Easy Peasy Chicken Cacciatore

This is a super simple and super quick meal that I adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe. Yum. I love pasta.

Let's start with some ingredients. You will need: 1 1/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 large Vidalia onion (or any sweet onion), 5-6 cloves of garlic, 2 portobello mushroom caps, 2 T. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, 1/2 c. beef broth, 28 oz. crushed tomatoes, large handful of fresh parsley, 1 lb. pasta (fettuccine or spaghetti will work) and Parmesan cheese.





Add 1 T. olive oil to a large skillet and let it get hot. Season the chicken breasts on both side with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken breasts about 4-5 minutes per side. Don't worry if they aren't cooked all the way through because you will be adding them back in to the sauce to finish cooking later. Remove chicken breasts and set aside.





While your chicken is browning, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the noodles according to the package.
Helllloooooo garlic. We love garlic at our house. I am sure that my neighbors are well aware. This recipe calls for 5 cloves, but you can use as much or as little as you want. Mince garlic.

Cut the onion in half and then slice very thin strips. Do onions make you cry when you slice them? I am always bawling over here cutting up onions.

Add the remaining 1 T. olive oil to the large skillet that you browned the chicken in. Throw in the onions and garlic. Breathe in. Be happy.

While your onions and garlic are happily browning, slice the portobello mushroom caps into thin slices. Did you wash your mushroom caps? Make sure that you don't just run them under water because mushrooms are like sponges. You don't want them to soak up any water, you want them to soak up the yummy juices in the pan. Just wipe them lightly with a slightly damp washcloth.
Add the mushrooms to the pan along with the 1/2 tsp. crushed pepper flakes. Season with salt. The salt will draw out the yummy liquid from the mushrooms. Yum. Yum. Yum. Cook for about 5 minutes.
While your mushroom mixture is cooking, chop the parsley.


Once the mushrooms have cooked 5 minutes, add 1/2 c. beef broth, 28 oz. crushed tomatoes and a large handful of the chopped parsley.


Simmer. Declare yourself the Queen of Cacciatore.


Remember the chicken? Slice the chicken breasts.


Add the sliced chicken to the sauce. Let simmer until the chicken is cooked all the way through (if it wasn't already).

The best part of this meal is that you can just add everything into one pot. Throw the noodles into the sauce. Not literally though, because I have found that throwing food never ends well.

And done!
This is extra yummy when served with lots of Parmesan cheese and some garlic bread. Enjoy!