A Short-cut Chicken Cacciatora
– How to Cheat

Excuse the pun here, but I have a bone of contention than needs to be aired: that is, why is it so difficult to buy part-boned chicken breasts? The presence of the part-bone makes such a difference to the succulence and eating quality of cooked chicken. Therefore, full marks to Waitrose and Marks and Spencer who still supply them. This is an amazingly good recipe made with this week’s hero ingredient – yet again, the much-loved Heinz Tomato Frito, a very fine example of what tomatoes are all about.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 part-boned chicken breasts
1 x 300g jar or ½ x 560 g jar Heinz Tomato Frito
6 fl oz (175 ml) dry white wine or cider
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
6 medium sprigs fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly milled black pepper

First put the oven on to gas mark, 6, 400°F (200°C), then whilst it's pre-heating, peel and roughly chop the onion and peel and thinly slice the garlic. Now you’re going to need about 1 rounded dessertspoon of rosemary leaves so take 2 of the sprigs and remove the leaves. Then bash and crush the leaves a bit with the back of a spoon to release the oil and fragrance then chop them quite finely.

Now make 3 incisions along the length of each chicken breast and cut the other 4 sprigs of rosemary into 6 small sprigs. Next, put a slice of garlic and a small sprig of rosemary in each incision. Now in a smallish shallow casserole or baking dish, sprinkle in the chopped onion and the rest of the garlic and toss it with a little of the oil. Place the chicken breasts on top of some of the onion then season with salt and pepper and scatter the chopped rosemary leaves all over the chicken and onion. Now drizzle the rest of the oil over. Place the casserole or dish on a high shelf in the oven and you are now blissfully free for 25-30 minutes or until the skin of the chicken is golden-brown. After that whisk the Tomato Frito, white wine and vinegar together, pour the whole lot over the chicken, reduce the oven temperature to gas mark 1, 275°F (140°C) and let it cook away all by itself for a further 30 minutes whilst you relax. When the time is up the sauce will have thickened and reduced to a lovely, rosemary-scented mass. Nice with pasta, rice or tiny new potatoes and the rest of your white wine.

This recipe first appeared in You magazine.

How To Cheat Hero Ingredient :
1 x 300g jar or ½ x 560 g jar Heinz Tomato Frito

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