Glazed Lemon Pepper Chicken

This Glazed Lemon Pepper Chicken is easy to make - and tasty, too ! (Read on to find out why my chicken looks so pink !)

Here is another easy chicken recipe, which also has stacks of flavour. It is cooked together with potatoes and as a result the potatoes have a lovely sweet flavour to them ….. mmmmm !

The recipe calls for chicken breasts, but as I had none in my freezer last week when I made this dish, I simply used mixed (skinless) chicken pieces instead. (Another change which I made to the recipe was by par boiling the potatoes before cooking them together with the chicken.)

I know that my chicken in the photograph above has a pink hue to it. This is fairly common of chicken here in Tanzania, even when it is well cooked. When my husband & I ran safari camps here and had chicken on the menu, I often had to warn our guests not to be alarmed ! I have been told that this happens when the chicken is too young, or if it has not been hung properly after slaughtering or due to varying haemoglobin levels in the chicken’s tissues. I’m really not sure of the exact reason, only that I am so used to it now that I don’t even notice it anymore (and have never become sick after eating pink chicken as it is well cooked !)

A lot of the chickens here are fed on a rich diet of fish meal, and as a result we sometimes get batches of chicken which taste very much like fish (especially if you cook them and then reheat them – this seems to accentuate the fishy flavour !) When I have a lot of fishy tasty chicken, I cook it in strong sauces (e.g. a curry) so that it is not so noticeable – else fussy husband refuses to eat it !

Anyway, here is the recipe for you to try -:


Glazed Lemon Pepper Chicken (from the Good Food Magazine/BBC Book ‘101 Low-Fat Feasts’)

4 skinless, boneless Chicken breasts
4 tbsp clear Honey
Finely grated zest & juice of 1 Lemon
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
750 gm/1 lb 10 oz baby salad Potatoes or larger ones, halved
Steamed Broccoli florets, to serve (or green beans)

Slash each chicken breast two or three times with a sharp knife. In a shallow dish mix the honey, lemon zest and juice, garlic, mustard and black pepper. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes or preferably overnight. Preheat the oven to 220’C/425’F/Gas mark 7. Arrange the potatoes & chicken in a single layer in a shallow-sided roasting tin & pour any excess marinade on top. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked. Serve with broccoli & any pan juices.

Chicken Kebabs with a Thai Peanut Sauce

The Thai Peanut Sauce is a spicy, flavoursome sauce which goes well with either chicken or beef

I’ve had this recipe for years and am not sure where it originated from as it is hand written into one of my recipe books. (I think it may have come from a South African magazine in the late /90’s ?) It does take a little time to prepare – and uses many different ingredients/spices – but is certainly well worth the effort.

Both the marinade and the Thai Peanut Sauce work really well with beef in place of the chicken.

Our barbecue has been packed away for the Winter now as the days get cooler, but these kebabs can just as easily be cooked under the kitchen grill, and are great served with baked potatoes on the side, as a light meal -:


Chicken Kebabs with a Thai Peanut Sauce

1 kg Chicken meat, cut into strips

Marinade:
3 tbsp Honey
7 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tsp Corriander powder
2 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tbsp fresh Ginger, grated

Thai Peanut Sauce:
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Onion, chopped

1 cup Peanuts, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh Ginger, finely chopped
½ tsp Chilli Powder
2 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 2/3 cups Coconut Milk
3 tbsp brown Sugar
Freshly ground black pepper – to taste

Kebab sticks

Mix all the marinade ingredients together, stir in the chicken strips and place overnight (or for 3 hours or so if you are running short of time) in a covered glass bowl in the refrigerator.

Once marinated, thread the chicken strips on to the kebab sticks (I use wooden ones, which I soak in water before using, to prevent burning) and set aside.

To make the sauce, sauté the onion in the oil until golden, then add the rest of the ingredients. Stir to blend & simmer on a low heat for around 15 minutes. Remove from heat. (You can place the sauce in a liquidiser once it has cooled, and blend until it is smooth if you don’t like a chunkier sauce)

Now place the chicken kebabs on a hot grill (or cook on the barbecue), turning frequently until cooked through. Serve hot with the peanut sauce poured over.

Quick & Easy Tomatoe-y Chicken Curry Casserole

Great served on a bed of rice, you can also serve this curry with naan bread and 'sambals' of chopped tomato, cucumber, onion & coriander

Years ago when I was still living in South Africa, I saw a similar recipe to this one on the back of a jar of curry spices I bought one day. I tried to remember the recipe from memory, and came up with my own … so here it is !

It is a really quick and easy recipe for a deliciously tomatoe-y chicken curry. After quickly pan frying the onion and chicken pieces to brown them, you simply put all the ingredients into a casserole dish and pop it in the oven for just under an hour until it’s done – hardly any work … and no fuss at all !

