Greek style gorgeousness - Chickaleekaka!

Well, what a thing of great beauty this recipe turned out to be!  I found it on Petit Chef, in a vegetarian version without the chicken (and other bits), here.  I really liked the combination of flavours and was intrigued by the use of the white wine.  However it didn't have enough "oomph" for my menfolk as a main course, yet seemed too heavy for a side dish.  So after a bit of mental juggling with a few protein sources such as ham (which I'm sure would be great, but good ham is hard to find for an affordable price), salmon, smoked haddock or sausage - I decided to continue the theme of delicate flavours and go with chicken.  After all, chicken and wine, chicken and leek, chicken and cheese, all go well together and it certainly isn't going to argue with eggs!

Just baked - and you can see the importance of the cheesy crust.

Yes, it takes a little bit of fiddling around as it's a three-stage dish where cooking and assembly is concerned, but if you start early and leave yourself a bit of time in which to give the ingredients the respect they deserve, it really isn't difficult at all.  I served mine with a tomato, spinach & red kidney bean salad (primarily for me!) and a few garlic butter doughballs (as a bit more carbohydrate for the menfolk).

Evaporating the wine.

This family all have a marked soft spot for a Greek recipe - there's something about the ingredients and the style of cooking that just hits the spot with us.  It must be the rich/healthy combination of a baked dish paired with a side salad, using indulgent ingredients like cheese and eggs, plus juicy tomatoes and healthy spinach.  Put it this way, not one person had an ounce of anything left on their plate, so it must have been good!

I was very interested to see how the wine infused itself into the chicken and suffused the leeks with a subtle but very much "there" flavour of sunshine and fruit which added the necessary acidity to cut through the richness of the Bechamel and cheese.  I added a small amount of thyme for an additional layer of flavour, which worked beautifully and didn't swamp the dill at all.

The additional mustard in the Bechamel was a great idea too, as it gave the mild, creamy sauce just that tiny edge which stopped it from becoming too much.

I can hear you wondering what cook's tips I might have for you about this one.  Well, as it happens, I do have a few!

Now you might wonder why I used skimmed milk, but added double cream.  Well, I wanted a richness through the sauce but not too much and considered that using semi-skimmed milk would mean I had to reduce the amount of cream I used.  Using the skimmed gave a perfect balance between milk and cream that didn't make the sauce too heavy.

However, the biggest tip I have for you is to make the Chickaleekaka (which, by the way, is a combination of "chicken", "leek" and "Moussaka-like-thing") in a dish which you've lined with non-stick silver foil, so that once cooked, you can lift it out of the dish and onto a chopping board.  From there, you can gently peel down the edges of the silver foil and the Chickaleekaka should stay, in one set piece, without collapse.  (The eggs are fundamental in this as they are what cause the lower layer to set).  You can then cut it into neat portions which helps to make it look that little bit more deliciously intriguing - and you don't lose those lovely crusty edges by leaving them in the dish!

A quick word about what size dish you choose might be in order, too.  You need to make the Chickaleekaka in a dish that is deep enough to give you a good 1-2cm of chicken & leek, with a nice deep layer of Bechamel on top.  Use too big a dish and it will be spread too sparsely.  Far better to go small - but deep - than too big and shallow.

My tomato/spinach/kidney bean/cress "hot plate" salad.

As for what would you serve alongside the Chickaleekaka, well I went for a "hot plate" salad, i.e. a salad that could be served on a hot plate.  This consists of items that can stand up to heat - so tomato, baby spinach, red kidney beans and cress were my choice on this occasion, but the possibilities are endless.  Just steer clear of things that wilt quickly like iceberg lettuce, if you're going to be serving it on a hot plate!

I know I'm going to be making this again very soon - and I'd really love to hear what you think of it, if you give it a go too.  So do leave me a message, if you try it!

CHICKALEEKAKA    (serves 4) 

Ingredients :

1-2 tbsp olive oil

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced small

500g leeks, sliced small

half a tsp white pepper

a tiny pinch of sea salt

half a tsp of dried thyme

100ml (or thereabouts) dry white wine
20g fresh dill, finely chopped
3 large eggs
250g mature cheddar cheese, grated.

