Hello again all you wonderful chaps and chapesses out there in cyberspace, Ralfa here at the keyboard with the second recipe of the week. But first some comments about last week’s recipe, Stuffed cabbage leaves. Yes, my dears, you can steam them instead of boiling but to do this I recommend that you cook the rice first, that way you can stir the olive oil in with the stuffing mix without getting the base of your steamer full of oil by pouring it over the top. Also if you like your cabbage ‘al dente’ to preserve more of the goodies in it you can use the boiling method but precook the rice. For SJ in New York a photograph of me will be on next week’s recipe, so there’s a treat for you!
Now to this week’s recipe, Braised Chicken with Herbs.
Method.
Now this is a very simple recipe which gives good results. The chicken, if whole, needs to be in serving sized pieces. (WMBO says use boneless skinless chicken thighs as they are nice and tasty and not too expensive). Soak the chicken pieces in salt water for a couple of hours and then remove the skin, if any, this makes the chicken absorb water so that it does not dry out, like skinless chicken does!
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute the onion and chicken, turning the chicken to brown it on all sides. Pour in the lemon juice add the herbs and a couple of cups of water, simmer until the chicken is tender and most of the water has evaporated ( add more water if the chicken is not cooked through).
Serve with a nice crisp green salad.
What herbs you ask? Well you can use any of the ‘Mediterranean’ herbs, oregano is particularly good, thyme also goes well with chicken along with a dash of parsley, or use sage but remember that sage is very powerful stuff so do not use too much. And, of course, adjust the amount to suit the amount of chicken, 1 tablespoon is enough for a whole chicken!
See we removed the skin because that is the bit that is bad for you! You can however cook it until crispy and give it to me as a special treat. You can also stew the bones and strain to make a nice stock and then cook some special dog pasta in it and I will love you forever.
