On the road today, I saw a homemade hobbit house. The “real ones” are on the north island. But I like this one.
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LITHUANIAN KOLDUNAI (PIEROGIS)
Posted: January 22, 2023 in beef, Food, Recipes, UncategorizedTags: food, GF, gluten-free, koldunai, lithuanian, pierogi, recipes
I think I spent half of my childhood in the kitchen, watching my Mom and grandmother make koldūnai (kohl-doo-nayh), the Lithuanian version of a pierogi, by hand, at lightning speed. They would roll a simple dough into a log about 1″ in diameter, then cut it into 1″ pieces, twirling each piece between their fingers to make a flat pancake, filling each with a small spoonful of meat or mushrooms, then folding it over, crimping the edges to make a crescent-shaped dumpling. It blew my mind that they could crank out over a hundred of these little masterpieces in no time, placing them on a cookie sheet and freezing them until it was time to cook.
One of the main reasons why I prefer Lithuanian koldūnai over the basic Polish pierogi is the filling. For me, standard pierogi fillings like potatoes, cheese, and sauerkraut just don’t cut it. My Mom would mix ground beef with chopped onions sautéed in butter, a couple of eggs, and milk crackers soaked in milk. She’d add salt and pepper, then spoon that beautiful beef blend into her koldūnai.
The other delicious stuffing, usually reserved for special holidays like Christmas Eve and Easter, was made from mushrooms. Italy may lay claim to the porcini, but the fact of the matter is, Lithuania is bolete heaven. (We call them baravykai.)
When they’re dried and rehydrated, their incredible flavor is so intense, you don’t need many of them to flavor a large amount of regular button mushrooms. We’d get our dried boletes from relatives in Lithuania every year. Mom would place a handful in some boiling water and let them steep until they swelled up and could easily be chopped and added to the other mushrooms. She’d then pour the mushroom liquid into the pan as well, not wasting a bit of that magical porcini flavor. The mushrooms were simply sautéed in butter, cooled, and then used to fill the koldūnai.
I found that my Mom’s log method was too much work. I roll the dough out into a sheet with a rolling pin, then cut circles with a glass. Yes, that’s mac-and-cheese up front!
A few years ago, I decided it was time to try my hand at making koldūnai. As I recall, my Mom simply mixed water with flour to make the dough, kneaded it into a log, and off she went. I decided to go with the rolling pin and glass cutting method, because I found it to be a bit easier creating more uniform koldūnai.
The biggest challenges I had making koldūnai was my own clumsiness and lack of experience. Once I got the hang of it, things moved along steadily, and it didn’t take long for me to make a decent batch–not all perfect, but not bad for a first try.
My recipe follows. If you’re on a gluten-free diet, have no fear! That recipe is at the bottom of the blog.
The rolling pin method.
This time around, I made four kinds of koldūnai: traditional (ground beef as well as mushroom) and non-traditional (mac & cheese and pulled pork.) Patty’s Pierogis, a restaurant in nearby Fall River, Massachusetts, and featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” is where my daughter first had mac & cheese pierogis. She was instantly hooked and begs for them every year.
Here’s my beef recipe…
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 pat of butter
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Finely chop the onion and sauté it in the butter until translucent. Let it cool, then add it to 1 lb. of thawed ground beef. Add the egg and the breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and keep the meat in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
Two pots of boiling salted water: one for the meat-filled koldūnai, and one for the mac-and-cheese filled koldūnai…so I don’t get ’em mixed up!
In my childhood home, you cannot possibly serve koldūnai without sour cream on the side and without spirgučiai (spir-guh-chay), chopped and fried bacon and onions, that are sprinkled on top.
1 lb. bacon, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
In a large pan, fry the chopped bacon until it’s almost crisp. Never drain the fat! Add the chopped onions and cook until they are soft. Set aside. (My Mom always kept a stash of spirgučiai in a container in the fridge, and sprinkled them on anything and everything.)
Making the dough is simple.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
I don’t use salt in the dough because I boil the koldūnai in salted water later.
Combine the ingredients in a bowl, mixing with your hands. Keep adding flour in small amounts until the dough isn’t wet and sticky. When it forms a nice ball, remove it from the bowl and place it on a floured surface and knead it a bit more. Cut the ball into quarters, and work with these smaller pieces of dough.
