One of my newest projects is trying to find different recipes to use the large quantity of tomatoes that have been coming in from our garden. As of today, we have harvested 312 grape tomatoes. No joke. My husband is keeping track.
I found the following recipe for chicken cacciatore that used grape tomatoes for the sauce. The sauce turned out a little thin, but the recipe had excellent flavor and a lot of meat, which was a bonus for my carnivores.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 large chicken thighs with skin and bones (about 1 1/3 pounds)
3/4 pound fresh mild or hot Italian sausages
3/4 pound large mushrooms, quartered
2 12-ounce containers grape tomatoes
1/2 cup dry red wine
3 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
Directions
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken and sausages to skillet. Sautéuntil brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken and sausages to bowl. Add mushrooms to skillet. Sauté until brown, about 4 minutes; add to same bowl.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet; add tomatoes, red wine, garlic, and rosemary. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook until tomatoes soften, about 5 minutes. Using potato masher, lightly crush half of tomatoes. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes. Add remaining contents of bowl and simmer uncovered until chicken and sausages are cooked through, turning often, about 15 minutes longer.
Place chicken and sausages on platter. Cut sausages on diagonal into thick slices. Stir basil into sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over chicken.
