Spicy wings

Nothing fancy here, just finger lickin’ good. This works because being small, the wings have a lot of surface area (skin) for the spice rub to flavour.

1 kg chicken wings
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted in a pan and ground
2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted in a pan and ground
1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted in a pan and ground
chilli powder to taste (try 1/2 tsp)
1 tb finely chopped garlic
2 tb finely chopped ginger
2 lemons

Combine everything except the lemons and work into the wings with your hands. Leave in the fridge as long as you can, up to 3 days. Brush with oil and grill on the bbq or oven. Squeeze over the juice from the lemons and season if you need to.

Source: ‘Stoked’ by Al Brown

Hokkien chicken noodles

Malaysian in origin. The noodles are medium size egg (wheat) noodles suitable for frying.

Miceleaine’s Filipino Chicken Hotpot

Super simple, fast and absolutely wonderful. Miceleaine made this as staff food for the last Essen ohne Grenzen (although we never really got round to eat it, because things got too busy, as always…)

Coq au vin (serves 6)

This is Helle’s signature dish for our holidays in France.

100 g lardons (mild unsmoked bacon)
2 tb butter
1 kg chicken, jointed, dried thoroughly
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
80 ml cognac
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
about 400 ml chicken stock
1/2 tb tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/4 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
onions & mushrooms as boeuf bourguignon recipe (with which coq au vin shares a strong family resemblance)
3 tb flour
2 tb butter

In a casserole saute bacon in the butter, set aside. Brown the chicken pieces over high heat in the same fat. Return the bacon to the dish, season, cover and cook slowly for 10 minutes, turning chicken once. Pour in the cognac and ignite with a match while shaking the dish. Add wine and enough stock to cover. Add tomato paste, garlic, herbs, bring to a simmer, cover and cook slowly for half an hour until chicken is done. Remove chicken.

Simmer the sauce for a couple of minutes, skimming off the fat, then increase heat and reduce to about 600 ml. Adjust seasoning and remove from heat. Blend butter and flour into a paste and whisk into the sauce. Bring to a simmer for a minute or 2, until thick enough to coat a spoon.

Return the chicken to the dish, add the onions and mushroom and heat through to serve.

Source: Julia Child ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’

Jujeh Kabab – Iranian Saffron Chicken Kabab

Had this every second day in Tehran. Delicious, either made on a grill or with a cast iron grill pan.

for the marinade:
1 onion, thinly sliced
250 grs full fat yoghurt (10% Greek/Turkish style)
juice of one lime or lemon
2 tsp olive oil
1 gr. saffron (1/2 tsp)
2 tsp salt
pepper

1 kg chicken breast, cut into cubes, about 2 cms
5 tomatoes, halved, or 10 cocktail tomatoes

baste (optional):
juice of 1 lime or lemon
50 gr. butter
1/2 tsp salt
pepper

Grind saffron and salt with a pestil and mortar. Dissolve with 2 tbsp hot water. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Add the chicken, mix, cover and marinate for at least 6 hrs to 2 days.

Thread on skewers with tomatoes and slowly grill on a charcoal grill or a grill pan. Optionally paint with the baste during the grilling and just before serving.

Serve with a cucumber yogurt and flat bread or with basmati rice topped with a knob of butter and a raw egg yolk.

source: New Food of Life – Najmieh Batmanglij

Tsukune – Japanese meat balls

200 grs shredded chicken or minced beef
1 spring onion
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms or 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1,5 cm of fresh ginger, grated
1,5 tbsp saké
1,5 tsp dark soy sauce
oil for frying

In a food processor, blend the dried mushrooms very finely. Boil with a small amount of water until soft and water has nearly evaporated. In the food processor, chop the spring onion (and shiitake if using fresh ones), add the remaining ingredients apart from the meat. Blend once more, then add the meat and blend into a very fine texture. Using two tablespoons, shape into little balls and fry in ground nut oil.

Serve on sticky rice, sprinkle with juices from the pan,  finely chopped green parts of spring onion and shanso pepper.  This should work well also in a clear Japanese noodle soup.

Adapted from: Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art, Shizuo Tsuji 

roast chicken with sumac, za’atar and lemon (serves 4)

1 large chicken, quartered (breast and wing, leg and thigh)

2 red onions, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 tb olive oil

1 1/2 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tb sumac

1 lemon, thinly sliced

200 ml chicken stock

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 tb za’atar

20 g unsalted butter

50 g pine nuts

4 tb chopped parsley

Mix chicken, spices, lemon, garlic, red onion, stock, salt and pepper in a large bowl and marinate overnight in fridge.

Bake in 200’C oven 30 – 40 minutes.

Sautee pine nuts in butter with pinch of salt until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

Cover chicken with other ingredients.

Source: Ottolenghi

roast chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey

Ottolenghi’s was one of my favourite places to get food when I lived in London. They put out one of the few ‘celebrity’ cookbooks I have time for.

1 chicken, divided into quarter: breast and wing, leg and thigh
2 onions, roughly chopped
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
generous pinch of saffron strands
juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
100g hazelnuts
70g honey
2 tbsp rosewater
2 spring onions, roughly chopped

Mix the chicken and spices, water, lemon juice together and leave at least an hour in the fridge. Preheat oven to 190’C and roast hazelnuts on a tray for up to 10 minutes until lightly browned. Combine with honey and rosewater and mash in a pestle to a chunky paste.
Put chicken and marinade into a generous roasting tray, bake for 35 mins. Spread hazelnut paste over chicken pieces and return to oven for 5-10 minutes.

Garnish with spring onions and serve with rice or couscous.

Source: Ottolenghi Cookbook

linden blossom chicken

A recipe for Thom’s birthday, even though he did not get the chicken….

1 free range chicken
a couple of shallots, finely chopped in the food processor
1 good handful of linden blossoms, about 50 grs
dash of cream

Pour one liter of boiling water onto the linden blossoms. Cover and leave to infuse for at least 15 minutes. Cut the chicken into pieces, leaving the bones on. Take the skin off and trim excess fat. Fry in butter or ghee until slightly browned, remove from the pot. Now fry the shallots until golden, return the chicken to the pot, cover with strained linden blossom infusion. Boil for half an hour. Remove the chicken and keep warm. Boil and reduce the sauce to at least a fifth, salt, it should have a delicate fragrant flavour. Add a dash of cream and slightly thicken with rice starch if necessary. Return the chicken to the sauce, boil for a little bit longer. Serve and sprinkle with a little bit of fresh thyme. Serve with linguine or mashed potatoes.

A little bit of finely grated lemon zest could also be added to the sauce at the end.

Happy Birthday!

Lapsang Souchoung Chicken Breasts

Tried Thom’s recipe for chicken in lapsang souchong salt crust – delicious, but quite a big waste of salt for such a simple dish. Then I remebered the technique of brining mentioned in “The Best Recipe” for turkey and this works well here:

chicken breasts
1 cup of cold lapsang souchong tea, not too strong
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Make a cup of lapsang souchong tea, add half a teaspoon of salt. Brine a chicken breast in this for 1-2 hours. Dust with flour, fry in a cast iron pan. Perfect. Fast. Easy.

More info on brining:
http://motsspot.blogspot.com/2009/09/megachef-alton-brown-brining.html