Men Who Cook: Jeff Wilton, Coq au Vin

I’m getting ready to go out to the Festival of Lights, wrapped in many layers because we’ve had an Artic coldsnap.  Before I go, wanted to post this, because it’s time for one of my favorite features, Men Who Cook.  This one is from Jeff Wilton, with pictures even.  It sounds wonderful.  Take it away Jeff:

I’ve always been cooking something, I remember as a lad at home in my mother’s kitchen getting an inspiration when I saw a can of Chinese sprouts of some kind, probably La Choy brand. I didn’t know what to do with them but I knew sautéing in butter was something people did. I dumped the can in a pan, and added a scoop of oleo, then turned the burner on. I watched it for a while, stirring it some, thought that there must be something else to cooking these things. My eyes drifted over to the cupboard where the soy sauce was kept. I added some of that, then a little more. Finally I thought it was likely the stuff was hot enough and I spooned some out, tried a taste. I have since become better at making a meal.

I’ve had my special dishes for years and years, spaghetti, veggie beef soup, ham and beans, chicken dumplings-stuff I saw my father make. You know, the easy stuff that a man couldn’t mess up too badly. I bought a ton of cookbooks, tried a bunch of recipes, never really got interested in the dishes that took a long time to prep, or that required ingredients not easily found in a rural mid-western grocery store. I do remember a Baked Alaska I tried for my momma once, tasted pretty good, but the thing nearly slid off the platter.

One recipe that caught my eye was coq au vin. No idea where I saw the recipe, it listed the classic ingredients: carrots. pearl onions, salt pork, etc. It looked fairly easy, and I guessed that bacon would work, and diced regular onions would be fine. I took the plunge and made up a batch, turned out very tasty. And hey! I have a picture that will work. So…

In a large sauté pan, fry some bacon over medium heat, remove when brown and crisp. Keep the bacon grease right where it is.

Take a cut up chicken, salt and pepper the pieces. You can dredge them in flour or just use them without, place in the pan and brown the chicken well on all sides.

While the chicken browns, dice an onion and a couple of carrots. Some celery wouldn’t hurt. Potatoes? Sure, why not, you’re the cook.

When the chicken has browned, remove it to a platter, and take some of the grease out, as much as you care to, leave a bit in there, it tastes good.

Toss in a cup of red wine to deglaze, scrape the goodies off the bottom, add the chicken and bacon back, and the veggies, dump in a can or two of sliced button mushrooms. Or use fresh mushrooms, find some morels. My wife is the mushroom hunter, but I can find mushrooms at Kroger’s every time I go out.

 

Now is the time to add stock. I’ve seen recipes with chicken stock, and recipes with beef stock. I used beef stock the first time I made this and never had cause to reconsider. Start with 2 cups of stock, you can add more as it simmers. Now is the time to add more wine if you think it needs it.

Cover the pan and simmer for an hour at the minimum, longer will be better. Towards the end, uncover and let the liquids reduce until they look right to you, or thicken it up with some corn starch slurry.

Hey, you just made coq au vin! Big smile now, it’s going to taste great!

I always serve wild/long grain rice with this. Another veggie wouldn’t hurt, but you do have those carrots in there. Some nice crusty bread on the side would help to sop up the gravy. mmm…gravy.

Jeffreyw

Playdough cookery from Kirk Spencer

Kirk Spencer had a great post today on some very creative cooking.  It’s worth a read:

Here’s a bit of whimsy that I never see anyone else do, and yet…

Read through the whole post and you’ll have not only a great recipe for playdough, salt domes and clay pot cooking,  but an excellent way to surprise your guests with their own beautiful, straight-from-the-oven meal.

Men Who Cook: Todd Daily, Granola

Our Men Who Cook series continues with Todd Daily’s Granola recipe.  If you’d like to contribute a recipe, please email me.   I’ll let Todd take if from here:

My mom wanted her three boys to cook so that they wouldn’t have to get married, just to survive. We learned a lot and all three of us cook a lot. I do almost all the cooking at our house, but not usually anything fancy and not usually following a recipe. I usually get ideas from cookbooks and then adjust them to the ingredients at hand, or what I know our family will like, or what will save time.