Whilst the curry is cooking in the oven, you can throw a pot of rice to cook on the stove top, and quickly chop some small cubes of tomato, onion, cucumber and a bit of fresh coriander together to make ‘sambals’ to scatter over the top of the curry when it comes out of the oven. If you have naan bread in the house (which you can buy from many supermarkets these days), you can serve some of that on the side, too.

You can adjust the ‘heat’ of the curry depending on what type/strength of curry powder you use, and how much you put in. I keep this one quite mild, so that our 5 year old daughter can eat – and enjoy it – too !


Quick & Easy Tomatoe-y Chicken Curry Casserole

6 chicken pieces (thighs/legs & drumsticks work well)
2 large Onions
Oil for frying
1 x 240gm tin tomatoes, in juice (don’t drain)
1 – 1 ½ tbsp Lemon Juice
2-3 tbsp Curry Powder (I use a mild one) – to taste
4 cloves fresh Garlic, finely grated
1 tbsp fresh Ginger, finely grated
½ cup Water
Salt to taste

Lightly pan fry the chicken pieces & the onions to brown them. Set aside. Mix together the tinned tomatoes (& their juice), lemon juice, curry powder, garlic, ginger, water and salt to blend. Place the chicken pieces/onion into an ovenproof dish and pour the mixture over them, turning to baste. Cover, and place in the oven at Gas mark 5/190’C/375’F for about 45 minutes until the chicken is done. You can turn and baste the chicken pieces a couple of times during the cooking process if you like.

Speedy Chicken Breasts In A Chutney, Lemon & Herb Sauce

This speedy chicken dish is easy to prepare & cooks itself - giving you time to get on with other things !

This is a very quick and easy dish which takes just a few minutes to throw together. You then just leave it cooking in the oven for around half an hour – which gives you time to get on with other things !

You can change the taste of the dish by swapping the mixed herbs for any other herbs (Tarragon or Oregano would work well) and by changing the chutney to something less fruity and more spicy. You could also substitute the chicken breasts for fillets of fish -the possibilities are endless !

If you prefer to cook your chicken breasts on the bone, simply adjust the cooking time accordingly -:


Speedy Chicken Breasts In A Chutney, Lemon & Herb Sauce

4 x Chicken breasts (skin and bones removed)
½ cup of Chutney (I used a fruity apricot chuntey)
1 tbsp Mixed Dried Herbs
3 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a bowl, mix the chutney, dried herbs and lemon juice together. Season the chicken breasts with the salt and pepper and place in an ovenproof dish. Pour the chutney sauce over the breasts and bake (uncovered) at 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 for approximately 35 minutes. (To check if the chicken is done, pierce a breast at the thickest part – the juices should run clear.) Serve with boiled potatoes and salad or pasta and vegetables.

Chicken Stuffed with Cheese, Bacon & Spring Onions

As pictured above - take 4 chicken breasts (flatten slightly if you like - place under plastic film and beat with a meat mallet or rolling pin) .... and place a thick slice of Cheddar (or other) cheese on top of each breast, followed by a piece (or two) of bacon. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions.

Now, fold or roll the breasts over so that all the filling remains inside. Secure in place with a couple of toothpicks and place in an ovenproof dish. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, sprinkle some more spring onions over the top and pour a few splashes of olive oil over the lot so that it looks like this -:

Bake - uncovered - at Gas Mark 5 for around 30 minutes or so, until chicken is done (check by piercing a breast to check that the juices run clear). Cut each breast in to slices and arrange on plate (a 'la fancy hotel/chef style) as pictured below ... pour some gravy over & serve with hot roast potatoes & some veg. A quick an easy meal that looks like you spent ages in the kitchen preparing it ! (For a similar recipe which I published on the blog 2 years ago, click here).

Bottomless Chicken Pie

This 'Bottomless' Chicken Pie is great served with a salad as a light meal .....

This is a quick & easy recipe for chicken pie. I’ve used chicken breast meat in this recipe (pictured above) – only because I had some in the fridge that I needed to use up - you could use any other type of chicken meat for this.

This pie is ‘bottomless’ as it only has a pastry top and no base. There are 3 reasons for this …. firstly because making a base and a top (especially if you pre cook the base a little, which I often do when making pies) takes longer; secondly because if you don’t get it quite right it can result in a soggy base which, in my opinion, just ruins the whole pie & thirdly because a bottomless pie means less of a bottom for you (!!) as half the pastry = half the calories. Ha ha ! (Or … should I just admit that I was too darn lazy to make a pie base ?!)

Anyway, this is also a super quick recipe as you can use ready made pastry for it.

I usually serve this as a light-ish lunch with a salad (& a dollop of good quality mayonnaise on the side !) or as a main meal with mashed potato, gravy and veg.


