Can you remember when you were little and played telephone, telephone? This was a game where a group of kids would sit in a circle and the first one would whisper a sentence into the next kids ear.... after being repeated 5 or 6 times, the end result was usually far from what was originally said. This is how we are finding these recipes in my Mom's cookbook. These recipes have been passed down, repeated, overheard etc. and sometimes when you read the recipe, it takes a bit of detective work to figure out what was actually meant. It's fun.... makes cooking the dish so much more interesting.
We hope you enjoy this weeks blog.
Mandi: This
is a microwave recipe - I am not a fan at all of microwave recipes(!),
probably because I have read enough about what microwaves do to the food as
well as to our insides… so I am sorry to offend those avid microwavers, but I
took to the conventional oven :) I have given the microwave recipe as
well as the oven recipe just to please everyone in the cooking game.
Originally I thought this was a recipe my mom made for my brother on weekends
when he would come home from the Air Force, but I had to find out some details
on the recipe… and discovered I was mistaken. Apparently this was a
recipe my brother, Wayne, had sent my mom one weekend after making it
himself. Gauging from the “Special” quotation inserted behind the title
of the recipe by my mom, I gathered, and my son agreed wholeheartedly,
that it is indeed a very tasty recipe.
Also…. Once again it’s one of those recipes that you have to read over and over to make sense of because it was made many years ago and passed over a telephone…LOL…. I have tried to make sense of it in writing down the recipe.
Recipe:
1 small packet dried apricots
1/2 cup raisins
2 Chicken Breasts
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons margarine
Thyme, herbs
Salt and Pepper
Chicken spice
Sauce: Chop up the onion and garlic. Sautè them in the margarine with the thyme, herbs.
Method:
Arrange the chicken breasts in a casserole dish, placing bones at the bottom. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and chicken spice. Cover with half of the sauce and bake in microwave for +- 20 mins (medium/high). [20 mins in a moderate oven, 180◦C]
Turn chicken breasts upside down, place dried apricots and some raisins in cavities. Cover with the rest of the sauce mixture. Bake for another 20 mins at medium/high. [20 mins in the oven]
If you are using the microwave, let it stand for 15 minutes in a warmer drawer. (This is because the dish is actually still cooking)
If you are using the oven, remove the casserole lid and allow to brown a few minutes before removing from the oven.
Make rice, with chicken stock and serve with veggies.
Pointers:
1. This recipe is ideal for a young married couple or a couple whose children have left the home already – like in our case. We had our son and his girlfriend over for lunch and I made for my parents who live with us as well so I trippled the recipe.
2. I removed the chicken skin from the breasts and this resulted in the chicken not browning as much as I would have liked. If you like crispy chicken skin, don’t remove the skin (if you are using the oven).
3. I also removed the bones from the chicken which made it difficult to place the apricots into the cavities as prescribed by the recipe.
4. I would have liked the sauce to be a little thicker and will definitely thicken it next time.
All in all, the dish was savoured by everyone, with none left for seconds. Just as great in the oven I would say!!
Also…. Once again it’s one of those recipes that you have to read over and over to make sense of because it was made many years ago and passed over a telephone…LOL…. I have tried to make sense of it in writing down the recipe.
Recipe:
1 small packet dried apricots
1/2 cup raisins
2 Chicken Breasts
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons margarine
Thyme, herbs
Salt and Pepper
Chicken spice
Sauce: Chop up the onion and garlic. Sautè them in the margarine with the thyme, herbs.
Method:
Arrange the chicken breasts in a casserole dish, placing bones at the bottom. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and chicken spice. Cover with half of the sauce and bake in microwave for +- 20 mins (medium/high). [20 mins in a moderate oven, 180◦C]
Turn chicken breasts upside down, place dried apricots and some raisins in cavities. Cover with the rest of the sauce mixture. Bake for another 20 mins at medium/high. [20 mins in the oven]
If you are using the microwave, let it stand for 15 minutes in a warmer drawer. (This is because the dish is actually still cooking)
If you are using the oven, remove the casserole lid and allow to brown a few minutes before removing from the oven.
Make rice, with chicken stock and serve with veggies.
Pointers:
1. This recipe is ideal for a young married couple or a couple whose children have left the home already – like in our case. We had our son and his girlfriend over for lunch and I made for my parents who live with us as well so I trippled the recipe.
2. I removed the chicken skin from the breasts and this resulted in the chicken not browning as much as I would have liked. If you like crispy chicken skin, don’t remove the skin (if you are using the oven).
3. I also removed the bones from the chicken which made it difficult to place the apricots into the cavities as prescribed by the recipe.
4. I would have liked the sauce to be a little thicker and will definitely thicken it next time.
All in all, the dish was savoured by everyone, with none left for seconds. Just as great in the oven I would say!!
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Deidrè: I don’t really remember this dish being made at home. As it
was a recipe Wayne had made whilst in the Air Force which he phoned through to
Mom, I guess it was his special dish. It would be interesting to know
whether Wayne remembers it – and what he thinks of the spin I gave it.
There was a time in the 80’s when everyone was Microwave crazy. The original dish is for the microwave, but
I’m not a fan of microwaved food, so I made mine in a conventional oven.
I still hadn’t decided on how I would pimp it by Saturday
morning. All I knew was that apricots
went well with chicken, but the dish could be sickeningly sweet if you didn’t
flavour it with a more robust saltiness.
Chicken could also get very dry if baked for long periods of time. So I decided to add the apricot Liquifruit and
the onion soup.
CHICKEN A LA ‘DEIDRè’
Chicken pieces (I used 1kg of chicken pieces)
Dried apricots (Turkish apricots – you’ll find them in the dried
fruit aisle, they are softer than the completely dried apricots)
Cashew nuts (I used roasted & salted)
Olives
500 ml Apricot Liquifruit
1 pkt brown onion soup
Sauce:
1 x onion, chopped
1 x green pepper chopped
2 x tblsp butter
Ginger (about 1 tsp)
Saute the ingredients for the sauce together until the onions are
translucent.
In a separate pan, brown the chicken pieces until a lovely golden
brown colour. I didn’t remove the skins.
Place the chicken pieces in a casserole dish, bones down.
Cover with the sauce.
Add the chopped apricots, cashew nuts and olives
Sprinkle the soup powder over the chicken pieces. I decided on brown onion soup as it makes a
nice rich dark brown gravy.
Pour 500ml Liquifruit over the chicken
Cover with tin foil
Bake in a moderate oven (180°C) for 50 minutes.
Test to see if the chicken is done.
If not, place back into the oven for a further 10 minutes.
I served the chicken on a bed of mushroom and cheese rice with a
green salad. My sons loved the dish,
especially the combination of cashew nuts and apricots. I suppose you could use any nuts, but as
cashews are my favourite, there was no discussion on what I would use for this
meal. Divan chose the rice, but I think
there are so many flavours in the chicken that the mushroom and cheese got lost
in the rice. But this is definitely a
dish I will make again.
Tips and Challenges:
-
I didn’t add salt or pepper to
the dish as the soup powder is very salty and can overpower the dish. Rather
let the guests add salt should they wish to
-
I used Turkish apricots – they
are moist and work best. I considered using canned apricots, but they might
cook to a mush because of the long cooking time. Dried apricots don’t have much
taste... so Turkish apricots are the best to use
-
It is important to brown the
chicken pieces to get colour on them. The dish is covered with tin foil so
won’t brown while in the oven.