For the rolling-pin method, roll each quarter out until the dough is about 1/8″ thick. Cut circles out of the dough using a cookie cutter, rocks glass, or whatever else you have handy. Add about a teaspoonful of filling in the center of the dough (a melon baller works great), then fold the edges over and pinch them with your fingers. Flip it over and pinch again, making sure none of the filling seeps out. A tight edge means the koldūnai won’t break open when you put them in boiling water.
Who knew a rocks glass had more uses than just to hold a great Manhattan?
Some stuffed with mac and cheese!
I recently discovered these “pierogi makers.” You lay the dough in them, add your filling, and then close them. They automatically crimp the edges for you. They work pretty well…sometimes. It’s faster with the traditional method.
I always double-check the crimped edges, because your koldūnai will fall apart in the boiling water if you don’t seal them well!
Place the koldūnai on a sheet pan dusted with flour, and when you’re done, place the sheet pan in the freezer.
Ready for the freezer!
Sometimes the chef gets punchy after making koldūnai all day long!
Get a large pot of salted water boiling. Drop the koldūnai in gently, being careful not to overcrowd them. If the dough is thin, the koldūnai will be ready when they float up to the surface. A thicker dough will need longer cooking. The best way to know if they’re done is by taking one out, cutting it open and having a look (and taste!)
When plating, sprinkle generously with spirgučiai, and serve with sour cream on the side.
If you need to go gluten-free…good news! You can still have your koldūnai! The mushroom filling is already gluten-free. For the breadcrumbs in the beef filling, I take slices of Udi GF bread, toast them, and zap them in a food processor. Excellent breadcrumbs! And I use store-bought GF mac-and-cheese.
GF Mac and cheese, with a little extra cheddar.
For a rustic dough, this recipe works great. (Thanks to my sister, who shared it with me.)
Excellent GF flours.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (I use Cup4Cup)
1 1/2 cups rice flour (I use Cup4Cup Wholesome Flour)
2 eggs
pinch of salt
water
Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the eggs and mix. (I use my hands for this.) Slowly add water to the dough until it pulls from the sides of the bowl and makes a nice ball of dough. I cut the dough in half and use a well-floured rolling pin to roll it flat.
The finished product! The rice flour gives it a darker, grainier texture. A more rustic taste, but still delicious!
A newer, less rustic gluten-free version here…
These are also gluten-free, but I used a different recipe and a different brand of flour. I mixed 2 cups of King Arthur GF flour with one cup of water and 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum. Then I added more flour or water, depending what was needed, to get the right consistency. A very easy to work with dough!
GARLIC BREAD, TWO WAYS
Posted: January 8, 2023 in UncategorizedTags: BREAD, food, garlic, garlic bread, recipes
My daughter and I love any foods that are heavy on the garlic, so this is a special treat we make when diets don’t matter! It’s buttery, it’s garlicky, it’s carby, and it’s absolutely delicious!
I use 2 kinds of garlic in my garlic bread: fresh and granulated. I think it packs a garlicky punch even better than either one alone. And passing the fresh garlic through a press ensures that it will cook quickly and not leave you with that raw garlic taste in your mouth.
Although I love French baguettes, they’re too thin and crisp for garlic bread. I buy that long, soft, Italian loaf you can find in just about any supermarket bakery. When it bakes, the outside edges are nice and crispy, while the inside of the loaf stays soft…exactly what you want! The Italian loaf is big, so not only do I cut it lengthwise, I then cut each piece in half. This will make enough for us to enjoy one evening, and still store some in the freezer for a future craving.
This recipe makes enough for 1 garlic bread, 1 cheesy garlic bread, and also the bread you’ll be putting in the freezer for another time.
The delicious final product…but I digress…
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter
2 (or more!) large cloves garlic, squeezed through a press
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
grated mozzarella cheese…a few ounces
In a bowl, let the butter soften to room temperature. Once it’s soft, squeeze the fresh garlic cloves through a garlic press and add them to the butter. Then add the granulated garlic, salt, oregano and parsley. Using a fork, mix the ingredients really well until you have a beautiful garlic and herb butter. (Once it’s mixed, I find it’s easier to spread with a spatula or the back of a large spoon.)
