Kotopoulo Youvetsi--Chicken Baked with Orzo

In the last couple of weeks, I have come to realize what food blogging is really supposed to be about: Sharing good food with new-found, generous and truly sincere friends.

Personally, I find myself regularly looking forward to my peers' posts, not to criticize their cooking methods and the food that graces their tables, but to share in their insights and thoughts; to have a sneak peek at their lives in Athens, Crete, Sydney, Alaska, Canada, Malaysia, India, Italy, Spain, England, France and so many other places around the world.

I have found blogging refreshing and fulfilling--a way to combine my writing career with my passion for cooking, without the pressure of deadlines, editors’ notes, etc., etc. Even better, since I first began blogging last September, I've found myself making many a new friend whom I await to hear an encouraging comment from and whom I try hard to leave an encouraging word for as well. Incidentally, however, I have also found myself wondering why some bloggers would feel the need to criticize others' ways of approaching a dish and repeatedly assert that their way of cooking is the only way ... indeed, it is not.

Cooking is a truly personal experience. There are traditional dishes that are passed down from generation to generation and these traditional dishes, although alike in their basic ingredients and general concept, may differ slightly due to geography, due to family economics or even due to a cook's/family's personal likings. There are recipes throughout Greece for various dishes--from kokkinisto, to stifado, to fassolada, to fakes, to kakavia, to phylla (or dolmades as known to everyone other than those from Kalymnos!), to bougatsa, to ravani, to youvarlakia, or even pastitsio--that inherently vary slightly. The recipe used for four and five generations within my own family for phylla, ravani or, yes, even pastitsio will very likely vary from fellow Greek bloggers' family recipes and yet, each and every one of these recipes, may wholly and entirely be a traditional Greek recipe passed down within their family from generation to generation. It is not my place, nor anyone else’s for that matter, to claim that such a recipe is not a “traditional” recipe, or that it is a lesser dish, because it includes this herb or that spice while my family’s recipe does not. Period.

And now onto a lighter and definitely yummier subject … below you will find my family's recipe for youvetsi, a very traditional Greek dish most often made with lamb baked in a tomato sauce flavored with bay leaves and cinnamon (and some other herbs depending on where in Greece it is being made; in Kalymnos, for instance, cooks often use what is known there as "thrimbi"--or dried savory--to compliment the cinnamon and bay leaves). The meat is accompanied by kritharaki (orzo) that is baked in the same sauce.

To make this a quicker weeknight meal, and a lighter one at that, I used whole chicken legs in place of lamb. The resulting dish was really quite good--all the flavors of youvetsi in a lighter form--with meaty tender chicken complemented by the flavors of cinnamon and bay and a sauce that effortlessly steals the show.

Kotopoulo Youvetsi -- Chicken Baked with Orzo

Serves 4 to 6

1/3 cup olive oil
4 whole chicken legs
1 large onion, chopped
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound orzo
Grated kefalotyri, myzithra, pecorino or parmesan (for sprinkling before serving)


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper.

In a dutch oven (or other ovenproof pot with lid), heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the chicken well on both sides. Remove to a plate and set aside. Stir in the onion and saute until soft. Stir in the cinnamon sticks and bay leaves and add the chopped tomatoes.

Dilute the tomato paste with one cup of the water. Add the diluted paste and 1 cup of the chicken stock to the dutch oven and bring to a boil. Place the chicken back into the pot (the sauce should come up at least 1/2 way to 2/3 of the way up the chicken, so add a bit more water or stock as necessary). Cover the dutch oven with its lid, place it in the oven and cook the chicken for 45 minutes or so.

Uncover the pot, remove chicken to a plate and keep warm. Add the orzo to the dutch oven with the remaining liquid (and more if necessary) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Place chicken atop the orzo and bake 15 minutes more until the orzo is tender and the chicken nicely browned.

Serve sprinkled with grated cheese.


***I'm sending this dish over to Ruth of Once Upon a Feast as she is celebrating the 100th edition of Presto Pasta Nights this week. Congrats Ruth and here's to many more yummy pasta round ups!

Chicken Stuffed with Trahanas

So, I picked up some trahanas from one of the many Greek specialty shops here in New York last week and decided that aside from the traditional soup I often make, I wanted to do something more with these tasty, tangy tidbits.

