Πέμπτη 10 Μαρτίου 2016

Boiled chicken with pilaf




BOILED CHICKEN WITH PILAF

Ingredients
1/2 free range rooster about 1.5 kg or a small chicken
2 cups rice for pilaf
3 sprigs of rosemary or dried rosemary leave
1 tbsp. Coriander grains
1 tsp. Black pepper grains
The juice of half large lemon
Half large lemon
80 g. olive oil
Salt to taste
2 pieces of tomatoes dried in the light of the sun.
1 teaspoon capers
A piece of red hot chili pepper in the size of a watermelon seed

Instructions
Rinse the chicken thoroughly and put salt and pepper inside its belly.
Put the meat in a pot. Add water until it reaches 4 cm above it.
Place the pot over high heat.
Shortly before the water boils foam forms on the water surface.
With a spoon collect the foam and discard it.
Lower the heat to medium.
Let the meat simmer for an hour and a quarter.
This time is usually enough to soften the meat.
Peg a fork in the meat and check if it is cooked.
You want the meat to unstuck from the bones but not to dissolve into pieces
When the meat is ready, remove it to a serving platter.
Put a little salt on the meat and cover it with foil. Put a clean towel on top, to keep it warm.
Leave it aside, to prepare the rice.

Pilaf
Pass the broth of the chicken through a strainer.
Measure 5 cups of this broth.
Measure two cups from pilaf rice. Put them in a strainer and rinse well.
Strain to drain.
Put in a pot the olive oil and place it over medium heat.
Put the rice into the pot and stir continuously.
When the rice becomes translucent, add to pot the five cups chicken broth.
Stir the rice and pour in salt as needed.
Wash a large lemon and cut it in halves.
Remove the seeds from the lemon. Cut half lemon in two slices and put them into the rice.
The rice gets scent from the lemon.
Let the lemon slices in the pot for 5 min only and then pull them out.
If you leave them longer in the rice, it will get bitter.
Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon and pour it into the rice.
Stir the rice and watch it until cooked as needed.
Remove the pot from the heat.

Decoration
Put the meat in the center of a round platter.
Put pilaf around the meat.
On the meat put one or two pieces of dried tomatoes.
Put caper around the tomatoes, to add color to the dish.  



Τρίτη 8 Μαρτίου 2016

Boiled chicken with white and fouchsia pilaf





BOILED CHICKEN WITH PILAF WHITE AND FUCHSIA

Ingredients
1/2 free range rooster about 1.5 kg or a small chicken
2 cups rice for pilaf
3 sprigs of rosemary or dried rosemary leave
1 tbsp. Coriander grains
1 tsp. Black pepper grains
The juice of half large lemon
Half large lemon
80 g. olive oil
Salt to taste
A piece of red hot chili pepper in the size of a watermelon seed

Ingredients for the fuchsia color
200 g. beets (2 bulbs)
3 cloves garlic
Salt to taste
3 tbsp. Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Instructions
Rinse the chicken thoroughly and put salt and pepper inside its belly.
Put the meat in a pot. Add water until it reaches 4 cm above it.
Place the pot over high heat.
Shortly before the water boils foam forms on the water surface.
With a spoon collect the foam and discard it.
Lower the heat to medium.
Let the meat simmer for an hour and a quarter.
This time is usually enough to soften the meat.
Peg a fork in the meat and check if it is cooked.
You want the meat to unstuck from the bones but not to dissolve into pieces
When the meat is ready, remove it to a serving platter.
Put a little salt on the meat and cover it with foil. Put a clean towel on top, to keep it warm.
Leave it aside, to prepare the rice.

Pilaf
Pass the broth of the chicken through a strainer.
Measure 5 cups of this broth.
Measure two cups from pilaf rice. Put them in a strainer and rinse well.
Strain to drain.
Put in a pot the olive oil and place it over medium heat.
Put the rice into the pot and stir continuously.
When the rice becomes translucent, add to the pot the five cups of chicken broth.
Stir the rice and pour in salt as needed.
Wash a large lemon and cut it in halves.
Remove the seeds from the lemon. Cut the half lemon in two slices and put them into the rice.
The rice gets scent from the lemon.
Let the lemon slices in the pot for 5 min only and then pull them out.
If you leave them longer in the rice, it will get bitter.
Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon and pour it in the rice.
Stir in rice and watch it until cooked as needed.
Remove the pot from the heat.

How to make the color of the rice fuchsia
Clean the beets.
Pluck and throw their leaves.
Pluck and throw their roots.
Rinse thoroughly the bulbs.
Put them in a pot and cover them with water.
Put the pot over medium heat and boil them until they become soft.
Remove them from the pan and let them cool.
Scour the bulbs from their peel
Cut them into a bowl into slices.
Add into the bowl six TB beets stock.
Add salt, oil, vinegar.
Peel 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and mince them into the bowl.
Stir the beets and try their taste.
After a while the beets release some of their fluids.
Put into another larger bowl 2 cups from the white pilaf you have already made.
Pour into that bowl 4 tablespoons of beets liquid.
Take the pieces of the garlic and put it in the rice.
Stir the rice and its color will change into fuchsia.
If you want the color of the pilaf to become darker, you have to add more beets stock.
The fuchsia pilaf is spicy.
It is spicy and sour because it has garlic and vinegar.

Decoration
You can be creative.
One idea is to put in the center of a round platter the fuchsia pilaf.
Around it put slices of beets.
Over the pilaf put peeled meat pieces.
Another idea is to put the peeled meat on the center of the platter and around it put small hills from white and fuchsia pilaf alternately.
Over the meat put two or three slices of beet to emphasize its color.