A long time ago, in a galaxy…er, shire not so far, far away, I played (which is to say, cooked) in the kitchens of a medieval recreational group known as the SCA. For my first and only solo run as feastocrat, I played the part of an Italian chef who had been kidnapped by German Landsknechts and forced to serve dinner to their king and queen. Tongue firmly planted in cheek, I was determined to find a way to give them what they wanted…and served up spaghetti and meatballs, medieval-style.

These meatballs, served aside pasta cooked in chicken stock and topped with shaved parmesan cheese, were as delicious as they were fun.

Spiced Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken breast meat or boneless pork loin
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped fine
• 1/4 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour, as needed
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and shaved parmesan, for garnish

Fill a medium pot 3/4 full with cold water and bring to a simmer. Poach chicken breasts or pork until just cooked. Drain and set aside to cool. When meat is cool, shred with forks and then chop with a knife until very fine (do not use food processor).

Place shredded meat in a medium bowl and, using your hands, combine meat, cheese, butter, parsley, thyme, ginger, cloves, and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Add flour until mixture is stiff but still slightly sticky, and roll into small (3/4-1″) balls.* Roll balls in flour and set on lined sheet pan. Chill for 1 hour**.

Bring chicken stock to a boil and drop meatballs into the stock in batches. Reduce heat and simmer balls for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through. Move finished balls to a serving dish while the other batches are being cooked.

To serve, top meatballs with a small amount of hot stock, a sprinkling of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and a generous amount of parmesan cheese.

Serves 6-8.

*Tip: finished balls should be the size and texture of Swedish meatballs, not traditional Italian meatballs.

**Meatballs can be frozen at this point by placing the sheet pan into the freezer until the balls have frozen solid, and then bagging the frozen pieces so that they do not stick together. Resulting meatballs can be cooked from frozen.

This post was inspired by Serge the Concierge’s Get Cooking challenge, “Meatballs for Seth“.

Image by Dalyswe.

I enjoy collecting old cookbooks, and pick them up at yard sales and flea markets whenever I can. Each Saturday, I post excerpts from my collection. Today’s post comes from the Sergeantsville Methodist Episcopal Church 1922 Cook Book.

I’m not sure what’s “puffed” about this – it sounds like standard fried chicken to me!

Puffed Chicken

Cut chicken in pieces and cook the same as for when stewing.  When tender take the chicken from the kettle and place on a plate, using the liquor for a cream sauce or gravy.  Have ready another pot with hot lard.  Make a thin batter, using 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour, 1 level teaspoonful of Royal Baking powder.  Dip each piece of chicken separately in the batter, then in the hot fat, and brown as you would crullers.  Serve on a meat platter, and the sauce or gravy in a bowl.  Sauce — mix 2 tablspoons of butter, 1 of flour and 2 of milk.  Add to the liquor and cook until thick, or make just the plain gravy as when you serve a fricasseed chicken.

Image by Herrner

In keeping with the “drunk food” theme of this week’s Carnival of the Recipes, this week’s CTS recipes will all include (or feature) alcohol – yum.

Coq au vin is a dish that inspires incredible awe and fear in people. “You made coq au vin?” “I can’t believe you can make coq au vin as part of a catered buffet!” “It’s too fancy!” “Wow, you must be an incredible cook!” …and so on.

I know that traditional coq au vin involves a rooster and 12 gazillion hours of cooking and stewing and prepping, but I have never had that kind of patience. I am of the opinion that coq au vin is quite simply coq au vin: that is, “chicken with wine”. (And vegetables, of course.) My original recipe, presented below, requires neither roosters nor a lot of patience, is based on the recipe included in “From Julia Child’s Kitchen” (she notes that it differs from other coq au vin recipes she’s published, although it is not clear how).

A slow cooker adaptation of this recipe is available here.

Coq au Vin

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken leg quarters, divided into thighs and drumsticks
• 8 ounces frozen pearl onions
• 32 ounces mixed button and baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bottle (750 ml) red wine
• 4 cups beef stock
• 4 whole cloves garlic, smashed but not chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sun-dried tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• bacon fat (or oil) for browning
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan (a dutch oven is preferable), melt the bacon fat over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown lightly on all sides. Add the brandy (off the heat, please!) and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add bay leaf, thyme, and onions to pan and cook for an additional 10 minutes, turning chicken halfway through.

Using a fine mesh strainer or old-fashioned flour sifter, sift flour over chicken, stirring as you sift so that the flour coats the chicken and the onions. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in all remaining ingredients except the butter. Cover and cook on low for 1-2 hours, or until onions are tender and chicken is falling off the bone. Stir in butter just before serving to enrich the sauce.

Serves 4-6.

Image by Sgt. Pepperedjane

An Asian-inspired fried chicken that doesn’t require a lot of oil (or deep-frying), this is a great dish for casual gatherings because it’s so easy and yet impressive. It’s excellent hot or cold.

Fried Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup scallions, minced very fine
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/4 cup black sesame seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 cup sake
• vegetable oil for frying

In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients except sake and frying oil. Pour over chicken and cover. Refrigerate 5-7 hours or overnight.

Remove chicken from batter and drain for 15 minutes on a rack.

Heat 3/4″ of frying oil in a large cast-iron skillet. Fry 3-4 pieces at a time, turning halfway, cooking until chicken is brown and cooked through (a probe thermometer works well for this.) Repeat with remaining chicken.

