Thursday, September 22, 2022

Chicken St Clements à la Abla



It is always nice to have some chicken fresh from the oven or, indeed, to be able to pull a container out of the freezer to form the basis of a meal. Abla’s garlic chicken has been a favourite of mine for years, though I never quite cook it according to her recipe. This time rather than having only lemon juice, I made the sauce from the juice of an orange and a lemon. Hence the name chicken St Clements! 

It was delicious with rice, and also with stir fried vegetables. And there are a couple of serves in the freezer. I am hoping that now that we are circulating more I might even get to try Abla’s own version, as might any Melbourne readers. In the meanwhile, enjoy this version!



 Ingredients

16 chicken drumettes (about 1 kilo)
2 dessertspoons rock salt
1 lemon
1 orange
2 tbs crushed garlic




Mode

Preheat oven to 210c.
Arrange the chicken drumettes in a baking dish
Sprinkle with rock salt
Roast for 30 minutes
Meanwhile juice the lemon and orange
Add minced ginger to juice to total about 150 ml
Stir thoroughly
Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the  mixture 
Return to oven and roast for another 25-35 minutes.
Serve with rice, pasta or roast vegetables  




Monday, July 25, 2022

Marinated chicken with pickled plums





After nearly a week of being uninterested in food and cooking due to a non-Covid infection, on Sunday my interest was suddenly stirred by a chicken thigh recipe in an ABC newsletter. Whilst the ABC recipe and my final recipe in the end bear little relation to each other, the ABC recipe was definitely the trigger for my imagination and made me think about chickens and the plums I have had pickling in a high cupboard for years (based on Stephanie Alexander’s recipe which she suggests will last a year). The ABC writer also wrote about what she was cooking in a way to use the process to stir the imagination with different tastes and that started me thinking about what to cook. 

The end result with some cauliflower and Chinese broccoli added to the other ingredients was quite a delicate blend of flavours all of which could be sensed. I served mine with brown rice which mopped up the plum-flavoured chicken juices. Thank you to the ABC and to Stephanie both of whom constantly inspire me! 




Ingredients

5 chicken thighs (skinned) - about 800 gr
3 tbs soy sauce
3 gloves garlic crushed
3 tsp crushed garlic
Rind of half lemon
150 gr olive oil
4 dsp spiced plums
A handful of cauliflower florets
2 cups chopped Chinese broccoli
150 gr Zero shiraz



Mode

Crush the garlic and ginger
Finely slice the rind off the lemon and cut into slivers
Place the chicken in bowl
Pour over the soy and olive
Add garlic, ginger and lemon rind
Stir to cover the chicken
Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight
Preheat the oven to 200c
Assemble the ingredients in a baking dish or tray with an edge
Place the chicken in the dish
Pour over it any remaining marinade and scrape in any delicious ginger, lemon and garlic bits
Spoon the pickled plums around the chicken
Break the cauliflower into florets and poke in
Pour over the Zero shiraz 
Give it shake and put it in the oven
Bake uncovered for 40 minutes
Just before then chop the Chinese broccoli roughly
Remove the chicken dish from the oven
Stir through the broccoli and turn over chicken in the process
Cover with foil or a lid.
Cook for another 20 minutes. 








Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Chicken, coriander & ricotta balls in tomato sauce




So it is June again and I have been meaning to sit down and do a #blogjune post on this blog which I have regularly continued to post in. The last time I completed #blogjune every day of June was in 2016.  But I still get tempted by the notices and by reading posts by long ago connections and friends. So it’s just one for me this June. 

This is a serendipity dish. I bought some minced chicken to make chickens simmered in tomato sauce, but I grabbed it quickly off a shelf without looking at quantity. Ah well, necessity is the mother of invention they say, so I eked out the mixture with half a tub of ricotta I had in the fridge. And the end result? I liked it a lot and will make the dish again. 

As an alternative to simmering on the top of the stove, you can also bake in the oven. If you want to do that, start with preheating the oven to 180c. Then make and sear the chicken balls. Put the sauce into an ovenproof dish, add the seared balls, cover with a lid or foil and cook for 45 minutes. This method can also be used to reheat any remaining chickens but 30 minutes should enough for that. 




Ingredients 

230 gr minced chicken
140 gr ricotta
2 spring onions
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger root
1 tsp Sambal oelek
I bunch coriander
Breadcrumbs
Ready-made tomato and basil sauce
Olive oil




Mode

Place tomato sauce in pan and bring to boil
Reduce to simmer
Chop spring onions
Crush garlic and ginger
Place minced chicken in bowl
Add ginger, garlic and Sambal oelek and stir to combine
Roughly chop coriander and add to mixture
Add ricotta 
Stir to combine 
Place breadcrumbs on plate
Form balls from chicken mixture and roll in breadcrumbs
Pour olive oil into frying pan and heat
Quickly sear the chicken balls in batches
Add to tomato sauce and simmer for 30 minutes






Sunday, March 13, 2022

Sunday Night Pizza: with figs, honey and rocket pesto




One of the lovely things that happened to me during the last two years of Covid has been a very simple thing. A group of us who years ago used to meet for Sunday night pizza (and red wine) in Melbourne started to make Sunday night pizza at home or to report why we were cooking something else and what it was. It has provided a great reason to catch up virtually every Sunday be it just briefly or to share and explore current issues.

