Pollo alla cacciatora
Pollo alla cacciatora
Chicken pieces are browned in olive oil, then slowly braised with aromatic vegetables, wine and tomato. The name, meaning "hunter's style," is said to come from a stew hearty enough to fill a hunter waiting for game; tomato was not originally part of it and was added later. Northern versions tend to use white wine, southern versions red.
A farmhouse dish from central Italy. Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Le Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo each claim to be its birthplace, and the point has never been settled.
Around Florence, Tuscany — Became established as a festive farmhouse dish in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Tuscany makes the strongest claim to being its birthplace.
Main ingredients
- Chicken (bone-in, cut into pieces)
- Onion
- Carrot
- Celery
- Tomato (passata or whole peeled)
- White wine (red wine in the south)
- Garlic
- Rosemary
How it goes
These are the bones of the method. Quantities and detail live in the sources.
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Cook the soffritto
Chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic, and cook them in olive oil until fragrant.
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Brown the chicken
Add the chicken and brown it slowly and thoroughly on all sides.
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Deglaze with wine
Pour in the wine, let the alcohol cook off, and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
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Add tomato and braise
Add the tomato and rosemary, cover, and let it braise slowly over low heat.
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Finish
Once the sauce has reduced and the chicken is tender, adjust the seasoning. Black olives may be added if desired.
Pasta it follows
Why it works
Pasta al LimoneThe weight rises step by step from a lightly acidic primo to the rich, wine-and-tomato-braised chicken that follows, in line with the classic primo-to-secondo progression. 
Pasta alla griciaPutting the tomato-free, dry-flavored gricia first means its taste doesn't overlap with the cacciatora's tomato that follows, and the order of weight is never reversed. 
Pesto alla trapaneseThe uncooked almond-and-basil pesto is light, so it fits the pattern of placing a primo before a slow-braised chicken dish without reversing the order of weight. 
Pasta alla NorcinaUmbria is one of the regions that claims to be cacciatora's birthplace, so the local lineage overlaps. It carries the same pork-and-farmhouse-cooking context from primo into a secondo of the same character.