Chicken Catch-A-Tory Ravioli Stew
Serves 4
Cacciatore is the real way to spell the name of this stew. It’s the Italian word for "hunter." Chicken Cacciatore is made with wild mushrooms and strong flavors. It is hearty, so it would keep a hunter full for a long hunt. This stew uses some of the same ingredients and flavors of the original dish, but it’s even easier to make. Everyone in Rachael’s family really loves this recipe!
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, skins on
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 2 stems fresh rosemary
- 2 stems fresh thyme
- 1 cup pre-sliced fresh mushrooms, or have a grown-up helper (GH) slice them for you
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 can stewed tomatoes with peppers, onion, and celery (15 ounces)
- 2 roasted red peppers from a jar, drained
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 package chopped frozen spinach, defrosted in microwave and drained (10 ounces)
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3/4-1 pound chicken breast tenders
- 1 pound fresh ravioli, any flavor
- 1 cup grated parmesan, Parmigiano Reggiano or Romano cheese, to pass at table
- Crusty Italian bread or rolls, to pass at table
Directions
- Have a GH heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat.
- Place three cloves of garlic on a cutting board and WHACK each clove with a small, heavy frying pan. Pick out the skins and chuck them into a garbage bowl.
- Ask your GH to add the EVOO to the soup pot. Throw in the smashed garlic and two stems each of the rosemary and fresh thyme. The leaves will fall off the stems and give a delicious flavor to your special stew.
- Add the mushrooms and help stir as the mushrooms cook, about 3-5 minutes. Season the ‘shrooms up with salt and pepper as they’re cooking.
- Next, you or your GH can open the can of stewed tomatoes and add them to the pot. Then, use a sharp, small knife to chop the roasted red peppers. Keep your fingers on the hand holding the peppers curled under so you don’t chop off your whole finger! You just want to cut up those peppers into pieces as big as your mouth. Add the chopped up roasted red peppers and add one cup tomato sauce to the soup pot.
- Put defrosted chopped spinach in a kitchen towel. Gather the towel up and twist it to get the water out of the spinach. Squeeze the spinach over a garbage bowl until it stops dripping. Separate spinach with your fingers and add it to the soup. Pour in the chicken broth and stir the stew really slowly or it will slosh out of your pot! Have your GH cover the soup and raise the heat to high.
- Ask your GH to cut up the chicken for you on a separate, plastic cutting board (different from the one you cut the vegetables on). Cut the chicken tenders into 1-inch pieces and add them to the stew. Ask the GH to go wash up right away with lots of soap and water – and also to wash the board – so that the raw chicken doesn’t get on anything else in the kitchen or any other food. If you touched the raw chicken, you go wash too.
- When the stew comes to a boil again, add the ravioli and leave the lid off. Cook the stew until the ravioli is almost done, about five minutes. Turn off the heat and let the stew cool down a bit.
- As your GH to help serve up the stew and pass cheese and bread at the table to go with it.