Tag: main course
Chicken and Caramelized Pears Tagine
Chicken and Caramelized Pears Tagine
This tagine has the perfect pairing of savory and sweet flavors, which is very typical for many Moroccan dishes. The chicken is cooked in an onion sauce. This method of preparation is called mqalli. Then pears are poached, then caramelized in butter, honey, and cinnamon. At the last second of caramelizing, orange blossom water is stirred in. The chicken is plated on a platter. The onion sauce is poured over, then followed by the caramelized pears.
Equipment
- tagine
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp butter or smen(cured and aged butter)
Caramelized Pears
- 3 pears peeled and quartered
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 cup chicken sauce
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
- 1/2 stick butter
Garnish
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Soak the saffron in a couple tbsps of warm water for 5 minutes.
- Mix in the ginger, turmeric, black and white peppers to form a paste.
- Marinate the chicken for 8 hours.
- Place the onions, parsley and cilantro bunch, 1/4 cup water, and the cinnamon stick in the bottom of a tagine over medium heat.
- Place the marinated chicken pieces on top. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Add the oils and butter, plus another 1/2 cup of water. Season with salt.
- Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Place the pears in a small pot with the lemon juice and 1 cup of the chicken juices that developed in the tagine. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- While the pears are simmering, remove the chicken from the tagine. Continue to simmer the onion sauce for 20 minutes over medium low heat.
- In a separate sauté pan, melt the butter, honey, and ground cinnamon over medium heat.
- Add the pears to the butter. Simmer for 8 minutes, occasionally stirring the pears in the sauce.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the orange blossom water.
Hmong-Style Slow Cooked Pork
Hmong-Style Slow Cooked Pork
Every culture that consumes pork has a slow cooked recipe. Traditionally, this Hmong slow cooked pork uses a whole pigs head and pork knuckles. For this recipe, I used pork shoulder and about 5 pork shoulder bones that I’ve saved in the freezer. You can also use a combination of shoulder and pork belly, pigs feet, knuckle bones, neck bones, and shanks. There are 2 ways that you can cook this pork. You can throw the pork and bones in a slow cooker and let it go on low for 8+ hours. The other route is to simmer the pork and bones in water for 4 hours. Either way you go, you get really tender pork. Pull the bones out of the meat and sauté the pork in its own fat. Add in ginger and mustard greens. Allow them to wilt. Give it a stir and you have some of the most flavorful pork you’ll ever eat.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder cut into large cubes
- 5 lbs meaty pork bones
- 1 bunch mustard greens washed and chopped
- 1/2 cup ginger peeled and julienned
- salt to taste
- mushroom seasoning to taste
Instructions
- Add the pork and bones to a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 4 hours.
- Strain the meat. Allow the pork to cool for an hour. Pick out the bones and any cartilage. Save the pork stock you just made for future recipes.
- Add the pork into a large sauté pan over medium heat. Allow the pork to cook in its own fat for 30 minutes until browned.
- Season the pork with salt and mushroom seasoning to your liking. Stir in the ginger.
- Add the mustard greens to the top of the pork. Cover and allow the greens to wilt for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the wilted greens. Turn off the heat.
Malagasy Chicken
Malagasy Chicken
Being in the Indian ocean, Madagascar has many influences from the surrounding countries including Africa, Southeast Asia, China, and India. The ingredients of this dish consists of lemon zest(African influence), ginger and garlic(Chinese influence) used as a marinade for the chicken. The chicken is browned in coconut oil(Southeast Asian influence), then slowly simmered with peppers and onions. The natural juices of the chicken along with the marinade create a rich sauce with the coconut oil. Serve the chicken with steamed rice; making it a priority to spoon that sauce over.
Ingredients
- 2 large whole chicken legs drumsticks and thighs separated
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1” ginger grated
- 1 lemon zested
- 1 small onion thinly sliced
- 1 orange bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix together the garlic, ginger, and lemon zest.
- Marinate the chicken with the mix for 8 hours. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat up the coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Brown the chicken for 6-7 minutes a side. Remove from the pan.
- Add the onions and peppers to the pan. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the pan. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Uncover the pan and cook for 5 more minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken.
