Eureka! (Or any other loosely connected Greek exclamation...) Chicken with Olives

 

 

Firstly, allow me to set the scene, in the only way I know is appropriate:

 

 

 

It is highly unlikely that I will get anywhere near Greece this year as hopefully we'll be hotfooting it to France during the Summer hols, but, you never know, should the lottery numbers come up this evening I might decide to tag on a little extra holiday on somewhere. Yeh, who am I trying to kid? I can't believe I said 'might'. Let's be honest, should I acquire the profession of 'Lottery Millionaire' later on this evening then you wouldn't see me for dust. Anyway, until that inevitable time where I put my deposit down on some swanky Maserati and leave on a jetplane for warmer climes, I will have to be content with creating Rhodes, Crete, or (insert your favourite Greek island here) with a little bit of creativity in my own kitchen.

 

I am very fortunate to own 'Vefa's Kitchen' by Vefa Alexiadou, bought for me by Phill for a birthday a few years ago and it is one of those glorious cookbooks which is chock full of recipes, glossy pictures evocative of warmer climes, herbaceous hillsides, and the contrast of blue against white; that last image being the epitome of Greece (for me at least) whether it be whitewashed buildings against blue domes, or the fluttering of the Greek flag in a warm summer breeze. Even the cover of this weighty tome is blue and white.

 

I could have cooked anything from this book to be fair, but as I have a brood to feed, I have to choose something that will appeal to all of us (though to be honest, Finn still proves a problem here...) I cooked a very easy dish, chicken and olives, which appealed to Finn (chicken) Lola, (pasta) and me and Phill (olives and it goes well with Mythos).

 

If you are not olive mad like Phill and I, you can of course omit or fish the offending things out when you serve, but I have to say the cooking of olives tends to mellow them out and add an interesting flavour to the dish, but each to their own of course, and I haven't succeeded in getting either Lola and Finn to them yet. My adaptations to the recipe are below, the main one being that I used chicken thighs so I adjusted the cooking time accordingly as a thigh piece is considerably smaller than a quarter of a chicken.

 

Chicken with Olives, adapted from 'Vefa's Kitchen' by Vefa Alexiadou

 

Ingredients:

 

1 chicken, about 3 1/4lb quartered (I used six boneless chicken thighs, skin on)

salt and pepper

5 tbsp. olive oil

three garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 tbsp. of freshly chopped thyme, majoram or oregano (I used oregano)

5 tbsp. of dry white wine

A can of chopped tomatoes

5oz Kalamata olives, pitted and halved

 

Spaghetti to serve

 

Method:

 

Season the chicken with salt and pepper

 

 

 

Heat the oil in the pan and add the chicken and cook over a medium heat, turning occasionally until browned all over.

 

 

 

Add the garlic and oregano and cook, storing constantly for about five minutes

 

Pour in the wine and simmer until the alcohol has evaporated.

 

 

 

Add the tomatoes, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, (30 if you are cooking chicken quarters) then add the olives. Cook for about 20 minutes more (30 if you are cooking chicken quarters) or until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened perceptibly.

 

 

 

Serve the chicken and the sauce over spaghetti.

 

Christmas - the time for Apple and Cinnamon (amongst other delicious ingredients!) Milopites, or apple filled rolls.

It may not be well documented here but my love of things apple and cinnamon is well known, and this leads to the devouring of apple pie and apple crumble and apple strudel and anything else vaguely 'appley' on a regular basis. Whilst the apple itself may not be an issue, pastry can be and so I seek a way of getting the apple hit without the calorific nature of the pastry. I hate to sound like a momentous bore; it's Christmas after all and watching the weight is not what most of us do at this time, but in the back of my mind is January and how I will be trying desperately to transform myself into some sort of alluring, svelte temptress for the umpteenth time. This year I will succeed!!!!!!!!

Anyway, while rifling through the extraordinary 'Vefa's Kitchen' for inspiration I happened upon and Milopites, or Apple Filled Rolls and I decided to try them out. I had filo pastry lurking (once again) at the back of the fridge, I had some sad looking Braeburns in the fruit bowl in need of some va va voom so I set to work. I'm not convinced there is anything better than the smell of apple and cinnamon filling the kitchen, so this was always going to work for me. I hope it works for you too.

Milopites, or Apple Filled Rolls, adapted from Vefa's Kitchen, by Vefa Alexandriou.

Ingredients:

1/4 pint olive oil, melted clarified butter or a mixture of both.

8oz caster sugar

4 tbsp fine breadcrumbs

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling

A pinch of grated nutmeg

A pinch of ground cloves (optional)

2 1/4lb tart apples, peeled and coarsely grated

4oz coarsely chopped nuts. I used hazelnuts

3oz raisins (optional)

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice. (I also put the lemon rind in)

4 tbsp melted butter

A pack of filo pastry

Icing sugar, for sprinkling.

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush a baking tray with melted butter, or oil, or mixture of both.

Combine the sugar, breadcrumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves in a small bowl. Then combine the apples, nuts and raisins and toss in the lemon juice (though for ease I just threw everything into my food processor bowl once I had grated the apples and then stirred the ingredients together with a spoon).

Pour the melted butter over the apple mixture, combine, taste and adjust sweetness, spicing to your preference and then set aside.

Brush the sheets of filo with the oil/butter/mixture.

Place 3 or 4 tablespoons of the mixture along the long length of the filo, then roll the filo and filling up so that it looks like a snake. Repeat.

Place the rolls next to each other on the baking tray or else coil around one another.

Brush the remaining oil/butter/mixture onto and sprinkle with icing sugar (though I used caster to be honest).

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow to cool slightly before cutting into pieces and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and icing sugar just before serving.

The addition of just a little cream does not hurt in my opinion.