Pollo Cacciatore al Forno or Baked Chicken Cacciatore

Bet you didn't know I know Italian. Ok, I"m faking it.

Let's Read the Recipe

3# chicken, cut up. You can use any type of chicken you like.
I like legs or boneless breast...so does Brad, truth be told.
Salt & freshly ground pepper
3T oliver oil
2 gn peppers, seeded, cut into narrow strips
1 lg onion, thinly sliced
8 oz mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups canned italian peeled tomatoes, drained & chopped
1t dried oregano

Preheat oven to 450. Arrange the chicken in the pan & sprinkle with salt & pepper.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
Turn the chicken & sprinkle again with salt & pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Heat in med. skillet, the oil. Add peppers, onions & mushrooms. Cook stirring frequently until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned...about 15 minutes
WARNING: VEGETABLES WILL NOT BROWN UNLESS THEY'RE GIVEN ROOM, SO DON'T CROWD TOO MUCH.
Stir in the garlic & cook for about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer & cook until sauce is thick...about 30 minutes.
Pour the sauce and vegetables over the chicken & bake until chicken is nice and tender, about 15-20 minutes longer.

Let's Make SALSA

Ok ladies, we've all tasted the salsa in a jar....ugh. I made this recipe for Brad and it's been a hit. No more jar salsa, we're better than that...right? I've taken a few photographs to guide you.

Let's Begin by looking at the recipe:

2.5# Roma Tomatoes, Firm but Ripe
Cut the end off. Chop the tomato into nice sized pieces. Each tomato can be cut into approximately 27 pieces
1/2 green bell pepper, diced medium
1 small yellow onion, diced medium
2 green onions, trimmed and sliced, using both green and white part.
3 lg cloves of fresh garlic (not bottled, it's horrible), minced FINE. Why fine? A finer garlic will distribute more garlic flavor throughout the tomatoes. Makes sense, right?
1 jalapeno for a bit of heat. MINCE FINE.
Important: Jalapeno heat will intensify throughout the curing process. Adding too much right away can be a nightmare. Use one and when you taste your concoction, you can add more if you prefer it HOT. It's really difficult picking those little pieces of jalapeno out of your tomatoes. Wash your hands immediately after handling jalapeno or you could be sorry.
3/4 bunch of fresh cilantro, rough chopped
A Funny: Cilantro closely resembles parsley. Don't fall for the parsley's tricks. Absolutely get the cilantro and make sure it's cilantro.
salt & pepper

Put those delicious chopped romas into a large bowl. Sprinkle about 1T of salt all over the tomatoes, this will help the tomatoes flavor. Mix them well.

Add about 1/2T of black pepper as well and mix again.
Add the remainding ingredients.

Using a small plate, put it on top of your salsa and press down. This will help the tomatoes to *juice* up a bit.

Seal the bowl well, and put into fridge. In about two hours you can mix again. Taste it. If you prefer it hotter, add another jalapeno...it's going to be hot though. It's up to you, just no whining if it's too hot.

After 24 hours, your salsa is ready. It's tasty AND delicous.