Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

I grew up in a small coal mining town in northern New Mexico. We had lots of immigrants from Europe that worked and lived in our small town of Raton. Raton meaning - rat in Spanish, was true to its name. With lots of open fields and old basements we would often see a mouse or two. A long time Italian friend taught me how to make chicken cacciatore, Cacciatore (pronounced [kattʃaˈtoːre]) means "hunter" in Italian. In cooking cacciatore refers to a meal prepared "hunter-style. Often rabbit or chicken that was cooked in the fields with a little too few ingredients. Most cacciatore recipes are made with onions, herbs, bell peppers, and wine. In southern Italy red wine is used and in northern Italy white wine in used when preparing the dish. Tomatoes were not typically used but now are a main ingredient in the dish. This stew like dish was typically used to feed several men while hunting and therefore capers, artichokes, olives and tomatoes were not typical. Today many of us add all sorts of fancy ingredients to our cacciatore, including me, I like to add olives, capers and artichoke hearts. I typically braise the chicken with onion and garlic before putting it into the crock pot. I believe it gives the dish a depth of flavor along with deglazing the pan with red wine. In this recipe I used lots of fresh herbs from my garden and when my children walked in from school they both asked the same question, "Mom, what are you making? It smells so good in here." So here you have it my simple yet elegant recipe for chicken cacciatore. Bon Appetit, Cecelia