I have been a bit uninspired in the kitchen of late (yes, it happens to us all). I’ve been cooking, just nothing terribly interesting.
However, I did have this one in my drafts folder, and thought it worthy of a post. I love Moroccan food, and we even lugged a tagine home from Morocco in our carry-on luggage! So, I gave the tagine a soak overnight and we made this dish the following day: Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and green olives.
Serve with cous cous.
A note about preserved lemons – we used lemons preserved by J’s sister. I have yet to preserve my own (limited pantry space at the moment – once we move and summer arrives stay tuned for some serious jamming and preserving!), however I understand it is incredibly easy. Here’s an easy recipe from Poh’s Kitchen.
An original recipe! How novel!
I bought a free-range whole chicken the other day and butchered it into more manageable servings myself. Originally, I intended to use the thigh parts (I believe if you request chicken Marylands from a butcher you will get a similar cut) in a chicken and lentil dish. However, I looked at a few recipes and decided to wing it (hehe, pun!).
Thus, a recipe for my originally named slow-cooked chicken with leek, capsicum and celery. Otherwise known as using up the vegetables in Leah’s fridge…
Details
- :
20 min - :
50 min - :
1 h, 10 min
Ingredients - 2 Chicken thighs (Maryland)
- 4 stalks Celery, chopped
- 1 Leek, chopped
- 2 Green capsicum, sliced
- 1 Tomato, sliced
- 1/2 cup White wine
- 1 cup Chicken stock
- Water, as needed
- 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
- handful Fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 Bay leaf
- tsp Olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Butter
- 1 tsp Cornflour, mixed with a little water
Directions
- Heat butter and olive oil in a large frying pan until sizzling . Season your chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- Turn down the heat slightly and then add your chicken pieces, skin side down. Cook until brown, probably 5 minutes. Turn over and brown the other sides, including the sides and ends of the pieces.
- Remove chicken from pan and put on a plate lined with paper towel.
- Reduce heat slightly and add leek and celery. Cook for about 3 minutes until the leek starts to caramelize. Be careful not to burn it.
- Add the capsicum and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add garlic, oregano and bay leaf, then add wine and turn up heat until it reduces slightly.
- Add chicken stock and tomato and return the chicken pieces to the pan. Add water as needed, until the liquid is about 2/3 the way up the side of the chicken.
- Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, with the lid on but askew for about 40-45 minutes until the chicken is coming off the bone.
- Take out the chicken and the bulk of the vegetables and put in serving bowls.
- Turn the heat up to high and reduce down the juices. You can add the cornflour here to help thicken it up, just stir in the water/cornflour mixture and reduce the heat slightly. Keep stirring and it should thicken up. Remove the bay leaf, season to taste and then pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables.
- Top with parsley and serve with crusty bread, cous cous or a carb of your choice.
In English, it translates to casserole-roasted chicken with bacon, onions and potatoes – far less pretty!
This was my second attempt at a recipe from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. I do not normally mind time-consuming recipes, so long as the end result is worth it. My one comment so-far on the recipes is that often they involve steps that seem fussy or unnecessary. But maybe I’m just doing it wrong?
This recipe is a bit more time consuming – each element has to be prepared before being combine in the casserole. However, I think it’s worth doing for the potatoes alone! I’ve suggested a few shortcuts that I think wouldn’t compromise the end result too much.
The chicken remains succulent and tender through this method of cooking. The potatoes are little ovals of deliciousness – they literally fall apart on your fork, but have been infused with the butter, bacon and herbs. I ate the lion’s share of potatoes when I made this…but I do love my carbs! The juices in the pan would be great mopped up with a thick slice of rustic bread.
Overall, I think this recipe is worth the effort. It’s French cooking at its best – simple ingredients, slow cooking and LOTS of butter.
Details
- :
30 min - :
240 min - :
4 h, 30 min
- 3 mediums Bacon rashers, diced
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 whole Chicken (vary your cooking time according to size)
- 3 mediums Onions, whole and peeled
- 10 smalls Potatoes, peeled and cut into large thick ovals
- 3 tbsps Butter
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 medium Herb bouquet with 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 tsp thyme, tied in washed cheesecloth
Directions
- In a large casserole dish (I used our dutch oven. Whatever dish you use must have a lid) saute bacon in 1 tbsp of butter until very lightly browned. Remove to a side dish but leave the butter/fat liquid in the dish.
- Add some oil to the pan (this will stop the butter from burning).
- Brown the chicken in the hot fat. Start by putting the chicken in breast down. Brown for about 3 minutes. The butter should be hot but not burning.
- Turn the chicken on on side - Julia recommends using wooden spoons or a towel. I can vouch from experience that metal tongs are far from ideal!
- Continue browning by first turning the chicken on its back then onto the other side. You want the chicken to be nice and golden all over, particularly on the breast and legs. The process takes between 10 and 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken to a side dish and then pour the fat out of the dish (I don't know how necessary this is - if your butter isn't burnt I don't see why you can keep that as it will have lots of flavour.
- Preheat the oven to about 160*C but remember this depends upon your oven. Our oven was not very hot so we needed to turn the temperature up further.
- Whilst the oven is preheating, boil and salt a pot of water. Drop in the whole onions and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. As I used normal onions rather than baby ones, I cut them into quarters at this point.
- Put your potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Drain immediately. This just par-boils the potatoes and removes some of the starch.
- In your casserole dish heat the 3tbs of butter, or add a tbsp to your existing butter mixture, until foaming. Add the drained potatoes and roll them around over a moderate heat for about 2 minutes - this helps evaporate the moisture.
- Move the potatoes to the edges of the pot then salt the browned chicken and then place it breast up in the casserole dish. It will rest amongst the potatoes.
- Scatter the bacon and onions over the potatoes. Add the herb bouquet (I didn't bother with the cheesecloth, just added the herbs in whole and picked them out at the end).
- Baste all the ingredients with the butter in the casserole dish, cover the chicken with alfoil and then put the lid on the casserole dish.
- Heat the casserole on top of the stove until the contents are sizzling, then place in the middle level of the oven and roast (Julia suggests this will only take about 1hr20 mins - as I said, ours took nearly 3!)
- You should keep an eye on the chicken and baste with the juices a few times. The chicken should be done when the juices run clear.
- Serve with green beans and carrots.
|
|
Subscribe  follow on twitter
 by rss feed
 by email:
|
I have been a bit uninspired in the kitchen of late (yes, it happens to us all). I’ve been cooking, just nothing terribly interesting.
18.08.10 | 
Of: 
2 comments
Leave a comment
Share