Mediterranean Chicken Stew

This is one of those dishes that split the crowd.  I liked it a lot, Son & heir liked it and hubby didn't like it much - from which I detect that it may well be a "women & children only" dish!

We had bought a chicken last weekend, as a fall-back position if it transpired that we couldn't get hold of a piece of roasting bacon.  As we finally managed to secure an enormous joint, the chicken went into the freezer and became part of this week's menus.

As such, I simply roasted the chicken during the day and stripped the carcass into two halves of usable meat.  One half went in today's chicken stew, the other was intended for the chicken pie that I had scheduled.

I'm always on the lookout for "things in which to use leftover roast chicken", as we rarely eat more than half a chicken in a roast dinner - which leaves the other half.  Now as much as I like cold roast chicken in sandwiches, it seems that I'm alone in that in our house - and there's only so many roast chicken sandwiches a girl can eat.

The original recipe (which I found on "The Kitchn" - click to view) recommended using a rotisserie chicken for speed, so I reckoned "the other half of the roast chicken" would qualify in this regard.

Believe it or not, apart from forgetting to include two components of the dish (the bay leaves and the lemon juice), I almost followed the recipe as it is set out on the originating blog.  I'm quite sure the lack of bay leaf won't have hurt the recipe any, and I was quite glad I had forgotten the lemon juice, as the tomatoes made it quite acidic enough.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't over-acidic (probably because I'd used the lovely Tarantella tinned tomatoes, which are just beautiful), but I can't help but think that a tablespoon of lemon juice might have tipped it over the edge.  The one addition I made to the recipe was the addition of a tablespoonful of tomato ketchup.  I dunno, I think it just adds a little spicy something to a tomato sauce - and the sweetness often will take the edge off of the tomatoes.

I served it with mashed potato and tenderstem broccoli (you're going to get sick of hearing about that stuff, if you're not already!) and it was a lovely mid-week supper.

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN STEW  (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
2 tsp dried oregano
400g tin of chopped tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
400g tin of chick peas, in water
150ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
half a medium sized roast chicken, shredded into chunks
a handful of olives, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional).

Method :

1.  In a large, deep saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onion.  Cook until softened but not browned - some 5-8 minutes.

2.  Add the garlic and oregano, cook for a further minute, stirring well.

3.  Add the tomatoes, chick peas, tomato ketchup, chicken stock, bay leaves and pepper.  Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

4.  Add the chicken meat, stir gently, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for a further 10 minutes.

5.  Just prior to serving, stir in the olives and continue to cook until they have heated through.

6.  Serve with mashed potato and a green vegetable of your choosing.

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Nasi Goreng - the power of a food memory.

Some twenty five years ago, my then boyfriend and I went to a baby's christening.  The baby's parents, Michael & Vida (they ran the Singapura Restaurant in Fulham), hailed from China and Singapore respectively and this was no ordinary christening.  Regrettably, owing to one of my horses being poorly at the time and requiring veterinary intervention, we missed a large part of the Christening itself but managed to get back in time for the reception afterwards.
 
This was a very good thing, as Vida's Mum was in the kitchen of the hired Hall, making Nasi Goreng (amongst other things) for all the guests.  Huge platters kept appearing, with piles of steaming rice, chicken and prawns on board - which tasted divine.

Now, I knew I liked Nasi Goreng, as because my father was in the Royal Engineers we had lived abroad quite a bit during my childhood.  I was born in Malaysia and we spent intervals in Germany.  I'm not sure about experiencing Nasi Goreng as a baby in Malaysia (I doubt it, somehow!), but my parents (or my Dad, to be specific) obviously enjoyed it because I recall that when we were in Germany, we would often buy a big tin of Nasi Goreng from the Naafi.  I can very definitely remember eating that and liking it a lot.

That flavour - of Nasi Goreng (or Fried Rice) - has stayed with me down the years.

I can remember getting very excited some years ago when Sainsbury's started stocking small packs of Nasi Goreng seasoning, which contained instructions on making Nasi Goreng.  I tried it out, but the flavour wasn't quite how I remembered Vida's Mum's Nasi Goreng tasting, so it wasn't quite right.

Since then, I've tried a recipe from the BBC Good Food website - and it's the first recipe that's ever let me down in a big way, as it was not only horrible, but didn't taste in the slightest bit right.

That has to have been some three or four years ago.

So there I was, on Monday evening, trying to think of something relatively easy that I could make on Tuesday evening (following a busy day).  I've described how, at moments like this, I examine how I'm feeling and what I would really like to eat - and there, out of the gloom, came the answer "Nasi Goreng".  As ever, my mouth watered at the very idea.