Spread the garlic butter evenly on all 4 pieces of bread you’ve cut. Use it all up! Going thin on the butter serves no purpose here!
Place one of the loaves on a baking sheet. Add the grated mozzarella to one of the other loaves, and place it on the baking sheet as well.
Regular garlic bread on the left, cheesy garlic bread on the right…ready to go into the oven.
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
With the other two pieces of bread, I simply put them together…with cheese inside or not…
…and wrap them in aluminum foil. I place that in a freezer bag and keep it frozen until we have another craving. When it’s time to cook, I pre-heat the oven to 350, and bake the loaf in the foil for about 25 minutes. I take it out of the foil at the very end and bake another 5 minutes to get it to crisp up.
Ready to be devoured!
With the oven at 400, I bake my garlic bread and cheesy garlic bread for about 10 minutes, or until the edges of the bread start to turn a golden brown and the cheese on the cheesy side starts to melt.
I cut each piece in half so my daughter and I share in the 2 breads. There’s never any leftovers!
SEMI-PORTUGUESE KALE SOUP
Posted: January 4, 2023 in Food, Recipes, Rhode Island, Soups, Southern New England, UncategorizedTags: chourico, food, kale, lentils, Portuguese, recipes, soup
I live one town over from Fall River, Massachusetts, and just down the road from New Bedford, Massachusetts, two thriving proud Portuguese communities. In middle school, my daughter had to take mandatory Portuguese language classes. We’ve got dozens of authentic Portuguese restaurants in the area, and even a well-stocked supermarket with its own bacalhau (salt cod) room: Portugalia Marketplace, in Fall River.
So when I first posted my recipe of Portuguese kale soup, I was told by many Portuguese friends that my soup wasn’t authentic so I couldn’t call it that. Fair enough. After all, my soup has far less carbs (no potatoes or pasta), fewer spices, and it uses homemade stock instead of water. It may not be Portuguese, but it’s full of flavor.
My version of the classic Portuguese kale soup.
4 cups home-made chicken or beef stock
4 cups water
1 cup lentils, rinsed in cold water
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, through a press
1 lb. Portuguese chourico, peeled and chopped into small cubes
1 large bunch organic kale
salt and pepper
Add the stock and water to a large pot. Heat until boiling. Add the lentils.
In a saucepan with a little olive oil or bacon fat, sauté the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic for a few minutes. Add the chopped chourico and sauté a few minutes more. Add the contents of the sauté pan to the pot.
Wash and de-stem the kale, tearing the leaves into smaller pieces. Add the leaves to the pot and stir. The stems go in your compost pile. (You can also use them in a juicer.) Kale is always on the “dirty dozen” list of vegetables with large amounts of pesticides, so I always buy organic.
Cook the soup until the lentils are al dente. Taste and season for salt and pepper before serving.
WHISKEY SLUSH
Posted: December 24, 2022 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, mixology, UncategorizedTags: cocktails, drinks, food, recipes, whiskey
This is my version of a holiday drink I was introduced to me by my mother-in-law from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
This classic is loaded with sugar. But then…so is everything else around the holidays!
9 cups water
2 cups sugar
4 “Constant Comment” tea bags
12 oz. frozen OJ concentrate
12 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate
2 cups whiskey (I use Crown Royal)
7-Up or Sprite
Boil the water and sugar, making sure the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat and steep the tea bags in the liquid for 10 minutes. Discard the tea bags.
Add the OJ, lemonade and whiskey. Mix well, then pour it all into a freezeable container with a lid. Freeze.
To serve: Scoop the slush out of the container (it doesn’t freeze solid) and mix it in a tall glass with 7-Up.
If you’re concerned about all that sugar, you can use a sugar substitute in the mix, and diet soda at the end. Some stores also carry low-sugar juice concentrates. I haven’t tried any of these substitutions, because when it comes to the holidays, I go big or go home!
GUANCIALE: A CRUCIAL CARBONARA INGREDIENT
Posted: December 21, 2022 in carbonara, curing, guanciale, Italian, pork jowl, UncategorizedTags: curing, food, guanciale, Italian, pork, pork jowls
Pork is magical. And though I’ve loved pork chops and store-bought bacon all my life, it’s only been in the last decade that I’ve learned to appreciate other cuts of pork and how they’re prepared. Guanciale is one of those meats, and it’s a key ingredient to a classic Italian dish: pasta carbonara.
