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

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

Basil and ginger chicken balls in tomato sauce

Chicken balls with ginger and basil simmered in tomato and basil sauce! Yes!! I used ready made tomato and basil sauce and dried basil I had hanging in the kitchen. And lemon and pepper breadcrumbs. Yum. Yum. And I ate it with whole grain rice and some shaved Parmesan.

Ingredients 

500 gr minced chicken

2 spring onions

2 cloves crushed garlic

3 tsp crushed ginger root

Dried basil

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 and garlic and stir to combine

Crumple dried basil and add to mixture

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

Spanish style pasta sauce

 A couple of weeks ago when we were first allowed to meet people from another household in the open, I met my friends Penny and Mark in the rotunda at Darling Gardens one afternoon.  They very kindly brought me some garden produce, including silverbeet and coriander. When I was wondering what to cook the next evening I remembered a recipe I sometimes cook with sherry, mushrooms and pinenuts. Its origins are a bit obscured by the passing of time but my memory is that it was originally based on a tapas recipe that I read in a library book. Sometimes I cook it with ham but this time I added coriander, silverbeet and some chicken that I happened to have. As it was once a tapas you could eat it as such or by itself, but I had it with some pasta!  The serving is enough for one person.

Ingredients

1 leaf silverbeet

5 mushrooms

1 handful of pine nuts

1 clove garlic

1 stem coriander

1 spring onion

100 gr chicken cut for stirfry

1 sherry glass dry sherry

Olive oil

Mode

Heat some olive oil in a pan on the stovetop

Crush the garlic

Slice the spring onion

Add the garlic and spring onion to the oil and stir until covered

Slice the mushrooms and add

Chop the coriander and add

Add the pine nuts

All the while continue to stir

Add the sherry and stir

Chop the silverbeet including the stems

Add the silverbeet and the chicken to the mixture

Continue to stir until the chicken is sealed

Turn the heat down to a simmer

Cover and summer until the chicken is tender

Serve with rice, pasta or noodles.

Chicken and dill balls in tomato sauce

This is for you, Maria Ganotis Brent, as I try to stop hitting the carbs during COVID lockdown. Sadly we didn’t get to meet this year in Greece or the Lake District but there will always be του χρόνου. But I often think of you as I gobble down bread (albeit multigrain sourdough) and know that I should be reducing my carb intake, particularly the refined products and sugar.  Yes, I know I served this with rice but you don’t have to.

As readers of this blog know, I love meatballs in any shape or form. These happened because I found chicken mince in Piedimonte’s and looked to see what I had in the fridge and pantry. The other evening I watched a cookery show of Jamie Oliver and was in awe about how he used up all his dying vegetables to make sachets of tomato sauce to freeze. Yes, I do use whatever is around to make sauces but not usually in volumes enough to store.  I find there are good ready made sauces in the supermarket and I always have some of those ready at hand in the pantry whether I am in Melbourne or Athens. This time I used a Melbourne favourite, the Five Brothers tomato and basil pasta sauce.

Ingredients 

500 gr tomato sauce

250 gr water

500 gr chicken mince

3 teaspoons crushed garlic

3 teaspoons crushed ginger root

2 tablespoons chopped dill

2 spring onions

Olive oil

Shaved Parmesan 

Wholemeal brown basmati rice

Mode

Place the tomato sauce in a pan to heat

Add the water to sauce jar, shake and add to sauce

Stir to combine

Bring to simmer and reduce heat

Place chicken mince in bowl

Crush garlic and ginger and add

Chop dill and add

Chop spring onions and add

Stir to combine thoroughly using hands if needed

With a tablespoon sized mixture form balls

Meanwhile heat olive oil in frying pan

In batches seal the chicken balls in the oil and add to the tomato sauce

Simmer in sauce until cooked through and imbued with tomato sauce flavours

Serve with multigrain basmati rice and sprinkle with shaved Parmesan. 

Spicy orange chicken revised!

Ah spiced orange baked with chicken! How delicious is that! I had forgotten until in lockdown a suggestion from a Greek friend reminded me that I had been intending to roast  a chicken and to use it to make soup as well.  So I went off to buy a chicken and on the way home thought of my Stephanie Spiced oranges stored in a high kitchen cupboard. Just the thing!

And indeed they were! I had previously cooked a variant of this, but this time I added the fresh orange I had bought to go with the chicken before I remembered the delicious spiced oranges.

