Last but not least

And while some of you are probably still looking for recipes for New Year’s Day ham or small desserts and canapés for your New Year’s Eve party, I already know exactly what I’m making.

At last, and perhaps for the first time ever, I have come up and finalized a menu, unlike previous years when I always waited for the last minute to make my mind up about what to cook.

On New Year’s Eve, I’m making braised quails with chestnuts and fresh sage (for those of you who don’t know me well, I should tell you chestnuts are my favorite nut, even when it’s not the holiday season), and on New Year’s day, I’m making oven roasted pork shoulder with juniper berries and wild mushrooms.

Unfortunately I don’t have photographs or recipes to share as I haven’t cooked these dishes yet, but what I can’t wait to share with you is this chicken dish with saffron, shallots, lemon and Jerusalem artichokes (that are neither an artichoke nor from Jerusalem but are a sweet- and earthy-tasting tuber).

I have made this two-three times before, with the last one being for a festive dinner, and it was greeted with enthusiasm. I personally find it extremely tasty with a combination of flavors that is quite interesting.

You start by boiling the Jerusalem artichokes in water until tender, then add all the ingredients in a large bowl, give them a good toss and you leave the chicken to marinate overnight or at least for a few hours.

The following day, you empty everything into a large baking pan and place it in the oven to cook. Your house fills with intoxicating aromas and after a little less than an hour, out comes a golden-hued dish full of delicious flavors.

The slightly metallic notes of saffron, the sweet shallots without that audacious oniony bite, the caramelized sharpness and sourness of the lemon, the liquorice-y nuances of the tarragon, the sweet, buttery Jerusalem artichokes soaking up all the lovely juices from the sumptuous, well-cooked chicken, they all conspire to create a dish that is absolutely stunning.

I wish you all a happy, healthy New Year filled with love, patience, perseverance and lots of laughter! Have a great time wherever you are and whatever you do!

Marinated Roast Chicken with Saffron, Shallots, Lemon and Jerusalem Artichokes
Slightly adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Jerusalem artichokes also go by the name sunchokes. For those of you reading from Holland, they are called aardperen (singular: aardpeer).
If you can’t find them you can substitute with small round potatoes.

We usually have this with a green leaf salad but you can also serve it with a simple steamed/boiled rice, preferably an aromatic basmati.

I used a mandoline to thinly slice the lemon. Use it if you have one, otherwise a very sharp knife will do an equally good job.

Yield: 2-4 main-course servings

Ingredients
600 g Jerusalem artichokes (400-500 g peeled), peeled and cut into wedges about 1.5 cm thick
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 chicken, about 1,200 g, cut into 6-8 pieces*
7-8 banana shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise
8 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 small lemon, sliced very thinly lengthwise
1 good pinch of saffron threads
60-70 ml (4-5 Tbsp) olive oil
130 ml cold water
3-4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked
3-4 fresh tarragon sprigs, leaves picked, plus extra for garnishing
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

*I always cut the chicken into six pieces; legs, wings and breasts. You can also cut it into eight pieces, separating the legs into thighs and drumsticks, but I prefer not to because they remain juicier.

Special equipment: colander, large barking tray, plastic wrap or plastic bag appropriate for storing food


Preparation
In a medium-sized pan, add the peeled and cut Jerusalem artichokes along with the lemon juice and cover them with water. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the Jerusalem artichokes are tender but not soft because they will continue cooking with the chicken in the oven. Drain in a colander and leave to cool completely.

In a large bowl, add the Jerusalem artichokes, chicken pieces, shallots, garlic and lemon slices, saffron, olive oil, water, thyme and tarragon leaves, salt and pepper. Mix well and cover the bowl with plastic wrap or alternatively, place all the ingredients in a plastic bag suitable for storing food and seal it. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you put it in the oven, to allow it to come to room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius / 390 Fahrenheit.
Place the marinated chicken, skin-side up, in a roasting tray large enough to fit all the pieces in one layer, and arrange the rest of the ingredients between the chicken pieces. Drizzle the juices on top.

Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and roast the chicken for about 50 minutes, until it takes on a golden brown color and the skin becomes crispy and caramelized. Also, if you insert a knife or skewer in the thickest part of the chicken pieces, the juices should run clear and not be reddish in color. Don't cook for longer because the chicken will dry out and become tough.

Serve in dishes, sprinkled with some chopped fresh tarragon leaves.

On the second day

Hello, friends. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with lots of good food and company.

