Lusting for Chicken Cacciatore in Genetic Celebrity

by | Jun 24, 2012 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Hi everyone–
One month from today is the release of Genetic Celebrity from Loose Id. I think we can officially go into countdown mode. I spent some time today chatting with the wonderful Valerie Tibbs who is designing the cover. She did the fantastic covers for Genetic Attraction, The Scientist and the Supermodel, and Deceptive Attraction, but this book is a bit different so she has a special challenge. The book is a little lighter than the rest of the series, one of my heroes is young and girl-pretty (of course, that’s not too unusual for me!), and the book has a lot of food in it.

Even though i’m not a cook and i get most excited about a plate of scrambled eggs, i really enjoyed writing the food (and food porn) of the book. The first scene of the book has my hero, Tommy, an amateur chef, luring the woman he secretly loves with nibbles of chicken cacciatore.  Later he feeds this same dish to Shay Shaleen, a tough street kid who looks like a beautiful girl that Roan brings home for Tommy to feed. Sex and food are all mixed up in this book–and it’s fun!

Just to whet you appetite (literally), i thought i’d share a recipe for Chicken Cacciatore from the Food Network.Try it out. Savor it. And think about Genetic Celebrity, coming soon.

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 2 chicken breasts with skin and backbone, halved crosswise
  • 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour, for dredging
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 ( 28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
  • 3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 3 tablespoons drained capers
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour to coat lightly.
In a large heavy saute pan, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and saute just until brown, about 5 minutes per side. If all the chicken does not fit in the pan, saute it in 2 batches. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the bell pepper, onion and garlic to the same pan and saute over medium heat until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, broth, capers and oregano. Return the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them to coat in the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Continue simmering over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through, about 30 minutes for the breast pieces, and 20 minutes for the thighs.
Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a platter. If necessary, boil the sauce until it thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Spoon off any excess fat from atop the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, then sprinkle with the basil and serve.
And, of course, if you can persuade your honey to feed it to you one bite at a time, all the better. Thanks so much for coming to the blog. If you don’t follow already, i’d love it if you would.  
This week there are some very fun events happening. I’ll post the schedule on Wednesday. Plan on checking back.  Talk soon. : )

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