chicken cacciatori-raccoglitori

the standard ingredients for chicken cacciatori are pretty healthy to begin with, so i didn't have to try too hard to make this classic italian meat sauce into something that fits the paleo diet. after all, cacciatori literally means "hunter" in italian... that should be a signal that it might be paleo-friendly. the hard part is figuring out how to handle the noodles.

here's my recipe for chicken cacciatori-raccoglitori (chicken hunter-gatherer). it makes about 6 servings (cook it on sunday and you'll have lunch for the whole week).

in a very large pot or dutch oven over medium heat, combine in the following order:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, whole
- 12 chicken thighs, or about 5 lbs

after the thighs have some color, add:
- 12 oz. chicken broth
scrape the bottom of pan, and deglaze the crusty burned brown bits...

after simmering for about 10 minutes, add the remaining ingredients, bring the heat to low, and cover:
- 24 oz. jar of your favorite tomato sauce (plain works great but if you want to add some other flavor, go for it)
- 24 oz. can of diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup minced parsley

leave it on low heat as long as you'd like (hours and hours if you want). the longer it cooks, the sweeter it will taste, and the more tender the chicken will become.

for paleo-friendly noodles, the best option IMHO, is to julienne-slice some vegetables. i tried out kelp noodles a few weeks ago, and they are interesting, but i think they go better with asian cuisines. if you really gotta have the type of noodle that you grew up with, you can try paleopasta.com. while the ingredients are white-listed in terms of the paleo diet, i don't think you can really call them "paleo". they are processed and dehydrated... one of the major premises of the paleo diet is to eat fresh or whole foods! trust me, just go for the julienne-sliced-zucchini for noodles (or as i have dubbed it, fettusquigee noodles), and you will be amazed!

let me know what you think of the chicken cacciatori-raccoglitori!