From The Godfather · 1972 · Reconstructed
Chicken Cacciatore
Serve when
Set it down at the family Sunday dinner, right as Carlo is told to shut up and set the table.
In the movie
Theatrical
- ~01:33:22 A Corleone family Sunday dinner while Vito recovers from the assassination attempt — a plate is offered with 'I got chicken cacciatore for you, sweetheart' as the family gathers, tense, around the table
While Vito recovers upstairs from the attempt on his life, the family still sits down to Ma's Sunday dinner — and someone slides a plate across with "I got chicken cacciatore for you, sweetheart" just as Sonny and Carlo start needling each other over business at the table Papa never let them discuss it at. It's a small, human beat inside a tense stretch of the film, ordinary family food served while everything else in the house is under siege. This is a reconstruction of a standard Italian-American cacciatore — the line and the scene are on screen, but no recipe is published.
Ingredients
Method
- Season the chicken pieces well with salt and pepper. Brown them in the olive oil in a wide, heavy pot, skin side down first, until deeply colored. Set aside.
- In the same pot, soften the onion and bell pepper, then add the mushrooms and cook until they give up their liquid and start to brown.
- Add the garlic and cook briefly until fragrant, then deglaze with the red wine, scraping up the browned bits.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes and oregano, return the chicken to the pot, and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and cook gently for about 40 minutes, until the chicken is falling-off-the-bone tender and the sauce has thickened.
- Finish with chopped parsley and serve over spaghetti or with bread for the sauce.
Beyond the recipe
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