Chicken Cacciatore
This dish is best made with a high-quality tomato based spaghetti sauce. I recommend brands such as Barilla, Bertolli, and Classico. In this case I use Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Sauce. Prego and Ragu are not recommended. This dish is also good with a Putenesca style sauce, that is one with black and green olives. The foods in this meal are very low in fiber, so I include 4 servings of Metamucil fiber supplement to bring things into balance.
Most foods take longer to cook at high altitude, but pasta is an exception. Pasta cooks faster at altitudes above 7000 feet than it does at sea level. At high altitude I check my pasta for doneness after half its sea level cooking time. Unfortunately, pasta turns into library paste at an altitude somewhere between 9000 and 10,000 feet. Rice, on the other hand, cooks well at altitudes over 17,000 feet, so you may find it necessary to use it instead of wheat pasta.
- 2 cups Spaghetti Sauce, dehydrated
- ¾ cup chopped Green Bell Pepper, dehydrated
- ¾ cup sliced Mushrooms, dehydrated
- 2 Tablespoons Dried Onion Flakes
- ½ teaspoon Dried Garlic Flakes
- ¼ cup Oil Cured Kalmata Olives, pitted and sliced
- 2 ounces AlpineAire freeze-dried Chicken
- 7 ounces (199 grams) Pasta or 1 cup Jasmine Rice
- Extra Salt to taste
- 2 ounces Grated Romano Cheese
- 22 Shortbread Cookies (1.6 inch squares)
- 4 servings Metamucil fiber supplement
At home
In order to dry the Spaghetti Sauce you will need solid sheets to cover the trays of your dehydrator. These are available as accessories, and you should get a full set when you buy your dehydrator. Oil a solid sheet with olive oil, place it on a the tray, and pour on the Spaghetti Sauce. Spread it evenly over the sheet and dry at 145° Fahrenheit for 2 hours, then reduce heat to 135° for the remainder of the drying time. The Spaghetti Sauce will be leathery and pliable without any pockets of moisture when it’s done.
Bell peppers are often waxed and this can interfere with them reabsorbing water at cooking time. Because of this you should wash the Bell Pepper with soap and a sponge, being sure to rinse it very well. Cut the Bell Pepper into ¼ inch dice. Place a mesh screen on the dehydrator tray, as the Bell Pepper pieces will shrink enough to fall through the slats. Dry the Bell Pepper at 145° Fahrenheit for the first 2 hours, then reduce the heat to 135°. The drying time of the Bell Pepper will vary from day to day, depending on the relative humidity of the air. The Bell Pepper will be hard and brittle when done. Be sure to cool your samples before testing them.
Slice the Mushrooms 1/8 inch thick and place on the dehydrator tray without the pieces overlapping. Set the temperature at 100° Fahrenheit for the entire drying time. The Mushrooms will be leathery, pliable, and dry to the touch when done. This probably won’t take more than 4 hours.
Package the dehydrated Spaghetti Sauce and Kalmata Olives separately in their own bags. If you like, you can tear the Spaghetti Sauce up into smaller pieces now, rather than in camp. Package the Bell Pepper, Mushrooms, Onion Flakes, and Garlic Flakes together in a snack-size Zip-Loc bag.
The foods in this meal are very low in fiber, so I’ve included 4 servings of Metamucil fiber supplement to bring things into balance. Metamucil comes in a variety of forms: unflavored beverage powder, orange flavored beverage powder, sugar-free orange flavored beverage powder, apple or cinnamon flavored wafers, and capsules. All versions provide 3 grams of fiber per serving and some have additional nutritional value.
In camp
The main dish
For the preparation of this meal it would be nice to have a pair of 500 ml Nalgene Lexan jars, rather than the single one required for cooking most my recipes. But not to worry, these jars make excellent bowls with low heat transmission, so your hand doesn’t get overheated and your food stays hot longer.
If you haven’t done so already, tear the dehydrated Spaghetti Sauce up into 1 inch pieces. Put it in a Lexan jar and pour in just enough boiling water to cover it. Put the Bell Peppers, Mushrooms, Onion Flakes, and Garlic Flakes in another Lexan jar with the freeze-dried Chicken. Pour boiling water over these ingredients too. Leave to soak for at least half an hour, then put chicken and vegetables on stove, add Kalmata Olives, and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the Spaghetti Sauce, taste for adequate saltiness, and simmer for a few more minutes.
Serve over pasta or rice with grated Romano Cheese.
Instructions for cooking pasta
Pasta cooks faster at altitudes above 7000 feet than it does at sea level, but above 9000 feet it doesn’t cook properly at all. If you’re at a low enough altitude to go with pasta, you’ll want a 3 quart pot for 2 people, because pasta cooked with too little water tends to come out gummy.
In order to help keep things predictable, use a brand and shape of pasta that you already know well. If you’re at high altitude, check it for doneness after half its sea level cooking time, and keep a close eye on it from that point in time onward. You can strain the Pasta by holding the lid of the pot in place, slightly tilted, and pouring off the excess water.
Instructions for cooking Jasmine Rice
Now for the rice, just in case you’re at an altitude over 9000 feet or you’re allergic to wheat. Jasmine Rice from Thailand cooks much faster than ordinary long grain rice, and its cooking time only increases slightly at high altitude. Measure 1½ cups water at seal level, or 2 cups at 11,000 feet above sea level. Bring water to a boil and stir in rice. Keep stirring while it returns to a boil to prevent the grains from sticking to each other. Have someone hold the pot steady while you stir; backpacking stoves are sometimes known to tip over. At sea level the Jasmine Rice will need 10 minutes of simmering, and at 11,000 feet 14 minutes. After the simmering is done, the rice should be left to sit with the lid on for at least 10 minutes.
If you were cooking indoors you’d use a very low flame for simmering the rice, but outdoors where there’s windchill, you’re likely to need a medium-low flame. Peeking can make the rice gummy, but you need to make sure it’s actively simmering. Lift up one edge of the lid just enough to get a glimpse of the water. If you’re careful and don’t release too much steam, you won’t do any harm.
| Total calories: 2448 with wheat pasta | ||||
| Fat grams | Carb grams | Protein grams | Fiber grams | Sugar grams |
| 84 | 334 | 118 | 29 | 62 |
| Fat calories | Carb calories | Protein calories | Sugar ÷ Carbs | |
| 755 | 1222 | 472 | 20% | |
| Percentage of total calories | ||||
| 31% | 50% | 19% | ||
Nutritional values for Chicken Cacciatore with Wheat Pasta
The nutritional values for this meal with rice are presented below. Rice is more filling calorie for calorie than pasta, which is why this meal has a slightly lower calorie count when served with rice. You can download this menu either in the wheat pasta or rice version as an Excel spreadsheet. Use these spreadsheets to keep track of changes in nutritional values if you make any changes to these menus.
| Total calories: 2387 with rice | ||||
| Fat grams | Carb grams | Protein grams | Fiber grams | Sugar grams |
| 82 | 333 | 106 | 26 | 58 |
| Fat calories | Carb calories | Protein calories | Sugar ÷ Carbs | |
| 737 | 1227 | 423 | 19% | |
| Percentage of total calories | ||||
| 31% | 51% | 18% | ||