Ingredients

1 fresh chicken
6 cloves garlic
Spiced oranges (orange and syrup)
4 potatoes
1 orange sweet potato

1 parsnip

1 navel orange

Dried rosemary

Olive oil

Mode

Preheat oven to 220c
Quarter potatoes, chop sweet potato and place in bowl

Peel parsnip, chop  and add to vegetables

Crush with blade of knife three garlic cloves still in their skins

Add these garlic cloves and rosemary to vegetables
Dribble with olive oil
Pull up your sleeves and mix vegetables to coat with oil

Rub the chicken inside and out with several pieces of the spiced orange
Place remnants of spiced orange inside cavity

Quarter orange and place in chicken cavity 
Peel and crush the remaining garlic cloves and rub over chicken

Add any remnants of garlic to the cavity
Sprinkle several spoonsful of the spiced orange syrup over top, bottom, sides and cavity of chicken
Place chicken in baking dish on its side
Arrange vegetables around
Rub chicken with remaining oil from bowl
Place in centre of oven and cook for 20 minutes
Bring out of oven and turn chicken to other side

Pour several spoonsful of spiced orange syrup over chicken
Turn the vegetables
Cook for another 20 minutes
Bring out of oven and turn chicken onto back (ie breast facing upwards)
Turn the vegetables
Cook for another 20 minutes
During this final 20 minutes of cooking prepare salad or vegetables to accompany.
 

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.

Roasted capsicum splash & chicken

This recipe is barely cooking!  But I did prepare the ingredients, assemble them and then bake in the oven so I guess cooking was involved. The trigger for it was the Christmas gift from my nephew of some yummy Yarra Valley Roasted capsicum salad splash. One evening I saw it sitting on the kitchen bench and I decided I would try it with the chicken thighs I had been planning to cook for dinner with pesto. And the result was delicious served with some nutty brown rice.

Ingredients

700 gr chicken thighs
4 tbs roasted red capsicum salad splash
Parmesan



Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c
Roughly chop the chicken
Arrange the chicken in an oven-proof serving dish
Spoon the splash over the chicken
Stir to ensure that the chicken is covered with the splash
Grate Parmesan over the meat
Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Curry of chickens, à l'Indienne #FLRoyalFood

This is another recipe inspired by the FutureLearn course. Apparently curries were much favoured in Victorian times and almost always on the menu for Queen Victoria's meals. We were given a recipe for chicken curry but were able to use a modern prepared curry paste as apparently in Victorian times cooks were faced with a bewildering array of proprietary curry pastes.  As my pantry seems to have an equally bewildering array, I just chose the first one that came to hand. The major ingredient listed for this curry paste is "spices", so I am none the wiser about its major components.

Proportions in the original recipe were a bit obscure, though they did call for two heads of celery and three onions. I used less of the onions and celery and more of the stock, garlic and curry paste. The extra stock and fewer vegetables as well as the fact that I didn't sieve the resultant sauce meant that my sauce was quite light.  It tasted very nice, but for the authentic look and taste I should have sieved (or food-processed) the sauce. Maybe next time.  However, the overall exoerience and taste was very pleasant, if not correctly authentic.

Ingredients

750 gr chicken thighs
Butter
2 onions
1/2 head of celery
2 cloves garlic
Parsley
Mace
Clove powder
1 tbs flour
2 tbs curry paste
1 litre chicken stock

Mode

Melt butter in pan
Chop onions and parsley roughly
Add to butter and stir until coated
Chop parsley and add
Add mace and clove powder
Stir all to combine and continue cooking until the vegetables have softened
Add the curry paste and stir to combine, likewise the flour
Pour over the chicken stock and stir
Bring the mixture to the boil
Meanwhile chop the chicken thighs into bite size pieces
Melt butter in another large pan
Lightly fry the chicken turning regularly until the pieces are sealed
Add the sauce mixture to the chicken and combine
Bring to the boil and along to boil for a short period
Then reduce to a simmer and simmer until all is tender and the flavours are combined.  

"Capon" with orange #blogjune Day 30

Week 2 of my FutureLearn course on Royal Food and Feasting saw me looking at Elizabethan food. This recipe is for "capon" with oranges and herbs and spices. As I had no capons available (castrated roosters), I cooked it with a chook.  The oranges and spices would have been significant additions to the dishes in Elizabethan times as they would have had to be imported and expensive additions to impress. The original recipe called for 6-8 oranges but, as they are not a luxury to me, I thought that four were enough. The oranges in the original were also peeled but I left the peels on as I think they provide a great taste. I also didn't add the sugar as suggested.

