Chicken Cacciatore with Crispy Cavolo Nero
Hunter-style chicken done the restaurant way: crisp-skinned thighs roasted on a rich tomato, capsicum, olive and caper sauce, topped with crispy cavolo nero.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 20 min
- Total
- 1 hr 45 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Easy
Most cacciatore recipes braise the chicken in the sauce and the skin goes soft. In the restaurant we cook the sauce separately, then nestle the seared thighs in skin-side up so they roast. You get rich sauce and crackling skin on the same plate.
Crispy cavolo nero adds crunch. Serve it with pan-fried gnocchi, roast potatoes or soft polenta.
Ingredients
Cacciatore sauce
Chicken
To serve
Method
Sauce
- Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in the oil for 10–15 minutes until soft. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomato paste for 2 minutes.
- Add the wine and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes, stock and herbs and simmer gently for 45 minutes, until thick.
- Stir in the capsicum, olives and capers for the last 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and season.
Chicken
- Heat the oven to 200°C. Season the chicken well.
- Place the thighs skin-side down in a cold ovenproof pan with the oil, then turn the heat to medium. Cook for 10–12 minutes, without moving them, until the skin is deep golden and crisp.
- Pour the sauce around the chicken (not over it) so the skin sits above the sauce. Roast for 15–20 minutes until cooked through.
Cavolo nero
- Toss the cavolo nero leaves with a little oil and salt and bake on a tray at 150°C for 8–10 minutes until crisp.
- Serve the chicken and sauce with gnocchi or potatoes, and the crispy cavolo nero on top.
Chef’s notes
- Starting the skin in a cold pan renders the fat slowly, which gives the crispiest result.
- The sauce can be made 2 days ahead, so the night itself is just searing and roasting.
Questions about this recipe
What does cacciatore mean?
Cacciatore means ‘hunter’ in Italian. Pollo alla cacciatora is hunter-style chicken, braised with tomatoes, herbs, wine and often olives and capsicum.
