Читать книгу Floyd Around the Med - Keith Floyd - Страница 7

In this dish, which is really a simple chicken cooked in tomato sauce, we can see the influence that the Moors have had on Mediterranean cooking by the use of fruits and spices.

1	free range chicken (how heavy? I hear you cry! Well, I don’t know. If there are 2-4 of you, get a small one; more of you, get a great big one or two small ones! If the chicken has its liver and heart, so much the better)
	olive oil
2	onions, finely diced
4	fat cloves of garlic, very finely crushed
about ½ bottle	white wine
about 500ml/18fl oz	tomato sauce (buy this in a carton)
4	juicy lemons, cut in half, pips removed, then very, very, very finely sliced
1	cinnamon stick
about 225g/8oz	raisins, currants or sultanas
1	sprig of thyme
4-5	clovessea salt and black pepper

Joint the chicken, bones and all, into manageable morsels. In a large, shallow sauté pan or a deep frying pan, heat up some olive oil. The pan needs to be big enough to hold all the pieces of chicken in a single layer. Fry them on both sides until golden brown, then add the onions and garlic and brown them very lightly. At this stage, if you have the giblets from the chicken, add them and fry them too. Now pour in the wine so that it half covers the chicken and boil furiously until it has reduced, then add enough tomato sauce just to cover the chicken. Keep on cooking for a few minutes, then add the lemons, cinnamon, raisins, thyme and cloves. By now, since the chicken went into the pan, it will have been cooking for about 25 minutes. Stir the whole lot together and let it simmer gently until the chicken is tender and you have a fragrant, spicy, lemon-tanged tomato sauce.

I am not the kind of cook who offers (quote) serving suggestions (unquote!). It is up to you, but I think pasta, rice, vermicelli or salad would be good with this. Because, you see, this kind of dish, which is cooked with vegetables and fruit, just doesn’t need a plate of carrots, green beans or similar, next to it. A few chips and olive oil might be quite nice, however!