It occurred to me that I had some chicken left from the weekend's roast, which if I added a bag of prawns to, would do fine.  Next, I needed an authentic recipe so turned to the internet.  There are plenty of recipes out there, but everything is slightly different, but intrinsically the same.  Having read them all, I decided that none of them were right but the thought had occurred to me that maybe I'd be better off following my memory of the flavours.  After all, I knew what I didn't want - a very highly flavoured, saucy, mixture - and I knew the flavours I did want - heat, sweetness, savouriness, but in a dry rice mix.  I had some Mirrin (sweet Japanese rice wine) in the cupboard, along with Soy sauce and Fish sauce.  I had chicken and could get prawns.  I could get some spring onions, I had ginger and coriander .... the thought had formulated into a plan.

The recipe is below and if this isn't Nasi Goreng, then Vida's Mum must have been making something else!

24.05.2013 : I've cooked this Nasi Goreng recipe a number of times since the first go - but this time of trying made me realise how much better I am getting, at handling a blisteringly hot wok.  I very definitely cooked this attempt far more proficiently - which basically means far quicker - than ever before and it showed.  The flavours were beautifully balanced, the chicken didn't dominate and the prawns were still pinkly munchy.  Having been given the idea by my Facebook friend Viv Braznell, I put a few fresh lime wedges on the side, as they do in Thailand.  It was a bit of a departure from the Chinese/Singpore tradition, but is a wonderful addition - so thanks, Viv!  Good gracious, but I love this dish!

NASI GORENG (FRIED RICE) (feeds 2-3)         NEW IMPROVED RECIPE!

Ingredients :

2-300g Basmati rice, cooked and cooled
2 eggs, lightly whipped
salt & pepper
3 individual knobs of butter
1 tbsp rapeseed or vegetable oil
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut thinly on the diagonal
a bunch (6 or 7) of spring onions , cleaned and chopped
a medium hot red chilli, stalk removed and chopped - seeds are optional
2 fat cloves of garlic, grated
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, grated
4 chestnut mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
a handful of frozen peas
fresh coriander, chopped, to taste
3 heaped tsp of red Thai curry paste
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
1-2 tbsp mirrin (Japanese Rice Wine)
300g cooked and peeled prawns, drained but not rinsed.

Method :

1.  Cook the basmati rice according to the instructions on the packet, but stop the cooking a fraction before it is done, leaving a slight bite in the rice.  Drain it well and spread it out onto a plate (or two) to cool.  Fork the rice over from time to time to keep it fluffy.  Don't use a spoon, as this will encourage the grains to break and clump together.

2.  Empty the prawns into a colander and leave to drain.

3.  Using a deep frying pan or wok, melt one of the knobs of butter and add half the seasoned egg mixture.  Roll the pan to spread the egg out thinly and cook to form a thin omelette, then reserve to keep warm whilst you cook a second omelette.  Reserve to keep warm, on top of the first.

4.  Melt the butter with the oil until really quite hot and add the chicken.  Fry until the chicken is almost cooked through and has gained some golden colour.

5.  Add the spring onions and chilli.  Stir and fry until softened - around 4-5 mins or so.

6.  Add the ginger and garlic and continue to stir and fry for another 1-2 minutes, taking care not to let it stick to the bottom of the pan.  Add the mushrooms and continue to fry until the mushrooms have gained some colour and softened a little.

7.  Add the Thai curry paste.  Stir well and cook for some 4-5 mins.

8.  Add the soy sauce, fish sauce and mirrin and reduce the heat to prevent it burning.  Continue to cook until a sticky and thick consistency has been achieved.

9.  Add the frozen peas and stir until they have defrosted and softened slightly.

10.  Add the rice and toss regularly to prevent it sticking. 

11.  Add the prawns and stir to combine.  You'll need to increase the heat slightly to make sure that the rice and prawns heat through properly.

12.  Take the two omelettes, roll and cut into strips.  Once everything is heated through and piping hot, add the coriander and omelette strips and stir through.

Serve at once.

Printable version

What to do with the other half of a chicken? Chicken Wraps!

I've given up oven-roasting a chicken for Sunday's roast dinner, these days.  Instead, I pot-roast it.  This involves oven-roasting for a half hour, then poaching for an hour or so in water with celery, carrot, onion, garlic, parsley - and any other vegetables or spices you might fancy at the time.

I've found that, not only does this produce a lovely moist bird for the primary meal, but the secondary meal (i.e. the other half of the chicken) benefits too.  The leftover meat from a roast chicken has that undeniably "roasted" flavour which can turn a bit sulphurous depending on how you treat it.  However, the other half of a pot-roasted chicken doesn't carry that sulphurous flavour.  As such, it makes it easier to find something to do with it!