My Christmas was indeed delicious, with roast turkey, rice with chestnuts, pine nuts and soultanas, duck fat roast potatoes and lots of traditional Greek Christmas sweets, like kourabiedes and diples.

On the second day of Christmas I made this cake. It wasn’t really that I needed another sweet around the house, but I wanted to use up the fresh cranberries I had in my fridge. They were going to spoil if I didn’t do anything with them and I hate to waste food.

This cake was the perfect thing to make on the day. Easy, quick and thoroughly enjoyable. A cake made up of three layers. A thin cake layer flavored with Grand Marnier, a layer of plump, fresh cranberries and a crumble topping with demerara sugar, cinnamon and halved blanched almonds.

When it came out of the oven it was difficult to hold off from trying it right then and there. The aromas were torturing us but we had to wait unless we wanted scorched lips.

Crunchy from the almonds and the buttery, almost caramelized crumble, with hints of cinnamon and orangey Grand Marnier, notes of toffee from the demerara sugar and a pleasant sourness from the softened, juicy cranberries bringing balance, a good dollop of thick crème fraîche, and moments later, it was gone.

Cranberry Crumble Cake
Adapted from The Guardian

You can substitute the fresh cranberries with frozen ones that you have thawed before using, however fresh cranberries have superior flavor and texture.

Yield: 6-8 pieces

Ingredients

for the cake
90 g all-purpose flour
90 g soft light brown sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
60 unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed, plus extra for greasing the pan
2 Tbsp Grand Marnier (or Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur)
1 large egg

for the topping
150 g fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
for the crumble topping
90 g all-purpose flour
90 g demerara sugar
50 g halved blanched almonds
65 g unsalted butter, cold, cubed
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Crème fraîche (or whipped cream), for serving

Special equipment: electric hand-held mixer, round 18cm springform baking pan, baking paper


Preparation
Butter your cake pan and line the sides and bottom with baking paper.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.

make the cake
In a medium-sized bowl, add all the ingredients for the cake and beat with an electric hand-held mixer on high speed for about 1 minute, until you have a smooth and somewhat stiff batter.

Empty the batter in your prepared baking pan and level it off using the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Scatter the cranberries evenly over the top.

make the crumble topping
In a medium-sized bowl, add all the ingredients for the crumble topping and using your fingertips, rub in the butter until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Scatter evenly over the cranberries.

Place the baking pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester or skewer inserted in the middle of the cakey base comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly. Then remove the cake from the pan. Be careful as it might break. (Or you can wait until it cools completely before removing it from the pan.)

Serve warm with a dollop of crème fraîche or whipped cream.
You can also serve it at room temperature.

Keep the cake covered at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Parmesan biscuits

After the sweet cookies I shared with you this past week, I think it is time to change things up for the last post of cookie week.

I’m more of a savory kind of person than sweet, so making these parmesan biscuits and most importantly eating them, was extremely enjoyable.

I’m a huge cheese fiend and Parmesan is one of my favorite cheeses. Its mature, intense, peppery flavor is incomparable and adding it to anything from tart bases, custards to soufflés, guarantees success and a scrumptious result.

There’s nothing better than a small savory and buttery biscuit filled with the umami flavor of parmesan, crispy and flaky, paired with a glass of champagne when you arrive at someone’s home for a festive dinner.

Served with a small dollop of cranberry chutney or raspberry and onion chutney, anything having a sweet and sour taste really, it’s a perfectly balanced little hors-d’oevre, a great alternative to the same old crackers or toasted bread with cheese, and much more elegant.


Happy baking and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!

Parmesan Biscuits

You can also serve these biscuits with fig jam or quince jelly, and a chilled dry white wine.

Yield: about 40 biscuits

Ingredients
180 g all-purpose flour
115 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
125 g parmesan, finely grated
1 large egg
¼ tsp sea salt
Pinch of cayenne
Freshly ground black pepper, 3-4 grinds of the pepper mill

Special equipment: rasp grater, large food processor, plastic wrap, rolling pin, baking paper, 1-2 baking sheets, round cookie cutter (5 cm diameter)


Preparation
In a food processor, add the flour and the butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the parmesan, egg, salt, cayenne and black pepper and process until the mixture becomes a very rough and crumbly dough. It will not come together into a ball, but the mixture will firm up.
Empty it onto a clean work surface and bring it together with your hands, kneading for a few seconds until you have a smooth and firm dough that is a bit crackly.

Shape it into a flattened disk and wrap it with plastic wrap.
Place it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap it and place it between two sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 0.7-0.8 cm-thickness.

