Michele made chicken cacciatore last night. Cacciatore (fem. cacciatrice) means “hunter” in Italian, so chicken cacciatore is “hunter’s chicken”.
But that’s not what my mother told me. When I was a boy she said chicken cacciatore meant “find the chicken!” It wasn’t until last night that I understood why she said that. I’m only speculating but I’m confident in saying that she learned it from her mother Maria. Maria raised eleven children, and I imagine her cacciatore was heavy on the tomatoes, peppers, and onions and rather light on the (more expensive) chicken. I can picture her telling the kids, “go ahead, hunt for the chicken, it’s in there!”
PS – Michele’s dish was not light on chicken, and it was delicious!
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