Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2010 was a good one and 2011 is even better. I thought I’d start the year with good intentions of paying more attention to my blog and as is always the case, I woke this morning and my first thoughts were of food and of my family, both always seem to go hand in hand.
As I mentioned in my last post, Hubby brought me an amazing pile of very lovely cookery books. These books I had done huge amounts of research on and compiled the list for him to chose from, the fact he brought the whole list made my Christmas and gives me an excuse to start all over again. I like cookery books that are beautiful to look at and have a story to tell. So far I have enjoyed Light of Lucia and now I am totally lost in My Greek Family Kitchen. Maria Benardis has an amazing story to tell and gorgeous food to discover.
Here is the first recipe that I have cooked from Maria’s beautiful book and I highly recommend it for your bookshelf, its a wonderful read.
Kalli orexi (Good appetite)
Serves 4
1 – 1.5kg whole chicken, cleaned & spatchcocked or cut into pieces (I used the crust on a whole roast chicken and it worked just fine)
Sea salt and cracked pepper
extra virgn olive oil for drizzling
For the crust:
200g Greek feta, cubed
2 small red chillies, seeded & chopped
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of basil
3 tablespoons chopped spring onion
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon lemon juice
cracked pepper
Preheat the oven to 160c and line a baking dish with baking paper.
Lay the chicken flat in the baking dish and season with a little salt and pepper.
Put all the ingredients for the herbed crust into a blender, and process until it forms a smooth mixture. I’m sure if you don’t have a blender, with a little elbow grease you could smooth this to a paste just by using a spoon in a large bowl.
Pour the mixture over the chicken, making sure each section is well coated. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and bake for 1 – 1 1/2 hours until the top is cooked through. If using a whole chicken just follow the cooking instructions on the packaging.
Serve with a green salad. I served mine with roasted new potatoes and peas, but would happily of served it with a Greek salad (Horiatiki salata).
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