Bottomless Chicken Pie

Oil for frying
4 Chicken Breasts (or other chicken meat), skin removed & cut in to strips
1 large White Onion
2 x 20 gm sachets Instant Chicken Soup Mix (you could also use Vegetable Soup Mix)
1 cup boiling Water
1 large White Onion
Dried Marjoram
Salt & Pepper to taste
+- ½ pkt/roll of Ready Made Puff Pastry (enough to cover the top of a 25 cm round pie dish)
1 Egg, beaten

Pan fry the chicken & onion in a little oil until browned. Mix the instant soup with the boiling water & stir to blend. Add to the chicken & onion mix in the pan. Stir. Add the dried Marjoram and salt & pepper to taste (the soup mix might make it quite salty already though). Stir everything to blend well and to prevent sticking, turn on to a low heat and allow to simmer for a few minutes before removing from heat.

Allow to cool slightly, then pour into a 25 cm round pie dish. Roll the pastry out into a round, and cover the top of the chicken/onion mix with it. Press the edges to seal, trim off any excess (decorate the surface with off cuts of pastry if you wish), prick in a few places with a fork and then brush the beaten egg over the top of the pastry before placing in the oven and baking at 190‘C/375’F/Gas Mark for around 30 minutes or so, until golden brown.

Apricot & Ginger Ale Chicken Bake

The sweet, tanginess of the sauce makes this Apricot & Ginger Ale Chicken bake a hit with all the family !

This is one of my Mum’s chicken recipes which she’s made for us during our current stay in South Africa. It has a lovely sweet and tangy sauce which you can make hotter by adding more pepper or ginger – although having said that, I find that the South African ginger is not nearly as hot as Tanzanian ‘blow your head off’ ginger !

We cannot get Apricot jam easily in Tanzania, so this is not a recipe I’ve tried making myself yet. It’s quick & tasty and ideal for a midweek supper – or served cold the following day with a nice salad for lunch (the sauce goes even stickier when cold – yum !) My daughter enjoyed this, too -:


Apricot & Ginger Ale Chicken Bake

6 – 8 pieces of mixed Chicken pieces
Salt & Pepper
Smooth Apricot Jam – enough to spread on each piece of chicken
2 cups Ginger Ale
1 ½ tsps fresh Ginger, grated
1 x 60 gm (2 oz) pkt Brown Onion soup (powder)

Place the chicken pieces in an oven proof casserole dish. Season with the salt and pepper. Spread a little of the apricot jam over each chicken piece. In a separate bowl, mix a little of the Ginger Ale with the fresh ginger and the soup mix/powder until well blended – then add the rest of the Ginger Ale to this before pouring it all over the chicken pieces. Bake, covered, at 180’C/350’C/Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes and then remove the cover & bake at 220’C/425’F/Gas Mark 7 for another 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through & nicely browned. Serve with brown rice & vegetables in season.

*I think that adding a handful of chopped, dried Apricots to the recipe (at the Ginger Ale & Soup powder stage) before cooking would make a lovely addition to this already tasty dish.

Quick & Easy Chicken and Veggie Casserole

This easy Chicken & Veggie Casserole can be served on a bed of rice or pasta. Packed full of vegetables, there's no need to serve any aditional veggies on the side with this dish - another time saver !

You can leave the skin on the chicken pieces if you prefer - simply browning them in a pan first, then adding them to the casserole dish to be baked in the oven along with the veggies

This is one of those oh-so-easy midweek suppers that you can literally just throw together and put in the oven to cook on it’s own, while you get on with other things.

You can substitute any of the vegetables I’ve used here for whichever veggies you happen to have in your kitchen, and you could also use a tomato or chicken soup mix instead of the onion soup in the recipe.

This meal is a great timesaver and because it contains vegetables I never cook separate vegetables when I serve this. It goes well with rice, or even pasta. If you prefer the skin on your chicken pieces, then you could brown them in a pan on the stovetop first, before mixing them in with the rest of the ingredients and baking in the oven.


Easy Chicken & Veg Casserole

6 skinless Chicken pieces (drumsticks, thighs)
1 x 55 gm packet of Brown Onion Soup
3 cups boiling Water (or more/less depending on the brand of soup you’re using)
2 red Onions, sliced
Handful of white Cabbage, sliced
1 large Leek, sliced
1 large Carrot, sliced
1 large Courgette (a.k.a. Zucchini, a.k.a. Baby Marrow), sliced
Pepper to taste

Place the chicken pieces in a large ovenproof dish. Mix the soup powder with the water and pour over the chicken pieces. Add the remaining ingredients, mixing everything together well so that the chicken pieces/veggies are all covered by the soup liquid. Cover with foil and bake 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for around 45 minutes until done. Serve on a bed of rice or pasta.

An African Soda Story - And A Cola Chicken Recipe !

We like to eat this Cola Chicken cold & sliced with a nice salad and some crusty bread for lunch ......

I developed a complete addiction to Diet Coke when I was pregnant recently. I know, I know – all that artifical sweetener is not good for the baby. But goodness, I couldn’t help myself and was drinking 3 to 4 of them a day – most unusual considering that when I’m not pregnant, I usually have 1 every two weeks or so !

