Simple does not mean boring

Simple stuff...

Tonight Amber requested I make one of her, and my, favorites: Chicken Cacciatora. A wonderful braised chicken dish with very simple ingredients: a chicken, tomato sauce, an onion, some garlic, mushrooms, some herbs, a little red wine, some love and a little time (and thyme actually). Fairly simply ingredients. But when put together properly something wonderful comes out. Sure you could just throw them all in a pot and hope for the best, but it takes more than that. You need to brown the chicken, then the onions, mushrooms and garlic. But don't put the garlic in too early or it will burn. Toss in the herbs, do a little deglaze action with the wine, pour in the tomato sauce, bring it to a boil and let it simmer. How long? Until its done!


Traditionally dishes like Chicken Cacciatora, Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon and a ton of other slow braised dishes started out as peasant food. With Chicken Cacciatora, the cacciatora roughly translates to "hunter". This was food that was thrown in a pot and was a hearty meal for the hunters. Coq au Vin was a rooster who couldn't... well let's just say his time as the hen house stud had passed. But it was old, stringy and tough. So you marinaded him in wine and cooked him slowly. And Boeuf Bourguignon was the tough cuts of meat you couldn't sell at market. You had to take your time with these things to make them something wonderful. Maybe that is what I love about them. Humble ingredients that when put together properly become something amazing. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. I mean look at any expensive French restaurant and you are likely to see Coq au Vin or Boeuf Bourguignon on the menu commanding a pretty high price! I always chuckle to myself thinking the chef in the back must be laughing his way to the bank on the price of that recipe to make!

Case in point. On Monday we ate a Fugo de Chao. A trendy new Brazilian steakhouse or "Churrascaria". Meat is skewered on sword-length skewers and roasted over a charcoal fire. This came from the gauchos in Brazil needing a quick way to cook what they had: plenty of meat and swords! How much simpler can you get? Simple seasoning and grilled meat. The servers come around with the meat on the sword and slice you off a hunk. Yet they charge around $50 a person for this.

The fruits of my labor

So the next time you are trying to think about what to cook for dinner and get a little disappointed with no fancy ingredients take a look at a few more rustic cookbooks or recipes. I bet you find something fantastic if you are willing to take a little time and not rush things. 


Thanks for the idea, babe! It hit the spot!