Aunty Tilly's Chicken Dish

One of the wonderful things about your Mom’s cookery books, are the recipes which are passed down and along by friends and relatives.  I can see everyone sitting around the lunch table on a Sunday discussing the church service the morning, current affairs, distant family etc. and Mom – after taking a mouthful of food – saying to the hostess. “Aunty Tilly.  This is soooo good.  May I have the recipe?” and it’s written down for prosperity in her cookbook as “Aunty Tilly’s chicken”.  Who knows, it may have been written down in Aunty Tilly's cookbook as “Moeder Marta’s chicken dish”.  And so each generation makes the dish and the memory of that loved one is cherished and passed on with each bite.

Mandi:  This recipe was written down by my mom after a visit to her Aunt Tilly (My grandfather’s, brother’s wife).  I must say, I think this is the first recipe that we have done on the blog, or let’s say the original recipe that looks like the traditional “Boerekos” that we were raised with and I tell you what, it is finger licking good!!  It has got to be the easiest recipe we have done by far and with the traditional sweet and spicy butternut and peas to go with cooked white basmati rice and this chicken, it is definitely a winner, hands down.  James and I took the dishes over to friends and we fed 8 grown ups with left overs, only because they couldn’t fit anymore into their fully tummies.  I was sceptical at the timing of the chicken in my oven.  We moved this week onto a farm with a quaint little farmhouse and a gas stove which is probably close to half the size of my previous gas stove.  All in all, it went for another hour and it was delicious.  So adjust the timing according to what you know your oven is capable of.

Recipe:

2 Kg Chicken pieces

1 Cup Mayonnaise

1 Cup Chutney

1 packet white onion soup

Method:

Place your chicken pieces, bones down into a deep casserole dish.  Pour the soup powder over the chicken pieces.  Mix the Mayonnaise and Chutney together and pour over the chicken mixture.  Do not add water and do NOT add Salt!!  Place in the oven at 160◦C for two hours and keep it covered. 

Notes:

1.      Try to get chicken that is not injected full of water to get the weight to 2Kg.  I usually shop at a local free range chicken depot that guarantees there is no added water.  Also remember that if your chicken is frozen it also weighs more with the ice so if you don’t have other options, I would suggest buying extra pieces depending on how many mouths you want to feed.

2.      You will see that when your chicken dish is ready, the mixture of the ingredients (soup, chutney, mayo) makes a nice juicy thick gravy.

3.      Thank you Aunty Tilly for a fabulous recipe. Rest in peace knowing we enjoyed every bite!! 

Deidre:  Putting a spin on this dish was extremely difficult for me (as always), but especially because the original of this dish is my family’s favourite.  There is no match for the thick sticky sauce which coats each chicken piece and the gravy which soaks the rice with a richness and flavour that knows no equal.  But, my challenge is to put a spin on and modernise Mom’s recipes…..

Aunty Tilly’s Chicken Dish

1kg chicken (cooked and deboned)  (I used smaller quantities because I had fewer people to feed)

½  cup mayonnaise

½  cup chutney

½  pkt brown onion soup (I love the dark brown gravy)

Carrots

Potatoes

Onions

To get the flavour of baked chicken (which is like the original dish), I roasted the chicken prior to deboning it instead of boiling it on top of the stove.

Debone and tear the chicken into large pieces.  This dish has a very rustic appearance.

Cook carrots, potatoes and chopped onions together until soft.  Drain and blend. 

Place the mayonnaise, chutney and ½ pkt soup powder in a pot on the stove.  Add 1 cup of water and simmer until it thickens.  Whisk continuously (Be careful as this mixture burns easily.)

Place a mould on your plate and add spoonfuls of the carrot mixture in the mould.  Remove the mould and place the pieces of chicken on top of the carrot.  Lastly pour the mayonnaise mixture over the top of the chicken.

I served the dish with a side salad.

Hints and Tips:

1.      Adapt your recipe according the number of people you need to feed;

2.      Experiment with your soup powders – maybe mushroom would work just as well;

3.      If your gravy is too thick, keep adding small amounts of water until your mixture is pourable;

4.      The flavour of the chicken is definitely better roasted for this dish than boiled.  Add your normal spices as for when you make roast chicken;

5.      Cut up your carrots and potatoes into equal squares which will allow them to cook evenly.

6.      Use fresh carrots – the natural sweetness adds a subtle flavour to this dish.

As mentioned earlier in this section, nothing beats the tangy, sticky gravy that sticks to the chicken pieces in the original dish – but this one wasn’t too bad either J.

Potatoes and Spicy Sausage

Mandi and I are experiencing a hectic March – we were both relocating and Dennis and I marshalled at the Cape Argus Cycle Race (which, to those who don’t know, is the world’s largest timed cycle race).  Almost every weekend has been busy with something or other, so we have been cooking whenever we can.  The dish this week is Potatoes and Spicy Sausage.  The ingredients for this dish are quite strange and I can’t seem to get my head around banana and potatoes…… 

Mandi: In mom’s cookbook it says she took this recipe out of a Home & Garden magazine in October 1982…mmmm… this could pose a problem because when you have ingredients advertised by a Brand in 1982, it may not exist anymore in 2016!!  As per the All Gold New Potatoes in a tin…. Well at least not in my tiny town with one supermarket.  Fortunately we are moving next week to a larger town/evolving city and perhaps I will be able to get the ingredients there.