While chicken is frying, heat sake in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and cook until volume is reduced by half. Serve with chicken as a dipping sauce.

Serves 4-6.

You might not think of tea as a dinner ingredient, but it works quite well as a marinade. Here it provides only flavor, but it can also work to tenderize a tough piece of meat. The important thing to remember is to use high-quality, preferably loose-leaf, teas — bitter store-brand tea bags will not work here.

Black Tea Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups very strongly brewed tea, cooled
• pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon juniper berries
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Lay the pepper corns and juniper berries on a heavy cutting board, and crack open with a mallet or the side of a knife. Add cracked spices, garlic, and salt to tea; stir to combine. Place chicken in a gallon-sized zip-top bag, pour marinade over chicken, and carefully remove most of the air. Refrigerate 4-6 hours or overnight. Drain marinade and cook chicken as desired.

Serves 4.

Image by minusbaby

I’m not sure when it happened, but my favorite ricotta and black olives pizza has been replaced by barbecue chicken pizza.  If you have cooked chicken and a pizza shell on hand, this is a great fast dinner.  I don’t like onions, so I leave them out.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 pizza crust, store-bought or your favorite recipe
• 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, store-bought or your favorite recipe
• 1 cup cooked chopped chicken (more or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion (optional)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Spread sauce on crust and top with chicken (and onion, if using), evenly distributing ingredients. Sprinkle cheeses on top. Bake per crust package or recipe directions.

Serves 4.

Image by Permanently Scatterbrained

Everyone has their own special sauce for wings. I’m not a hot sauce person — my favorite wings are generally doused with a liberal dose of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce — but I do make hot wings on request. This is my special recipe, with a modification for those who like it hot.

I bake my wings before saucing, but if you have a deep-fryer, this works equally well on deliciously greasy wings.

Most Excellent Wing Sauce

Mild Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup hot sauce

Hotter Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup hot sauce

Melt butter in small pot over medium-low heat.  Stir in spices and cook for 5 minutes.  Slowly whisk in hot sauce.  Pour warm sauce over wings that are fresh from the oven or deep fryer; serve immediately.

Makes enough sauce for 20-30 wings.

I enjoy collecting old cookbooks, and pick them up at yard sales and flea markets whenever I can. Each Saturday, I post excerpts from my collection. Today’s post comes from the Sergeantsville Methodist Episcopal Church 1922 Cook Book.  This is a fairly standard chicken salad recipe, but I find the garnish instructions puzzling — what exactly is a three-cornered slice of lemon?

CHICKEN SALAD

Use two thirds of celery to one third of chicken.  Cut up the celery and cold chicken in the food chopper, using the coarse cutter.  If the chicken is dry, add a little liquid in which it was cooked.  When ready to serve, mix the celery and chicken together and pour over it a mayonnaise dressing, mixing it thoroughly with the salad.  Serve on lettuce leaves.  This salad will be greatly improved if a few chopped olives and a dessertspoonful of capers are added.  Then garnish with a slice of cold hard-boiled egg, a whole olive, a split radish, and a long three-cornered slice of lemon, to be squeezed over the salad by the guest, if desired.  Veal may be used instead of chicken.

I discovered this dish at a Persian restaurant somewhere between Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.. The original dish was brown in color and not terribly pleasing to the eyes, but the taste was pure delight.

If you have access to pomegranate paste, I highly recommend substituting 3 or 4 tablespoons of the paste for the juice in the recipe. While paste is traditional, I have altered the composition of the dish slightly by using more widely-available pomegranate juice, which can be found in the produce section of most major markets. (I’ll admit, I’ve even used Grenadine in a pinch.)

Serve this stew over your choice of starches; basmati rice is traditional.

Khoresht Fesenjan (Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 1/2 cup finely ground walnuts
• 1/4 cup finely minced onion
• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 cup butter
• Water
• Salt to taste

In a large skillet, heat butter until it is melted and begins to foam. Add chicken and sautee until no outer traces of pink are visible and the meat begins to brown (the inside of the chicken will still be raw.) Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils, reduce the heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, adding more water if needed to keep the chicken submerged.

After 30 minutes have elapsed, reduce heat slightly and stir in walnuts, pomegranate juice, cardamom, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is very thick.

Serves 4-6 over starch as a main course.

Many years ago, a friend handed me 2 grocery bags full of fresh plums from the trees on his property. That weekend, I made a number of plum cordials and some plum butter, along with this recipe. This chutney is a delightful accompaniment to pork or venison, and is excellent on a cracker or square of cocktail bread with a strong cheddar as an appetizer.

Sweet and Sour Plum Chutney

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds ripe plums, pitted and cut into 1″ pieces (skin on)
• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons mustard seed
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon jarred hot pepper rings, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped green olives
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

In a medium stock pot, combine all but 1 cup plums with 1 cup vinegar. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat until plums are soft. Finely chop remaining plums; set aside. In a separate heavy-bottomed pot, melt sugars in remaining vinegar over medium heat. When plums are soft, puree with an immersion blender. Stir in sugar syrup and remaining ingredients, including diced plums, and bring to a boil. Immediately after mixture boils, reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 hours or until sauce is thick. Pour into pint jars and refrigerate. Use within a week or freeze for up to 6 months.

Makes 2-3 pints.