For the Bechamel :

3 tbsp of salted butter

4 tbsp of plain flour

a generous pinch of white pepper

a tiny pinch of sea salt 

350ml of skimmed milk

2 tbsp double cream

half a tsp Dijon mustard

half a tsp of fresh grated nutmeg

20g parmesan cheese, grated

50g mature cheddar cheese, grated.

Method :

1.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and once hot, add the chicken.  Spread the chicken across the pan to cook evenly, as it won't take long, being such small pieces.  Toss the chicken a few times to make sure every side is coloured - but don't allow it to turn golden.

2.  Once the chicken is coloured but not cooked through, add the leeks and seasoning.  Continue to fry until the leeks are softened.  You will need to toss and stir regularly to prevent the pan contents from colouring further.

3.  Add the wine and continue to toss and stir until the wine has all but evaporated and the pan is almost dry.

4.  Decant the chicken & leeks into a large pyrex bowl  and set aside to cool for 5 minutes or so.

5.  Once cooled, add the dill, crack the eggs in and add the grated cheese.  Mix and stir until everything is evenly distributed.  Set aside, while you make the Bechamel sauce.

6.  In a medium pan, set the butter to melt and add the flour, salt and pepper.  Allow the flour to cook out gently for 3 or 4 minutes, but don't allow it to brown.

7.  Add a little of the milk and stir it through.  The mix will set up quickly, so take if off the heat and keep adding a little milk, then stirring - you will probably need to swap to a hand whisk - until you have a saucy textured mix which is somewhat wetter than you would require.  Add the cream, mustard and nutmeg and whisk them through, then put the pan back on the heat and keep stirring or whisking as it heats through to simmering point.  If the mix becomes too thick, add a little more milk - but not too much, or it will quickly become too thin.  You're after a consistency reminiscent of thick custard.

8.  Take your baking dish (I used a small roasting dish that I lined with non stick silver foil) and decant the chicken & leek mixture into it, making sure to push it into the corners and level off the top surface.

9.  Pour the Bechamel over the top and again, encourage it to form a smooth layer.

10.  Sprinkle first the parmesan, then the cheddar, over the top so that the surface is entirely coated.  This will form the gorgeous cheesy crust - too little cheese and the crust will be patchy at best.

11.  Place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/Gas4 for 30-35 minutes or until the top is a gorgeous golden brown.

12.  Remove from the oven and allow to settle for 5-10 minutes before serving with a side salad.

Printable version

Pasta alla Amatriciana : bacon & tomato loveliness

Oh, I am so impressed with this recipe.

It has all the hallmarks of a great family meal.  Pasta, tomatoes, bacon - what's not to like there?  It is perfect for those nights when you just want something that everyone is going to eat and not complain about - and, wonder of wonders, it is really simple to make.

I found the recipe on Chow.com and it is attributed to a Chef called Robert Sietsema.  Now I have to admit that I've never heard of him, but then that's probably because I'm not a) Italian or b) American.  If this recipe is an example of his food, then he's obviously a good egg.

Now, in his version, he used Bucatini pasta (which is like spaghetti but has a hole through the middle) and cured pork guanciale (Italian bacon, prepared with pig cheeks) and I'm sure it was completely sublime.  However, as I don't have access to either of those (not for an affordable price, anyway), I either opt for good old spirali pasta or spaghetti and get some of my local butcher's bacon.  It's also worth mentioning that Matteson's are currently producing lightly smoked turkey rashers which double as bacon very nicely.

Just look at that colour - amazing!

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I've been using Tarantella tinned tomatoes in preference to other brands.  The difference really is marked and if you can find them, it's well worth changing. Their tomato puree is so gorgeous that it is tempting to have a little taster straight from the jar - and I can't say I've ever been tempted to do that with tomato puree before!

Everyone liked this dish, with clean plates all round - so I'd call that a success.

UPDATE!  It is now July 2015 and we've since discovered that hubby is sensitive to cayenne pepper, so I now substitute a pinch of red chilli flakes for the cayenne.  The end result is just as lovely and we'll definitely be using chilli again in future.  So, if you have similar issues with cayenne - help is at hand!   I also added in a couple of homeless mushrooms, with no adverse results.