In the beginning, I could only find huge jowls that required cutting and weighing to mix with the right amount of cure.
Looking at carbonara recipes online, many said the same thing: “Though a genuine carbonara uses a cured cut of pork called guanciale, it’s hard to find. So use pancetta or bacon.” Although both pancetta and bacon meats are delicious (both come from the belly of the pig…bacon is smoked, pancetta is not) the flavor and texture is not the same as a pork cheek, or jowl…and that’s what guanciale is made from.
Many years ago, my search for guanciale started with a local restaurant, the Back Eddy in Westport, Massachusetts. Being a buddy of the owner (and bribing him with alcohol), I asked if he’d order me some jowls. He did, and that worked well for a while. But I didn’t want to keep bothering him every time I wanted more, so I eventually found my own source on line that supplied me with massive jowls weighing many pounds each, as in the photo above. They were good, but a pain to work with. Eventually, that company went out of business.
I finally found my go-to pork website: http://www.heritagepork.com. They sell a variety of pork products made from a heritage breed of pig known as Berkshire, also called kurobuta. It’s delicious with wonderful fat that’s healthy and full of flavor. And conveniently, they sell pork jowls in smaller, 2-pound packs.
Berkshire pork jowls with fresh thyme from the garden and the dry cure mix.
My curing process is simple: sugar, salt, peppercorns, and fresh thyme. I cure the jowls for about 3 weeks. I rinse them once they’ve cured, and pat them dry. They still need to cook, but they’re ready to use for carbonara, ragu bolognese, topping a pizza, or any other delicious recipe that comes my way…and they freeze really well.
Once I made my first batch, there was no turning back!
2 lbs. raw pork jowls
1/2 cup basic dry cure mix (recipe below)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
a handful of fresh thyme sprigs
Combine the basic dry cure mix, brown sugar, and peppercorns in a bowl. We’ll call this the cure.
On a large work surface, lay down several sheets of plastic wrap, overlapping each other to keep the cure from leaking through to the counter underneath. Sprinkle half of the cure onto the plastic wrap in an area where the jowls will lay. Scatter a half-dozen thyme sprigs on top of the cure. Lay the pieces of pork jowl on top of the cure and the thyme.
I place the cure and sprigs of thyme on a long sheet of plastic wrap.
The pork jowls go on top.
Then top the jowls with the rest of the cure, covering them evenly, and top with more thyme sprigs.
Press down on the jowls to really get the cure to stick.
Fold the plastic wrap over the jowls as tightly as you can, pressing the cure into the meat. If the wrap is loose, use more wrap to really tighten it up. Then place the entire pork-wrapped package in a container that will hold the liquid that will ooze out during the curing process.
Into a container with a lid and into the fridge.
Place the container in the fridge to cure for 3 weeks.
Every couple of days, flip the plastic wrap package over, so that the top is now the bottom. Then return it to the fridge. You want the cure to get at every part of the pork. Don’t pour off any liquid that forms…it gets kind of gooey, but it will help the curing process.
3 weeks later, it has transformed…
In about 3 weeks, the pork jowls will feel firmer. This is a sign they’ve been properly cured. Remove them from the plastic wrap, rinse them thoroughly under cold clean water, then pat them dry with paper towels.
They’re perfect…they just need a rinse.
Cured, rinsed and patted dry. Cut the guanciale into smaller pieces before freezing. A little goes a long way!
At this point, cut the guanciale into smaller pieces, wrapping each well and placing them in freezer bags. They will keep in the freezer for a long time.
Many guanciale recipes tell you to hang the meat in the fridge for at least a week after curing, but I haven’t really found the need to do that if I’m keeping them frozen. The drying process keeps the meat from getting moldy, but that’s only if you keep it at room temperature, which I don’t.
Always slice off a little to fry up a test batch! It’s all about quality control!