Due to my religious convictions, I also did not use Pork (Russians) and opted for a vegetarian option which was not too shabby for a replacement I must say.  I think the pork russians would add colour to the dish though which was missing in mine – looked a bit bland and I think Deidré’s son Dylan would probably echo his comment of a few week’s back to his mother, on my attempt at a salad that it lacks imagination. LOL.  But I was trying for colour.  In my defence though, we are moving house as I said and all the best crockery and kitchen ingredients are kept to a minimum at this stage. So forgive the utensils for the next few weeks while I unpack my life of seven years in this home and downsize from a luxurious kitchen to one that may have fit into my current kitchen 3 times.  Well if Deidré could have done it, so can I :P

This is not a formal lunch recipe at all.  I would make it either for a brunch or a casual lunch.  I arranged the dish on top of two slices of toast, crusts removed.  It is very filling and perhaps the two complex carbs together is an overkill. However, I must say that both James and I enjoyed every last bite of this variation of the original.

Recipe:  Potatoes and Spicy Sausage

1 can All Gold New Potatoes (drained) – I bought baby potatoes, kept the skin on and cooked till almost ready. I quartered them.

3 Onions finely sliced

5ml Butter or Margarine

6 Russian Sausages (or Polish) – I used a Vegetarian/Vegan option that was GMO free.  Cut into thick slices.

6 Bananas

250 ml Chicken Stock

Method:

Fry onions in hot butter till golden brown.  Add potatoes to onions and gently heat through.

Fry sausage pieces, remove and keep warm with onions and potatoes.

Peel Bananas and fry in remaining fat left in the pan.

If the pan seems dry, add a small amount of extra butter.  Return onions, potatoes and sausages to pan. 

Add the chicken stock and simmer for 10 mins.

Arrange fried bananas on top and serve straight from the pan.

Deidre suggested Mutton sausages, however we will try that one again once we are in the city.

Deidrè:  Like I said – potatoes and banana’s together in one dish?  I don’t think so.  But that’s what the recipe calls for and that’s what I did – kind of.

In between rearranging the grocery cupboard – because I couldn’t pack half my groceries that I’d bought in it – and doings the odds and ends that I haven’t had time to do since moving into my new home, I meditated on this recipe.  What flavour combinations would work?  I eventually decided that although potatoes didn’t seem to fit with bananas, sweet potatoes would.  So here is my version of Mom’s 1982 dish:

Potatoes And Spicy Sausage

3 large sweet potatoes (cut into blocks and pre-cooked in the chicken stock)

1 x Knorr stock pot chicken stock

6 Pork sausages (remove meat from the casings)

1 onion finely chopped

5 ml Fresh parsley finely chopped

Flour

Olive oil for frying

Mash the sweet potatoes.  Add salt & pepper to taste.

Add the onion and parsley to the sausage meat.  I added a little bit of flour to the meat to give it a firmer texture. Fry a small piece and taste.  Add salt and pepper if necessary (sausage meat normally has its own seasoning already mixed into it).

Form patties from the meat and fry until cooked.

Onion and Banana Relish

8 Bananas

2 onions sliced

1 tspTurmeric

½ cupVinegar

90 g Brown Sugar

Pinch of salt

Mash the banana.  Add all the ingredients to taste in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes.  Be careful as it tends to burn easily.

To serve:

Spread the sweet potato mash on the plate.

Place the sausage meat patty on top

Add the banana and onion relish.

Hints and tips:

1.     Cut your sweet potatoes up into same sized squares – this will ensure that they cook evenly.

2.     The relish is very much a taste as you go along exercise.  This recipe makes enough to fill a Jacobs coffee jar (750 g).

Triangle Fridge Cake

There are days when things don't work out exactly as planned. That's normal. Even experienced chefs have failures in the kitchen. That's what builds experience. I've had major failures and felt that I wouldn't bake anything again..... but that feeling of euphoria when you try that recipe again (sometimes for the 3rd or 4th time)and it's 'perfect' is priceless!!!