Line your baking sheet(s) with baking paper.

In a small bowl, add some flour and use it to dip in your cookie cutter. In this way, the cookie cutter won't stick to the dough.
Remove the top baking paper from your rolled-out dough and using your cookie cutter, cut out rounds of dough and place them on your prepared baking sheet.

Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up and preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.

Note: Gather scraps of dough, roll out again, place in the fridge to firm up and then cut out cookies. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Take baking sheet out of the refrigerator and place on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake biscuits for 15-17 minutes, until they take on a golden color.
Keep an eye on them so they don't catch because they will have a bitter taste.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the second one in.

Transfer biscuits to a rack to cool.

They are best eaten the first and second day when they’ll be most crispy, but you can keep them up to 4 days in a biscuit tin.

Chili con carne

When it comes to meat stews, Greeks are unrivaled. From the simple and everyday tomato- and lemon-based meat stews (the two traditional types of Greek meat stews), to the more special kinds like Pastitsada and Sofigado hailing from the Ionian islands, Tas Kebab from Constantinople and Spetzofai from Pilio, they are like oases in the culinary desert of insipid and uninteresting meat stews from other countries, mostly Northwestern European, but let's not name names.

Greek meat stews may be wonderfully delicious but even I stray every once in a while from my culinary heritage when I become enchanted by new flavors and different combinations and by the promise of sensational gastronomic travels.

This time, the culprit is the chili con carne (chili with meat). A dish with American origins, that is mistakenly considered Mexican. It certainly has its roots in Mexican cuisine with its extensive use of chillies but it was a dish first cooked by the American settlers in the Southwest regions of the United States.

This is a dish whose versions are numerous with almost every part of the U.S. having its own special kind. With minced or cubed beef, with or without beans, beer and chocolate, with different levels of spiciness, I could go on and on.

This version here, I’d say is the least complicated because it doesn’t involve a lot of chillies, which I am unable to find here in the Netherlands, although it still contains several spices. I’m aware that chili connoisseurs (hi David!) will probably not fully approve of my chili con carne as it hasn’t got the hot Mexican chillies and it includes beans but hey, I love beans.

The white rice, avocado, lime and sour cream counterbalance the spiciness of the dish and complement it beautifully, making it a worthy rival of my all time favorite Greek meat stews.

Chili con Carne

Use fairly fatty meat which will add flavor to the dish and become tender when cooked. Chuck or blade roast are the ideal cuts of meat to use.
For those reading from the Netherlands, sucadelappen or schouderlappen are the ideal Dutch cuts of beef to use.

A Mexican beer like Corona or Sol will be a perfect pairing for this dish.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 kg beef chuck or blade roast, cut into 3-4 cm cubes and patted dry
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 fresh red chillies, chopped (seeds not removed)
1½ tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground allspice
1 large cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp tomato paste
800 g canned diced tomatoes
450 ml boiling water
Salt
1 Tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Handful of coriander (or if you don’t like coriander like me, use parsley)

To serve
White rice
Sour cream
1 lime
2 avocados, sliced

Special equipment: colander


Preparation
In a large and wide heavy-bottomed pan or preferably in a Dutch oven, add the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add enough beef pieces to cover 2/3 of the bottom of the pan (do not overcrowd the pan otherwise the beef will boil rather than brown) and brown the pieces on both sides. Remove pieces from the pan with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl. Brown the rest of the beef pieces in the same manner and place them in the bowl.

Add the onions to the pan and sauté them over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes or until they soften, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate the caramelized brown bits that are stuck on there. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Then add the red chillies, all the spices and the oregano and sauté for a couple of minutes just until the spices start to give off their aromas. Don’t sauté them for longer otherwise they will burn and they’ll give a horrible taste to the dish.
Then add the browned beef, the tomato paste and canned diced tomatoes and pour the boiling water over the top. Stir well and turn heat up to high. When it comes to the boil, turn heat down to low and put on the lid.

Let the meat stew for 2-2½ hours or until it is tender. Check the meat every 20 minutes or so, stirring it around a bit.
About half an hour before the meat is done, season with salt. The reason you're adding the salt now is because if you add it at the beginning of the cooking process, the beef becomes tough.
Fifteen minutes before the meat is done, add the sugar and kidney beans and stir well.
Once ready, turn heat off and let it stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Serve the chili con carne garnished with fresh coriander or parsley, and with white rice, slices of avocado, a squeeze of lime and sour cream.