I wasn’t feeling very well, which is why I haven’t posted. Sometimes when I’m under the weather I go into cooking overdrive. Other times, I just totally shut down.

I was definitely in shut down mode.

So I knew I needed to make something hearty and restorative.

Most people would go for chicken soup.

But I’m not most people.

When I’m feeling a little eh, one of my go to meals is chicken cacciatore.

Cacciatore means hunter in Italian, so this dish is sometimes known as a hunter’s stew. There’s tons of variations, but it generally has onions, tomatoes and herbs and some kind of meat – chicken or rabbit depending upon where in Italy you are.

I’ve been fiddling around with my recipe and this is my favorite variation.

You will need

• Chicken (I’m using skin on bone in thigh meat but you can use boneless, skinless breast, or breast with the skin on, or whatever you want. I go with one healthy piece per person.)
• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 container white button mushrooms
• half a white onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes

Preheat the oven to 400.

Place the washed and dried chicken in a foil-lined baking dish and season with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Toss the chicken in the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through (juices run clear).

Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed pot, toss in some olive oil the diced onions and the diced garlic. Also add in the sliced white button mushrooms and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms are browned.

This right here is the best smell ever. I know I say it every time, but it’s so good every time.

When the chicken is just about done, add a little pat of butter to each piece and put back in the oven so the butter melts over the chicken.

While the butter melts, pour the can of whole peeled tomatoes into a bowl and break up the tomatoes with your hands. Yes, you can buy a can of diced tomatoes, but 1. this is more fun and 2. after trying it with both, the whole tomatoes make a better cacciatore.

Dump the tomatoes and the juices in with the mushrooms and stir.

Take the chicken out of the oven. Now, see all those juices in the foil? This is super important. Take the chicken out of the pan and put it on a plate or cutting board to be shredded up. Those juices go in the pot with the tomatoes and the mushrooms. Don’t skip this step. You won’t be happy if you do.

Add the shredded chicken to the pot and let everything simmer together on low for a few minutes before stirring.

Dish up in bowls, pour a glass of wine and get a hunk of crusty bread ready to mop up all those juices.

Mangia!