We’ve lived in Germany since 1993 and don’t have a lot of the quick things that are in church cookbooks (i.e. condensed soup, instant soup mixes, cool whip, Oreos…), but have learned to make them from scratch. Well, okay, we still ask people to smuggle in Oreos when they come to visit! Usually the Betty Crocker cookbook gets pulled off the shelf more often, because it has recipes without the convenience ingredients. When we’re back in the US, we have to readjust our cooking to match what we can get there.

Here are two family favorites that I know by heart because I make them all the time:

Granola

(I always make a double batch, because we have a Tupperware container that a double batch fits in!)

• 5 c. Old fashioned (big flakes) Oatmeal
• 1 c. honey
• 1 c. oil
• 1 c. coconut
• ½ c. Wheat Germ
• ¼ c. linseeds
• ½ c. sunflower seeds
• 1 T. Cinnamon
• 1 T. Vanilla
• ½ t. Salt
• May also add other kinds of nuts and seeds.

Mix everything together and spread out on a cookie sheet. I usually use baking parchment and just mix the recipe up on the cookie sheet.

Bake 25 minutes at 300 until it’s browned. Stir after 15 minutes.

After baking, add raisins and other dried fruit as desired. If you put them in before baking, they get hard. Stir to break up any clumps.

Allow to cool and then store.

Men Who Cook: Butch Maier, Red Potatoes & Cheese

When I receive Men Who Cook recipes, I file them in a special file and then post in the order I receive them (in case anyone is wondering when their recipe will see the light of day).  A while ago, Todd Daily sent me a great cake recipe, I posted it and then the original document disappeared. Today I went to post his Men Who Cook recipes and, once again, they had disappeared. I told him he’s like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible and his messages self-destruct after 30 seconds in my inbox. Anyway, if you have recipes you’d like send me an email.  I’m sure I won’t lose them.  And next week, Todd, I promise.

Meanwhile, my friend Butch Maier has come to the rescue with a quick and easy side that sounds like it would be good with roast chicken or a grilled steak:

Hi TaMara,

I have a little more time on my hands these days and remembered a recipe for you to try.  I don’t remember were I got it but here it is anyway you will need:

•  4lbs of baby red skinned potatoes, cut into 4-6 pieces
• 2 1/2 cups of Manchego cheese shredded.
• 3/4 milk
• 4 tbsp of butter, cut into small sections
• salt & pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes till tender  – takes approx 15 mins.  Drain and add the butter, cheese, milk and mash, season with salt/pepper.  Its is real fast and easy and taste really good

Nasty Bits from Kirk

I guess I started it when I posted a link to Pickled Pigs Feet recipe.  Kirk has upped the ante.  Go ahead and head over to his blog and read his recipes and links for Nasty Bits.  You may need a strong stomach.  You’ve been warned.

Men Who Cook: Kirk Spencer, California Stuffed Trout

I’m not sure, but I think Kirk is the person who pushed my guest recipe section into a Men Who Cook series.  He has sent me two recipes for this series and I’ll post one now and I’ll save the other for later when we need a lift.  Kirk’s recipes are as much fun to read as they are to eat.  Here is Kirk:

I learned to cook before I was 10. My parents believed all their kids should know how to do everything in the house, and that was one of the things done. Turns out I have a knack for it. I actually thought I was going to be a chef; till I worked in a restaurant and learned how much WORK doing that sort of thing really is. Still, I’ve been cooking for about 40 years.

Along the way, I found that far too often I didn’t have ‘that particular ingredient’ to hand. Shortly after that I realized that most dishes are variations on a theme; even before we get into the fact that one person’s “too hot” is another ’s “where’s the spice?”

