Fennel and Orange

I've been watching a whole lot of Jamie Oliver lately, especially 15 minute meals and I'm lovin' every moment of it! 

Today I bring you a Jamie Oliver-esque menu, however this unfortunately did not take 15 minutes, not even 30... more like 15 hours (don't dispair yet! I'm just including the brining time)

I'm a big believer in brining chicken, HOWEVER after rotisserie roasting this chicken for nearly 3 hours in my hamilton beach toaster/rotisserie today I realized that it is totally unnecessary.  

Normally I brine for 24 hours at least and then roast on high temperatures and it yields a juicy chicken but it seems that is not the case with rotisserie so I'm better off just marinating in lots of lemon juice, salt, crushed fennel seeds, garlic and then going ahead roasting it on the spit after being rubbed down with olive oil. 

So cutting out brining cuts down on the prep time a lot! 

Feel free to go about prepping your chicken however you like, you could even follow Jamie's 15 minute method of seasoning, smashing it down and then cooking in the pan for about 3.5 minutes on each side until it's crispy dark on the outside and juicy, moist and white on the inside. 

The interesting food element today is the Freekeh/Freeka/Freekah, or even freaka!  This is a middle eastern ancient food, it's basically a green young fresh wheat that has been harvested and I believe they burn the husks off using fire so you get this smokey (not really toasty) but roasted firey type of taste from it, really amazing. 

I didn't need to add anything to it, just cooked in water with salt and olive oil.

Basic Freekeh: 

-1 cup freekeh grain

- 4 cups water

-1 tsp salt

-1 tbsp olive oil

Wash grains under water and remove the husks that float to the top, drain well and add 1 tbsp olive oil.  Cook on high heat until it sizzles/toasts slightly in the oil.  

Add salt and boiled water, reduce heat to low, cover and cook like rice.  

It takes about 40 minutes to cook and after 30 minutes I removed the lid to let the extra liquid evaporate.  

It does not cook like dry grains of rice, it has a bit of a sticky residue kinda like risotto (but it shouldn't be mushy or crunchy)  it's delicious!  

The box said to use 5 cups of water but even 4 was too much for me (thus letting it evaporate in the last 10 minutes with lid off) 

Another fun element I added to the dish was roasted tomatoes with garlic.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic:

- 2 large tomatoes

- 1/2 head of garlic, separate the cloves, leave the peels on! 

- 3 tbsp olive oil

- salt and black pepper

Prepare a tray with parchment, heat oven to 300 F.

Chop tomato in fat wedges (8 pieces for each tomato) 

Toss with olive oil and seasoning, add the garlic cloves and toss along with it. 

Lay flat on a tray and bake for about an hour or two, flipping them halfway through cooking.  You just want their flavours to intensify and get a little browning on the tomatoes, they don't need to "dehydrate" 

See the photo below for a guide. 

Fresh Orange Salad: 

- Garden greens or "Spring mix" 

- 1 tsp orange zest

- 1 orange, peeled and segmented

- Juice of the 1 orange used above

-1 medium clove garlic 

- Lemon juice

- Olive oil

- Salt and black pepper

With fennel seeds on the chicken I went with orange in the salad. Plenty of bright fresh orange zest, salt, a crushed garlic and olive oil along with segmented orange pieces and the leftover orange juice with a squeeze of lemon made a gorgeous salad dressing, tossed with mixed greens it was fabulous! 

Begin by plating freekeh on a platter, arrange tomatoes overtop.  Sprinkle garlic bulbs around (it's ok if they're still in their peel, just pop them out and eat!) . Top with sliced chicken breast (or whatever parts you like, I love the legs but I didn't add them here although I did enjoy them with the meal!)

Sprinkle with chopped green onion and sprigs of cilantro. 

Serve salad alongside and enjoy!

Move over Quinoa ( just shove over) and leave some room for Freekeh, I think these two grains (alright, alright, I know quinoa is a seed!) are going to have to share the spotlight on my pantry shelf because they're now both my favourites!

Mushroom Soup

Cream of Mushroom (with chicken, or not!) 

