It’s been a very long haul but I’ve come through the uncomfortable bits and I’m on the other side of all the health issues I had.  The holidays are over and the weather is warm and sunny and I can’t wait to get in the kitchen and create more orgasmic food!

Imagine going for what seemed decades on only raw food?  Bed rest, sleep and a rainbow of veggies and here I am, nearly brand new.  LOL  Okay that’s bit’s a lie but I do feel immensely better.

I’ve watched a LOT of television and a few weeks ago I watched a guy make Chicken Kiev and thought, “why have I been buying these at the butcher or frozen all these years if it’s that easy??”

So I decided I’d cook one for my long suffering husband.  It WAS easy.  I didn’t plan to blog about it so I only have one photo.

You start by getting your chicken breast.  Traditional Chicken Kiev leaves the first wing bone on but that’s not how mine came so I didn’t worry about it.  Put the breast between two pieces of cling film (plastic wrap) and hit it with a meat mallet or rolling pin but do it gently.  You want to flatten the chicken but it’s already dead so a gentle nudge is all it needs.  It needs to be flat enough to wrap around the garlic butter and have all the butter enclosed.  Add salt and pepper and set aside.

Once that’s done, mix softened butter – but you don’t want it so warm that it’s nearly melted, only soft enough to work the garlic and parsley in.  Mix well and form into a log.  I think the next time I make it I’ll put the butter mixture in the freezer after the log has been made. I think it will make all the rolling, dipping and rolling much easier.

Place the log on the back side of the chicken breast and wrap it like you would a parcel.

Roll it in flour but be careful not to unwrap it as you roll.

Then roll in beaten egg, again don’t let it unroll.

Finally roll it in fresh breadcrumbs that you’ve added salt and pepper to and place in a frying pan with a little bit of oil and it needs to be hot enough that the chicken sizzles when you place it in the pan.  Cook til the chicken is golden brown all around.  You’ll love it.

 

Ever want something out of the ordinary?  Me too.  For me that would be something like Moroccan chicken.  I love this type of cooking and I don’t make it often enough.  It certainly deserves to be in everyone’s recipe rotation list.  (Don’t have one of those?  It’s perfect for those nights you can’t think of anything to cook.)

I won’t lie and tell you that this isn’t complicated to make because it is.  There’s a lot of things that go into this recipe but none of it is difficult.  It just takes the time to measure out all the spices, toast the almonds, cut the preserved lemon, coat the chicken — but it’s oh so worth it when you put the first forkful in your mouth.  It’s mildly spicy, a bit lemony, a bit tart, a bit sweet and very very tasty.

Once you’ve got all the recipe ingredients ready, the actual cooking is fairly fast.  Cut up chicken pieces don’t take long to cook and if you cook them too long you’ve got tough chicken, so let’s go.

Measure the spices into a bowl and then toss in the cut chicken pieces to coat and then let them sit for 2 to 6 hours before cooking.  You could prepare the chicken before work in the morning and then it’s ready to cook when you get home.

You can use a tagine to cook this in but I prefer my saute pan because I like my chicken browned.  Once you have cooked the onions and the garlic slices, you add the chicken and brown it and then add the remaining ingredients and cook on low for 20 minutes.

As you can see there are a lot of preserved lemons.  The recipe I was getting my inspiration from recommended a whole lemon.  I wouldn’t use that much again.  Just a hint of lemon would be better I think.  When finished it looks like this!

Here’s the recipe!

 

Seriously, it’s easy. We ate this last night until I thought my husband would explode. Thankfully he didn’t because that would have been a huge waste of really good chicken pie.

With this pie you can make leftover chicken a firstover because it not only tastes fantastic, it LOOKS fantastic when you place it on the table. The golden puffy crust hides all the veggie and chicken tastiness inside but only til you cut into it. Very yummy.

The one thing I did do that will take a bit of time if you choose to do it too was to roast 2 heads of garlic til really caramelized and sweet.  You can just put a couple of cloves in raw and they’ll cook in the pie but if you roast them first you can put heaps more in for a subtle garlic flavor.  We love garlic.

I know this photo makes the garlic look pretty ratty but it tasted fantastic.  Each clove pops right out when you squeeze the top.  Sort of like having little garlic babies.  When I roast garlic I have to watch the husband because he’ll eat it like candy before it gets into the dish.

Peel and cut the potatoes and carrots, peel the pickling onions and par boil for just seven minutes. I added a handful of currants for a slightly sweet layer but you can leave that out if currants aren’t your thing.

You can add your own favorite gravy from scratch or you can buy a mix you like and use that but it needs to be THICK because you have juicy onions and they’ll turn your gravy into onion flavored gravy water if it’s not thick. Cut a piece of dough a bit bigger than the dish you’re using. I used a round casserole but you could use anything. Just make the puff pastry about 3/4 of an inch over the edge of the dish. Fold it over and make a little decorative edge or just poke it inside the dish.  The crust will shrink as it bakes.