Oh, and I also got my grandmother’s cookbook. Well, actually it was the one she got from HER grandmother. You laughed at the way I wrote squab in a coffin, and yet that’s the way the whole book reads. Dibs and splashes, handfuls of this and pinches of the other, and “a bit of this or that” to taste, depending on what’s on hand. My first successful pie dough came from that book, and I’ll give you a close approximation of the instructions:

Take two double handfuls of flour and a pinch of salt and stir them together. Cut in a fist of lard (Grandmother drew through that and wrote “shortening”) till it is mealy. Sprinkle handfuls of water and stir till it comes together.

Oh, it’s a short crust – tough, not delicate and flaky. It’s a crust that would stand up to her husband taking a slice with him to the field. I’ve picked up a few tricks for when I want to make it delicate and flaky (half a fist of butter instead of shortening – and reduce the total size of the fist – just for an example). However, it works, works easily and well for people who are flummoxed or frightened by more “proper” instructions.

But that seriously influenced how I write instructions. Precision is for chefs – the professionals who have spent years testing the same recipe over and over and strive for repetitive perfection. Me, I’m a cook. I’m tossing together today’s ingredients and since I don’t live near a great market and have to pinch a penny or two when I DO go, I’m looking for what’s going to be happily devoured by my family and guests.

Fortunately, I seem to have figured it out.

Kirk

Note from TaMara:  In my defense, when Kirk says I laughed at how he wrote Squab in a Coffin – it was because I enjoyed it!  Here’s his latest recipe, California Stuffed Trout in a pouch:

Recipes? I can go for hours on recipes.

California Stuffed Trout in a pouch

The basic recipe is simple. You need whole trout, as fresh as possible. (If you’re one of those who can’t handle the head looking back at you, you can cook this headless. Just get a friendly decapitator to assist.) You’re going to loosely pack a filling (which I’ll get to in a minute) in the belly, then seal the trout up and bake it.

Properly you’re going to seal the trout in a parchment pouch. Functionally, aluminum foil works though if your taste buds are sensitive you can taste the difference. You can also purchase brown paper (lunch) bags and oil them, put the fish in, close and staple the top, and bake. The process, however, is to trap all the steam inside so the cooking is as much about steaming as it about baking.

So what about that stuffing? You’ll want some chopped nuts, some fruit (small or rough chopped), a hot pepper that you’ve finely minced, and a pinch of salt. You’ll want roughly 2 parts nuts to one part fruit, and about a quarter cup of filling per fish. Now my preference is pecans, blueberries, and habanero that I’ve carefully seeded and cleaned of membrane, and I tend to make four of these (one habanero between the four, thank you). That’s a bit hot for some folk, and other folk look a bit askance at the blue stained interior of the fish when it’s done. However, I’ve used currants and cherries and apples and cranberries, each to good effect.  Loose stuff the fish, and put it in your pouch. Seal the pouch to trap the steam. Put in a hot oven (375-425 degrees F) for about 10-15 minutes for two to four fish, 15-20 for four to eight, and you’re on your own if you’re serving a feast. Serve in pouch, but warn your guests to be careful when opening as it will blast them with the steam.

Oh, formal?

Stuffed Trout en papillote

preheat oven to 400.

• 1 cup chopped pecans.
• 1/2 cup blueberries.
• 1 habanero, seeded, membrane removed, minced.
• 1/2 tsp salt.
• 4 fresh trout, cleaned. (wear gloves for protection)

Mix pecans, berries, habanero and salt. Loosely stuff the trout, and place in parchment pouches. Seal pouches.

Bake 10-15 minutes at 400 (F).

Serve in pouches while hot.

Recommended sides: vinaigrette slaw OR other crisp salad; steamed vegetables.

That sounds so good.  Can’t wait to try it.  Thanks, Kirk.