The Basic Dry Cure Mix
This basic dry cure mix is extremely simple, and you can cure many meats with it. But it does require a special ingredient: pink salt. This is not pink Himalayan salt. This is a very special curing salt that must be used in small amounts. (You can easily find it online.) It contains nitrites which will help preserve the meat and give it a good color. Many people get bent out of shape over nitrites these days, so you need to decide whether you want to use pink salt or not. I do, because I don’t eat pounds of guanciale like a lab rat. If you don’t use it, the meat will turn a bit gray–nothing wrong with it, just not an appealing color.
1 1/2 cups Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
1/2 cup organic turbinado sugar
5 teaspoons pink curing salt
Combine these ingredients and mix well. Store the basic dry cure mix in a tightly sealed plastic bag in your pantry.
An important note: the reason I give the brand name for the salt is because all Kosher salt does not weigh the same! A cup-and-a-half of Morton Kosher Salt, for example, weighs more and will throw off the recipe.
With people in my family that need to be on a gluten-free diet, I often experiment with a variety of doughs, trying to find just the right one for both, those who live a GF lifestyle and those who don’t. Those of us that can eat gluten, know that GF foods are very often sorely lacking in flavor and texture. So when a good recipe comes along, it’s worth sharing.
I originally made dinner rolls with this recipe, and although I was shooting for a Parker roll softness and consistency, what I got was more like a biscuit, although it was still quite soft and delicious. It got a big thumbs-up from the GF members of my family. And I thought they tasted pretty good as well.
Since I had leftover ingredients, I thought I would try making a pizza dough with the same recipe, and I think it came out quite successfully. In my experience, the biggest problem with gluten-free doughs is that you can’t stretch or mold them, they stick to your hands like crazy, and you need to use tons of oil so that they don’t stick to the pan when you’re baking. This recipe had none of those problems.
I was able to stretch the pizza dough out into a parchment lined pan, wetting my fingertips with cold water every once in a while to keep them from sticking, and then I let the dough rise for a couple of hours before popping it into the oven. But no oil was needed. And it never stuck to the parchment.
Note: not all gluten-free flours are made the same, so it’s important to use the Bob’s Red Mill flour that I have listed here. If you try another all purpose GF flour, the recipe may not work as well. I’ve tried this recipe with King Arthur GF flour, and I was told by my panel of experts that they still prefer the Bob’s Red Mill formulation. I have plans on testing one other brand, Cup4Cup, in the near future. I will keep you posted!
So here’s the recipe…almost exactly the same for the dinner rolls and pizza crust. Both start out with these ingredients…
1/4 cup warm water, about 110 degrees
1 tablespoon dry yeast
2 3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free Baking Flour
2 tablespoons sugar, separated
1 teaspoon Xantham gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm whole milk, about 110 degrees
1 large egg
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
In the bowl of a mixer, combine the warm water with the yeast. Add 1 tablespoon of the sugar as well, to get the yeast going. Stir to combine and let it stand for 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, the other tablespoon of sugar, the Xantham gum, and salt. Mix well.
When the yeast has bloomed, add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, along with the warm milk, egg, and melted butter. Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes. The dough will be somewhat thick.
For the dinner rolls: Scoop out the dough in 1/3 cup measurements into a a baking sheet lined with parchment. Cover it with plastic and place it in a warm place to double in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, until they’re slightly golden in color.
While the rolls are baking, melt another 2 tablespoons of butter, and brush the rolls with it when they come out of the oven. Season with a little salt.
For the pizza: Take the ball of dough out of the mixer and spread it evenly onto a parchment-lined baking pan. Wet your fingers with cold water to keep the dough from sticking.
Cover the dough with plastic and let it rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours. (This is a good time to prepare your sauce, cheese and toppings for the pizza. Any sauce works here, from homemade to sauce in a jar. I had a variety of cheeses in the fridge, so I made a combination of mozzarella, fontina, pecorino Romano, and provolone.)
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake the dough—no sauce or cheese—for 10 minutes.
Remove it from the oven, add your sauce, cheese and toppings, then put it back in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted.
A classic French beef dish, Steak au Poivre is the perfect example of delicious simplicity. If you love black pepper, you can make this wonderful dish with just a few ingredients. My personal twist was to add porcini mushrooms to the mix because…well…why not?
The classic Steak au Poivre uses a tender, lean cut of beef like filet. But I had a couple of grass-fed sirloins in the fridge, and they worked out just fine.
