Spicy Roast Chicken and learning how to make good “Gravy.” ©
There is nothing like a good roast chicken! Quick and easy and always delicious!
The word gravy conjures up in my generation’s mind two things, either totally delicious or terrible! It instantly reminds me of boarding school, the brown tasteless warm liquid that was slopped on ones food, which if you had any sense, you pulled your plate smartly away, just in time and politely smiled and opted for the HP sauce or ketchup! (HP sauce, for those of you who do not know, is a traditional English bottled sauce and is what I put on everything as a child, always requesting friends coming out to Greece to bring some!)
This recipe is an alternative to the usual roast chicken and explains how “gravy,” can be the most delicious thing, as long as you know how to make it!
The base of gravy is made from the left over juices in the roasting tin. Whenever you are roasting chicken, Lamb, Beef, Pork or other, once the cooking time is up, you place your roast on a warmed serving dish together with the potatoes and keep it warm in the oven.
Drain off as much of the fat as possible from the roasting tin into a bowl and keep it for future cooking. Place the roasting tin on the burner and sprinkle over a table spoon of flour using a sieve or dredger.This absorbs any remaining fat in the roasting tin. You cook the flour stirring with a whisk continuously for two minutes. You then add stock and stir until it becomes thick.
I then add a mixture of brandy, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire Sauce and a teaspoon of Bovril. This goes very well with Lamb and Beef and Chicken and makes an excellent gravy.
Easy. The first time you make this, it may seem complicated, but once you have done it once, it’s easy! If you don’t have time to make the gravy, just serve it along with the juices.
6 Persons
Oven Temperature : 250. C. Leave for half an hour then turn down to 200.C
Cooking Time: 1.30 to 2 hrs, depending on size of Chicken
Ingredients
1 Roasting Chicken
3 medium onions. 1 for inside the cavity, the other two, cut into chunks and placed around the chicken
2-4 cloves of garlic
Generous sprinkling of powdered Coriander, Cumin and Sweet Paprika
1-2 tbs Harissa paste
1 tbs Dijon mustard
A few drops of “Flavoured Vinegar,” Raspberry, or Mango or Passion Fruit (Optional)
2-3 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice 2 lemons
Sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme
4 tbs olive oil or more
1/2- 1 Cup of water to be added during cooking!
2 medium sized potatoes per person, cut into four
Extra salt and pepper for sprinkling over potatoes and onions
Accompaniment
1 carton of Greek thick ‘Fage Total’ Yogurt and two tsp Harissa mixed together
Ingredients for Gravy
1 tbs flour
1 tbs brandy
1-2 tsp Bovril, alternatively 1/2 Beef stock cube. Bovril though is best!
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard. Dijon ONLY!
A good dash of Worcestershire Sauce
200 ml stock
*When roasting pork add 1 cooking apple cooked in butter and a little water until soft. Pass through sieve and add to finished gravy.
- Harissa Paste is a spicy arabic paste. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harissa
- Bovril is beef extract. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovril
Method
Pre-heat oven to 250.C
1. Take chicken out of fridge and allow to come to room temperature. This takes about half an hour. Remove any giblets from chicken cavity, wash chicken inside and out, under running tap.
2. Place in roasting tin, pat dry with kitchen paper and place inside cavity 1 whole onion and half your lemon peel, once you have squeezed out the juice. Season well inside.
3. Truss or tie chicken up, so as to keep more moist and be more presentable for serving.
4. Pour your lemon juice over the chicken, inside and out. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, (2 tsp of salt is not too much) and sprinkle over your spices. Using a knife, spread over chicken the Dijon mustard, followed by the Harissa paste.
5. Drizzle chicken with a few drops of flavoured vinegar ( optional.)
6. Finally cover chicken generously with olive oil, so that there is plenty of oil in the roasting tin for the potatoes. Peel and cut potatoes into four and place around chicken, along with quartered onions and garlic. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Place in pre-heated oven, turn down to 200. C, approximately after half an hour. (The oil should always be bubbling, so it depends on your oven.) I usually keep it at 250.C. and add water once the roasting tray is low on liquid and I turn my chicken during roasting to nicely brown on all sides. Turn potatoes also to brown evenly. If Chicken is getting too brown cover top with a little tin foil. These potatoes will be soft, not the crispy English kind……
8. By adding the water, you have plenty of nice juices for your gravy. You don’t want to be left with just the oil.
9. Once the cooking time is up, test by sticking a sharp knife into the thickest part of the chicken, the thigh and the juices should run clean. If they are at all pink leave chicken to cook for another 10 minutes.