Men Who Cook: Michael Sigmon Fallai – A Taste of Italy

Time for my favorite time of the week, another Men Who Cook entry.   Tonight it is from Michael Sigmon Fallai, who I have enjoyed corresponding with during this series.  Check out his photos and his uncle’s book links below.  We’re going strong with the series, but there is still room for more, so join the fun and send me your story and recipes.  Now, here is Michael:  

My name is Michael Sigmon Fallai. I was born in the US but my mother is Florentine and I have spent a lot of time there since I was a kid – I consider it my ‘real’ hometown rather than where I was actually born. Every couple years or so, we spent most of the summer with relatives in Tuscany and Umbria. As a result, I speak very good Italian and I have dual citizenship as well.

Cooking came a bit late to me; though my mother is a wonderful cook (as was her mother Mafalda, and is my uncle Giampaolo), I’ve had to be a bit assertive about getting her to include me in the kitchen. She takes it very seriously so I’ve learned to do this little dance so I am not in her way, while at the same time keeping a close eye on what she’s doing.

I’ve also taken the initiative to learn new dishes. I often refer to an Italian edition of Artusi, “Kitchen Science and the Art of Eating Well”. It is difficult to find in English, but you can check for it at Amazon where I have seen both new and used copies for sale.

I consider my heritage – including my ability to speak the language well, and my deep connections to Florence, Tuscany and Umbria – to be a tremendous gift. Over time I’ve oriented certain tasks in my daily routine towards maintaining and strengthening that heritage; for instance, I keep up with the news in Italy through the websites of the major newspapers as well as watching a fair amount of  ”>Raitalia, the international distribution of RAI’s domestic television programming.

Cooking is most certainly one of those connections to my heritage. I don’t even mind cooking for one; it’s something I find relaxing as well as an opportunity to think about my Italian family and friends, including the great meals we’ve had together. To me, knowing Italian cuisine is as important as knowing the language. I’d even go as far as to say that each country’s cuisine is another language in which it speaks, each region with its own kitchen dialect.

I was asked to submit one of my favorite recipes. Given the theme of this site (keep it simple and delicious, in 30 minutes or less), I’ve decided on one of my favorite recipes which fits all three criteria plus one more. It is delicious; it is both easy and quick to fix; and it also has the virtue of providing both a meat dish and a very tasty red sauce which you can either use with pasta for the same meal, or store for another day.

As always, you should use good meat and fresh herbs – the fresher, the better.

SCALOPPINE ALLA LIVORNESE

(Chops Livornese Style)

• about 6 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil (use extra-virgin if you can)
• 4 medium sized, boneless 1/2 inch thick chops (around 2 lbs)
• -you can use lamb, veal or center-cut pork
• 4 tbsp flour
• 1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 6 fresh sage leaves, tied together
• (you can substitute 1 teaspoon of powdered sage for the bundle of 6 leaves… but fresh is always better!)
• salt and pepper

================

For your kitchen prep, you’ll need:

* a garlic press (or use pre-minced garlic… but you should really use fresh garlic!)

* a 2 quart bowl or other bowl large enough to hold 2 cups or so of liquid

* something to spoon sauce into the bowl

*a large frying pan with lid. Make sure it is large and deep enough to hold the chops plus the sauce. This is not a recipe where you want to discover too late that your pan was not big enough!

* a plate

* either another two plates or a covered container to hold the warmed chops.

* (optional) a small dish to hold the sauteed garlic

Crush the garlic and sauté it in a large frying pan on low heat. While it’s sautéing, you can prepare the chops. Put the flour on the first plate. Rinse each chop, pat it dry with paper towels, and coat both sides with flour. Place the chops on a second plate or in the uncovered container. Don’t forget about the sautéing garlic!

When the garlic is golden brown, take the pan off the burner and fish out the garlic, setting it aside either on the small dish or on the side of one of the plates.

Brown the chops on both sides. When done, place them on the second plate and cover them with the third plate, or place them in a covered container to keep them warm while you make the sauce.

Reduce heat and add the tomatoes, the tied bundle of sage leaves or powdered sage, the garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer about 10 minutes. Give it a stir about every couple minutes or so. Once the tomatoes have reduced some, give it a taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

When it’s ready, take out the bundle of fresh sage. Remove about half the sauce into the bowl, leaving enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Place the chops on this ‘bed’ of sauce. Pour the bowl of removed sauce on top of the chops. Cover and cook on low for about 10 minutes.