Up until a few years ago, you couldn’t buy Diet Coke in Tanzania easily, as it was not manufactured here. You could get imported tins of it (from the UAE) which to me, tasted awful and not like Diet Coke at all. When they started to produce it locally – I rejoiced !

All our sodas here (Coke, Fanta, Sprite etc) are still produced in glass bottles. You can buy a red plastic crate of 24 bottles at a time, which is what we usually do. We have to remember to always carry a bottle opener in the car with us (although hubby has a trick where he opens the bottle top on the car door latch – honestly, men !) and to take ‘empties’ along for long road trips, as many shops don’t like you to take their bottles with you when you go, even if you do leave a deposit for the bottle as this leaves them ‘short’ in their crates and poses problems for them (especially in the remoter areas) when they want to restock and swap the crates for full ones.

If you own a shop/bar/restaurant in a rural area here and wish to restock your soda’s, you indicate this by placing a couple of empty crates alongside the main road in your village, to indicate to a passing ‘Coke’ truck that you’d like him to stop !

This recipe for ‘Cola Chicken’ is by no means an original one, nor is it an African one, and has been doing the rounds for years so you may well have come across it and tried it already (if so, I’d love to hear what variations you’ve made to the recipe, as I know there are so many out there).

I made mine with Diet Coke, though. Oops, sorry – it’s called ‘Coca Cola Light’ nowadays (although I’ll always call it ‘Diet Coke’ !) I suppose it may turn out with a thicker/sticker sauce than mine did if you use actual Coca Cola, though.


Cola Chicken

6 Chicken Breasts (skin & bones removed)
2 Red Onions, sliced
1 x 50 gm packet of Tomato Soup powder
1 x 300 ml bottle of Diet (or Regular) Cola
Salt & Pepper to taste

Place the chicken breasts in a single layer in an oven proof casserole dish. Scatter the onion slices over them. Mix the tomato soup powder, Diet (or regular) Cola and salt and pepper together in a separate bowl, whisking to blend before pouring over the chicken breasts/onion slices. Cover and bake at 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for 30 to 45 minutes (depending on thickness of the chicken breasts & how long they take to cook through). Baste the chicken breasts with the sauce mix a couple of times during cooking, and remove the cover 10 minutes before you take them out of the oven. Great served hot on a bed of rice with vegetables, or served cold with salad for a lighter meal.

Sticky Chicken Drumsticks (A hit with the kids !)

This is quite a versatile recipe in that it can be baked in the oven, cooked under the grill or thrown onto the barbecue - and it's a hit with both adults & children alike !

Right, I thought it was about time to post another recipe on the blog – seeing as this IS a food blog, after all, and lately I have been rambling on about everything BUT food (funnily enough though, my stats show that the majority of readers prefer reading my non food related/recipe posts – what I call my ‘life’ posts about life in Tanzania etc seem to be the most read, and most popular pages.)

Well, here is a recipe anyway. For my most favourite meat of all – chicken. This is a versatile recipe as you can cook it under the oven grill or on the barbecue and it can also be baked in the oven. Kids love it as much as adults and although I’ve used the sauce here to coat & cook chicken drumsticks, it works beautifully with chicken wings, too.


Sticky Chicken Drumsticks

1 kg Chicken Drumsticks (Legs) – I remove the skin on mine
½ cup Dijon Mustard
1/3 cup Vinegar (Grape or Cider vinegar works well)
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
½ cup Honey
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper

Whisk the mustard, vinegar, sugar, honey, Soy sauce & seasonings together in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Place the chicken drumsticks in a single layer in a large oven proof dish and pour the sauce over. Bake at 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for around 45 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through. Baste & turn the chicken pieces regularly during the cooking process.

(Alternatively, you could cook the chicken pieces under the grill or on the barbecue.)

Baked Curried Chicken Pieces

These baked curried chicken pieces are great served as a light finger meal, accompanied here by a nice bowl of peach chutney for dipping ! (Note - I did burn these a little when I cooked them but posted the photo anyway - after all, we all make cooking mistakes & what's a few burnt chicken drumsticks between friends, anyway, hey ?!)

The author of this recipe suggests serving these “for those gossipy evenings around the fire” with bread, salad & lots of paper napkins.

These are an ideal finger/snack type food and this recipe would work really well if you used chicken wings – they’d make a great snack or cocktail party dish and would also go down a treat, served cold, in a lunchbox. They are not too hot, and great served with some nice fruit chutney on the side. We ate ours as a light supper.

(I have included measurements in the equivalent tablespoons & teaspoons for those of you who don’t work in ml’s. The 'official' name of this recipe is "Baked Curry Chicken" but I changed the blog post title above, to reflect what I felt describes it better).