10. Remove chicken from oven, place on warm serving dish, together with potatoes. These potatoes are the soft kind, well coloured and almost caramelised and I find the best result is by keeping your oven on the high side.
Making the Gravy
1. Pour off as much fat as possible, without pouring away the juices. If you haven’t added water during cooking, you won’t have many juices, that is why it is good to add water.
2. In a bowl mix together a tsp of Dijon, a table spoon of brandy and a tsp of Bovril. If you can’t find Bovril, try half a beef cube but Bovril is best, the flavor is genuine and it gives color.
3. Place the roasting tin over a moderate heat on the top of your stove and sprinkle with flour using a sieve or dredger.
4. Stir continuously with a whisk, (better than a wooden spoon, as you are less likely to get lumps) and cook the flour for two minutes. If you don’t do this, as when making a white sauce, the sauce will taste floury.
5. Add 1 cup of stock or water, whisk continuously until thickened, scraping in all the corners of your roasting tin.
6. Add your mixture of brandy, bovril, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for two minutes, so that the alcohol evaporates and taste for seasoning.
7. Pour through a sieve into gravy boat and serve with your roast chicken and potatoes.
These are some super flavored vinegars, which you can drizzle over your Spicy chicken. (Optional)
Wash your chicken, place onion and lemon half, rosemary and thyme in cavity and tie your chicken.
Season with plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper and spices. Surround with chopped onions and garlic.
Drizzle with raspberry vinegar, if available, or Harissa paste.
Surround with potatoes cut into four, season and drizzle with olive oil.
During cooking baste every half an hour and add water half way through cooking time.
Chicken nearly done, nicely browned, potatoes need a little more color. Add half a cup of water and return to the oven for another ten minutes.
Looking ready!
Place chicken and potatoes on warm serving dish. Pour off oil into heat-proof bowl, to be used in later cooking, being careful to retain the juices. A little oil will remain.
Place on stove, over a medium heat and sprinkle over flour.
Whisk, bringing in all the corners of the roasting tin, which are full of lovely flavors.
Cook the flour thoroughly, so as not to have a floury taste. This is important and needs about two minutes.
Add water, or better still stock. At Christmas time it can be from the boiled neck of the turkey, together with onion, carrot and celery. Or you could do the same with the chicken, if the neck is included.
Stock made from Turkey or Chicken neck, celery, onion and carrot. Simmer for 3/4 hour and use to make your gravy.
Having added water or better still stock, boil until thickened.
Make up your mixture of Dijon mustard, Worcestershire Sauce, Bovril and Brandy.
Add to roasting tin and mix thoroughly, boiling for two minutes for alcohol to evaporate.
This all makes a delicious combination of flavors! Once ready, pass through sieve, into gravy boat.
Final result. Rich in flavor and color and adds wonderful flavor to everything you add it to.
Brussels Sprouts ©
Most peoples’ reaction to Brussels Sprouts is, ‘Oh no those awful things,” memories of ‘Boarding School’ and badly cooked English food, in times gone by…….so it is for this reason that I have chosen today, to give them a special mention, because if cooked correctly, they are simply delicious!
When I was young growing up in Greece, I never had to try these so called, ‘awful English vegetables,’ but once I went to Boarding School, we always knew when they were on the menu, because you could smell them all the way down the corridor! Now believe it or not they were my Father’s most favorite, so when I used to fly home for the Christmas holidays, along with HP Sauce, Campbell’s Tomato Soup and Cox’s Orange Pippin Apples, were also, a large bag of, yes, “Brussels Sprouts!!!”
Now my father’s mother was a wonderful cook, so I was taught at an early age exactly how ‘Brussels Sprouts’ should be prepared and cooked and like everything my father did, it was with precision and gave an excellent result. We would sit down at the kitchen table, peel off the outer leaves, cut back ‘just a little’ of the stalk, make four cuts into the stalk to help the ‘even cooking’ process and when we were ready to eat them, plunged them into boiling salted water. No lid, so as to keep the lovely green color and cooked for between 5-8 minutes! Just like pasta, if over cooked, or left any time to stand around, they are ruined! Drained and placed in warmed bowl,with a very generous knob of butter, salt and freshly ground pepper, they were just delicious!
