Chicken Cacciatore

Hello again!

I'm back with yet another super-easy savoury dish. But don't worry, the lack of sugar on this blog will be seen to soon- we've got a guest-post from my brother coming next weekend (exciting stuff), and then it's going to be back to our line-up of cakes, cakes, cakes. And more cakes. Maybe a tart or two. Let's see how things go.

Today I'm blogging a ridiculously easy but delicious chicken cacciatore. There are a lot of recipes for chicken cacciatore going around, though from my research they all seem to include tomatoes and basil. 'Cacciatore' means 'hunter' in Italian, and as such, this is a rather simple, rustic dish. And I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'proper' recipe for what is traditionally a thrown-together braised dish.

So, this is my version of a chicken cacciatore.

Ingredients:
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
A good handful of black olives
2 x 400g tins of good-quality chopped or cherry tomatoes
100g of mascarpone
6 skin-on chicken breasts or thighs (depending on your preference)
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

First, preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius fan (or 190 degrees Celsius non-fan).

Fry off your onions and garlic in olive oil until softened and translucent. Add in your tomatoes and season with a touch of salt, a little sugar, and a quick glug of balsamic vinegar. I always add a bit of sugar and salt when using tinned tomatoes as I find that they can be a bit too acidic, so you need the sugar and salt to balance that out a bit more.

Let your tomato sauce simmer for about 15 or 20 minutes, until it has thickened and reduced a little. Take the pan off the heat and stir in your mascarpone. Now, grab your basil.

This is our basil plant. ...It didn't exactly look like this after I was done with it. Ooops. 

                                                             Poor guy never saw it coming...

Roughly tear up your basil leaves and stir them into the mixture, along with your olives. For your olives, pit them if necessary then roughly chop them up into chunks before tossing them into your sauce. Bear in mind that since the olives are quite salty, be careful when you're seasoning your sauce as it'll be saltier once you add in your olives.

Now fry your chicken on both sides until a light golden colour. Arrange your chicken in a baking dish and pour the sauce over them.

Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken. In the photos, I've used chicken quarters, which took about 45 minutes in my oven. When I've used smaller pieces of chicken, like skin-on breast pieces or keel, it's taken about 25-30 minutes, so just use your judgement. If you're unsure, your chicken is cooked when the juices run clear.

Serve over a helping of pasta, or mashed potatoes, or roast potatoes...whichever way you want them. Since there's lots of sauce, I do like having this with pasta or mash- yummy!

There, wasn't that easy? Enjoy!

Spinach Feta Falafels.

I know, I know... I've been bad again and it's been a while since I blogged. However, I'm making it up to you guys with a rather delicious chickpea falafel. I know, I know...can you believe I'm posting another savoury recipe? I can hardly believe it myself. I'm going to have to warn my dessert-loving readers that the blog might be a little short of sugar for the next couple of posts as I have a few savoury dishes that have been made and need to be blogged. If it helps, when I come back with your next hit of sugar, it'll be accompanied by photos taken by my snazzy new camera (which I love). But before we get to that, I need to finish up with a couple of as yet un-blogged savoury dishes.

Now, back to the falafel...

One of the best thing about these little guys is that they are so easy to make, and they freeze rather well. I managed to whip them up after work and made a huge batch to be split between dinner that night, with most to be kept aside for a vegetarian dinner party we were going to have a few days later. I made a quadruple batch of these, but will give you the quantities for a single batch since I'm assuming that not everyone is going to want to make 40-odd falafel bites in one go or have an extra pair of hands to help form them (I might have kidnapped my little sister for forming duty). They are surprisingly filling and make a rather delicious dinner stuffed into some pitta bread with a yoghurt sauce, if you want to feel a little virtuous.

Ingredients:
400g can of chickpeas
1 chopped garlic clove
1 tsp ground cumin powder
1/2 tsp of dried chilli powder or harissa paste
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp plain flour
110g spinach (I used frozen spinach)
65g feta

First, drain your chickpeas and pat them dry. I know that falafel can be made with fava beans, but I really love chickpeas and so decided to use them instead. Make sure that your chickpeas are really dry, as you don't want the end mixture to be too damp or sticky.

                                                                    What's not to love?