I should note that there are two types of trahanas, sour and sweet, and to be honest I have only ever had the sour type. I don't believe the sweet version is used differently and am pretty sure, although labeled as "sweet," it is just not as sour as the other variety.

In case you are wondering, which some of you probably are by now, trahanas is a pasta of sorts made of ground whole wheat grains that are cooked or soaked in sour milk or a mixture of milk and yogurt, then dried in the sun and coarsely ground until about the size of large breadcrumbs. Used primarily in soups, trahanas occasionally makes an appearance in Greek stews or even stuffings, which is the route I took here.

After bringing the trahanas home, I recalled reading--and being thoroughly intrigued by--a recipe for eggplant slices stuffed with trahanas on Food Junkie not junk food. I'd never used trahanas as such and decided my first foray into the world of stuffing with trahanas would include the thinly sliced chicken cutlets I'd purchased the day before, rather than the scrumptious in-season eggplant slices Johanna used a few months ago.

I made a pretty basic tomato sauce, much of which I had a good amount of left over and got to use in another pasta dish. Make sure your cutlets are quite thin and if necessary pound them until they are. Serve alongside some steamed asparagus, green beans, or even just with a salad, and you're good to go. Kali Orexi!

Chicken Stuffed with Trahanas

Serves 4 to 6

8 thin-sliced chicken cutlets, seasoned with salt and pepper on both sides

1/4 cup, plus 3 tablespoons, plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 large onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup divided)

1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups trahanas
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup crumbled feta
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 26.5 oz. box of chopped tomatoes
Pinch of sugar

1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Toothpicks


In a large saucepan begin making the tomato sauce by heating the 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat. Add all but the 1/4 cup of onion set aside and saute until soft. Stir in the garlic, oregano and the red pepper flakes. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil. Stir in the sugar, reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Add half the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a separate saucepan, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high-heat and stir in the reserved 1/4 cup of chopped onion. Saute until softened then add the white wine and allow to boil for a few seconds. Stir in the trahanas and begin adding the stock; stirring constantly until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Add half the crumbled feta and the parsley and remove from the heat.

Place a heaping tablespoon of trahanas filling towards the end of one chicken cutlet and roll the cutlet up, securing with a toothpick as necessary.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In an ovenproof skillet, heat the last two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat and brown the rolled chicken on all sides. Spoon some tomato sauce over, sprinkle with the remaining feta and the grated parmesan and bake for about 10 minutes.

Eggplant and Pasta

I had one too many eggplants in my refrigerator last week and after making melitzanosalata (eggplant spread) with the more traditional small purple eggplants my neighbor gave me straight from his yard, I decided to use the two white eggplants I'd bought from a farm stand to make this pasta dish. I used it here layered between pasta and tomato sauce. It was easy, quick (would have been quicker had I had a batch of the tomato sauce on hand) and made for great leftovers.

The white eggplant was a pleasant surprise: a much less bitter type of eggplant than its dark purple cousin. I have to admit though that my favorite are the Sicilian eggplants I sometimes find which have an amazingly sweet flavor. You can use any eggplant here, of course, and alter the herbs and type of pasta to your liking.

I'm submitting this dish to this week's Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Kali Orexi!

Baked Eggplant and Pasta

Serves 6

2 white eggplants, about 1 pound each
1 pound penne
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated pecorino romano
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Olive Oil

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice eggplant into 1/2-inch rounds and place on an oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle with additional olive oil, salt and pepper and bake until tender and golden.

Cook the penne in the boiling water until almost done; about 5 minutes. Drain and toss with 3/4 cup of tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Grease a baking dish with olive oil. Add about 1/3 cup tomato sauce to the dish and top with half the bread crumbs. Layer half the penne and then top with half of the eggplant slices. Add about 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle with half the grated cheese and chopped parsley. Repeat with the remaining tomato sauce, bread crumbs, pasta, eggplant, cheese, and parsley, topping with an additional drizzle of olive oil.

Bake until golden.

Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 to 5 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of dried thyme

Pinch of dried basil
1 carrot, shredded
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes

Pinch of sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onion and garlic, cooking until soft. Add the herbs and carrot and cook until the carrot is soft. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil, stirring often; add sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. (I used half of this recipe for the above pasta dish and stored the remaining sauce in the freezer for future use.)