Mandi:  my attempt to make the original recipe of the triangle fridge tart was, as my kids would say, an epic fail.  Being the A type personality that I am I tend to follow recipes to the letter, line upon line so I am still not sure what went wrong.  So in our endeavours to be transparent in our blog and prove that kitchen failures happen to everyone we decided to post the result anyway.  I consulted the technical guru, Deidré on this one and the following WhatsApp messages ensued:

Mandi: Good morning Sis, I have made the recipe to the dot according to the instructions but the texture is like thick pancake dough, what am I doing wrong?  Its the same icing you can say that you pour over that pumpkin cake of yours.
Deidre: It might just be too warm. Put it in the fridge to chill for a bit...
Mandi: I am going to town. Will leave in fridge till I get back.  Do you think I should get another tub of cottage cheese if the fridge didn't work?
Deidre1: Yes try that too. Are you getting smooth cottage cheese? Try Lancewood
Mandi: Yes and yes I got lancewood :)
Mandi: OK I will buy the cottage cheese in case, will let you know
Mandi: <Media omitted>. (Added beneath blog)
Deidre: I'll try on the weekend and see. Just put it in the deepfreeze like that. Its awesome no matter what it looks like!!
Deidre: Do your write up in any case. There might be people who also try it and it ends up like yours
Deidre: Just a point of interest.... did you add the 2nd tub to your 1st mixture?
Mandi: Yes I did
Deidre: Then whatever was wrong in the 1st mixture would have contaminated the 2nd tub......
Deidre: I meant for you to try again from the start.... sorry :(
Mandi: I've used my weekly budget and now I don't have more to make more.  I will write up the blog and forward to you.

The bottom line: whatever was wrong in the 1st mixture would have contaminated the 2nd tub...... I thought if I add the second tub to the first mixture it would thicken.  So we had our lines crossed. 

My mom made this tart frequently with much success as well as Deidre so there must have been a glitch in my first attempt at this recipe.

Recipe:

125g margarine
200g castor sugar
250 g cottage cheese (smooth)
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
24 Tennis biscuits (for those In distant countries they are very thin, square coconut biscuits) 
Glazed cherries

Cream the margarine and castor sugar. Add the egg, vanilla and cottage cheese.  (Apparently this consistency must be like thick cream or soft butter...)

On a sheet of tin foil, pack your tennis biscuits making sure to leave enough space on either side of the biscuits for when you pull up the foil to form the triangle.  Pack your biscuits in a rectangle form 3 across and 4 down.  Spread some of the filling over the biscuits and add another layer of biscuits over the filling.  Spread the filling over the second layer of biscuits and place the cherries down the centre.  Use the sides of the tin foil to lift the sides of the biscuits to the center to form a triangle.  Wrap the top of the tin foil tightly and tuck the sides in on the top and bottom.  Place in the freezer overnight.  Melt the chocolate and unwrap the tin foil carefully.  Pour chocolate over the top of the triangle and fold the tin foil again.  Place back in the freezer until you are ready to serve.  Serve directly from the freezer.   It should look like the photo below.

Deidre: I love the original triangle fridge cake.  I've even made the filling on its own and eaten it as ice cream. That's why I told Mandi to freeze her flop no matter what it looks like. It tastes awesome!!!! When Mandi and I were communicating earlier last week, there were a few crossed lines.  Not only were we trying to figure out the recipe, we were misreading each other as well.

I had an idea to make a deconstructed fridge cake in a glass... but then Dennis asked me why I didn't make a savoury fridge cake instead.  My first reaction was 'that won't work..you need to eat it frozen'.  But then I thought why not?  It gets extremely hot here in South Africa. What's nicer than a cold starter? Then the  creative juices started to flow and Dennis and I discussed various  options - what could work and what not.  So here is our savoury version of the triangle fridge cake.

Dennis's Savoury Fridge Cake:

125g butter
1 egg
250 g flavoured cream cheese (I used sundried tomato and basil)
50 ml fresh chopped Parsley
50 ml chopped pepperdews
1 pkt cream crackers
Salt and pepper to taste

Cream the butter
Add the egg and the cream cheese
Add the Parsley and pepper dews
Season to taste

Lay out your crackers 3 x 4 on the foil
Place spoonfuls of filling on the crackers.  Use a knife to spread the filling.  Hold the crackers in place with your fingers.  The crackers tend to stick together once you spread the filling over them.
Add the next layer of filling.  Spoon the rest of the filling onto the crackers.
Taking the foil on the 4 cracker side, lift the foil up, shaping the crackers into a triangle. (I needed Dennis's help here)

Push the crackers into a triangle shape and fold the foil over tightly. Fold and wrap the sides of the triangle.
Place in deep freeze overnight.

I bought Woolworths Lime and Coriander mayonnaise to serve with the cake.

Hints and Challenges:
1. I use ingredients at room temperature. I believe this is the difference between success and failure
2. Use all the filling otherwise your triangle will have a hole running through the middle.
3. I used cream crackers instead of Tuc biscuits (my favourite) as I was worried the Tuc biscuits would dissolve once the filling was spread over them.
4. When buying your flavoured cream cheese, make sure your other ingredient compliment the flavour.
5. The only challenge I experienced was the folding of the foil - but with Dennis's help, this also turned out well.
6. I found that the cake tasted better once I had defrosted a piece. It's easier to cut whilst frozen, but maybe cut all the slices and then leave them to defrost before serving.

Of course the men in my house demanded that I make the original as well.....

I used Bakers choc mint tennis biscuits and melted mint chocolate over the top.I don't like cherries so I didn't add any to my tart.... Mandi suggested strawberries.... mmmmm next time.