That’s it. Have some of the sauce with the chops; use the rest on pasta for the same meal, or save it for another meal. If you save it for later, either freeze it or refrigerate and use within 3 days.

=============

This recipe is based partly on one found in the cookbook my uncle Giampaolo wrote, Mamma Si Mangia? It is a really delightful cookbook filled with recipes of this sort – authentic, delicious and quick – as well as his tales of growing up with nonna Mafalda in Florence. It is out-of-print but I have a few copies left which you can purchase. At that same website,I have a number of original photographic prints which you might enjoy if you love Italy too. Buon appetito!

Thank you Michael.  Can’t wait to try it.  Enjoy everyone.

Men Who Cook: Jason Smalley – Thai Gumbo

Another great recipe in the Men Who Cook series.  This is from Jason Smalley.  I’ll let him take it from here:

So I began cooking when I was about 15. My father had done most of the cooking throughout my childhood, with my mom supplementing hamburger helper or spaghetti on occasion. My love for cooking, like most things as a teenager, was really for purposes of exploration. I loved how you could begin with benign parts, and mold it into something coherent… and tasty. Looking back I think that both cooking and guitar were somehow meant to attract women, but I quickly came to realize there are a lot of guitarists in high school and at that age women aren’t looking for a guy who can make dinner. Le Boo!

After I moved out of my parent’s house my love for cooking bloomed. I was a poor, sometimes college student who had goodwill pots and pans and an almost obsession with eating at home. My roommate and his daughter didn’t seem to mind, and while I wasn’t buying all those specialty items that my cookbooks called for, I was learning how to wield certain techniques which could be applied to almost any dish. I learned how to make reductions and gastriques, I learned why you would braise something and why a garlic press would never be found in a real Italian kitchen. As my technique-toolbox began to be filled in, I started applying those seemingly provincial way to cook to all sorts of other dishes. I introduced honey-vinegar reductions to Cuban food and curry into my pot-roasts. Eventually I had enough experience to where I could push out a meal in under and hour with whatever I had laying around the house, which as a starving college student, finally did start to attract females… poor, hungry college student females.

I was fortunate enough to live in Denver for eight years. Denver has a large immigrant population which comes from around the world. The cuisine is modern, but rustic, which leads to fusions of bison and polenta, or bacon stuffed perogies. While I will never be a $100 plate kind of foodie, I will spend a little extra if I know the effort is there. I love going to restuarants and chatting up the chef/cook to find out what techniques or seasonings they like to use, and on occasion I have made a friend or even given someone else a good idea. Now at 28, I have become comfortable with my own brand of cooking. I experiment less these days, but I still focus on fusions of style and flavor. ‘The unexamined dish is not worth eating’

-Jason Smalley

Thai Gumbo (Chooshi)

feeds 2-4 people

• 1 1/2 lb. chicken (you can use any meat or meat substitute, but remember this is a recipe which feeds a lot of people so plan accordingly)
• 2 C. green beans (cut into thirds or quarters)
• 1 red bell pepper (seeded, cleaned and sliced into 2″ pieces)
• 1/4 C. cilantro
• 1/2 C. cashews (crushed)
• 1 8 oz. can water chestnuts
• 1 8-12 oz. can of bamboo shoots
• 1 Tbsp. white pepper
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. green curry paste
• 1 Tbsp. red curry paste
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 12 oz. can reduced fat coconut milk
• 1 12 oz. can reduced sodium chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 C. jasmine rice

