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  

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. 

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

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

Lemon potatoes and carrots

Whoops! I had a plan of roast vegetables and swordfish pie for dinner tonight. Then a question on Twitter from @sandrodemaio about what everyone was cooking made me realize that timely cooking of the vegetables was necessary so a sort of compromise Greek lemon vegetables was the result. 

Ingredients

2 large potatoes 

2 carrots

Olive oil

Dry rosemary

6 cloves garlic

1 lemon

Mode

Preheat oven to 220c

Chop potatoes and carrots as desired

Place in ovenproof dish

Sprinkle with rosemary

Crush garlic cloves and add

Douse in olive oil

Cook in 220c oven for 30 minutes

Meanwhile juice the lemon

Pour the juice over vegetables

Return to 350c oven for 45 mins

Abla garlic chicken with pinenuts

As readers of this blog have no doubt noticed I love Abla’s recipe for garlic chicken wings, though I rarely cook it as she did. And in Melbourne lockdown how would I love to visit Abla’s restaurant, one of my long-time favourites! Instead at home with curfew I am experimenting, inspired by Abla.  I have been yearning for lemon potatoes but maybe that is overkill tonight. I must check the pasta store for orzo or the like.

 Ingredients

16 chicken drumettes (about 1 kilo)
2 dessertspoons rock salt
1/2 cup pinenuts

2 lemons

2 tbs crushed garlic

1 tbs crushed ginger

Mode

Preheat oven to 210c.
Arrange the chicken drumettes in a baking dish
Sprinkle with rock salt and pinenuts
Roast for 30 minutes
Meanwhile juice the lemons
Add minced garlic and ginger to juice

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  

Lazy lentil soup with sage and chili

This recipe is loosely based on a recipe of Diane Kochilas from her book Ikaria. She, however, started from scratch with dried lentils and my other ingredients are slightly different as is my method. But hers was the inspiration to use sage and chili which are not ingredients I had used before in lentil soup. 

Ingredients

1 large brown onion

Olive oil

800 gr canned lentils

400 gr diced tomatoes

6 dry sage leaves

3 dried bay leaves

1 tsp Sambal Oelek

2 cloves garlic

Water

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Mode

Heat some olive oil in large saucepan on high heat

Roughly chop onion

Add to olive oil and stir to cover with oil

Cook for a few minutes stirring occasionally

Meanwhile peel and crush the garlic 

Drain and rinse the lentils

Add the garlic and Sambel oelek to the onions and stir

Add the bay and crushed sage leaves to the mixture and stir

Add the drained lentils and combine

Finally add the tomatoes and stir

Add about two cups of water and stir

Bring the mixture to the boil and reduce to a simmer

Simmer for about an hour stirring occasionally

Just before serving add the vinegar

Remove the bay leaves and any sage stalks

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and additional vinegar if desired

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

Baked sardines with orange and lemon

Ah! The second half of my birthday sardines was cooked differently a day or so later. A friend thought from a photo of them that the olive oil was lemon juice, so this time I added lemon and orange juice and used cumin seeds instead of sumac. I ate this lot with potato and sweet potato baked with garlic, rosemary and olive oil.  It wasn’t my birthday dinner but another delicious meal in Melbourne’s latest lockdown.

Ingredients

16 filleted sardines

1/2 lemon

1/2 orange

1 clove garlic

2 tsp cumin seeds

Olive oil

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Arrange sardines in baking dish

Crush garlic and add to sardines

Sprinkle over cumin seeds

Add olive oil

Squeeze orange and lemon and add to dish

Bake in 180c oven for 20 mins

Baked sardines with sumac

Well it was my birthday and for the second year in a row I was in lockdown and had to cancel my previously arranged dinner out with friends. So I had a lovely Zoom meeting with interstate friends (originally planned as pre-dinner event) and then wondered what to cook. Would it be fresh sardines or fresh tuna? This is what I went for on my birthday. I ate the sardines with potatoes roasted with olive oil, rosemary and whole garlic cloves. 