PASTA ALLA AMATRICIANA  (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients :
 
A pack (350-400g) of smoked back bacon, diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
150ml dry white wine
400g can chopped tomatoes in juice (I bought plum & chopped them myself)
1 heaped tbsp tomato puree
1 dessertspoonful runny honey or to taste
1 tsp dried or three good sprigs of fresh, basil
1 tsp paprika 
a hearty pinch of cayenne pepper (or red chilli flakes)
100ml of semi skimmed milk
fine grated Parmesan, or Grana Padano or Cheddar cheese, for sprinkling.  (All three work really well).
250-300g pasta (spirali or spaghetti).


Method :

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In the meantime, heat a large frying pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, reduce the heat to medium, add the bacon and cook until the fat is translucent.

Add the onion and olive oil and sauté until the onion is translucent but not browned, about 4 minutes.

Add the wine and simmer until the alcohol has burned off and the wine has reduced by about half, about 2 1/2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, purée and basil and bring to a boil, then keep at a lively simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

Season with salt (being aware of the salt already in the dish from the bacon), honey to taste, paprika and cayenne or chilli flakes.  Stir to combine and allow to simmer for another few minutes.

Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook to the manufacturer's instructions - usually around 7-9 minutes.

While the pasta cooks, remove the sauce from the heat and add the milk which will help to prevent the acidity that often comes with tomato sauces.  Stir it in well and return to a simmer.

Once the pasta is done (with still a little chewiness in it, not completely soft) drain, add to the sauce, and toss until the pasta is well coated.

Divide the pasta among individual bowls. Top each with a sprinkling of cheese and serve.  

Printable version

Macaroni Cheese - the gold standard

You may remember my talking about my Hubby's longing for a macaroni cheese recipe that didn't involve a roux-based sauce.  He had a memory of a macaroni cheese that a friend's wife had made for a dinner party, which he was sure contained wine - and was itching to re-create that.

Well, he'd gone a little way along that route by learning how to make a roux-based sauce, so that at least he understood the process in order to deviate from it.  I detailed his learning process in the blog posting about the Cauliflower Cheese - and indeed it was a beautiful cheese sauce.

Like me, he'd scoured the internet and my recipe books, looking for a recipe that satisfied all his criteria, but without success.  So he took a recipe that was nearest to what he wanted, and adapted it with the best bits from several other recipes.

I can confirm that the Macaroni Cheese he came up with was quite categorically the best Macaroni Cheese I have ever tasted - and was perfectly able to see it on a dinner party menu.  Macaroni Cheese isn't the first thing you'd think of for a dinner party, but this one is quite simply the Gold Standard for Macaroni Cheeses.

The cheese sauce was made more in the style of a fondue, rather than a cheese sauce.  As such, it contained the desired white wine, simply loads of cheese (cheddar and gruyere) along with cream and milk.

As if that wasn't enough, the whole dish was sprinkled with a mixture of buttered breadcrumbs, herbs, parmesan and salt which gave it a lightness of texture and a simple delicious crunch.

It's not the cheapest Macaroni Cheese in the world - but I'd go so far as to say that it is certainly the best I've ever had!

3 January 2018

I've just made a version of this macaroni cheese - following the recipe apart from three differences.  I used The Black Farmer's Sweet Mature Cheddar and a ball of Mozzarella in the cheese sauce - which were both SUCH a success.  The cheddar is truly packed full of gorgeous flavours and the mozzarella, well, mozzarella makes any cheesy thing wonderful.  The last difference was that I skipped the breadcrumb and baking part completely.  Did we mind?  Not one bit.  Here's how it looked.  SO yum.  

MACARONI CHEESE  (feeds 4-5)

Ingredients :

225g macaroni pasta
5-6 rashers lean unsmoked streaky bacon
3 tbsp butter, plus a little for the breadcrumbs
3-4 small shallots, chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
150ml white wine
100ml whole milk
300ml double cream
115g gruyere cheese, grated
115g mature cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped finely
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
110g crusty breadcrumbs
enough parmesan to grate over.


Method :


1.  Pre-heat oven to 200deg C/180deg C fan/Gas mark 6.


2.  Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to packet directions until tender to the bite.  Drain well, but do not rinse.


