I have a theory – my fish stew recipe would make a great chicken cacciatore, simply by removing the clam juice and all the fish meat, and replacing the juice with a cup of chicken broth and a pound of chicken thighs (and cooking the whole thing on low for 8 hours, rather than on high and then cooking the fish for 30 minutes on low).
My recipe consists of 28 oz of diced tomatoes (w juice), 6 oz tomato paste, 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 2 cups of onion, 2 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tbsp olive oil (I think I would leave this out too), 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup white wine (plus canned crabmeat, chopped clams, and a pound of white fish that get cooked at the end).
Would my transformation of fish stew into chicken cacciatore work?
Best Answer
Your tomato-veggie-herb-wine mix is a pretty generic (tomato) sauce base, so replacing the protein would work for more or less every meat, adjusting cooking times etc., of course.
A pollo ciaccatore ("chicken hunter-style") is such a basic dish that there are lots of varieties all over Italy and probably from one household to another. Your base sauce is probably the most simplified one would think of and there is a list of add-ins or changes that are common and work as well: mushrooms, olives, capers, red wine, sometimes even potatoes... And I wouldn't dare to declare one "the right" version here or anywhere.
There are probably two changes I would suggest for your recipe nevertheless:
searing the meat before stewing and adding some garlic.
Otherwise: have fun, I think you can't go wrong with your idea.