Jenn Marr

is a veteran of the food and beverage industry, with nearly 30 years of professional experience and a lifetime spent in a family where “cooking is pretty much mandatory!”The dish she shares with Tutu’s Kitchen is her family’s interpretation of the classic Italian dish Chicken Cacciatore, roasted chicken thighs in tomato sauce.

Jenn is the owner of North Shore Dream Vacation Services, a company offering private chef and personalized concierge services. A graduate of the University of Hawai‘i’s Culinary School of the Pacific with a double major in culinary and pastry, she has worked at several notable restaurants and bars including Indigo, Sugar Bar and Luibueno’s. Jenn is a board member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Hawai‘i.

Where does this dish come from?

I don’t know who in my Catranbone family came up with the recipe, but this is our interpretation of the classic Italian dish Chicken Cacciatore. All Italian families have a version of this. My family’s roots are in Calabrese, Italy, which is known for spicy food, so the sauce in ours is spicy. I feel that using fire-roasted, canned, chopped tomatoes gives the sauce a really good taste and the right consistency.

What is your family’s relationship to food?

I don’t have an early memory without food! There was always food around. I remember my Nanna (grandmother) always kept a garden and grew a lot of the things we ate. Cooking is very competitive in my family. Every holiday we would do a potluck, and it was more like a contest to see who could make the best thing. My daughter has a boyfriend she wants to cook for now, so she’s been asking me for recipes. I tell her, “Weren’t you watching me all those years?”

Chicken Cacciatore Catranbone Family Style is our November 2019 Tūtū’s Kitchen dish