- 3 cups Chicken stock  (homemade is always best)

- 3 tbsps Olive oil

- Mushrooms (I used 3 packs and finely diced the mushrooms) 

-Salt & Black pepper (to taste)

-1 clove garlic (optional) 

- Few tbsp flour

-Milk 

-Whole cream

Garnish options: 

-Sour cream or greek yogurt

-Chopped chives 

-Chopped leftover chicken
- Hot sauce
-Fresh thyme 

Add the olive oil to the pot or dutch oven, sautee mushrooms under brown, if you have too many do them in batches so they all brown nicely without just getting grey and soggy.  Add garlic clove (grated, or whole and then you can just pull it out) 

Season with salt and pepper (to taste)
Add stock over and simmer for 15 minutes on low. 

When ready to serve heat this mushroom soup back up to a boil. 

Blend together about 2 tbsp flour with cold milk, about 1 1/2 cup. Add 1/2 cup cream (or more if you want it to be super rich!)
Add this mixture and begin whisking until thickened, if it's not thick enough then prep another 1 tbsp with some milk and whisk it in again.

This mushroom soup is rich and tastes great, and if you're used to the canned stuff you'll love this fresh version! 

Enjoy!

Pomegranate Chicken

Roasted Pomegranate Flattened Chicken:

1 Chicken
Water
4 Tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 garlic bulb (with peel, slice horizontally)
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp black pepper corns

Garnish:
Pomegranate seeds
Toasted slivered almonds (Toast in a dry pan on medium high moving around as needed so they don't burn, as soon as they turn golden remove and place on a cool flat plate then set aside)

Add all above ingredients to a pot (something that your chicken will fit in and this vessel fits in your fridge)
Mix until salt dissolves, add chicken to the "Brine" and let it soak in the fridge overnight or up to 2 days.

Pomegranate marinade:  Blend the following...

1 tbsp Pomegranate molasses
Pomegranate juice (pom, or slice a pomegranate in half horizontally and squeeze it like a lemon until you get about 1/4 cup of juice  - you can substitute with orange juice)
Splash Worcestershire sauce
Salt
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp jam (I used mixed berries - 4 berry)

When ready to roast remove chicken from fridge 2 hours in advance, remove from brine and add to roasting pan allowing it to come to room temperature on the counter.  Let it sit breast down and pour the marinade into the bottom of the pan.

Preheat over to 425 F

 I also flattened the chicken by cutting out the spine with a shark scissors. At this point remove from marinade and place on a pan (I lined it with foil for easy clean-up  or casserole. Dot the top of the chicken with about 1 tbsp butter (you can place it under the skin if you wish)

Roast for 30 minutes then lower the heat to 400 and continue to roast, you could use convection if you have that setting or convection roast which is what I used.

If you'd like to baste your chicken with a thicker marinade/glaze you can mix up some pom molasses, pom juice and salt until it's the consistency of a glaze and brush it over the top of the chicken.

When your chicken is done remove and sprinkle with fresh pomegranate seeds and slivered toasted almonds.

Enjoy!

Easy Arabic Stuffed Chicken

Here's a really yummy dish, and it really began as one dish which turned into two over time (using the leftovers)

What we call "mince meat rice" in our household is one of my mothers' most favourite recipes to whip up whenever she is short on time and has a bit of mince meat (ground beef) around, even the smallest amount of meat works for this dish and stretches it for a medium sized family.   Normally we serve it with yogurt on the side and kids just LOVE it!

If you make 2 cups of rice it makes a pretty big amount, I'd go with 1 or 1 1/2 cup if you have a small family or want to serve it as a side dish.

Begin with the basmati rice, Tilda is a good brand, rinse it well and let it soak in cool water.

- Minced onion (optional!)
- Mince meat (ground beef, as much as you'd like to use)   -  I used about 3/4 lb of extra lean meat.
-  Salt
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
- 1/8 tsp ground clove
- Black pepper to taste
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon (optional)
- 1/8 tsp turmeric (I love to add it anywhere I can for health benefits!)
- 2 cardamom pods

- Boiled water or chicken/beef stock (heated)

- 1/2-3/4 cups frozen peas, pour some boiling water over them to warm up.

