THE SLOW COOKED CHICKEN, VOL. 2

As you know recently I slow cooked chicken with apricots. Anyway, I couldn't get the flavours out of my head and repeated the recipe this week with some modifications. The result is just as amazing, perhaps even better! I won't post the whole recipe all over again though. What I changed was that i used only chicken fillet that was cut into rough pieces, added celery and carrots as well as some fresh ginger and red lentil. For extra liquid I added some water as well. 3 hours later the chicken was nicely soft and the rest all well cooked as well. Personally I didn't feel a need for sides with this dish (maybe because of my laziness as well), but it is entirely up to you what you do with your lovely slow cooked chicken! :)

SLOW COOKED CHICKEN IN LOVE WITH APRICOTS

Slow cooked food is the best comfort food on cold evenings. This darling takes several hours until being ready, but even if it needs to be planned ahead it is very simple effort. Basically you just throw everything in the pot and forget it there on low heat. No biggie!

I served it with the Couscous Salad and Avocado Salad.

PS! No milk products nor wheat are used in this dish.

The inspiration was taken from two recipes, but I mainly used the one from BBC Good Food found here.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs (I used different pieces - thighs, legs, breast)
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 2 large onions, finely sliced
• 400g can chopped tomato
• 1 cinnamon stick
• some chili
• 200g whole dried apricots (soak them a bit in the water)
• handful mint leaves, to serve (optional)

Remove the skin from the chicken if you want a lighter meal, but nevertheless put some on the bottom of the pot to avoid burning the meat. Add some olive oil if you wish, but it is optional. Next, the chicken thighs should be set skin upside and top with spices and salt, part of the onions, apricots and garlic pieces. Pour a bit of chopped tomato on top. Then make the next layer, same way and continue until all ingredients are used (I put the breast pieces that were cut into large chunks on top). If you want you can pour the water you soaked the apricots also. Some similar recipes suggest one should add bouillon cube or chicken stock, but I have found that unnecessary, because I am in principle against using bouillon cubes and making extra chicken stock is just too much trouble considering that this dish has plenty of flavour without that.  Cover, bring to boil and reduce the heat to very low (but so that you can hear the boiling continuing). Let them cook for 5 hours, but this time can be extended to 6-7 hours also, it will only make this dish better.

Detox Special: Marinated Chicken with Rice

For the marinade:

I grinded about 3 cm piece of fresh ginger root and 2 garlic cloves, then added 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, tablespoon of honey and some olive oil. I cut 2 chicken breasts into small strips and mixed with the marinade and left it in the fridge for about an hour.

The rest of the deal:

While the chicken is marinating I cut some vegetables that I had in my fridge, namely yellow paprika, celery and carrots.

Once the chicken was ready to go I heated up the wok pan with some olive oil and added the chicken which I cooked until it was ready, but not yet starting to get darker colour. Then I tossed in the vegetables along with the mix of water, soya and sesame seed oil and cooked for a few more minutes. I personally prefer my vegetables crunchy, so the vegerables were cooked very mildly. Before removing I sprinkled some sesame seeds.

What makes this dish special in  my opinion is the big amount of ginger root in marinade which made the chicken very juicy. I was surprised myself with the result to be honest, since it was one of those random experiments where you use whatever you have got in your fridge! :))

Last but not least, the chicken was served with brown rice.

 

P.S. the chopsticks are for decoration in the photo, I am too lazy to eat with them. :P

Pasta salad with chicken and blue cheese sauce

 

This is my  favourite cold weather comfort salad! I rarely repeat recipes I've made with few exclusions and this is one of them. I got the original recipe from Finnish S-Market seasonal cookbook "Paras keittokirja No. 1" from 2004. If you are into Caesar salad I am sure you will like this as well. I am not into eating pork products, but I am starting to grow a liking for bacon. It can add so much flavour to food that it is addictive.

4 portions

 

2 dl of pasta, make according to instructions (I used farfalle)

300 gr chicken fillet

1 package of bacon, sliced

150 gr of salad mix (be creative! Ruccola or basil would be perfect in addition to regular salad)

1 pear (peeled, cut into smaller strips)

1 dl of almond chips

1-2 tomatoes, cut into medium size pieces

150 gr blue cheese

2 dl of milk

salt and pepper to taste

First make the pasta. Roast the almond chips until brownish. Fry the bacon that has been cut into long strips, remove from the pan on a tissue to get rid of excess oil. Next fry the chicken fillet (add salt pepper to taste).

Meanwhile blend the milk with cheese into sauce.

prepare the salad base, add pears, pasta, tomatoes, bacon, almonds, and chicken that has been cut into small pieces. last but not least pour over the sauce and add pepper if you wish.