One of my son's favourite dishes is plain old chicken wraps.  Now this involves leftover chicken, iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato salsa, which is okay but a bit under-achieving, I think.

We gave him a try with Fajitas, but it was just too complicated for his taste buds.  He liked them well enough, but they weren't deemed as good as his favourite plain old wrap.

In an attempt to strike a compromise between Mum & Dad's desire for spicier flavours and son's preference for the plainer, I came up with the chicken wrap we sampled yesterday.

Each wrap consisted of some Re-fried Beans, Iceberg lettuce, the mix of chicken, onions & red pepper, sour cream, salsa - and wrap.  Now, we'd previously always had Re-fried Beans beside our wraps, which left me without a context to eat the beans as either I was using a knife and fork, or fingers - for ease, certainly not both.  So it occurred to me, why not put the beans inside the wrap as the base upon which everything else sticks to?

I have to admit that son decided he'd have preferred his wrap without the beans, which is fine because when I do them next time, I'll just leave the beans out of his version.  No problem with that.

What I found was that the spicy Re-fried beans just about had sufficient flavour in them to cater for the spice requirements of the adults.  The onion/red pepper/chicken melange was flavoursome and juicy - and two wraps was almost more than I could handle.  (Almost!).

Oh and yes, those are curly fries.  ~hangs head in shame~  Don't blame me.  Apparently boys have to have curly fries occasionally or all their hair falls out - that's what they tell me, anyway.  ~shrug~  What was I to do?




SPICY CHICKEN WRAPS (feeds 3, with 2 wraps each)

Ingredients :

six large wraps (look in the Bakery part of your supermarket, rather than the "Mexican" aisle, for the larger size wraps)
a tin of Re-fried Beans (or make your own)
4-5 leaves of Iceberg lettuce, shredded
a red pepper, sliced thinly
a large onion, sliced thinly
half a cooked chicken, shredded
olive oil
sour cream
tomato salsa (or make your own).

Method :

1.  Take a large frying pan and heat some olive oil.  Fry the onion slices gently until transparent but not coloured (around 5-10 minutes).

2.  Add the pepper slices and continue to fry for another 5-10 minutes.

3.  Add the shredded chicken, stir to combine, then place on a lid (or a baking sheet, if your frying pan doesn't have a lid) and heat through gently.

4.  Heat up the wraps by dry frying, or popping into the oven for 6-7 minutes, or in the microwave for 6-7 minutes on full.

5.  Heat up the Re-fried beans.

6.  To assemble the wraps, take the Re-fried beans and smear some down the centre (from 12-6 o'clock).  Adjust quantity according to how much the recipient likes them.

7.  Sprinkle some lettuce over, then add some of the chicken mixture.

8.  Blob on some sour cream and salsa.

9.  To fold, take the lower edge and bring it up to cover the first third of the filling.  Take the left hand edge and bring it across, then do the same with the right hand edge.  Leave the top edge free.

Serve with fries and napkins!

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What do you do with the other half of a roast chicken? Why, Chicken Supreme, of course!

Chicken Supreme : with black pepper added by me!
Be careful with salt, as the soup can be quite salty already.

We'd managed to find a lovely big fat chicken for dinner last Sunday and very nice it was too.  Apart from a bit of deliberation over whether you could cook Yorkshire Puddings in silicon muffin "tins" (which we decided, on balance, we'd have a go at - but not this time), it all went to plan.  Nothing glamorous, just a nicely roasted chicken with Bay leaves in the cavity and fresh Rosemary (both from the bushes in the front garden) sprinkled over, with salt & pepper.

That left us with half a chicken looking for a job to do.  Our normal use for half a roast chicken is to curry it, but we had a tin of condensed mushroom soup in the cupboard - which just yelled "Chicken Supreme" at me.

Because we'd had roast potatoes the day before, that rendered potatoes off the list, so we went with just plain white rice as an accompaniment.  I'd been looking forward to it for days, and my keen anticipation was very well rewarded as it was delicious!

It was hubby's day to cook, and here's how he did it :

CHICKEN SUPREME (serves 3)

Ingredients :

an onion, diced fine
a clove of garlic, chopped fine
olive oil
small can of sweetcorn
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
200ml water
worcestershire sauce
half a cooked roast chicken, taken from the bone and diced
3-4 sprigs of parsley, chopped fine

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion & garlic gently until soft and just beginning to colour.

2.  Add the soup, water, sweetcorn and a splash of worcestershire sauce and mix well to combine.  Once up to temperature,

3.  Add the chicken and mix through gently, so as not to encourage the pieces to break up.  Allow the chicken to heat through.

4.  To serve, stir through half the parsley and sprinkle the remaining half over.

Serve with : carrots & white rice.