3.  In a large frying pan over a medium to high heat, melt the butter and add the bacon.  Fry until fat is rendered and just beginning to turn crusty around the edges.  Add the shallots and cook until golden, approx 3 minutes.


4.  Sprinkle mixture with flour and cook, stirring all the time, for around a minute.  Add the wine and stir, then the milk, still stirring, making sure to collect all the flavour from the bottom of the pan.  Add the cream and continue to stir.  Sprinkle in the cheeses, a handful at a time, continuing to stir until each handful is melted before adding the next.

5.  Stir in 2 tbsp chives, mustard, a pinch of salt, the cayenne and nutmeg.  Add the pasta to the sauce and stir lightly to combine.

6.  Add to a baking dish.

7.  To make the breadcrumb mixture, (which can be made ahead of time), in a food processor pulse the breadcrumbs with one and a half tbsp of butter, 1 tsp chives, grated parmesan and a pinch of salt, until mixed.

8.  Sprinkle over the pasta and bake until the top is browned and the cheese sauce is bubbling, around 15-20 minutes.

Serve.
 
.

Chicken & Bacon Creamy Pasta : a quick classy meal

This is one everybody should like - provided you enjoy chicken, that is!

The first time I tried this recipe, son & heir was away on an extra-curricular sleepover and I had planned an entirely different meal.  However, being suddenly down to two people for dinner seemed too good an opportunity to waste on standing sitting in the kitchen cooking!  So I looked for something a whole lot less time consuming - and found this.

I don't remember why I didn't blog it at the time, probably just got swamped by other things.  Real life does have a habit of doing that from time to time - getting in the way!

This dish really couldn't be any easier.  One frying pan, one saucepan, three pasta bowls and bingo! you've got dinner.

It is very easily scaled up if you're wanting to feed more than three.  Oh and one other thing - it is perfectly okay to use plain old peas, instead of the petit pois.  We can't all have a bag of petit pois in the freezer, just waiting for us to need them.

CHICKEN & BACON CREAMY PASTA  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1-2 tbsp olive oil
100g smoked lardons or 3-4 rashers of smoked bacon, diced
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 garlic clove, chopped finely
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced across the grain
0.25 tsp ground black pepper
pinch of sea salt
6 medium mushrooms, sliced
180ml Chardonnay white wine
0.5 tsp dried tarragon
0.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1.5 tsp low salt vegetable stock powder or 1 low salt vegetable stock cube
100g frozen petits pois
5 tbsp double cream
200g pasta tubes - penne or spirali are good
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley for garnish.

Method :

Fill a large saucepan with water, add a little salt and set it to boil.

Heat the oil in a deep non-stick frying pan and add the bacon.  Fry over a high heat until all the water has burned off and the bacon is beginning to caramelise.  Add the onion and garlic and continue cooking, stirring often, until the onion is transparent and softened. Remove everything from the pan to a bowl and set aside to keep warm.

If necessary, add a little more olive oil and, once that is heated, add the chicken breast slices and season lightly with a little sea salt & the ground black pepper.  Leave to cook over a high heat for 5 minutes or so until the chicken pieces are beginning to take on a golden colour, then turn and cook again, until the chicken has largely turned opaque.

Add the mushroom slices to the pan and stir to combine.  Cook on for a few minutes, until the mushrooms are beginning to soften slightly.  Add the onion/bacon/garlic mixture back into the pan and stir through.

Next, add the wine and let it bubble over a high heat until it has reduced by half.   Season to taste and stir well.

The water in your large pan should have boiled by now, so add the dry pasta and stir. Cook to the manufacturer's recommendation - around 10-12 minutes, ordinarily.

While the pasta cooks, add the tarragon, Worcestershire sauce and stock powder or stock cube to the chicken and stir to combine.  Reduce the heat to moderate and allow the contents of the pan to come to a lively simmer.

Add the petit pois and cream and stir through.  The rest is simply personal taste.  I like my sauce to have reduced quite considerably as that causes the flavour to intensify.  If you like your sauce to be wetter, then stop the cooking process when you like.  You can also add a little wetted cornflour to thicken the sauce, if you prefer a sauce with a thicker consistency.  The choice is yours.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it thoroughly and return to the hot pan.  Add the chicken mixture and stir through.  Serve straight away in warm bowls with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Printable version