Chicken & Bacon Pasta/Testenini so Pileshko i Slanina

Chicken and bacon work magic with pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion diced
• 600 gr chicken thigh, de-boned and diced

• 100 gr bacon diced
• 400 gr can of mushrooms sliced, washed and drained

• 3 basil springs, leaves only, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Around 600 ml water
• 2 table spoons flour or Flour for Roux, Gravies, Sauces…/Brashno za Zaprshki, Kashi, Sosovi…
• 1 tea spoon grainy mustard

• 1 packet pasta of own choice
• Water for cooking

Preparation

• Trim and dice the meat. Set aside.
• Dice the bacon and set aside.
• Wash and drain the mushrooms. Set aside.

• Heat up some oil and fry the onion on medium heat until translucent.
• Add the chicken.

• Fry until the chicken becomes opaque.

• Add the bacon.

• Fry for few minutes.
• Add the mushrooms.

• Fry until the liquids start evaporating.

• Add 2 table spoons flour or Flour for Roux, Gravies, Sauces…/Brashno za Zaprshki, Kashi, Sosovi…

• Fry to cover everything with the flour.

• Start adding water while stirring.

• Stir and scrape the sides until the liquid thickens.

• Season with salt and pepper.

• Add a tea spoon of grainy mustard.

• Stir through and add a handful of chopped basil.

• Stir through and continue cooking until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. Add a little bit more water if needed.

• Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.

Mix the pasta with the chicken sauce.

Serve hot.

You can if you with add a generous amount of Parmesan cheese.

 

Oven Baked Chicken Maryland in Sauce/Pecheni Karabataci vo Sos

Falling off the bone, juicy, melt in your mouth chicken. You can serve them on a bed of rice, mushed potatoes or pasta.

I had chicken quarters here because I was hosting a dinner and I needed a larger quantity but you can use chicken drumsticks as well or any chicken meat cut as long as it’s on the bone.

Ingredients:

• Chicken pieces, skin on

• Vegeta to taste
• Cracked pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• Few bay leaves
• 2 table spoons butter
• few table spoons oil
• Flour
• Water

Preparation:

• Wash the chicken pieces and season them well with Vegeta, pepper and a bit of salt.
• Roll them in flour to cover generously, set aside.
• In a deep baking dish, heat up a bit of oil and and add couple of table spoons of butter.
• Once the butter melts, add the chicken and on very high heat fry to form a crust.
• Pour water to just cover the meat and add few bay leaves.
• Bring to boil and transfer to a preheated oven.
• Bake on medium until the meat is tender and the sauce thickens.

Note:

• if the meat is done and your sauce is thinner that what you would like it to be, you can thicken it by adding a small amount of a mixture of flour and water. Mix 1 tea spoon of flour with 2 tea spoons of water in a thick paste and drizzle it over the sauce. Return to the oven and continue baking until the sauce thickens.
• if your sauce is thicker than what you would like it to be or it has reduced too quickly and the meat is not done yet, you can keep adding water until the meat is done.

Also:

Flour, if uncooked, can add an unpleasant raw flavor to sauces but once cooked, it is nutty and rich. For this reason I don’t use raw flour in my sauces. Instead, when making prosphora or baking breads I heavily flour the baking trays.

The flour will bake with the bread. I collect it and use in my sauces and roux as well as for dusting my meats, fish or in my batters later.

This gives them a lovely nutty flavor.

 

Spring Chicken Stew/Proletna Mandja so Pileshko

When there were no deep freezers and spring time bought along the first veggies, fresh produce markets packed with fresh fruit and veggies at affordable prices, this is when this stew was made in Macedonia and how it got its name.

Nowadays, it can be made at any time of the year because we have easy access to good quality frozen veggies at affordable prices.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet frozen veggies mix of: carrots, peas, corn, green beans and potatoes

• 500 gr chicken fillet
• Water for cooking
• Vegeta spice to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 table spoon dried parsley or a handful of fresh
• 1 tea spoon of mild paprika
• oil for frying
• 1 large onion diced

Preparation:

• Place the diced chicken in a deep pot, cover with water and cook until tender.
• Switch of the heat and set aside.
• Fry the diced onion in a bit of oil.
• Add the veggies and fry for few minutes.
• Add the cooked meat and fry for few minutes.
• Season with Vegeta, pepper and paprika, pour some of the chicken broth to cover the lot, place a lid and cook on low heat.

