Chicken Tarragon And Eryngii Mushroom

It had been a hectic schedule lately for the family. My kid was sniffing and it's not looking good... no thanks to the crazy weather lately (I tried to boost up his immune system with vitamins and rest but in the end the cold bugs won!). So, the stove was not much of smoking even though I got lots of recipes to try out... :-(

Still, I managed to sneak into one (or two) of the local supermarkets on my way out to fetch my kid from kindergarten :-P. This time, I found new batches of Eryngii Mushrooms a.k.a King Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) at quite low price (less than 2 €/pkt of 250 g)! It had been quite sometime I didn't serve this mushroom and buying them in Europe is really expensive as it's considered 'exotic' food along with Oyster Mushrooms, Abalone Mushrooms, Enoki, etc. To read more about this Eryngii mushroom, you can read it here with recipe and an added flavour Ginseng Eryngii Mushroom (haven't find this one for more than 1 year!)

For this hearty 'One Pot' European style recipe, I used deboned chicken thighs and breast meats with smoked bacon. It's easy to make and you can add on other side dishes to it like rice, potatoes, bread, salad, etc. I cooked some left over carrots and zucchini with a knob butter, pinch of salt and few twist of black pepper. Give a quick toss and serve with steamed rice. Oh... one more thing... instead of the usual White Wine used in such recipes, I broke the rule by using Brandy a.k.a Cognac :-P That's what I can find on the shelf at that moment. This French Brandy can be found mostly in Chinese households. You can say that if you want to win the hearts of your potential in-laws of your lady love, this got to be IT when you pay them your first visit and also for birthdays and Chinese New Year (Martell is the best choice so far I'd seen ;-D).

I can say the dish turned out gorgeously creamy, juicy with a hint of brandy and the tender chicken thigh meat was a great substitution that I preferred more from the usual whole chicken! Enjoy cooking it for your next fuss-free meal! :-)

Chicken Tarragon With Eryngii Mushroom

Serves 4

4 pcs Chicken Breasts Fillets/Thighs (about 450 g)

4 rashers Smoked Bacon - cut into strips

150 g Eryngii Mushrooms - thinly sliced

50 ml Olive Oil

80 ml Brandy (or generous amount if you like it more!)

80 ml Fresh Cream

1 Tbl Tomato Paste (15 ml)

1 Tbl Fresh Tarragon - picked, firmly packed (about 4 sprigs)

2-3 stalks Spring Onion - finely chopped

Salt and Freshly grounded Black Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash chicken pieces thoroughly and trim off excess fat. Remove the skin and debone, if using chicken thighs or you can leave the bones in.

2. Preheat oven to 180 ºC.

3. In a large heavy pan, heat the oil to medium high. Add in the chicken pieces and cook about 2 minutes on each side, turning once. Remove from pan and drain excess oil.

4. In the same oil and pan, add in the sliced smoked bacon. Stir for 2 minutes and add in the sliced Eryngii Mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms slightly wilted.

5. Add in the brandy, tomato paste and tarragon leaves. Stir until mixture boils. Reduce heat and add in fresh cream. Simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat.

6. Stir in chopped Spring onions and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

7. Arrange chicken pieces in a shallow ovenproof dish. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Covered and baked in the oven for 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Note:

You can use Button Mushroom or any seasonal mushrooms of your choice for this recipe. Besides using Brandy, you can also use Dry White Wine or Dry Sherry. If you want a healthier version, replace the fresh cream with plain natural yoghurt :-)

Bon Appétit!

Curry Chicken in Kaffir Lime Leaves

Firstly, I wanted to thank Nihal, the Mediterranean Turkish Cook for passing me this wonderful Lemonade Award that really cheered me up after a long bout of wheezings, coughings, sore throats and sleepless nights for the last few weeks! Çok, çok teşekküler, Nihal for this Lemonade Award! Also, what a coincidence that I was cooking another family recipe that I love so much from my mom that shared the same Citrus family as this lemony award!

I'm referring to this frequent cooked Kaffir Lime Curry Chicken in Southeast Asian homes where there were several versions from different countries even available online. This fragrant curry actually doesn't have kaffir lime juice in it but its evergreen fragrant leaves! Kaffir lime itself has very little juice compared to other Limes. Besides as culinary use, it plays very important part in local beliefs. In this recipe, I preferred the curry thicker or 'dry' as the local called it and to maximise the fragrant leaves, I julienned the kaffir lime leaves finely with a very sharp knife more than required and mixed into the curry instead of whole leaves as the norm. Traditionally, my mom would use an Indian terracotta pot to cook this curry but you can use your normal heavy pot. It's only slight difference in taste (though the terracotta gives out better taste.) Here's my version adapted from my mom's... :-D

Curry Chicken with Kaffir Lime Leaves

Serves 4-6 persons

600 g - 800 g Whole Chicken or your favourite Chicken parts (thighs, drumsticks, etc)

To be pounded finely:

8 shallots

1 stalk Lemongrass - use only the white portion

4 pips Garlic

6 dried chillies

5 fresh red chillies

3 cm fresh Tumeric

Thumb-sized Galangal

10 pcs Kaffir Lime leaves

4 pieces Tamarind Slices

2-3 Tbl Cooking Oil

250 ml Fresh Thick Coconut Milk

Some water

Method:

1. Clean the chicken and cut into pieces. I preferred to remove the skin before cooking. If you don't bother, you can leave it on and remove skin later.

