Chicken drumsticks with rosemary and lemon

The weather's gone haywire. Here we are midway through autumn and its gloriously warm with temperatures in the mid 20's. A few weeks ago I started to see brown and red leaves on the trees and today I see flowers in beautiful bloom! Anyway, I was in no mood for soups or stews so I decided to roast some chicken drumsticks. I could have done a "whole bird" but opted for those instead as I wanted a quick roast. Actually, if you're after a fantastic roast chicken recipe with great commentary head on over to "Gild the Vodoolily" and read Heather's post on the perfect roast chicken. Highly entertaining and delectably delicious!

I decided to roast the chicken "drummies" using rosemary, olive oil and cut lemon pieces. The flavour of rosemary is pungent and suits the chicken well. When the lemons roast in a hot oven they release all of their juice and create a lovely sauce combined with the olive oil. The final touch was to dot the drumsticks with some sun dried tomatoes approximately 15 mins before the they are due to come out of the oven. The sun dried tomatoes crisp up slightly and provide another element to the dish. I love picking up the drumsticks with my fingers and chewing through the perfectly cooked flesh and tasting the medley of flavours created by the oil, rosemary, lemons and tomatoes. Please note. This isn't a recipe as such. It's a "put together with whatever's on hand" type of meal. You could use other chicken parts, maybe substitute the rosemary for thyme or oregano. You could use some roasted capsicums instead of the tomatoes. You get the idea.

Packed with flavour

RECIPE FOR ROSEMARY CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS

• 4-5 chicken drumsticks
• 4-5 rosemary sprigs
• 1 whole lemon cut into 8ths
• a handful of sun dried tomatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C
2. Arrange all ingredients, except the sun dried tomatoes (add these about 15 mins before the taking the chicken out)
3. Cook for about 45 mins...keep a check on this because every oven is different
4. Let these rest for about 5 mins
5. Serve with some freshly steamed asparagus and crusty bread to mop up all the juicy goodness.

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Huge plate of pasta!

I love pasta in any shape or form. I'll never forget slurping on my first strands of spaghetti as a child. Of course my taste buds have certainly developed and the types of pasta have changed. But sometimes you just like going back to your roots. This recipe is a hybrid taken form a number of sources over the years. There's good ol' penne, which is always in my pantry and there's chicken meatballs. I had a few chicken thigh fillets lying around and whizzed them up in a food processor with some "panko" Japanese breadcrumbs, an egg, some fresh basil and oregano, salt, pepper, grated parmesan and chilli. I shaped the mixture into little balls and baked them in a 180 dec C oven for about 40 mins. Once they were cooked I added them to a pot that had some "passata" and olive oil simmering away. I added a little chicken stock (acout 3/4 cup) and let it cook for about 45 mins. At the very end I added some frozen peas I had in the fridge. My final step was to boil the penne to the "al dente" stage and toss it all together.

As you can see it's really easy. I just play around in the kitchen sometimes and make things up as I go. Its also a good way of using up ingredients lying about.
Enjoy and feel free to add or change the recipe.


Mmmm...Enjoy!

Tags:recipes chicken

As the weather still continues around the 20's mark here in Sydney, I'm still not game to venture into "winter warming" cuisine. Ok that's a lie. I did make a curry recently and I suppose that is classified as a winter dish but blame Nigella. The Lifestyle Food Channel has me glued to the screen. I'm desperate for new cooking ideas and techniques!!! That's when I came across this number you see. It's a very simple chicken dish with great flavouring and can be adapted for both summer and winter. I can hardly remember which show it featured on as they all slowly blended into one. I called it "Tipsy Chicken" because of the amount of wine used. Let's not confuse it with that other "classic" Drunken Chicken.

The recipe I watched asked for the chicken to be jointed. Basically you cut up the chicken and separate it form the drumstick and thigh, the wings and the breast. A good boning knife is definetly needed for this adventure. I didn't do too bad at my first attempt I must say. It's important to feel where the joints are separating and hack into it there. There are numerous versions and ways to do this. Since I'm not about technicalities I can recommend Stehanie Alexander from her bible of cooking "The Cook's Companion", as a great resource for jointing a chicken.