• Check and stir occasionally and keep adding broth until the veggies are cooked.
• Add the parsley (dry or fresh), stir through and cook for few more minutes.
• Ensure there is enough liquid for a stew like consistency.
• Serve hot with lots of crusty bread for dipping.

 

Roasted Chicken in a Jacket/Pecheno Pile vo Dzaket

You probably guessed why chicken in a jacket: chicken wrapped in bacon and baked in the oven, very similar to the Roasted Quails in Bacon Jackets/Peceni Potpoloshki Zavieni vo Slanina

I love the combination of a bird and bacon. The smokiness of the bacon gives the bird meat a very nice aroma and the fat softens the meat making it tender and juicy.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken (I was hosting a dinner so in the photos you will see 2 chickens)
• bacon enough to wrap up the chicken with it (amount depends on the size of the chicken)
• 1 orange (rind, juice and orange shell)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 onion

• Vegeta to taste
• pepper to taste
• oregano to taste
• little bit of oil

Also: potatoes for baking with the chook.

Preparation:

• Wash the orange well, grate the rind, set aside; squeeze the orange juice, set aside; keep the orange shell and pulp without pips, set aside.
• Wash and trim the chook, pat dry with a disposable paper towel, set aside.
• Prepare and grease a deeper baking dish, chef’s cooking string, your spices and lay the bacon on the workbench.
• Place the chook in the baking dish and season the insides with Vegeta, pepper and oregano.
• Drizzle with orange juice, inside first then roll the outside in the juice that drips out in the baking ray.

• Use the pulp as well.

• Place the orange shell, 1 cinnamon stick and a quarter of the onion inside the chook.
• Wrap up the chook in bacon and secure in place with the cooking string.
• Season with more oregano, pepper and not too much Vegeta as the bacon contains salt in it.
• Set aside.

• Wash and peel medium size potatoes.
• Season with Vegeta and pepper.
• Lift the chook gently and place the potatoes underneath and around the chook.
• Cut the remainder of the onion in wedges and scatter around the potatoes.

• I used two different baking dishes: 1 with a lid and the other does not have a lid.

• Place the lid on or if the baking doesn’t have a lid, wrap up with alum foil.
• Bake in a preheated oven on medium until you can smell the aroma.
• Take out and check the potatoes and the meat, if not ready, return the lid or the foil and put back in the oven. Continue baking and checking occasionally until the meat becomes tender and the potatoes soft.
• Remove the lids, turn up the heat a notch and return to the oven so they chook can get a lovely crust and brown nicely.

Cut the strings and pull them out before serving.

 

Chicken Drummettes & Potato Bake/Pecheni Pileshki Kopanchinja i Kompiri

An easy and quick preparing meal. Pop it in the oven and you are free to do the salads and set the table. Kids will love it because of its mellow taste and texture. Also the drummettes are perfect for little fingers.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken drummettes
• 1 kg peeled, smaller sized potatoes cut in 2 cm circles
• Vegeta spice to taste
• Cracked pepper to taste
• Dry rosemary to taste
• Oil

Preparation:

• Wash and trim the drumettes.
• Season with Vegeta, cracked pepper and rosemary. Set aside.
• Peel and cut up the potatoes. Set aside.
• Season with Vegeta, cracked pepper and rosemary. Set aside.
• Drizzle your baking dish with oil.
• Arrange the drummettes in the baking dish and in between each of them wedge a circle of potato, everywhere where the meat pieces touch.
• Wrap it with alum-foil and bake it in a preheated oven on moderate until the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are soft.
• Remove the foil and return for a bit more until they just start blushing. Do not overcook and dry. There will be juices that you will use to drizzle over the serving dish, perfect for dipping crusty bread in it.

