Campfire Chicken Cacciatore
A hearty campfire version of the classic Italian 'hunter-style' chicken cooked in a cast iron Dutch oven with aromatic vegetables and herbs.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large Vidalia onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 fryer chicken, each cut into 8 serving pieces
- Hickory or mesquite wood chips, soaked in water at least 1 hour
- 2 pounds mushrooms, cut into quarters
- 4 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces, or 1 1/2 cups baby carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 (28-ounce) can ground peeled tomatoes
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves
- Hot cooked rice
Instructions
- Prepare a campfire using wood up to 2 inches thick. Allow the fire to die down to coals.
- Place a well-seasoned 12-quart cast iron camp Dutch oven (an oven with a flat lid) directly on the coals. Add the oil, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add the chicken and cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
- Remove the Dutch oven from the fire and add the drained wood chips to the fire to add more smoke flavor (especially if you're cooking with charcoal). Place the Dutch oven back on the fire. Add the mushrooms, carrots, celery, tomatoes, parsley, and rosemary. Cook, uncovered, 15 minutes. Cover and shovel coals onto the lid. Cook 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid carefully, making sure no coals fall into the interior of the Dutch oven. Check to see that the chicken is cooked through. If it is, remove the pot from the fire. Serve the chicken and vegetables over rice.