They were so good, we ate them piping hot as a meal and I still do, to this very day and even my vegetable loving daughter likes them! So please never eat those sad, over-cooked yellow ones, that have been long waiting in stainless steel containers and are soft and unappetizing and remember, test with a fork and the minute the fork can be pressed into the Brussels Sprout, they are ready even on Christmas day I boil them at the last minute! ( Choose a finely pointed fork!)
Brussels Sprouts grow in Northern Europe and England and the saying always was, that they need frost to grow at their best!
Having written this post, I just wanted to add this paragraph to say that this blog is about ” learning how to cook well,” and this is why I am slowly adding all the procedures, which may seem obvious to some good cooks out there, but to my dearest beginners, I want you to learn correctly! Most people can cook, but few cook really well! Through my personally taken photographs I wish to show you not only how the taste matters, but the presentation too. When ever I see a messy dish which the cook has not cleaned up and the food is not immediately pleasing to the eye, it already puts my taste buds on alert!
Easy
8-10 Persons
Ingredients
1 kilo Brussels Sprouts ( nice and green, no yellow leaves)
25 g butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Alternatives : Sautéed chestnuts in butter and a little salt and or grilled almond slivers.
1 vacuum pack of cleaned chestnuts. If you buy the ones with skins on, you need to boil them and it takes a lot of time to clean them!
3 tbs almond slivers. Brown under the grill, careful they brown very quickly, you need to watch over them!
Method
1. Buy nice green,firm fresh looking Brussels Sprouts. If they already have yellow leaves, they are not fresh.
2. Peel off one or two layers of outer leaves, which are usually damaged, until you reach the perfect ones underneath.
3. Cut off as little as possible of the stalk, as it is nice to bite on the slightly firmer part and cut four lines, criss cross, just a little of the way in. See photograph.
4. Soak for a little while in water, so that they crisp up. Up to this point, you can prepare them ahead of time. At Christmas for example, I do this the day before. I then pour away the water, cover with cling film and store in the fridge, until ready to use.
5. 15 minutes before serving, fill a saucepan 1/3 with salted water. The salt, brings out the chlorophyll, the nice green color! When it is rapidly boiling add your Brussels Sprouts and leave to simmer, lid off for 5-10 minutes, depending on their size. After five minutes, pierce with a fork, as soon as the fork enters relatively easily they are ready. This will take once or twice to get just right. They must be by no means soft! You should cut them with a knife. If they are soft like potato, you have over boiled them and this is usually their down-fall.
6. Drain in a colander, replace in saucepan, add a generous knob of butter, salt and freshly ground pepper, toss and serve.
7. As a change you may want to add lightly tossed chestnuts in butter, which you have sautéed in a small frying pan, and or lightly grilled almond slivers.
N.B. General rule : All vegetables grown “underground,” ( Potatoes Carrots etc,) go into cold water and are brought to the boil. All vegetables grown “over-ground,” ( beans, courgette etc,) the water is brought to boiling first, and the vegetables are plunged in. All vegetables should be boiled in salted water , especially the green ones as this brings out the Chlorophyll green color and they should all be boiled with out the lid on. The condensation that forms under the lid, discolors the vegetables. For best green effect, refresh under cold running water, just for a second, re-heat in butter or olive oil very briefly in saucepan, tossing the vegetables lightly. All vegetables should be cooked in the minimum of water, so as not to lose the vitamins, the steam does the rest of the cooking and they should be cooked until crunchy, or just firm, with the exception of potatoes, where once they fall off a pointed knife, they are ready.
This is what you are aiming for.
Remove outer damaged leaves, one or two layers.
Cut back stalk just a little.
Press gently into stalk making four criss cross cuts.
…..like this.
Soak them in water for a little while to crisp up.
Having soaked for a little while they are ready for boiling.
If it is Christmas Eve, just cover with cling film and reserve until the next day. Cook 15 minutes before serving
to enjoy them at their best.