Baked Curry Chicken (from “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall)

1,2 kg’s Chicken pieces (+- 3 lb's) - I used drumsticks, but chicken wings would work really well too

50 ml Oil (3 tablespoons & 1 teaspoon)
12,5 ml Curry Powder (2 ½ teaspoons)
25 ml Lemon Juice (2 tablespoons & 2 teaspoons)
12,5 ml Honey (2 ½ teaspoons)
2 ml Turmeric (1/2 teaspoon)
10 ml Garlic Salt (2 teaspoons)
Chutney (to taste)

Mix all the ingredients together & pour over the chicken pieces. Leave to marinade for around 4 hours, turning occasionally. To bake, place on rack (skin side down). Pour a little water under the rack to prevent scorching. Moisten with some of the marinade and bake at 160’C/325’F/Gas Mark 3 for 45 minutes, turning occasionally. Moisten with remaining marinade and bake for another 15 minutes. Then spread each piece with chutney (to taste - about 5 ml’s/1 teaspoon per piece) and return to the oven for about 30 minutes until done.

Hong Kong Chicken

Great served on a bed of noodles or rice, this chicken dish called for cubed meat but I opted to use whole pieces instead

The author of this recipe, Lynn Bedford Hall, has a great sense of humor as she writes in it’s description “Not strictly Far East by any means, but it’s as good a name as any for a tarted up chicken dish with an oriental flavour” !

It’s a rich, tasty chicken dish and something a little bit different. I have adapted the original recipe somewhat (as 2 of the things I cannot bear to eat are green/red peppers and mushrooms – both of which are called for in the original recipe) ! You can see my notes at the bottom as to how I adapted the recipe.


Hong Kong Chicken (from the book “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall)

600 gm cooked Chicken meat, cubed, no bones
25 ml Butter
25 ml Oil
1 large Onion, sliced
1 large Carrot, coarsely grated
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1 red Pepper, seeded & sliced in thin strips
200 gm fresh Mushrooms, washed & sliced
50 ml Flour, sifted
500 ml Chicken stock
25 ml Sherry
25 ml Soy Sauce
Blanched Almonds, toasted (for garnishing)

Heat the butter & the oil in a pan. Add the onion, carrot, garlic, red pepper & mushrooms. Fry until gently softened but still crisp. Add the flour & stir to blend, then add the chicken stock & the cooked cubes of chicken. Once it has all heated through, add the sherry & soy sauce. Taste for seasoning, but don’t boil again. Garnish with the toasted almonds, and serve on a bed of rice or noodles.

How I adapted the recipe (pictured above) -:

I used 6 whole, skinless chicken pieces (drumsticks & thighs) for the recipe. I fried these in one saucepan (in a little olive oil) until golden, whilst in another I fried the onion, carrot and garlic (leaving out the pepper & mushrooms). Then I added the flour and chicken stock to this, stirred until thick and added the sherry and soy sauce. I allowed this to simmer, adding the cooked chicken pieces to it and let the whole lot simmer/cook together for about another 15 minutes. I garnished the dish with chopped spring onion tops, and served it on a bed of noodles.

Baked Pineapple Chicken Curry

I served this baked pineapple chicken curry on a bed of rice & topped it with halved cherry tomatoes & banana slices

Nothing beats a good curry, and this is not your normal sort of curry – for one, it is baked in the oven with crushed pineapples. It is lovely though – not too hot but very flavorsome and fruity and would make a lovely lunch or dinner – especially if you are having friends around. Serve on a bed of rice with a nice crisp salad, or with sambals, sliced banana and poppadums if you prefer.


Pineapple Chicken Curry (from “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall)

1,2 kg Chicken Pieces
2 medium Onions, sliced
Oil
10 ml Curry Powder ( I doubled this)
5 ml ground Coriander
4 split Cardamom pods
2 ml Turmeric powder
2 ml Cinnamon powder
2 ml ground Ginger
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
50 ml Flour (I use cake flour)
250 ml tinned unsweetened Pineapples, crushed (or finely chopped pineapple rings, plus some of the juice)
125 ml Chicken Stock
25 ml Honey
5 ml Salt
50 ml Coconut, dessicated (or fresh, grated)

Lightly fry the chicken on both sides, in a little oil. Remove to a baking dish & arrange to fit in a single layer, skin side up. Add the onions to the pan (and a little more oil if needed). As these soften, add the curry powder, coriander, cardamom pods, turmeric, cinnamon and ginger and stir. Continue to cook for a little while and then add the garlic & flour. Stir to blend before adding the chicken stock, honey, salt & coconut. It will now be a thick puree. Spoon this over the chicken and bake, covered, at 160’C/325’C/Gas Mark 3 for about 1 ½ hours until done.

Spicy Chicken Casserole

Firstly, the chicken pieces are marinaded for 3 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge

The chicken pieces are then coated in a seasoned flour mixture, & lightly pan-fried until golden

Sliced onions and the remainder of the marinade are then poured over the chicken pieces, & they are placed in the oven to bake


The finished product is a flavoursome casserole with juicy, succulent chicken - the meat just falls off the bone !

One of the cookbooks which my Mum gave me when she was clearing out a while ago, is “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall. It’s a South African book, published in the 1970’s and has some delightful recipes in it – most of them geared towards dinner parties hosted in your own home.