Once you have the cleaned chicken pieces, place them in a large bowl. Again I will point out the loose nature of my amounts for recipes such as this. (Feel your way to how much to add and adjust as you go along.) To this add some freshly chopped parsley and oregano. (Please note any other herb can be used here for a substitute to the oregano. i.e. basil, marjoram, rosemary...whatever takes your fancy). Being true to my heritage I opted for the fresh oregano. Add some chopped green olives (please..no pips!!!) capers and some grated lemon zest from one lemon. Season with a lot of back pepper and drizzle in a fair amount of good extra virgin olive oil. Toss thoroughly and let it rest in the refrigerator for a few hours. Preheat an oven to 200 deg C (it has to be a bit hot). Place the marinated chicken in a large rosting dish. Now. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. Add enough GOOD white wine till it comes up about halfway. And don't be cheap. Use a decent wine and you will get a fantastic flavour. Save the Moselle (who remembers moselle??) and cask wine for those relatives you don't like. Place in the oven for about 60-70 minutes basting it frequently with the wine mixture. The end result? A beautiful moist cooked chicken with a crispy exterior, with a wonderful flavour. (Yes the chicken is tipsy..definetly not drunk!). The olives, capers, hebs, wine and oil all blend beautifully. Try eating just one piece. Delish!!!


I served my version with brown steamed rice and snake beans tossed in olive oil and lemon juice. I think I was feeling healthy that night. This can easily be cooked in the winter and seved with some mashed potatoes or even soft polenta.

Tags:recipes chicken

I had a smile on my face as I prepared the above dish. Here I was, an Australian of Greek descent, cooking Singapore Chicken Rice. On Australia Day!!! While everyone was out having barbecues, I awoke from a jetlagged slumber craving comfort food. My comfort food cravings or CFC for short, always depend on the weather. In winter think of casseroles and mash. During Sydney's sub tropical summer, I prefer South East Asian food.

Having spent a number of years on and off in Singapore and Bangkok, I developed a love for a certain number of dishes. One in particular is the classic Singapore Chicken Rice. This dish needs its own bodyguard when it appears on a menu. Yes, it's that famous!!! Recipes and cooking methods have been passed down through years, each one bearing its own signature. Trying to get a "standard" recipe for this is impossible. However, through my sleuthing at various outdoor hawker venues in Singapore and a bit of internet searching I've come up with this. It in no way resembles the ones you will eat in Singapore. I try to make mine healthy by removing the skin. Also, the "original" recipe calls for the rice to be cooked in chicken fat. I think I'll leave that to Homer Simpson.
Here's what you'll need.

1 small chicken (a larger one for a bigger crowd). I use Lilydale Farm chooks
a few cloves of garlic
coriander roots

Fill up a largish pot with water about halfway. When it comes to the boil throw in the cleaned out chicken along with the garlic and coriander roots. Allow it to cook on a medium heat for about 40 minutes. Switch it off and walk away. Let it rest in there for about 1 hour. After the resting time, take the chicken out, let it drain and then brush it with sesame oil. I prefer to use a roasted sesame oil. Leave it to cool down. While this is happening, prepare some steamed rice. Use a rice cooker or any method you wish. Just make sure its not too sloppy. The grains should separate when you lift them with a fork. I like to accompany this dish with a home made robust chilli sauce.

For the chilli sauce you will need
3-5 medium chillies
2 cloves of garlic
half a knob of ginger
a few good splashes of white vinegar
a tablespoon of sugar
a squirt of ketchup

Blend or process all of the above until it becomes pulpy.

Cut up the chicken and remove the bones and skin. Blanch some gai lan or other chinese green vegetable and serve on the side with chicken, steamed rice, chilli sauce and kecap manis (a thick Indonesian sweet soy sauce). You may wish to cut up some cucumber and serve some of the broth separately.

Now!! Doesn't that feel better? My CFC's are satisfied.
Now lets have some Pavlova for dessert...

Tags:recipes chicken