Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Knowing that I have to work late this week, I wanted to make sure that I don't have a repeat of the last two weeks' funk fest and got ahead of the game with a slow cooker adaptation of a old family favorite.  My mom used to work in an Italian restaurant as a teen, so I had the strange childhood comfort food pairing of Italian foods and Eastern European Jewish foods.  At a favorite restaurant in the area, The Refinery, my hubby and I enjoyed a fantastic rendition of Chicken Cacciatore.  So good, I felt like I was back in grade school and sitting down to the table for a plate of my mom's cooking!  So good, I've been craving it ever since and felt the need to make a slow cooker version of my mom's Chicken Cacciatore.

With a nod to my mom, it's not cooking until there's garlic sauteing in oil. 

To me, chicken cacciatore is a braised stew of chicken and bell peppers in tomato sauce.  To adapt this to a slow cooker, I sauteed the onions, a red and green bell pepper, and a half pack of mushrooms with a small can of tomato paste and white wine with some oregano, salt and pepper to taste. 

After cooking this mixture with a can of tomato sauce to get all of the flavors to mingle before pouring this tomato love over chicken thighs. If you had the time, you should sear the chicken parts first. 

I just took a pack of chicken thighs I had in the freezer and put the tomato mixture over the top and stored it in the fridge until the next morning when I set the slow cooker up to cook for the day.

After cooking on LOW for 6-8 hours, here is the final result.

Ingredients:

1 package chicken parts, or thighs (skinless)
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 medium sized yellow onion, sliced
1 red and green bell pepper, sliced
1 6 ounce can of tomato paste
1/2 package of white button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup of white wine
1 28 ounce can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons dried oregano

Recipe:
Saute sliced garlic in olive oil until tan.  Add onions and bell peppers to the pan.  Cook until the onions become translucent and the bell peppers brighten and lose their crispness. Add the tomato paste to the pan and saute it with the pepper mixture for one minute.  Add the white wine to the pan and cook until the tomato paste is cooked into the wine.  Add the tomato sauce, with oregano, salt and pepper, to the pan and cook for five minutes - while scraping the pan to ensure that no bits get left behind.  Pour this mixture over chicken parts and into the slow cooker.  Set on low for 6 - 8 hours and serve over pasta or with garlic bread.