green onion, and garlic; in a tart dressing of lemon juice and olive oil. Of course, I couldn't help changing the recipe a little bit -- you should feel free to do so as well (original recipe is here.) I doubled up on the amount of black olives and tomato. I served the recipe during an impromptu viewing party for the Golden Globes earlier this month, and it was a hit -- eaten up even before Ricky Gervais' opening monologue was through!

So, props to the Los Angeles Times food section for serving up another hit recipe -- and I get to bask in all the glory! You will too, if you give the chintziest of chef's latest recipe a try, literally ripped off the pages of my great daily big city newspaper.

Ingredients (about 2 servings)

• 1 can chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) - 15 ounce can drained.
• 1/2 package of chorizo - about 1.5 ounces. I used 1/2 package of Hormel brand Chorizo that was thin sliced. A tasty substitution is salami, or your favorite cured meat. Chopped or sliced.
• 1/4 bell pepper - L.A. Times recipe used red bell pepper. I used orange, but any color is fine.
• Handful of parsley - chopped, about 2 tablespoons. Optional. I have an herb garden so it's free!
• 2 green onions - chopped. Original recipe called for one -- not enough for me.
• 8-12 cherry tomatoes - slice tomatoes in half. Okay to use a regular medium tomato, chopped.
• 16 black olives - drained from a can. Original recipe called for 12, but I wanted more.
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic - fresh or from jar.

Chickpea Marinade

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice - fresh or from a bottle. Okay to substitute with vinegar (any type.)

Directions
Drain chickpeas and lightly rinse. In a bowl, add chickpeas, olive oil and lemon juice (or vinegar.) Mix well and allow to marinate for a few hours, or overnight. (To be honest, I made this for a Golden Globes viewing party and just mixed everything together at once, then served it a half hour later -- it disappeared in a flash.)

Slice cherry tomatoes in half. Roughly chop the parsley and garlic (if garlic is fresh.) Slice the green onions. For the olives, slice depending on size - I left half of them whole and sliced the rest.

Real Spanish Chorizo comes as a link about the size of a jumbo hot dog wiener. The chorizo I found for 99.99 cents was thin sliced and quite large in diameter, so I just roughly shredded the slices into bite sizes. If you use hard salami (or a favorite cured meat,) then slice or chop into bite sizes.

Finally just add the marinated chickpeas (including the marinade) in a large bowl with all the other chopped and sliced veggies. Mix well. It's ready to serve at either room temperature or chilled. Store any leftovers (not likely) covered in the refrigerator.

Pear and Spinach Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing

Transparently thin pear slices are featured in the latest salad by the master of miserly meals. I've had a metal grater for forever, but seldom use the mandolin blade on the side. It's not quite long enough for wide fruit or some veggies, but works fine for my tart and tasty salad, which also includes spinach and a creamy herb dressing.

Pears have been showing up at my neighborhood grocery stores for way below 99 cents per pound, in a lot of varieties, too. For my Pear and Spinach Salad I used pears that were firm, for easy shaving. You could use soft riper ones if you prefer, but the mandolin might not work well -- so just slice thinly with a knife, or cut into bite sized pieces.

I bought a package of spinach leaves at my local 99c only Store; even my local Latin market often carries one large bunch for a dollar or less.

You can make a simple oil and vinegar salad dressing, or just use your favorite bottled one. But I would recommend you try my Creamy Herb Dressing. The herb part came from a parsley plant in my condo patio garden. You could also use basil if you have a plant. Or, if you are herbless, then a couple of green onions would be a tasty substitution.

The cream base is mayo and milk that is sweetened with honey. It's a delicious dressing that you can make in under a minute in the blender. And substitute dairy with soy or almond milk and vegan mayo.

I topped my fruit and veggie salad with crumbled cheaply priced Mexican cheese, queso fresco, but you could use feta, blue cheese or a little shaved parmesan. Although, this salad is delicious with or without cheese.



 For all my vegetarian visitors, this salad is especially for you. To keep things lactose free, substitute with soy milk and imitation mayo.

So for a light and refreshing salad with a pleasingly pungent and luscious dressing, try The 99 Cent Chef's Pear and Spinach Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing.

Ingredients for Salad (serves 2-3)

• 2 whole pears* - any type. I shaved with the mandolin slicer on my metal grater, but you could just thinly slice or cube the pears with a knife.
• 1 bunch, or package, of spinach - wash well and remove large stems.
• Cheese (optional) - crumbled feta, queso fresco, blue cheese, or shaved parmesan.
• *1 teaspoon of lime or lemon juice (optional) - Drizzle over sliced pears to keep them from turning brown, if you are assembling the salad and storing it in the refrigerator for later use.

Herb Cream Dressing

• 1/2 bunch of basil, parsley, or 1 green onion (roughly chopped.) You could also combine any of these.
• 1/4 small onion - if you are using 2 green onions, then don't use the 1/4 onion.
• 2 tablespoons of milk - whole or low fat. Okay to use soy, almond or any vegan dairy substitute
• 3 tablespoons of mayo - vegan mayo or plain yogurt.
• 1 tablespoon of honey - or a favorite sweetener.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions for Creamy Herb Dressing
Chop onion in half (or small enough to fit blender, or food processor.) Add parsley (and/or basil) and onion to blender. Spoon in mayo (or yogurt,) then pour in milk. Add a teaspoon of honey or a favorite sweetener. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth like a salad dressing.

Thinly slice pears using the mandolin blade of a metal grater -- if you have one. Make sure to stop shaving before you reach the bitter, light brown speckled, pear core. It's okay to just thinly slice, or cube, pears with a knife.

In a large bowl or plate, mix together sliced pears and spinach. Crumble on cheese (optional) and finish with plenty of my Creamy Herb Dressing.