So what did I think?  The process of cooking was quite long, but the chicken tender and imbued with the flavours.  I put bread-crumbs in the sauce for the last part of the cooking but didn't find that it thickened the sauce much. That was a slight disappointment but maybe I didn't use enough bread-crumbs or else I was thinking that the sauce would thicken differently? Or I should have added the bread-crumbs earlier? I would have liked to have eaten it with gnocchi again, but as I didn't have any on hand I used organic wholewheat noodles, again rather an anachronistic addition.




Ingredients

1 1.4k free-range chicken
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups red wine
4 Navel oranges
Thyme
Rosemary
Parsley
Mace
Cloves
Cinnamon sticks
Nutmeg
3 heaped tbs white breadcrumbs

Mode

Heat stock in pan
Add chicken and bring to boil
Reduce to simmer and simmer for 45 minutes
Take off two ladles of the stock and mix with wine
Add wine and stock to chicken
Slice oranges into quarters and then half the quarters
Add oranges to pan with chicken
Tie together sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley and add to the pan
Add mace, cloves, cinnamon sticks and mace to the pan
Raise the heat and boil to reduce
Just before serving add breadcrumbs, stir to combine and continue boiling until sauce thickens.

Chicken balls with stirfried vegetables #blogjune Day 17

It's a cold wet night in Melbourne again.  Winter is here. What is more delicious than some chicken balls?  I flavoured them with thyme and dill, but I always like the combination of Mediterranean and Asian flavours, so I added ginger to the chicken mixture and bok choi to the vegetables. Dashes of sweet chilli sauce and Vietnamese fish sauce added to the Asian flavour.  This recipe served three, with nutty wholegrain brown rice.

Ingredients

700 gr minced chicken
1/4 bunch fresh dill
1 tbs dried thyme
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
Olive oil
2 carrots
6-8 green beans
1 stem bok choi
Sweet chilli sauce
Fish sauce

Mode

Crush garlic and ginger
Chop dill roughly
Crumble thyme  discarding stalks
Add chicken, garlic, ginger, thyme and dill to a bowl
Combine ingredients thoroughly with hands
Using a heaped soup spoon of mixture form meatballs 
Heat olive oil in pan on stove top
Add the meatballs and quickly seal on both sides
Cook for a few minutes turning constantly
Meanwhile, chop the beans, bok choi and carrots
Add to the meatballs and stir to combine adding more oil if needed
Sprinkle with chilli sauce and fish sauce
Mix to combine and ensure that all ingredients are covered with the sauces
Stirfry quickly until all ingredients are cooked

Chicken and dill balls with gnocchi #blogjune Day 5

What's not to like about the taste and texture of crunchy, fresh dill?  I brought some home with the aim of using it for lentil soup, but it ended up being used for making yummy chicken and dill balls.  I cooked them in tomato sauce, and served them with gnocchi and freshly shaved parmesan, but you could eat them by themselves without sauce, or with sauce served with rice or other sorts of pasta.

Ingredients

600 gr minced chicken
1/2 bunch fresh dill
3 cloves garlic
4 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp Sambal Oelek
Olive oil
250 gr ready made tomato sauce
Gnocchi
Parmesan

 

Mode

Place tomato sauce in large pan to heat
Reduce to simmer once it comes to boil
Crush garlic and ginger
Chop dill roughly
Add chicken, garlic, ginger, Sambal Oelek and dill to a bowl
Combine ingredients thoroughly with hands
Using a heaped soup spoon of mixture form meatballs 
Heat olive oil in pan on stove top
Add the meatballs in batches and quickly seal on both sides
Add sealed meatballs to the tomato sauce
Simmer on the top of the stove for 20-30 minutes
Meanwhile boil water, add gnocchi and cook for 6-8 minutes until cooked
Serve chicken balls on a bed of gnocchi
Top with shaved Parmesan

Lemon and orange chicken

Last week when with the help of a friend I was cleaning out and sorting a high kitchen cupboard where I store preserves I discovered I had a jar with some syrup from a jar of Stephanie's Spiced Oranges.  I have used it in the past for basting roast chicken and talked of doing that again.  However, this time I chose to cook some chicken Maryland individual pieces rather than a whole chicken.  And the result was delicious!

Ingredients

2 portions of chicken Maryland
1 dessertspoon citron salt
6 dessertspoons of spiced oranges syrup


Mode

Preheat oven to 210c.
Arrange the chicken in a baking dish
Sprinkle with citron salt
Roast for 30 minutes
Remove the chicken from the oven and spoon over the spiced orange syrup
Return to oven and roast for another 20 minutes.