Ingredients 

16 filleted sardines

1 tsp sumac

1 clove garlic

Olive oil

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Arrange sardines in baking dish

Sprinkle sumac over

Crush garlic and add

Sprinkle with olive oil

Bake in oven for 20 minutes

Greens and ricotta lasagne

People have been known to say that I often make similar things.  And it is true I often do make something and then think maybe I could make it this way instead of how I did it last week, or maybe I could add some different ingredients for a different taste altogether.  That is why after not having made lasagne for years I am making it twice withinin a short time frame. This one is like a mixture of spanakopita and tomato lasagne,  It was great to have the combination of different flavours catching my tastebuds. I will certainly make this again.

Ingredients

400 gr diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste (without salt)
Bunch dill 15 gr
4 cloves of garlic
4 tsp crushed ginger root
1 leek

1 bunch endive

1/2 bunch silverbeet
375 gr ricotta
6 sheets lasagne pasta (type that does not require pre-cooking)
Parmesan

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Slice leek

Roughly chop endive, and silverbeet

Place vegetables in top of steamer

Crush 2 cloves of garlic

Add garlic and 2 tsp ginger to vegetables in steamer

Steam until tender

Meanwhile chop thyme

Crush 2 cloves garlic

Place tomatoes in saucepan on stove

Add thyme, 2tsp ginger, garlic and tomato paste

Stir to combine

Bring the boil and reduce to simmer

Simmer until thickened

Place a couple of tablespoons of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish

Add layer of pasta

Add the steamed vegetables

Add another layer of pasta

Spoon half the ricotta over the sauce

Add another layer of pasta

Spoon half the tomato sauce over the pasta

Spoon the remaining half of the ricotta over the paster

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Add another layer of pasta

Cover with remaining sauce making sure that all the pasta is covered

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes

Lentil lasagne

It must be quite a while since I last made lentil lasagne and the curious thing is that that I didn't plan to make it this time. The plan was to make lasagne with ricotta and a tomato sauce. However, when I was stirring my tomato sauce I suddenly decided to add some lentils.  And I am very glad that I did as it was delicious and I can't think why it has been so long since I enjoyed it.

 Ingredients

400 gr diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste (without salt)
Bunch coriander
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger root
1/2 carrot
400 gr canned lentils
375 gr ricotta
6 sheets lasagne pasta (type that does not require pre-cooking)
Parmesan

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Chop coriander

Slice carrots into strips

Crush garlic

Place tomatoes in saucepan on stove

Add coriander, carrot, ginger, garlic and tomato paste

Stir to combine

Bring the boil and reduce to simmer

Add lentils and combine

Simmer until thickened

Place a couple of tablespoons of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish

Add layer of pasta

Add half the remaining sauce and smooth

Spoon half the ricotta over the sauce

Add another layer of pasta

Spoon the remaining half of the ricotta over the paster

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Add another layer of pasta

Cover with remaining sauce making sure that all the pasta is covered

Sprinkle with Parmesan

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes

Σεσκουλοπρασόπιτα

Another day, another variant on χορτόπιτα and σπανακόπιτα. But this version is certainly not suitable for Lent due to the animal products.

Ingredients

Half bunch silverbeet

1 leek

2 spring onions

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp Sambal oelek

180 gr ricotta

80 gr fetta

18 gr dill

1 egg

Parmesan

Phyllo

Olive oil

Poppyseed

Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c
Roughly chop the silverbeet, discarding the thick stalks
Clean and slice the spring onions 
Place the vegetables in a steamer 
Peel and crush the garlic and add
Add Sambal oelek
Steam on the stovetop until soft, stirring occasionally
Meanwhile place the ricotta in a bowl
Crumble the fetta by hand on top
Add the egg and stir to combine

Chop the dill roughly, discarding thick stalks and add to cheese mixture

When the vegetables are cooked, add to the mixture and combine well
Using a pastry brush and olive oil line the bottom of a baking dish with about six layers of phyllo, taking care to oil well between each layer
Add the cheese and vegetable mixture to the phyllo
Fold the phyllo over the mixture and cover with several layers of phyllo brushing with oil between each layer
Fold in the edges and oil the top layer
Sprinkle with poppyseeds
With a sharp knife cut the top of the pie into desired portions. DO NOT cut through the bottom of the pie
Cook for 45 minutes in 180c oven until top is crisp and golden
Leave to rest for 2-3 minutes after cooking
Then with a sharp knife cut the portions through to the bottom of the pie.