If using frozen spinach, just put it in a pan to defrost. Don't add any extra cooking liquid to it, just pop it in a pan over a medium-low heat and cover it until it begins to defrost. Give it a little stir every so often just to make sure that it doesn't start to stick to the pan, but it can pretty much sit there fairly unattended. Once defrosted, pop it into a colander and drain it well, getting as much of the excess moisture out of it as you can.

Next, grab your trusty food processor and give it a big ole hug. Pop your chickpeas, onion, garlic, spices, spinach and feta into the food processor and give it a blitz for a couple of seconds until combined. You don't want to blend it too smooth (which I'll shamefully admit I might have done as I was slightly careless in making this huge batch) as you still want a bit of bite and texture to it. If you're worried about taking it too far, it might be a good idea to separate some of the chickpeas and then add them, slightly crushed, back into your final mixture and just stir them in.

 

                         I'm aware that this is not the most attractive photo to ever grace the pages
                                of this blog, but take note of the texture. You're aiming for something like this. 

Taste the mixture for seasoning and if it needs it, add a pinch of salt. I found that even with the salt from the feta, it needed just the tiniest pinch to round out the flavours.

Next, get rolling. This can be a little bit of a messy process, but make sure you start with very dry hands and a plate of flour. Just liberally flour your palms and scoop the mixture into your hands to quickly shape them. These can be made into little balls if you're wanting a canape-sized bite or into little, flat patties. I did both, with the patties going into my pitta for dinner and the little balls being set aside for the dinner party.

                                         

At this point, you can lay them out on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and freeze them. Once frozen, they can be removed from the baking tray and put into a container that will take up less space in your freezer.

When ready to eat, you can choose several ways of cooking them (depending on how healthy you want to be or how long you have). I wanted a bit of crunch to them, so deep fried them in sunflower oil for approximately 7 minutes, until they were a golden colour. Alternatively, if shaped into patties, you can shallow-fry them in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil, for about 4 minutes on each side. And if you're not in any hurry and don't mind the lack of crunch, they can be cooked in the oven. Just add a bit of oil into a baking tray and just brush a little over the falafel patties too. Place into your oven at a high heat, about 200 degrees Celsius. Cook for about 30 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cooking time.

Serve in a warmed pitta bread and liberally dressed with some yoghurt sauce or salsa. I had them with a lemon, coriander and spring onion yoghurt dressing, made by the fair hands of my little sister. Yum.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms.

Apologies for the slight neglect of the blog of late. Work things pretty much took over my life for the past few weeks, and whenever I did get a free moment I was just feeling too lazy to sit down and write (I know, I know- poor excuses).

I come bearing a really simple little recipe for stuffed Portobello mushrooms. I know- I'm actually blogging something savoury... Who would have thought the day would come? Anyway, I served these as a side at a dinner party recently and they went down a treat with my guests. I think I probably should have made more, actually!



12 Portobello or large flat Field mushrooms (suitable for stuffing)
2 slices of wholemeal bread
1 clove of garlic
Flat-leaf parsley
Basil pesto
Grated cheese (I used parmesan, but mozzarella or cheddar would be good for a melty top)
Butter and oil for frying

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius (fan oven).

Pop your two slices of bread into the toaster. You need them to be dried out and with just a little colour on them.

Once your bread is toasted, chop or tear them up roughly into smaller pieces, then pop them into a food processor and give them a quick pulse. You want slightly chunky breadcrumbs, not a fine, powdery crumb.

Clean off your mushrooms and remove the stalks. Dice the stalks and put aside. Place your mushrooms flat on a lightly greased oven tray.

Cook off your garlic in a little butter and oil, until soft and cooked through, then add your mushroom stalks. Toss in your breadcrumbs and fry until they have become golden brown. Pop the breadcrumb and garlic mix into a bowl, then add your diced mushroom stalks and some pesto to taste. You need just enough for the mix to bind together. Season to taste then finely chop a little parsley and add that to the mixture.

Spoon the breadcrumb mixture onto your mushrooms and top with grated cheese. Place in the oven for about 25 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through and the cheese has turned golden.

Serve with a little bit of finely chopped parsley sprinkled over the top. Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of Jason Kang.