Chicken Cacciatore

Having a dinner party for four and trying to stick to healthy eating? This is a crowd-pleaser that can be served over cauliflower rice or seasoned quinoa and would go well with a lovely, fresh salad on the side…

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, deboned chicken breasts
• salt
• 2 TB olive oil
• 200g mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 65g best-quality black olives, pitted and sliced
• freshly ground black pepper
• chopped parsley, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Season the chicken breasts with salt and make superficial incisions into the top side of each one.
3. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large pan on the stove top and brown the chicken breasts (sliced-side down) until golden and caramelised. Flip each one over and brown the underside for a minute. Remove and place into a large, greased casserole or roasting dish. Set aside.
4. Wipe the pan clean and add the second tablespoon olive oil. Cook the mushrooms over high heat for 3-4 minutes until they partially caramelise, adding the garlic in the last minute. Stir continuously to prevent the garlic burning. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan and cook until the wine cooks out and has completely evaporated.
5. Tip the chopped tomatoes into the pan. Add the bay leaf and dried oregano. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes so that the mixture reduces and thickens slightly.
6. Stir the sliced black olives, then tip everything into the roasting dish containing the chicken. Place the dish into the oven for 20-25 minutes. (You may need to test the thickest part of one of the pieces of chicken – it should NOT be pink on the inside. If it is, return it to the oven for longer.)
7. Serve with a generous crack of black pepper and garnish with chopped parsley.