2 sirloin steaks, about 6 oz. each
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/3 cup Cognac, plus 1 teaspoon
1 cup heavy cream
dried porcini mushrooms (optional)
If you’re using the porcinis, place them in a sauce pan, and add water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil, set the pan aside, and let the porcinis rehydrate. Once they’ve rehydrated, remove them from the pan (save the liquid) and chop them up finely. Set them aside.
Remove the steaks from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking, so they are at room temperature. Season them on all sides with the salt.
Coarsely crush the peppercorns. (I have a pepper mill that makes coarsely crushed pepper, so I used that.) Spread the peppercorns evenly on a plate, and press the sirloins, on both sides, into the pepper so that it coats the surface of the meat. Set them aside.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and the olive oil. As soon as the butter and oil start to smoke, place the steaks in the pan. Cook them for about 4 minutes on each side. Once they’re done, remove the steaks, place them on a plate, and cover them with foil to keep them warm.
Pour off the excess fat from the pan, but don’t wipe the pan clean!
Back to the porcinis: in a separate skillet, add 1 tablespoon of butter and the chopped porcinis, sautéing them for a few minutes over medium heat. Slowly pour in the mushroom liquid from the sauce pan, making sure any sediment at the bottom gets left behind. Cook this liquid down with the mushrooms until it has reduced almost completely.
Back to the steak pan: off the heat, add 1/3 cup of Cognac to the pan and carefully ignite the alcohol with a long match or lighter.
Gently shake the pan until the flames die. Return the pan to the medium heat and add the cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and whisk it until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes or so. Add the teaspoon of Cognac. (If you’re using the mushrooms, add them to the sauce at this point, stirring them in.)
Add the steaks back to the pan, spooning the sauce over the meat.
Serve!
I recently discovered a new version of chimichurri, one where I use basil instead of parsley, and I don’t know if I’ll go back to the old chimi ever again!
Chimichurri is a garlicky, herby green sauce usually used with grilled meats. This pesto-like condiment originated in Argentina and is also commonly used in Nicaragua and Uruguay. Though some recipes include cilantro, many people insist the original is made only with parsley. I decided to substitute basil for the parsley.
I’ve used this new “chimi” on salads, I’ve cooked shishito peppers with it, and recently, I had great success roasting chicken with it. To make the chimi…
1 large handful of fresh basil leaves, about 4 cups, loosely packed
1/4 cup water
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3–4 tablespoons fresh oregano, leaves only (or 1 tablespoon dry)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon crushed bay leaf
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Place all the basil and the water in a food processor and begin to chop, pulsing for a second at a time. When the basil is in small pieces, stop pulsing and add the remaining ingredients, except the vinegar and olive oil. Start the processor on a full run now, and slowly pour in the vinegar, then the olive oil. Try not to make it too smooth…leave some tasty bits. Allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes, but overnight in a sealed container in the fridge is best.
I had a 4-pack of chicken thighs and a 4-pack of drumsticks in my freezer, so that’s what I used for this dish. But it’s just as easy to use a spatchcocked (a butterflied chicken where the backbone is removed so it lays flat) whole chicken, or any parts you prefer.
8 pieces of chicken
a bunch of tomatoes, cut into small chunks
3 to 4 oz. of feta cheese
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Place the thawed chicken pieces in a baking pan, and rub them really well with a generous amount of the chimi. Get it under the skin where you can, not just the outside. (Just remember that you’re handling raw chicken, so the moment you touch the chimi with raw chicken hands, you’ve contaminated the batch! Use a separate bowl with part of the chimi, so you don’t ruin the rest.)
Let the chicken marinate in the chimi at room temp for a few hours, or in the fridge overnight.
Grab a bunch of tomatoes, cut them up, removing some of the seeds (but not really worrying about it either way) and mix a little chimi in the tomatoes. Place the tomatoes on the bottom of the roasting pan, and place the chicken pieces on top, so the chicken skin will crisp up while it cooks.
Sprinkle the cubes of feta cheese all around and place the roasting pan in the oven, baking for about 45 minutes.
Serve over pasta, potatoes, or as I did, over rice. I simply boiled some jasmine rice, adding a 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning in the rice water before cooking. No salt, no oil.
Live the Live ™ 