I like it because the recipes are slightly unusual yet easy and contain, mostly, ingredients which you always happen to have around the house. Simple, wholesome, home cooked food with flair is what this book is all about & as it’s my current ‘favourite’, expect to see a few recipes from it popping up on the blog in the near future !

This is a very tasty chicken casserole recipe – the chicken pieces are marinated before being coated in a spicy flour mixture & browned, then put back into the oven to cook in the marinade until it forms a nice, thick gravy.

Great served on a bed of rice, this recipe is a winner & one that is sure to feature on our table time and time again (especially since it’s a ‘husband hit’ !) -:


Spicy Chicken Casserole (from “More Food With Flair” by Lynn Bedford Hall)

Marinade:
1,3 kg mixed chicken pieces (drumsticks, thighs, wings) – I remove the skin from mine
125 ml White Wine
50 ml Soy Sauce
10 ml Worcestershire Sauce
25 ml Tomato Sauce
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 ml Chicken stuffing seasoning (I use Chicken stock granules)
25 ml Honey
4 thin slices of Lemon (or 1 tbsp Lemon Juice)
2 Bay Leaves

Place the chicken pieces in a glass dish. Mix the remaining ingredients together to make the marinade, pour over the chicken & leave in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for around 3 hours, turning occasionally.

Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and coat in the following mixture -:

Chicken Coating:
100 ml Flour
1 ml Paprika
1 ml Salt

Lightly fry in some oil until golden brown on both sides, then remove from pan & place into an ovenproof dish so that they fit together snugly. Scatter over the top -:

Additions to Casserole:
2 large Onions, sliced
1 Green or Red Pepper, seeded & sliced (I leave this out as I don’t eat them !)

And then pour the reserves marinade over them, too.

Place, covered, in the oven at 160’C/325’C/Gas Mark 3 for around 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes until done.

If the gravy/sauce needs thickening (I find that it’s usually thick enough though) , add the following to it-:

Gravy Thickener:
25 ml Flour
50 ml Chicken Stock

Stir to blend & then return to the oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Roasting The Perfect Turkey

This roasting method works perfectly for my turkey, year after year !

Okay, I promise that the Christmas recipes are coming to an end now ! I just wanted to post about how I have managed to find a method to cook the perfect turkey – well, it works for me and has done since I first tried it several years ago when I was cooking a turkey on my own for the first time, for a crowd of guests who came out to our farm for Christmas (not this farm, the very remote one we used to live on). I cook both turkey and ham each Christmas. (Ham to follow soon as we are having it again tonight to see the New Year in, so I will photograph it then !)

This is one of Delia Smith’s methods, I copied it down by hand into one of my recipe books & have added notes over the years, but the method originates from her. (For those of you who don’t know her, she is a well known English cook renowned for cooking hearty, home cooked meals and traditional English fare in a simple & easy way.)

Each year I have to pre order my turkey in October or so. I place an order with our local butchery, who import them – usually from Kenya, although one year during a great turkey shortage (bird ‘flu ?), they got them in from as far afield as Brazil, I think ! I always get the milk fed nightingale turkey. Have you ever eaten a turkey which tastes like fish because it has been fed a diet of fishmeal ? (like a lot of the chickens we get here) They taste awful – eghhhh !

So, here is my turkey cooking method, adapted slightly from Delia's -:

Preparing the turkey- :

Remove the giblets, liver, neck etc from the turkey & reserve these for making the gravy stock/base. Make sure that the turkey is at room temperature before cooking it.

Fill the cavity of the turkey with stuffing – don’t pack it in too tightly though. (To make my stuffing I take a 500 gm packet of sausage meat, a handful of bread crumbs, a tablespoon of dried sage, a bunch of fresh chopped parsley, 3 chopped onions, 1 beaten egg & some salt and pepper & mix all together with my hands until well blended).

You might need to secure the neck flap/cavity openings with a wooden kebab skewer, broken off so that it fits into the oven. Place turkey in a large roasting pan.

Now slather salted butter thickly all over the outside skin of the turkey. Place bacon rashers over the butter in rows (sometimes I do this, other times I don’t – this year I left the bacon off). The butter/bacon make for a really moist turkey. Season the turkey with salt & pepper. (Not too much salt as the bacon & butter are quite salty already).

Delia says to wrap the turkey in a ‘tent’ of tin (aluminum) foil, in effect creating and oven within an oven. To be honest, my oven is not large enough for this so I simply take a large sheet of tin foil and place it tightly over the top of the turkey. I usually roast my turkey breast side down.

Now comes the cooking part -:

Place the turkey in a 240’C/475’F/Gas Mark 9 oven for 10 – 15 minutes to give it a blast of heat.