Cube the chicken into 1″ x 1″ pieces. Bring oil to temp. on medium heat in a 12″ skillet coat chicken with white pepper and a pinch of salt, brown on both sides for about 2-3 minutes. Add 1 Tbsp. of green curry paste and stir until paste is absorbed into chicken. Add 1 Tbsp. of red curry paste and still until mostly absorbed by chicken. Cook for another 2 min. Transfer what was in your skillet to a medium stock-pot or 6-8″ in. deep pot. Slowly add the stock and coconut milk in equal portions (you can add as much or as little as you feel is necessary, depending if you like a lot or a little sauce). Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, you will end up with a yellowish sauce. As soon as the pot begins to boil, reduce heat to medium and add all of your vegetables, reserving the salt, cilantro and cashews. Let simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and cover for 20-25 minutes while you let your rice cook. With about 5 minutes left on your rice, add the crushed cashews and remaining green curry paste, raise heat to medium and let curry dissolve while stirring. Add remaining coconut milk if you prefer a thicker sauce once the cashews have been absorbed. Salt to taste with reserved amount. Garnish with cilantro and let stand for 2-3 minutes. Pour mixture over rice.

It sounds amazing.   Thanks Jason.  Enjoy!

Men Who Cook: Scottie Adams Stuffed Peppers

Time for more Men Who Cook.  This comes from my cousin Scott Adams.  Only 23, Scottie follows in the footsteps of many in my family – the love of cooking.  Here is Scottie’s story and recipe:

I started cooking because of the family I’m in. Boettcher men are notorious for cooking. Our family in general is very kitchen oriented. We do more talking and socializing in the kitchen then at the actual table. At one point I strongly considered culinary school, but decided that teaching was my true calling lol.

This is a recipe I made for my former girlfriend’s parents, in a desperate attempt to win them over. It worked. We haven’t dated for almost 6 months, but her parents call me all the time for new recipes because they loved this so much.

It’s just like a lot of the other stuffed pepper recipes you might find on-line, but my trick is to add Oregano for an extra aroma to pull people towards the kitchen (strong enough to smell, but not over-powering). I also add some Dill. I think it helps make the others spices pop and adds to an unfamiliar aftertaste (it’s absolutely delicious, but it’s hard to identify it).

I hope you enjoy!

Scottie’s Stuffed Pepper’s

• Salt
• 1/2 pound short whole wheat pasta
• 4 large red bell peppers, tops cut off and reserved, seeded
• Black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus more for drizzling
• 4 jarred roasted red peppers
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 small portobello mushroom caps, chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 sprigs rosemary, stems discarded and leaves chopped
• One 28-ounce can fire-roasted crushed or diced tomatoes
• 2 cups arugula or baby spinach (a few generous handfuls)
• 1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
• 1 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese
• 1 tablespoon of Oregano
• 1 teaspoon of Dill

Preheat the oven to 425°. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente.

Trim the bottoms of the bell peppers, without cutting a hole, so that they stand. Season inside with salt and black pepper. Turn the peppers bottom side up in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, set the tops alongside and drizzle with EVOO. Roast for 20 minutes.

Using a food processor, puree the roasted red peppers. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add the red onion, garlic, mushrooms, crushed red pepper and rosemary and cook until softened, 7 minutes. Stir in the pureed peppers and the fire-roasted tomatoes; season with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pasta and toss. Add the arugula and basil and cook until wilted.

Preheat the broiler. Turn the peppers upright; fill with pasta. Top with the cheese and broil until melted, 2 minutes. Cover with the tops and serve with any extra pasta.

 Thanks Scott!

Men Who Cook: Michael Nightingale

Time for the next installment.  This is from Michael Nightingale, who some of you may know as Tattoosydney.  Here is Michael’s story and his recipe for Chicken with Peas and Buttered Rice.   It sounds wonderful and I can’t wait to try it.

I think my favorite part of this series, looking over the recipes I’ve received, is the stories that go with them and the style everyone has taken in writing the recipes themselves.  I’m enjoying it all and if you’re interested, I’d love to hear your story and recipe.  Now here’s Michael:

My name is Michael, and I live in Sydney, Australia. I’m a self taught cook. I lived in a number of share households while at university, and quickly realised that being able to churn out a good meal made me popular with other flatmates. Not only that, it was a barter-able resource. Cooking a meal could be swapped for less pleasant tasks, like cleaning the bathroom. Once I had decided I wanted to learn to cook, I devoured cookbooks, cooking whenever I could and following recipes carefully to learn techniques. Slowly, I moved to using recipes as a guide and then often merely as inspiration, rather than having to follow them slavishly.

