Pollo alla Cacciatora alla Nigella alla...Sorta

Lately I have actually been getting up early enough on Sundays mornings to catch Nigella on the Food Network. It kind of chaps my hide that they only play her at 9:30 am on Sundays, without any re-runs, but they play Rachael Ray and such all the dang time. Same with Jamie Oliver's new show...it's only on 8:30 on Saturday mornings! Is that really when his demographic is watching TV? Do they even want his show to succeed? O.K., enough of the ranting and on to some food.

So this past Sunday, Nigella made her "Express" version of Chicken Cacciatore. Looked easy and yummy, so I made it tonight. I strayed from her recipe, though, and mine wasn't quite AS express as her. But it was still pretty darn simple and really darn tasty.

Sorta-Nigella, Sorta-Iron Stef Chicken Cacciatore

-1/4 lb. bacon, chopped
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 medium white onion, chopped
-5 garlic cloves, minced
-2 shallots, chopped
-2 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
-2 tsp. fresh thyme, stripped from stems
-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut into quarters
-1 tsp. celery salt
-3/4 cups white wine
-2 cans diced tomatoes
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-1 can cannelloni beans
-salt & pepper

In dutch oven, cook bacon in olive oil until brown. Add onions, shallots, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Cook until starting to soften. Add chicken pieces, in batches, getting some brown coloring on them. Sprinkle chicken with celery salt as you cook them. Once all the chicken is browned, but not necessarily cooked through, add everything back to the pot and add white wine. Scrape any yumminess from bottom of pot and bring everything up to a boil. Add tomatoes and sugar, cover and simmer for like 30-45 minutes. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as needed. Add drained cannelloni beans. Cook until beans are hot. If needed (I needed it) add a slurry of cornstarch and cold water to thicken. Serve over whole wheat egg noodles with freshly shredded pecorino romano cheese.

This was good tonight, but I have a feeling that tomorrow it will be even better. Three cheers for Chicken thighs!!!