This week for my Sunday night pizza I made one that focused on some fresh figs I wanted to use. Stephanie told me that figs went with white cheese, rocket and something sweet like sugar. So that’s what I did including some mushrooms. For the sweetness I dribbled on some Beechworth honey I was lucky to receive for Christmas from my neighbours Elina and Graeme. Thanks Elina and Graeme! 



Ingredients

1 Wattle Valley wholemeal wrap
Sacla rocket pesto
Ricotta
Swiss brown mushrooms
Fresh figs
Honey

Mode

Preheat oven to 220c.
Spread rocket pesto as a base on the wrap
Add ricotta and spread as next layer
Slice mushrooms and add to cover other layers
Chop figs and add on top
Using a metal spoon heated in hot water drizzle honey over the pieces of figs
Cook for 12 minutes 
Eat with delight at the tastes

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Chicken with tomato, basil, capers and olives



At some point the last week I saw a headline somewhere for a recipe including chicken, tomatoes and capers. I didn't read the recipe as it was behind a paywall but I immediately thought of a couple of my recent recipes inspired by Mediterranean cooking in Sicily, Calabria (and Greece). Magna Graecia indeed! 

This time the recipe uses a mixture of large and small green and black olives which I bought locally, as well as chicken thighs which I think give better flavour than breasts for such dishes. I enjoyed the final product with some gnocchi and Parmesan. 



Ingredients

Olive oil
2 spring onions
4 cloves garlic crushed
900 gr chicken thighs
1 can (400 gr) diced tomatoes
2 heaped tbs mixed olives
3 tsp capers
3-4 tbs chopped fresh basil
Water as needed 



Mode

Heat the oil in a pan large enough to simmer all the ingredients
Chop the chicken
Chop the spring onion
Crush the garlic
Lightly fry the garlic, and spring onion
Add the chicken 
Stir fry until chicken sealed 
Add the tomatoes,  capers and olives and stir to combine
Chop basil and add it and stir to combine
Turn down heat and simmer. 
While cooking add water as needed for consistency
Simmer until everything tender and the sauce reduced











Friday, January 28, 2022

Sardines with tomatoes, olives, celery and leek




This dish, like my last similar recipe, is inspired by Mediterranean cooking in Sicily, Calabria (and Greece). Magna Graecia indeed! This time the recipe uses mammoth green olives which I was given as a present, a leek I needed to cook and the fish component was comprised of fresh filleted sardines. This week’s heat delayed my cooking but now that the cool has come (along with rain, thunder, lightning and hail) I can get on with it. I doubled the tomatoes in this recipe as the addition of the leek required this.  While cooking I also added gradually about a cup of water to keep the consistency as I wanted it.

Last time I cooked the earlier variant of the recipe I said I felt like I was in Greece. My friend Letizia said she felt she was in her homeland when she read the recipe. What will she think this time? Despite the green olives I still feel that I am in Greece (or Magna Graecia) and indeed wonder if I will ever get to Sicily or even Greece again.  




Ingredients

Olive oil
2 stalks celery including leaves
1 leek
3 cloves garlic crushed
2 cans (400 gr) diced tomatoes
10 mammoth green olives
3-4 tbs chopped fresh basil
1 tbs capers
400 gr fresh filleted sardines
1 cup water




Mode

Heat the oil in a pan large enough to simmer all the ingredients
Chop the celery
Finely slice leek
Crush the garlic
Lightly fry the garlic, celery and leek
Add the tomatoes and olives and stir occasionally
Chop basil and add it and capers
Turn down heat and simmer for about 5 minutes
While cooking add water as needed for consistency
Add the sardines and stir to cover the fish
Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes










Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Swordfish in tomatoes with olives and capers




I got my inspiration for this from a regular newsletter I get from eatingwell.com  And they say they were inspired by Mediterranean cooking in Sicily and Calabria. Ah Magna Graecia! I didn’t follow their recipe exactly and amongst other changes substituted their green olives with my favourite mammoth black ones. I served it one evening with roast vegetables and another with gnocchi whereas the original recipe had polenta as a core element. Mine tasted like I was in Athens. 🇬🇷



Ingredients

Olive oil
2 stalks celery including leaves
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 can (400 gr) diced tomatoes
8 mammoth black olives
3-4 tbs chopped fresh basil
1 tbs capers
400 gr swordfish



Mode

Heat the oil in a pan large enough to simmer all the ingredients
Chop the celery
Crush the garlic
Lightly fry the garlic and celery
Add the tomatoes and olives and stir occasionally
Chop basil and add it and capers
Turn down heat and simmer for about 5 minutes
Add the swordfish steaks and stir to cover the fish
Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes




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