 

Chicken Tandoori Tongues/Pileski Jazici

This is my variation of the original tandoori chicken recipe (an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi dish where the chicken meat is marinated in yogurt and a tandoori masala spice mixture and then baked in a clay oven). I love it because I can moderate and adjust the amount of tandoori spice I use and therefore enable the dish to appeal to almost everyone including my kids.

Ingredients:

• 1kg chicken breast
•  as much or as little u need to season the meat to own taste: tandoori powder spice
•   to taste: salt and pepper
•  2-3 table spoons butter

Preparation:

• Cut the meat in long, narrow pieces to look like tongues.
• Thread each piece on a bamboo skewer.
• Season the meat with salt, pepper and tandoori powdered spice.
• Cover with plastic foil and place it in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.
• Heat the hot plate of the BBQ and melt the butter.
• Place the meat on the well greased hot plate and grill it until golden brown.

Serving suggestion:

Serve it with the following yogurt sauce that will give it freshness and enhance its taste:

Yogurt as meat topping-sauce/Yogurt kako prilog za meso-sos

 

Arroz Con Pollo/Rise and Chicken/Pilesko so Oriz

Last week the food tech assignment that my son had at school was something authentic from Australia; they prepared it at school with the help of the teacher: https://foodspiceandallthingsnice.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/lamingtons/

This week’s assignment is a choice of an ethnic dish; it has to be prepared at home with the help of an adult, documented, served to family members and feedback has to be gathered. They will be graded for preparation, documentation and presentation (bring it on I say, as the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, hehe). He chose a Latino dish that has two main ingredients that are his favorites: chicken and rise. Good choice I might add, as we all enjoyed it. Once again: a proud mum.

During research, he searched the net and found quite a few recipes and some very interesting facts. After reading a fair few of the recipes circulating the net, we put together our version and learned that this dish has its origins in Andalusia, Spain.Food historians say that it dates back to the eighth century when the Moors occupied Spain and influenced all aspects of their living, including their cuisine. The Moors had a particular focus on the southern region of Spain because from there they had access to the coast where they could exchange goods and to Northern Africa from where they imported their spices. From there onwards, Arroz con pollo became a well known Latino dish with particular popularity in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia spreading through to the Caribbean, Mexico and nowadays all over the world.

Ingredients:

2-3 table spoons olive oil
2 brown onions
4 garlic cloves
6 drumsticks with the sticking bone cut off
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
½ teaspoon saffron threads
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 x 400g can diced Italian Roma tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
200g fire-roasted peeled whole peppers
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh continental parsley
1 celery stalk with the leaves on
Salt to taste
Orange peel and olives for decoration

Preparation:

Firstly to make the chicken stock:

Place the drumsticks, 1 halved onion, the whole celery stick and 2 whole garlic cloves in a pot.
Cover them with 1 litre of water.
Bring to the boil and simmer until the drumsticks are soft when pricked with a fork.
Remove and discard the onion, garlic and the celery stick.

Take out the drumsticks and set them aside. Keep the chicken stock.

Rice:

Dice one onion and 2 garlic cloves; dice the grilled peppers; prepare all the spices. Set aside.

Fry the onion and the garlic in a bit of oil until the onion is translucent.

Add the chicken drumsticks and fry until they become golden.

Add all the spices at once and fry until they become fragrant.

Add the rice and stir to coat it well with the spices.

Add the diced tomatoes and fry for about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock, stir and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes. (If the liquid evaporates and the rice is still not cooked, you can add a bit more chicken stock).

Add the diced peppers and continue to cook until the rice is cooked.

Add the chopped parsley and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Serve hot.

 

Deep Fried Chicken/Pohovano Pilesko Meso

My boys love deep fried chicken, erm well not just them, I love it as well. Here are two ways I prepare deep fried chicken.

They are not exactly with the secret mix of 11 herbs and spices but they sure will give Colonel Sanders’ the run for his money.

1. Deep Fried Chicken

KFC eat your heart out!!!!!

This one has a very crunchy crust covering the succulent chicken meat.

