Chicken Cacciatorre

'Cacciatorre' is an Italian term for 'hunter's dish' and is kinda an inside joke. The story goes that the hunter goes out, charged by his wife to bring back something for dinner. He is a failure of a hunter and only manages to bring back a few wild mushrooms, making his wife use chicken for dinner that night instead. She, in stereotypical wife fashion, never lets him live it down.

Needed:
Package of chicken parts - I like using just the thighs
Can of diced tomatoes
1/2 box of chicken stock
3 sticks of celery
2 carrots
16 oz. mushrooms. Baby bellas are the tastiest, but regular white button work just fine
4 Russet-Burbank potatoes
1 small onion - somewhere between golf ball and baseball-sized

salt
pepper
oregano
basil
1/2c dry red wine (optional)

You can either cook this dish in a crock-pot or a heavy saucepan with a lid.
Remove the skin from the chicken parts (or just buy skinless) and trim any excess fat. Place in the bottom of the crock-pot
Cut the potatoes into cubes ~1 inch, place in crock-pot
Remove the paper from the onion, cut into ~1in slices and toss in pot
Peel the carrots, cut into rounds ~1/2 inch thick, add to pot
Chop celery, ~1/2 inch thick, add to pot
Dump the whole can of diced tomatoes into the pot, juice and all
Add 1/2 box of chicken broth (and wine, if you're using it)
Spices: 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano
Set the crock-pot to high and cook for about 4 hours. If you're using a covered saucepan, put the heat on medium low and cover for ~1 hour. Make sure to stir occasionally.
*NOTE* if you put wine in the cacciatorre, remove the lid from the crock-pot for the last half-hour of cooking (last 10 minutes, if you're using a saucepan).


Serve over white rice or egg noodles.