Then turn the oven down to 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 & cook the turkey for about 3 hours (depending on size/weight of turkey – see note at end for guidelines) **

Then remove the foil, baste the turkey with the juices found at the bottom of the pan, & return to the oven to cook for a further 40 minutes at 200’C - 220’C/425’F – 450’F/Gas Mark 7 - 8.

Remove from the oven, removing the bacon rashers too & adding them to the juices at the bottom of the pan (these can then be added to stock to make a gravy).

To check if the turkey is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the leg with a skewer & press it – the juices should run clear. You can also tweak the legs slightly – if they have some ‘give’ then the turkey is done. You should also notice juices bubbling under the surface of the skin.

Allow the turkey to rest for at least ¾ hour before carving it. This is so that the juices can be re-absorbed into the meat.

** As a guideline, a turkey should be cooked for 1 hour plus 20 minutes per kg (= total cooking time). Eg. a 5 kg turkey should be cooked for approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Enjoy the last day of 2008, everyone – see you in the New Year !

A Cape Malay Recipe For Pineapple Peri Peri Chicken

On Friday night we had this Pineapple Peri Peri Chicken for supper. (I served it with plain rice & a side salad.)

This is a Cape Malay recipe, originating in South Africa. Malay cooking has greatly influenced South African cuisine - it is Indonesian in origin and has also been influenced by several other cuisines such as Indian (samoosas, curries), Dutch (baked puddings, biscuits) and French Huguenot (fruit preserves). If I could describe Malay food, I would say that it is spicy-flavoursome rather than spicy-hot. (Some of the dishes have an almost perfumed spicy taste to them- delicious !)

This recipe comes from the book “The Cape Malay Cookbook” which was written by Fadela Williams. In writing this book, Fadela has helped contribute to the preservation of some of South Africa’s culinary traditions. So many of these old recipes that have been passed down through the generations are simply being lost or forgotten so it is wonderful to have a written record of a very important part of African food culture. I love Malay cooking, and as most of the spices used in it are readily available to us here in Tanzania I am fortunate to be able to cook as much Malay food as my heart desires !

This is a very simple Cape Malay style recipe, which only uses one spice (Peri Peri). I’ve included the recipe because I know that Peri Peri is pretty common and easy to get hold of in most countries, and if you can’t find it you could substitute it for Chilli Powder. Let me know if you try it and most importantly – if you like it !


Pineapple Peri-Peri Chicken (from "The Cape Malay Cookbook" by Faldela Williams)

1 tsp Salt
4 cloves crushed Garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
8 chicken pieces (I used 1 kg of mixed drumsticks & thighs)
30 ml cake Flour
1 tsp Peri Peri powder
1 x 440 gm can Pineapple Rings (in syrup)

Rub salt & garlic into chicken pieces. Mix flour & peri peri powder & sprinkle over chicken on both sides. Arrange chicken in a greased over proof dish & pour syrup from the pineapple over. Bake at 180’C/’F/Gas Mark for about 1 hour, or until lightly browned, spooning pineapple syrup over the chicken about 3 times & turning the chicken over halfway through the cooking time. Arrange the pineapple rings over the chicken & bake a further 10 – 15 minutes before serving with rice.

Mozzarella & Parmesan Chicken (in a Crushed Cracker Coating !)

Not a great photo here - sorry about that, but it gives you some idea of the colour & texture of the dish (I hope !)

Okay ... I’m cheating a little here. I didn’t actually create or cook this recipe - my Mum did ! She made it during one of the first nights we stayed with them during our recent trip to South Africa, I simply took a photograph of it and wrote the recipe down. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it – who doesn’t enjoy a recipe containing not 1 but 2 different types of cheese, ‘eh ?!

(I should just add that the crushed crackers used in place of breadcrumbs as a coating, add an unusual and delicious 'twist' to this recipe !)

Thanks, Mum ;)


Mozzarella & Parmesan Chicken (in a Crushed Cracker Coating !)

4 Chicken breasts, de boned & skinned
1 Egg
½ cup Flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
+- 15 Cream Cracker biscuits, crushed
Olive Oil
1 x 400 gm jar of Tomato Relish
4 large slices Mozzarella Cheese
4 large slices Parmesan Cheese

Place chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap, & pound with a rolling pin or meat mallet to flatten.

Beat the egg in one bowl and mix the flour, salt, pepper and crushed biscuits together in another. Dip the flattened chicken breasts into the egg and then into the crushed biscuit mixture. Lightly fry in the oil until golden, then place in a glass baking dish and spoon the jar of relish (divided equally) evenly over each breast. Then top each breast with a slice of Mozzarella and a slice of Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes at 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 until chicken is cooked through, & cheese is golden and bubbly.

Herby Baked Balsamic Chicken Breasts

The chicken breasts - just as they are removed from the oven

This is a really easy chicken dish that has a great tangy flavour thanks to the addition of the balsamic vinegar - which also makes the meat very tender.

If you marinade the chicken breasts overnight in the fridge the flavours really get a chance to develop, too. These breasts taste really great on a bun, served as part of a “chicken burger”.