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken drumsticks (or any other chicken meat pieces of own choice such as chicken fillet, chicken steak, chicken wings etc)
• water for cooking
• 1 onion
• 2-3 garlic pieces
• 2-3 bay leaves
• oil for deep frying
• to taste: Vegeta and pepper
•  as much as required for the batter: eggs, plain flour, palenta, milk

Preparation:

• Place the chicken meat, quartered onion, garlic and bay leaves in a pot and cover with water.
• Cook until the meat is tender.
• Remove the meat (keep the water/broth, a nice soup can be made out of it): https://foodspiceandallthingsnice.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/creamy-chicken-and-nutmeg-soupkremasta-pileska-supa-so-morsko-orevce/
• While the meat is hot, season with Vegeta and pepper.
• Allow it to cool.
• Beat with a fork couple of eggs with a drop of milk (if required you can beat more).
• Place some flour in a plate.
• Place some polenta in another plate.
• Dip and cover a drumstick in the egg batter.
• Roll it in flour to cover it well.
• Dip it in egg again.
• Roll it in polenta to cover evenly.
• Place it on a clean plate and repeat the process until all meat is done.
• Heat oil in a deep pot for deep frying.
• When the oil is hot drop the pieces in the hot oil and fry on high heat; the chicken is already cooked so all that is required is for the surface to crisp and become golden.
• Remove from the oil and place them on a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.

2. Deep Fried Chicken

This version is a bit more delicate, the crust is thinner, it absolutely melts in the mouth.

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken drumsticks (or any other chicken meat pieces of own choice such as chicken fillet, chicken steak, chicken wings etc)
• water for cooking
• oil for deep frying
• to taste: Vegeta and pepper
• as much as required for the batter: eggs and plain flour

Preparation:

• Place the chicken meat in a pot and cover with water.
• Cook until the meat is tender.
• Remove the meat (keep the water/broth, a nice soup can be made out of it): https://foodspiceandallthingsnice.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/creamy-chicken-and-nutmeg-soupkremasta-pileska-supa-so-morsko-orevce/
• While the meat is hot, season with Vegeta and pepper.
• Roll the meat while hot in flour to cover it well.
• Place it on a clean plate and repeat the process until all meat is done.
• Allow it to cool.
• Heat oil in a deep pot for deep frying.
• While the oil is heating, beat 2 eggs with an electric mixer while pale and frothy.
• Dip each piece of meat in the egg, roll it in flour again to cover it evenly and drop it in the hot oil to fry.
• Fry on high heat; since the chicken is already cooked, all that is required is for the surface to crisp and become golden.

Note: dip the chicken in the beaten eggs couple of pieces at a time and do not overcrowd the oil. Once few pieces are ready, repeat the process with the remainder of the meat (if you run out of egg mixture, beat another two eggs and continue to dip the floured meat in the egg and again in flour just before dropping it into the hot oil).

• Once the meat becomes golden, remove from the oil and place it on a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.

 

Creamy Chicken and Nutmeg Soup/Kremasta Pileska Supa so Morsko Orevce

Smooth and delicate. The nutmeg gives it a lift and a special touch.

Ingredients:

•  1 chicken carcass (bones)
•  1 onion
•  3-4 pieces of garlic
•  3-4 bay leaves
•  10-ish pepper grains
•  3 table spoons of oil
•  50gr butter
•  3 table spoons flour
•  to taste: salt and freshly ground nutmeg

Preparation:

• Place the chicken carcass (bones), pepper grains, bays leaves, onion (halved) and garlic in a pot.
• Cover with water and simmer until the bones fall apart.
• Strain and keep the liquid/broth; discard the bones and the rest.
• Place the oil and the butter in another clean, deep pot.
• Place it on the stove on low heat and stir until the butter melts (do not leave it unattended as the it can very quickly burn).
• Add the flour and fry it until it browns slightly.
• Add 3-4 cups of the chicken broth at once and beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
• Bring to the boil.
• Cook for about 5-10 minutes. If required, add more broth to achieve desired thickness of the soup.
• Cover and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Season with salt.
• Grate some nutmeg just before serving.