Green Pea Chicken Stew

In our kitchen it's a habit to make and eat this stew every month or two months just because we enjoy it, it's easy to make, it's made with available ingreds and both me and my wife have known it all our lives.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 to 1 kg. green peas (fresh, frozen or canned);
• few tablespoons vegetable oil;
• 1 medium onion;
• 1/2 to 1 carrot;
• any 4 or 5 pieces of chicken (works with pork, veal);
• 1/2 can crushed tomatoes;
• salt, pepper, fresh dill, parsley, time, stock.

HOW TO MAKE:

Chop up the onion in a medium dice, and do the same with the carrot. Add the oil in a pot and sote the onion and carrot on a small heat untill tender and sweet. A little salt in the beginning helps the process. Stir often. After about 5 to 15 minutes, depending on your patience, add the chicken pieces and cover with stock (I used tap water). Bring it to a simmer and skim off the eventual foam that may form on top. Let it simmer for about half an hour more and then add the peas. If the peas are fresh or frozen, boil the stew for another half hour. If you use canned peas, 15 minutes will do, as they are already boiled. Also add less salt in this case.

Season it with salt, pepper, a little time.At the end (last 5 minutes of cooking) add half a can crushed tomatoes. Wright at the end add the fresh dill, chopped.

If the consistency of the stew isn't thick enough just add a spoonful of white flour dissolved in a cup of liquid from the pot. Ad it in a slow poor and stir continuously. It will instantly thicken the stew.

Remember: dill wright at the end, as you turn off the heat. Enjoy! 

 

Vanilla Ice Cream & Whipped Cream Sweet Glass

It's summer and it's hot. Just buy yourself a big jug of good quality vanilla ice cream (preferably the kind that you can see the little vanilla seeds in) and proceed to assemble a nice glass like I did. 

I cracked to pieces some digestive biscuits with cereal bis and dry fruit in them. I cracked open some pistachios and toasted almonds and I chopped them course with the knife. Then I whipped some real cream from heavy extra fat cream, sugar and vanilla extract. Be careful not to overwork it because it turns into butter and that is not what you want here. Lair the ingreds as you fancy on top of each other along with the nice ice cream that you bought (or made) and top with some dark chocolate shavings and chopped nuts. Delish (but also hyper caloric, so enjoy with moderation).

 

Quick Meal: Potato Garlic Chicken Fry

Sometimes you just do not have the time and the necessary stamina to cook yourself something great, but don't want to settle for something mediocre either. What a dilemma! What to do?

When in doubt, drink another glass, a friend of mine would say. But no, really, for this situation there are some ways out. One is always a dish of pasta. Pasta done well takes literally minutes and tastes excellent and gourmet. Another way is to just go with your instincts in the kitchen and improvise something that takes you to the older and simpler times of "antand", when you were younger, food was just food, and someone else payed for everything. Even if that means the dish you are about to make is not at all what you would call a recipe.

For me one of these improvised dishes is a pan fry of potatoes, chicken bits in vegetable oil with lots of garlic.

So, here goes:

INGREDS for 3 servings:

• 6 chicken bits, wings and dark meat, with skin on;
• 3-5 medium potatoes, depending on the size of the pan;
• vegetable oil;
• 2-3 cloves garlic, pealed;
• salt, pepper, a little time (optional).

HOW TO MAKE:

Start by cutting the chicken to bits or just use wings or legs or thighs. Season well with salt and pepper. Leave skin on. Peal the potatoes and cut them in finger thick chunks (I prefer larger). Heat the (3-5 tbs.) oil in a frying pan and fry the meat just for 2-3 minutes on all sides (or just one, if you're lazy), add the potatoes, add water (or stock, you snobs)  just to cover. Let simmer for as long as it takes for the water to boil away almost completely, while you knock o beer or watch a favorite show. It usually takes about a half an hour or so. After 15 minutes you can turn the chicken bits on the other side and stir the potatoes a bit. Season again, if needed.

Just as you turn off the heat, chop the garlic cloves finely and add to the pan. You are done! Do not worry if it sticks to the pan and it breaks a little as you put it in a bowl. The messier, the better. Remember, you are starving. Enjoy!

Simple Roast Chicken

The simplest roast chicken recipe: you take a pare of chicken legs and any other chicken parts you like, cut into pieces not too big (for example, breast cut into 3 or 4 chunks) and season them with salt, pepper (fresh ground, black, because I like the little pepper dots on the product), italian herbs like rosemary and oregano (just a pinch) and a pew sprinkles of cayenne and/or paprika. Let it sit for a while in the fridge. Like minimum a half an hour.

Then chop up a few potatoes into not too small pieces, a yellow onion cut in length but not too small either, and 3 or four cloves of garlic (you guessed it) chopped not too small.

throw the vegetables into the cooking pot or tray and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons full of extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix until they are all shiny from the oil. Get the chicken parts and just put them on top of the potatoes, making sure that a few onion bits are left on top (for a wonderful charred finish).
For the maximum effect and taste I added a few strips of bacon on top of the chicken.

Cover the pot and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at medium, then uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

Get everything outta the oven and let sit for 10 minutes until serving. It's hot! Enjoy!