Covid-19 lockdown has given everyone plenty of opportunities to experiment with their cooking, to go back to old favourites and to try out some of those newspaper cut-out recipes.
Not everything we have tried has worked but we are generally very pleased rather than disappointed. In this post we include some new and some old favourite chicken recipes. The last one – a chicken curry – is close to what I think is a perfect recipe and it dates from the 1960s.
All recipes give excellent results. We have only given photographs here but the recipes themselves can be found below as links to pdfs or to the originals.
Chicken Marbella – A cult dish from the 1980s
The original “The Silver Palate Cookbook” by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso was published in 1979 and it included this recipe which developed somewhat of a cult following. It was quite a ground breaking recipe for Americans: chicken marinated in a mixture that included vinegar, prunes, olives and capers, then baked sprinkled with brown sugar.
The result is worth waiting for. The original recipe called for four small chickens. Here is a link to a pdf which gives my scaled back version for one chicken, along with “Marbella” recipes from some other sources for comparison: Chicken Marbella Recipe.
Degree of difficulty: 2/5 (not difficult).
Adam Liaw’s Oven-baked chicken thighs with olives, tomato and lemon
Adam Liaw’s new series on SBS is lovely viewing. Adam is at his most laid back as he introduces two guests and a theme ingredient. This was one of his guest’s recipes which we thought we must try.
The recipe is on the SBS website and is described as a “simple, quick dish of chicken with olives, cherry tomatoes and lemon. It takes just 5 minutes to prepare, then you set and forget in the oven”. Here is the link to the recipe: oven-baked chicken.
While we have cooked it already, we forgot to take photos! This one is from the SBS website and shows why you need to try it!
Degree of difficulty: 2/5 (not difficult).
Baked chicken in a sauce of cheese, pepper and anchovies
This is from Delicious Magazine, one of those recipes that just catches your eye. Our photograph (below) doesn’t do it justice, but it is so yummy. Worth a try: Baked chicken in cacio e pepe bagna cauda sauce.
Degree of difficulty: 2/5 (not difficult).
Roast chicken of all sorts
There are more ways than one to roast a chook. Mum always used a stuffing of breadcrumbs, onion and herbs. Even now the same kind of mixture is used in bought roast or char-grilled chickens. We also like to stuff the cavity with citrus fruits – lemon especially, but also lime and orange – along with some garlic and a few herbs. Recently we tried recipes where the chicken is coated in a yoghurt mixture, and perhaps marinated for a few hours before roasting; the skin crisps up nicely.
Rosalie’s Chicken And Yoghurt Curry
For me this is close to a perfect recipe – straightforward but delicious. It comes from my sister-in-law. For her it is a standby recipe for all sorts of occasions. Passed onto her years ago – in the late 1960s – in Singapore by an Indian chef, the method can be used as the basis for other types of curries.
The recipe is given below. It has three basic steps:
- Fry the onion and garlic.
- Make a yoghurt and curry slurry (photo below).
- Add this to the sautéed onion, cook gently, then add the chicken.
The recipe can be found in this pdf: Rosalie’s Chicken and Yoghurt Curry.
Degree of difficulty: 2/5 (not difficult).