Plunge them into boiling water , bring back to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes depending on size,
test with a sharply pointed fork or tip of a knife. As soon as the fork can enter to the center of the Brussels
Sprout, they are ready. On average 8 minutes is perfect. They must not be soft!
Optional suggestion, nice at Christmas: Adding Chestnuts and browned almond slivers.
These are ideal, when cooking with Chestnuts, they are fresh and above all ready cleaned! In case the only
ones that are available, are with their skins on, cut the skin vertically in 2-3 places and boil for half an hour.
Then proceed to peel them. It takes time!
Place vacuum packed chestnuts, just before you want to use them, (otherwise they blacken) saute in a little
butter, sprinkle with salt and add to cooked Brussels Sprouts.
Place almonds on baking tray and place under the grill for 2-3 minutes, shaking the tray so that they brown
on both sides. This happens very quickly, so I always stand over them while I am doing it, they burn in a
second!
Yum!
Final result with chestnuts and almonds added.
Lahano Dolmades : Cabbage Dolmades ©
For all those who love dolmades, there is a very popular ‘winter version,’ when there are no fresh vine leaves available……. cabbage leaves are the perfect substitute!
This again is for my daughter, never did I think she would like “Lahano Dolmades,” until she came back from a friend’s house and said she had tried “Lahano Dolmades”!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. So all you Mothers out there who have despaired that their children don’t eat this and that, wait until they are in their late teens…….growth and hunger set in and they begin to try all those strange things like green vegetables and tomatoes!!!!! Wish I had known this when they were young!
We are now making this delicious dish once a week and apart from making a good tasty stuffing, using beef and pork meat, the other trick is to make a generous amount of Avgolemono/egg and lemon sauce, of which there can never be enough!
This is a wonderful, traditional Greek dish, taught to me by dear Varvara. I am sure every Greek house hold has their own special recipe, but you can’t go wrong with this one. I have really enjoyed creating it for you, keep it safe in your archives!
Easy- medium
8-10 Persons
Ingredients
1 large loose leaf/ afrato Cabbage
1/2 k. good mince meat, ( no fat ) 1/4 beef, 1/4 pork is best
6 spring onions finely chopped
3 tbs finely chopped fennel leaves
1 tbs fresh chopped mint
50 g glace/ pearly short grained rice
50 g butter cubed
2 tbs olive oil
salt pepper
For Boiling Dolmades
Chicken stock enough to cover. 1 liter.
1 lemon juice
25 g butter
salt and pepper
For Egg and Lemon Sauce/ Avgolemono
2 whole eggs
1 lemon juice
1 heaped tsp Corn Flour
Stock from the boiling of the dolmades. aprox 1 liter.
Method
When buying your cabbage, it should be large and feel light, unlike the ones which one chooses for salad which have their leaves tightly packed and are heavy. When you tap it with the palm of your hand it will sound hollow.
1. Wash and remove outer damaged leaves of cabbage. Cut outer layer off main stalk. Using a large cooks knife, cut cabbage in half, cutting through the stalk, so that you are left with two halves.
2. Half fill a large saucepan with water and 1/2 tsp salt. Place half cabbage upside down, heart upper most in saucepan. 1 half may be enough.
Place on stove to boil. Once it comes to the boil turn it over. Using a large fork prize off large leaves as they become cooked enough to come away. This is an on going process. They need to be soft enough to role up, but not so soft that they disintegrate.
3. In the mean while, wash and chop spring onions finely along with fennel leaves and mint. ( Take care to wash these vegetables well, discarding any older leaves and lastly soaking in generously salted water for five minutes, in case of any hidden bugs. The salt makes them rise to the surface of the water.)
4. Place mince meat in large bowl, add finely chopped onions, fennel, mint, rice and cubed butter, 2 tbs olive oil, salt 1 tsp and pepper.
5. Mix up your filling using clean hands or a spoon. If your mince sticks to your hands add a little more olive oil.
6. By now you should have most of your cabbage leaves pulled away and placed to drain, on a large plate.
7. On a chopping board, cut away any thick stalk parts and cut leaves into suitable sized pieces to use for wrapping. (10 cm x 8cm)
8. Place your board in the center, cabbage leaves to the right and mince stuffing to the left.
9. Place a small teaspoon of mixture near the top of your leaf, fold over , bring in side and keep rolling until you have a neat little parcel. Place in the oiled palm of your hand and give a small squeeze.