Ginger chicken balls

I always feel like meatballs - of whatever flavour. These ones combine some of my favourite flavours: ginger, garlic, Thai basil, chicken, and spring onion and are simmered in tomato sauce and served on a bed of basmati rice. I used a Dolmio spicy pepper sauce which went well with the other flavours, but you could make your own or use a different sort of ready made sauce. However, the meatballs could also be cooked and eaten without sauce, or with sauce served with noodles or pasta. Meatballs are very flexible! I cooked these on the top of the stove but they can be baked in the oven at 160c for 45 minutes.

Ingredients
600 gr minced chicken
2 spring onions
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
8 gr Thai basil
Dry fine bread crumbs
Olive oil
250 gr ready made tomato sauce
Water
Steamed rice or noodles
Shaved Parmesan

Mode
Slice spring onions finely
Crush garlic and ginger
Chop Thai basil fairly finely
Add chicken, spring onions, garlic, ginger and Thai basil to a bowl
Combine ingredients thoroughly with hands
Using a heaped soup spoon of mixture form meatballs
Coat lightly in bread crumbs
Place tomato sauce in large pan to heat 
Heat olive oil in pan on stove top
Add the meatballs in batches and quickly seal on both sides
Add sealed meatballs to the tomato sauce
Simmer on the top of the stove for 20-30 minutes
Serve on a bed of rice or rice noodles
Top with shaved Parmesan

Pomegranate and citrus chicken

 

A couple of weekends ago, in between viewing the Gertrude Street Projections with my friend Karen, we ate at a yummy Spanish restaurant in Gertrude Street. To hit our thirst initially we had a refreshing drink which included lemon, lime and pomegranate.  Well, I pondered on the walk home, those flavours would be a nice combination with chicken.And they certainly are!

This recipe is a variant on Abla's Chicken Wings in Garlic. I used chicken drumettes instead of wings, and citron salt (thanks for the present, Bast!), and where she uses lemon juice, I used lemon juice, lime juice, and pomegranate molasses.  However, the cooking method is the tried and true Abla one.

 

Ingredients

730 gr chicken drumettes
1 dessertspoon citron salt
A total of 200 ml made up from:
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 2 limes
Pomegranate molasses
1.5 tbs of minced garlic

Mode

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

Butter Chicken

One of the real perks of working in Hawthorn was being able to go to my favourite student Indian place in Burwood Road (and previously in its tiny location in Glenferrie Road).  I loved their butter chicken.  I also used to be able to get a butter chicken simmer sauce from my local supermarket and make it at home.

Alas, I no longer work in Hawthorn and, what is worse, the simmer sauce is no longer on sale at my local supermarket. What to do?  Obviously I needed to work out how to make it myself.  I researched quite a few recipes but also found some Fern's butter chicken curry paste to use as a basis. I fear that traditional butter chicken is not a very healthy meal, but I tried to mitigate this by using light Greek yoghurt rather than the full fat yoghurt and cream I saw in some recipes, by leaving out the added salt and sugar, and by minimizing the amount of butter. I also left out the ground cashews because I didn't have any in the house.

I really enjoyed the resulting butter chicken. I served it with white rice and some vegetables (cauliflower, onion and green peas cooked with oil, turmeric and fenugreek and water). The vegetable recipe is for another time as I forgot to take any photos. But try the butter chicken recipe and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

1 kg skinless chicken thighs (about 7 thighs)
4 tsp Fern's butter chicken curry paste
1 lemon
300 gr light Greek yoghurt
100 gr unsalted butter
1 onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
50 gr tomato paste
400 gr crushed tomatoes


Mode

Combine the juice of the lemon and half the yoghurt and half the curry paste in a bowl
Roughly chop the chicken
Add to the mixture and mix thoroughly
Cover and marinade for at least 30 minutes
Preheat the oven to 220c
Place the chicken and marinade in a flat baking dish
Bake for 15 minutes and put aside
Dice the onion and crush the garlic
Melt the butter in a pad on the stovetop
Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent
Add the tomato paste and the rest of the curry paste and stir through
Add the crushed tomatoes and blend together thoroughly
Add the rest of the yoghurt and stir through
Finally add the chicken and marinade mixture and stir
Cover and simmer until all the ingredients have combined and the chicken is tender.
You can see the difference in colour and texture between the mixture before it has simmered and the final product at the head of  the post.