Eggplant parmigiana with ricotta

A couple of years ago I experimented with eggplant parmigiana after a visit to an Italian cafe with my friend Letizia. This is a variant on that recipe substituting fresh coriander for dried thyme and with the addition of a layer of ricotta. If I may say so myself, I found the end result delicious with the coriander adding especially to the enjoyment. 

Ingredients

1 eggplant

1 can diced tomatoes

Half a bunch of fresh coriander

2 tbs tomato paste

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp chopped garlic root

180 gr ricotta

Olive oil

Parmesan

Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c

Slice the eggplant lengthwise as shown in photo
Place the canned tomatoes in a saucepan on a fairly high flame
Add the tomato paste and stir to combine
Crush the garlic and ginger and add
Chop the coriander and add
Stir to combine 
Bring tomato mixture to the boil and simmer to thicken
Meanwhile heat olive oil in a frying-pan
Fry the eggplant slices turning regularly
Place half the eggplant slices on the bottom of baking dish
Cover with half of the tomato sauce

Spoon on the ricotta
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan
Place the remaining half of the eggplant on top
Cover with the rest of the tomato sauce
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Χορτόπιτα με φέτα

Καθαρά Δευτέρα and Orthodox Lent came with the kites, though limited in number by Covid. I saw feasts of Lenten foods prepared by Greek friends and suddenly I wanted χορτόπιτα! A trip to the greengrocer provided lots of choice: leeks, endive, chicory, dill, coriander. So I made a pie from leek, spring onions, endive and coriander, and at the last minute crumbled in a little feta. I am not sure about the quantities: I just squeezed a batch of greens into my steamer and had enough for a medium-sized pie dish with four serves. The pie was delicious. And soon I will make another with the chicory .

Ingredients

2 spring onions

1 leek

4 cloves garlic

Half a bunch of endive 

Bunch of coriander

80 gr fetta

Phyllo

Olive oil 

Poppyseed

Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c

Put the steamer on the stovetop to bring to boil

Slice the spring onions and leek

Roughly chop the endive and coriander

Add the greens to the top of the steamer

Crush the garlic and add to the greens

Steam until tender

Meanwhile place five sheets of phyllo in the baking dish, basting each sheet with olive oil

Spoon the vegetables on the phyllo and smooth

Crumble fetta over the vegetables

Fold the ends of pastry over the vegetables basting as you go

Cover top of pie with an extra sheet or two of phyllo basted with oil

Sprinkle poppyseed on top

With a sharp knife cut the top layers of pastry into serving pieces

Bake in 180c oven for 45 minutes.

Chicken & coriander pesto meatballs in tomato sauce

After a year when I seem to have been eating nothing but pies and other carbs, now I am trying to get over all that comfort food. When I was food shopping today, masked up at Piedimonte’s, minced chicken caught my eye. Mmm chicken meatballs. The other ingredients were what happened to catch my eye in the pantry and refrigerator when I was wondering what to cook this evening.

I used a ready made and purchased coriander pesto (yum) and a ready made tomato sauce (Five Brothers Tomato and basil sauce) but you could be more creative and make your own!

Ingredients

500 gr minced chicken

2tbs coriander pesto

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp minced ginger root

2 spring onions

Olive oil

500 gr ready made tomato sauce

Mode

Place minced chicken in mixing bowl

Crush garlic and add

Add ginger and coriander pesto

Chop spring onions and add

Stir until thoroughly mixed

Using a tablespoon  spoon form in into meatballs

Finalize shape with hand and place on plate

Meanwhile place the tomato sauce in a pan on heat 

Fill bottle with water, shake to clear jar

Add to pan and stir

Bring to boil and reduce to simmer

Heat olive oil in frying pan

Add meatballs in batches and cook to seal 

Add to tomato sauce as sealed

Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes

Eat alone if avoiding carbs or otherwise serve with rice, pasta or noodles. 

Enjoy!!