2. Smash the galangal with the back of a knife or you can use a pestle and mortar if you have it.

3. Soak dried chillies in warm water for 15 minutes or until soften.

4. Pound the shallots, garlic, fresh chillies, tumeric and dried chillies until fine. You can use a blender if it's more convenient.

5. Wash the Kaffir Lime leaves and cut off the hard middle stems. Roll the leaves up tightly and with a sharp knife, julienne the leaves finely.

6. Heat a deep pan or a wok until hot. Add the cooking oil and the pounded ingredients. Stir until fragrant.

7. Add the cut chicken pieces and stir. Make sure the chicken pieces are thoroughly coated with the spice mixture for about 5 minutes.

8. Add 1/4 cup water, tamarind pieces, galangal and the julienned kaffir lime leaves. Stir until the chicken pieces are well coated with the spices.

9. Pour in the fresh coconut milk. Stir and add salt to taste. Cover the pot or wok and turn the heat to medium, stirring occasionally. Simmer until chicken meat thoroughly cooked.

This curry is great with rice, bread, naan, chapati or even as stuffings for buns, puffs, pies...

Note: I added very little water (sometimes non at all) as the chicken meat and coconut milk already contained some liquid. If you add more water, it would take longer time for the gravy or curry to thicken. Nevertheless, if you like more gravy, you can add more water :-) This curry is best eaten the day after - if you can stand it ... :-P Don't worry about the quantity of kaffir leaves used, it's not going to make the curry bitter. If you want, you can squeeze some Key Lime juices after stop the cooking. Enjoy!

Magadip - Madurese Aromatic Chicken Stew

Have you tasted before a recipe that has no chillies, garlic or coconut milk in its ingredients yet it's just as potent ? The recipe I'm referring to originates from Madura, an Indonesian island located East of Java in the Greater Sunda Islands Archipelago. The dish was a surprise for me, as we knew that most Indonesian dishes are hot and spicy and every dishes cooked or Sayur Lalap must have some chillies of some sort like Sambal Oelek, Sambal Terasi, Sambal Badjak pastes added as condiments with their meals. My favourite is Rijsttafel that ends with Spekkoek and coffee... it's a wonderful ending!

This Madurese speciality dish I'm sharing is called Magadip or better known as Madura Aromatic Chicken which is easy to prepare and you can actually used the ingredients for lamb as well. You can prepare it 1 to 2 days ahead which will make the dish tastes even more delicious after you let the flavours permeate the meat or freeze it until it's needed. The ingredients I'm using are for 2-4 persons as part of a meal but you can easily double the portions to suit your needs.

Magadip

Serves 2-4

500 g - 600 g Chicken or any part of chicken you like

1 Tbl Coriander seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

4 pcs Cloves

1 bulb Onion - small size, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Palm Sugar/ White Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Tumeric powder

1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder (freshly grounded)

1 tsp Black Peppercorns (freshly grounded)

125 ml Chicken Stock/Water

1.50 cm Fresh Ginger - peeled and sliced

2.50 cm Cinnamon stick

Extra Salt and Pepper to taste

Garnish: Onion Crisps, Spring onions or Coriander leaves.

Method:

1. In a large pan, dry fry the coriander, black peppercorns, cinnamon, cumin and cloves over medium heat until fragrant (it's very important not to burn your spices or you'll end up with bitter and burnt gravy.) Add in the tumeric powder and nutmeg powder. Give a quick stir to mix the spices thoroughly. Remove from heat. Grind in a food processor until fine. Set aside.

2. Blend the onion and ginger until smooth paste. Set aside.

3. Wash the chicken and cut into frying pieces. Put the chicken pieces in a deep pan or casserole. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Toss the chicken pieces thoroughly (supposed to help release the juices in the chicken.)

4. Add in the grounded spices, onion and ginger paste and chicken stock/water. Mix well into the chicken pieces. Cook over medium heat for 40-50 minutes or until the chicken meat is tender and half the gravy evaporates.

5. Adjust the taste with salt and black pepper as needed.

6. Serve portions of chicken meat with gravy, on rice or as side dish.

Note: This recipe can be substitute with lamb and ostrich meat. Cooking time should be adjusted accordingly to the type of meat cuts or until the meat is tender. If the gravy evaporates too quickly, you can add extra 125 ml/ ½ cup of water. In this recipe I added some potatoes wedges which also thickened the gravy.

You can make the dry spices few weeks ahead. Make certain portions for each kilogramme or ½ kg. of meat. Let the toasted spices cool down. Grind into fine powder and keep it air-tight container or vacuum pack. Don't forget to label how many grammes that quantity of spice will give you and how many spoons you need for the amount of meat you use.

Enjoy!