- 3 tbsp oil

Before beginning drain your rice and set aside, and boil your kettle.

In a medium sized pot add the oil, heat and add the mince meat (and onion if using), begin to fry it well until it is browned then add the spices and season the meat with some salt to taste.

Add the rice, fry it around briefly (not too much so it doesn't break, especially if it starts sticking to the bottom)
Now add your stock or boiling water.

For every 1 cup of rice I add 1 3/4 cups liquid and 1 tsp salt.

Now cover and reduce heat.  It will take about 15-30 minutes to cook depends on your stove and such but after 20 minutes take a peek and if the water dried up and the rice grains look done (taste!) then you're good to go.

Remove from heat and use a large spoon to bring the rice from the bottom to the top or gently fluffing it.  You could pour it out into a casserole at this point to cool without sticking together.

Serve and enjoy! :)

Now if you have leftovers a couple of days later and some chicken in your fridge you can revive this dish from the fridge and create something fabulous!

I began here by removing the breast from the whole chicken (I buy whole chicken, it is cheaper! and I can make stock out of the carcass too, also the legs are delicious just grilled up for later)

Slicing through the breast horizontally I was able to create a flat piece of chicken with relatively the same thickness throughout, I left the skin on too because it will crisp up.

With two chicken breasts now well flattened I seasoned them with salt, black pepper and a drizzle of lemon juice (this will ensure a tender chicken,  to be honest I can't eat chicken without a fresh lemon marinade on it, and I'm not a fan of chicken breast at all because I find it dry so this will help to keep it moist)

Wrapped it up and set in the fridge until ready to use.

Meanwhile I roasted/toasted up some almonds (you can use whole, halved, or sliced) toasted in a tiny bit of oil until brown (keep a close eye on it as they burn quickly)  and then setting them on paper towel for the excess oil to drain away.   Now the same process (but a little quicker) for the raisins, they tend to blow up in the oil and from the heat, don't let them burn because they are sugary and burn quickly.

Set aside and prep the thread, I used butchers twine, divided the thread in 3 and threaded a fairly large needle (had a pack of them from doing some ribbon embroidery)

Mix the amount of rice (about 3/4 - 1 cup) in a bowl with some of the nuts and raisins.

Remove the chicken breast from the fridge, set one flat (skin side down) on a cutting board and begin to stack up the rice mixture into a mountain on top of the chicken, now add the second piece on top (skin side up) and begin stitching using large secure stitches both pieces together around the side until it's like a large shut clam.

Prepare a small oven safe baking dish or casserole with a bit of oil and 1 tsp of butter, add your stuffed chicken "ball" and then top with another 1 tsp of butter and bake at 450 F for 10 minutes and reducing the temperature to 425 until the chicken is cooked, you need to flip it from time to time, and I broiled mine at the end to crisp up the skin at the top.

It must be cooked properly to be safe to eat, I wouldn't want anyone to get food poisoning so use a thermometer and insert it inside and follow proper chicken cooking guidelines.

Once it's out of the oven, allow it to cool, then slice and serve! Don't forget to gently snip a piece of the thread with a sharp scissors and pull it out of both pieces so you or your guests don't choke on the twine.  Your guests will be impressed with this dish, I assure you.  Each "ball" made out of 2 breasts can serve 2 people so you could made another one if you want to serve 4 or depending on how many people your cooking for.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe.  I served mine with a spinach salad (with nectarines in it)  I would have used apricots if they were in season because they complement chicken very well but you could chop up some dried apricots and use it in the rice stuffing if you like, I may try that next time!

Oh and one more thing...  I just wanted to mention that back home in the middle east women (including my Kurdish grandma) are incredibly skilled, they can debone the entire chicken and then stuff it with a rice mixture and stitch it back up beautifully before roasting it, it is an art but of course I'm not so talented (although I can debone a quail, think I just got some practice after prepping them for my cats) hopefully some day I can try to learn how to do it, at least once in my life! ;-)  

New Years and January 2012

While I don't blog too much during the winter season (due to lighting) there is definitely no shortage of food or cooking, here are some shots from New Year's and also meals enjoyed during the month of January.