I love the challenge of creating, and the joy of taking something special out of the oven, and then eating it. Perhaps most of all, I like that so many people think that cooking is hard, so if you can produce something tasty and good, no matter how simple it really was to make, half the world will think you are a cooking genius.

At the moment, I am obsessed with Portuguese food. We have visited Portugal three times. They are as obsessed with food, wine and coffee as I am. Their cuisine is, in many ways, quite simple. The same ingredients are used again and again – chicken, rice, beef, dried cod, sausage, cabbage, bay leaves, chilli – but yet every dish is subtly, differently flavoursome. There’s often little garnishing or fiddling – often a slice of orange on the side of the plate is all you get for a vegetable – and yet what is on the plate is so good you want seconds or thirds.

This dish is wonderful, slow cooked, easy to make, comfort food. For the full Portuguese experience, serve a couvert to start – a special cheese, homemade sardine paste or some grilled chouriço, with nice bread. The Portuguese always begin the meal with something on the table to whet the appetite (Hint for tourists: if you eat it, you have to pay for it). Serve the chicken with a big red wine, and finish off dinner with fresh fruit or a passionfruit creme caramel.

Chicken with Peas and Buttered Rice

(Serves 4 to 6)

For the chicken:

• 1 big splash of olive oil
• 1 onion, 1 stick of celery and 1 large carrot – all diced finely
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 sliced chouriço or other spicy sausage
• 6 or 8 chicken thighs – preferably with the skin on. Keep the chicken pieces whole, because they will break up a bit during cooking.
• 1 cup of white (or red) wine
• 1 tin of tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes – chopped
• 3 cups of peas
• 1 handful of chopped parsley
• Piri piri oil (optional)

For the rice:

• About half a cup of melted butter
• A splash of olive oil
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups of medium grain rice
• 3 cups of water or (preferably) vegetable stock
• 3 garlic cloves – chopped
• A few sprinkles of paprika

Preheat your oven to about 160°C/320°F.

Put the olive oil in a big heavy based frying pan over a medium-high heat. Your pan will need to hold all of the ingredients except the peas. Add the onion, carrot and celery, and the bay leaves, and fry until the onion becomes a golden colour. Add the chouriço and continue frying until the sausage starts to brown a little at the edges.

Throw in the whole chicken thighs. Stir it all around, and then push the chicken pieces down, moving the vegetable mix out of the way, so the chicken is on the bottom of the pan, and will go a nice brown colour. Stir everything around every now and then, pushing the chicken back down each time. Fry until the chicken is browned all over, but not cooked all the way through.

Pour in the wine and the tomatoes and let it all bubble away for a minute or so. Transfer it all into a casserole dish, put the lid on, and put it in the oven for at least an hour.

Go and have a drink.

About half an hour later, check the chicken. If it’s reduced a lot, add another half a glass of wine. Then, you can start preparing the rice. Put the butter and the olive oil in a saucepan on a high heat, add the onion and the bay leaves and fry until the onion goes translucent. Throw in the rice, the garlic and the paprika and stir it all around for one or two minutes, so the rice smells toasty and is coated in the butter. Put in the water or stock and bring it to the boil, then turn down the flame as low as it will go, put on the lid and leave it for about fifteen minutes. You want to cook this a little longer than you would normally cook rice, so it is a little soft and clings together. Take off the heat, stir around, put a tea towel over the top, put the lid back on and let it stand somewhere until you are ready to serve.

Pour the peas and the parsley into the casserole dish, stir it all around, and put back in the oven for ten minutes before serving.

Serve the chicken and the rice in a big bowl, drizzled with a little piri piri oil and some more fresh parsley if you would like.

Bom proveito!