10. Line small saucepan with cabbage leaves and pack your dolmades close together. Proceed to second layer, until all the mince meat is used up. You may find you need to boil second cabbage half.
11. Finally cover dolmades with cabbage leaves and a suitable plate to weigh them down, so that they do not unravel during cooking.
12 Pour over stock, lemon juice and a few pieces of butter. Stock should just cover dolmades. This will give you plenty of stock for sauce later on.
13. Simmer gently for 1/2 to 3/4 hr. Try one for tenderness. If ready it should melt in the mouth. If leaves are in any way tough, simmer a little longer.
14. Remove dolmades carefully one by one and place in heat-proof serving dish.
15. Place whole eggs in bowl, beat with a whisk to dissolve and slake/mix corn flour in small glass together with sieved lemon juice. Pour this into eggs and add a laddelfull of stock. Return this to saucepan with stock and heat carefully, whisking all the time until it thickens. Do not allow to boil, or eggs will separate. Taste for seasoning and make sure it does not taste floury. If so heat a little more.
16. Pour avgolemono sauce over dolmades and serve straight away. If wishing to serve latter, pour half the sauce over the domades, reserve the rest of the sauce in saucepan to be re-heated later. Heat through dolmades in oven at 150.C. covered with tin foil, so that the moisture is kept in.
Pour re-heated sauce over dolmades, just before serving. Garnish with a little parsley or fennel.
Varvara makes these, in no time, like most recipes it becomes easier with practice.
Choose nice large, loosely packed cabbage, light in weight and hollow to the tap of your hand.
Wash and remove outer bruised leaves.
Using a large cook’s knife, cut away outer layer of stalk.
Cut through stalk and cabbage, so that you are left with two halves of the cabbage.
Reserve one half and place the other in a large saucepan of salted water.
The water needs to only come half way up the cabbage, the steam will do the rest. Turn on to high heat.
In the mean time trim and wash spring onions, together with fennel leaves and fresh mint. Do a last soak
in salted water and leave for a few minutes to be sure there are no bugs. Drain well in colander.
Cube butter into small pieces so as to add to mince meat.
Rinse short grain pearly rice.
Mix all ingredients together, including cubes of butter. This Varvara says is an old school trick!
Turn cabbage over. As cabbage cooks, the leaves will be ready to prize off.
As leaves cook prize off with fork.
Place leaves as they come off, to drain in large suitable container.
Leaves come off easily.
Cut away thick stalks.
Cut leaves into suitable pieces for rapping. About 10 cm x 8 cm.
Line saucepan with cabbage leaves. Have your board ready, bowl of stuffing and cut leaves.
Place meat near top of leaf, role top of leaf over, tuck sides in and continue rolling. Once complete, give a
gentle squeeze in the oiled palm of your hand.
Pack into saucepan. After first layer, continue for second layer.
Cover with spare cabbage leaves .
Cover dolmades with chicken stock.
Pour over chicken stock to just cover and add juice of one lemon and butter. Season. Remember if you are
using good quality stock cubes, not to add any extra salt!
While dolmades are cooking, place two whole eggs in a bowl and add lemon juice slaked/mixed with corn
flour. Add a laddleful of stock from the cooked dolmades and then pour egg mixture back into saucepan
with stock.
Heat gently over a medium heat until the “Avgolemono Sauce” begins to thicken. It should coat the back of a spoon. Do not allow to boil, or eggs will curdle. Check for seasoning. It should be tasty and lemony and not have a floury feel. If it does cook a little longer, with out boiling.
Once dolmades are cooked, try one first to make sure, it should melt in the mouth. If the cabbage is a little tough, leave to simmer another 5-10 minutes after which arrange in oven-proof dish.
Arranged in oven-proof dish. If you are serving straight away, poor avgolemono sauce over and serve.
Otherwise pour half the sauce over the dolmades and reserve the rest to heat later. Re-heat when ready
to serve in oven covered with tin foil. 150.C . Pour sauce over at the last minute.
Garnish with fresh parsley or fennel.
Final Result!
What's Cooking In Jane's Kitchen 