Pomegranate chicken

One of my all time favourite ways to cook chicken wings or chicken drumettes is Alba’s great recipe with rock salt, lemon juice and garlic. I have cooked variants of it before but this morning when I saw chicken drumettes at Piedimonte’s I had in mind the traditional version. 

Alas! It was not to be. I turned the oven on to preheat and remembered I had used my last lemon that morning and had not replaced my stock. What could I use instead? I had really decided to cook my fish instead but when I opened the fridge for that I saw the pomegranate juice. Why not try that I thought? It certainly fits with the Middle Eastern taste. 

And the result?  Well I really liked it and I’ll be cooking it again.

Ingredients

900 gr chicken drumettes
2 dessertspoon rock salt
200 ml pomegranate juice
1.5 tbs of minced garlic

Mode

Preheat oven to 210c.
Arrange the chicken drumettes in a baking dish
Sprinkle with rock salt 
Roast for 30 minutes
Meanwhile measure the pomegranate juice
Add minced garlic to the pomegranate and stir thoroughly
Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the garlic and pomegranate mixture over
Return to oven and roast for another 20 minutes.

Butter chicken

I love butter chicken and used to love buying it at an Indian place close to where I worked. These days I don’t eat it very much. But just before Christmas I saw that Simon Johnson had a new line of curry pastes and it included Butter Chicken! I bought one for me and one for a present. Yesterday I made butter chicken with mine and today I ate some for dinner. Yum yum. Μιαμ μιαμ.

Ingredients 

1 kg chicken thighs

3/4 cup Greek yoghurt

100 gr Simon Johnson Butter Chicken paste

100 gr unsalted butter

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp chopped ginger root

100 gr tomato paste

300 gr thickened cream

Mode

Roughly chop the chicken meat and place in bowl

Mix the butter chicken paste through the yoghurt

Add yoghurt and curry paste mix to chicken

Stir to cover chicken with yoghurt mixture

Put aside to marinade for at least an hour

Melt butter in large pan capable of holding chicken

Chop onion and add to butter

Crush garlic and ginger and add to butter

Stir until tender

Add chicken and yoghurt mixture and combine

Add cream and stir

Add tomato paste and stir

Bring to the boil stirring regularly

Then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is tender

Note the dish is better the day after cooking!