Distracted Chicken Stew

I’ve been a little slack getting a new post up on here, perhaps it’s because I’m a little preoccupied with all things brewing at the moment. I’ve got a third brew on, and bought a second fermenter, and have finally got to taste the fruits of my labour, brew one got a little taste, not too bad for a first go and kit beer, brew 2 got a taste when I measured its gravity, coming along very nicely and am looking forward to adding even more hops to it in a secondary fermenter. The third brew is a kit cider for the other half, and I’m doing far too much reading on kit I can buy/make and what brew four and five should be, as I’ll end up with two empty fermenters very soon, contemplating the scary thought of an all mash brew.

So with distractions in mind here is one of my main go to meals, something easy to throw together, usually have most of the ingredients in the larder, and is adaptable enough to not suffer if I’m missing a few.

6 Chicken drumsticks, or a whole chicken broken down to 6 or 8 pieces.
Water, stock if you have it.
Tomatoes, a good quality can, or 4 or 5 diced fresh.
Onion, finely diced.
3 Garlic cloves, minced.
1 Lemon, juice and zest.
1 tbsp Cumin, toasted and ground.
1 Red chilli, diced, dried is good in a pinch.
Black Olives, remove stone (I always have a can Pelion Greek black olives on hand).
Capers, in salt please, rinsed.
Thyme.
Salt and pepper.
Pine nuts, if you have them, toasted

Generously brown the chicken over a high heat with a dash of olive oil in a pan big enough to hold all the chicken, I mean seriously get the bird crispy brown. Set the chicken aside and turn the heat down, sautée the onions until translucent, add the garlic, chili and cumin, cook until fragrant. Arrange the chicken in the pan, tuck in thyme sprigs, scatter over the tomatoes, olives, capers and lemon zest, drizzle over the lemon juice, add about a cup of water (or stock), season with pepper (hold off the salt till the end as olive and capers are salty). Cover and cook over a medium low heat until the chicken is almost done, uncover the pot and cook over a medium high heat until the chicken is cooked and the cooking liquid have reduced to a nice thick sauce, adjust the seasoning and serve.

I ❥ Chicken

I love roast chicken, I don't mean sticking a whole bird in the oven and ending up with dry over cooked meat. I prefer to break down the bird before cooking, it gives more surface area to flavour, better cooked meat and a better carcass for stock.


A bowl full of olive oil, salt, pepper, olives (black olives (pelion), and Sicilian green olives), orange peel & juice, thyme, parsley and sage.


Toss the chicken pieces in the bowl.


Roast for about 30 minutes at 180°C.

Chicken and Red wine redux

I revisited my earlier post and cooked up another lot of red wine and chicken, and I wasn't disappointed. This is quite an image heavy post, so the rest is after the jump.


Chicken cut in half.

Chicken and Red Wine

Alone at home for 2 weeks, and I hate preparing meals for one. I over do it for two.

I found a corn-fed free range chicken at the supermarket on the way home, well after spending about 15 minutes staring at the fish and meat and having no idea what i was going to do for myself. Finally I decided on chicken, I figured a quick and easy roast was the best option, plus I'd have left overs for the next night.


I pulled out the cider vinegar and olive oil, when half a bottle of merlot caught my eye. This changed everything. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do, I just knew it involved slicing a chicken in half and lots of wine.

Along with the wine I used thyme, paprika (hot and smoked), smoked salt (yes I am obsessed), bacon, onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon, black olives (I really think those tinned 'Pelion' olives are best when roasting), sunchoke, 1/2 a bottle of wine, garlic and lemon zest.

Slice the onions, peel the sunchoke and put in acidulated water (to stop it discolouring), dice bacon, zest lemon, grate the garlic, slice lemon and get a few olives out(10ish). Oh and slice your chicken in half.


Place a pan on a medium heat and pour in a small amount of olive oil and place in the bacon (while pan is still cold, this helps to render out the fat). Wait until you hear a few pops and sizzles and then turn the heat up, wait until the fat has rendered out then add the onions and cook until softened.


Once the onions have softened add the herbs & spices, cook till aromatic.


Add the wine and reduce to about 1/3.


Spread out in a roasting pan and add the lemon slices.


Place the chicken halves on top, and rub in the garlic and lemon zest. Scatter the sunchoke and olives around the chicken. Finally cover with foil and cook at 180°C for about 30-40minutes depending on the size of your bird.


Once the cooking time is up uncover the dish making sure nothing sticks to the foil, place back in the oven for 10-20minutes depending on the size of the bird.


Once the skin is crisp and the bird is cooked, portion, serve, eat.

This is now my go to chicken dish with out a doubt, no longer is it a quick and easy roast with vege. It's falling off the bone tender, juicy, crispy skin, and a sauce that is awesomely rich.

A note on this would be to make sure your lemon is not too acidic or too big, the lemon can kill it, if in doubt use half a lemon.