This recipe also works well if you cook the chicken on a barbecue (you could use chicken pieces like thighs, wings and drumsticks for this).


Herby Baked Balsamic Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts (de boned, skinned & sliced into large pieces)
6 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic, minced
1 tsp each of dried Origanum, Rosemary, Basil & Marjoram
Salt & Black Pepper to taste
Olive Oil

Whisk the balsamic vinegar, sugar, garlic, dried herbs, salt & pepper together in a glass bowl. Add the chicken pieces, cover and allow to marinade in the fridge for around 3 hours (or overnight).

Lightly oil a baking tray. Place the chicken pieces on the tray, discard the remaining marinade and lightly drizzle some olive oil over the chicken. Bake at Gas Mark 5/190 ‘C/375 ’F for 15 to 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, turning one or twice during the cooking process.

Karine's Chutney & Mayo Chicken Dish

You can use tomato or chicken soup mix if you don't have any brown onion on hand

Chances are, if you have ever regularly visited or eaten at our house over the years, you’ve been served this at least once around my dinner table ! It’s just one of those dead easy “go to” recipes that can be adjusted according to whatever you happen to have on hand at the time.

My dear school friend, Karine, gave me this recipe 18 years ago and I have honestly been cooking it regularly since then *gasp* I am getting old !

Karine was the first of our ‘core’ group of school friends to get married and have a home of her own. I remember (feeling terribly grown up) visiting her in her new home one day for lunch, and she served this dish to me as we sat at her kitchen table and gossiped ! As an 18 year old at that time, I had recently acquired my driver’s licence so had driven to her house alone (oh my – how grown up is THAT ?!) in my first ever car – a yellow VW Beetle called “Maxine” who my parents had given to me for my 18th birthday.

I haven’t seen Karine for years, although we do still keep in regular contact and I have to say that EVERY time I cook this dish, I think of her ….. and of our great friendship that has stood the test of time !


Karine’s Chutney & Mayo Chicken Dish

1 pkt Brown Onion Soup (powder)
1 cup Chutney
1 cup Mayonnaise
2 Onions, sliced
Handful of baby Carrots (or large carrots, sliced)
8 x Chicken Pieces (legs, thighs – skin removed)

Mix the soup powder, chutney & mayonnaise together. Place the the onions, baby carrots and chicken pieces into an oven proof dish and pour the mixture over, mixing well to coat everything. Bake, uncovered, at Gas Mark 4/180’c/350’F for around 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until done.

Serve with rice and a crisp salad or vegetables.

*Note – you can leave the skin on the chicken pieces if you wish. You can also add spring onions, tomatoes or anything that takes your fancy. If you don’t have brown onion soup in the house, you can use tomato or chicken soup as an alternative. There are so many ways to prepare this dish depending on your mood/ingredients – anything goes !

Chicken Breasts In A Tangy Mustard Sauce

This dish tastes great served on a bed of noodles, or rice

I came up with this recipe one day when I felt like making a peri peri sort of chicken dish in a creamy sauce. But then that would have been too hot for my daughter, so I had to come up with something else that was more child friendly, so this is what I came up with ! She really enjoyed it, and so did we – so it has now been added to the family “menu” ….

If you use a mild mustard the sauce is not too hot, and the addition of the Worcester sauce gives it an extra bit of tang.


Chicken Breasts in a Tangy Mustard Sauce

4 Chicken breasts
4 heaped tbsp Flour
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Garlic flakes
Olive Oil
2 Onions, sliced

Mix the flour, salt, pepper and garlic flakes together, then dip each chicken breast in this mixture to coat thoroughly. Heat some olive oil in a pan, and lightly fry the breasts on both sides until golden brown and cooked through, then remove from heat and place in a casserole dish. Next, fry the onion slices until golden (or you could cook them in the same pan alongside the chicken breasts if you have space). Once cooked, remove the onion slices from the heat and scatter over the chicken breasts in the casserole dish.

Next, you need to make the sauce -:

2 cups Milk
3 tbsp Flour
2 tbsp prepared Mustard (I used a Mild one)
4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Chicken stock cube (dissolved in ½ cup boiling Water)
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Mixed dried or fresh herbs for garnishing

Blend the flour with a little milk until a smooth paste is formed. Then add the remainder of the milk and stir well to blend. Place this on the stove top and bring to the boil, stirring constantly to prevent any lumps from forming. Once the mixture has come to the boil, reduce and simmer (stirring occasionally).

Now add to the mixture the Mustard, Worcestershire Sauce, chicken stock (cube dissolved in water) and salt & pepper to taste. Continue to stir every now and then, cooking the sauce for another 10 – 15 minutes (you want to really ‘cook’ the raw flour flavour out of the sauce !).

Once cooked, pour the sauce over the chicken breasts and onions which you have set aside in the casserole dish. Sprinkle some fresh or dried mixed herbs over the top to garnish, and serve immediately. This dish goes well with rice or noodles.