Pressure Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Originally posted December of 2008 on my Facebook account:

I'm taking a break from the evil Prismacolor markers to provide you with a short review of my latest purchase: a 6 Quart Presto Pressure Cooker.

Bought from Amazon for under $50 and free shipping, the cooker delivered a delicious meal of Chicken Cacciatore in under half an hour, not including prep time. I placed a whole chicken cut into serving pieces with the rest of the ingredients into the cooker, shut the lid, and turned the burner to high. The cooker took about 15 minutes to get to the right pressure, at which point the detacheable pressure gauge on top began to rock. I turned the heat down to medium and set the timer for 8 minutes according to the recipe, and took the pot off of the range promptly after the timer was up.

After the pot cooled off in the sink of cold water and the pressure locking pin dropped (about 5 minutes), I opened the pot to savory chicken falling off the bones and all the vegetables perfectly tenderized. Absolutely amazing! All the ingredients and flavors in the pot melded together in under half an hour. Great investment for people on the go who like to prepare healthy meals fast.

Easy Chicken Cacciatore

1 whole chicken, cut up (remove all the skin or some skin to reduce the fat)
1 onion, sliced
2-3 stalks celery, sliced
1 large carrot, diced
1 eggplant, peeled and chunked (it melted completely into the sauce!)
1 can italian diced tomatos
1-2 fresh tomatos (optional)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 - 2/3 cup white wine (I put in the entire sample sized single serving bottle from the supermarket)

1 can tomato paste (reserve for later)

Place all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Lock on lid. Cook on high flame until pressure gauge begins rocking. Reduce to medium heat, make sure gauge keeps rocking. Time for 8 min. Remove from burner into sink of cold water. Wait till pressure pin falls. Remove pressure gauge. Open lid carefully. Remove chicken pieces from liquid. Add can of tomato paste and stir. Cook sauce till thickened. Pour over chicken and serve over rice or pasta (orzo!!!). Enjoy! :D