Nannas' Recipes in 4 Sentences....Chicken 3 ways...

My Nanna, and probably yours too, was a great cook. She was European, and used many ingredients that were not common in Australia back in the 1960s.

I loved her shady kitchen with it's enormous windows, overlooking the garden. She grew figs, bananas, strawberries by the mile...a week with Nanna was a treat to be anticipated and savoured on every level. 

If I have one shining memory of her, and she passed away 45 years ago, it's of being enveloped in her warm embrace, breathing the scent of rosemary and vanilla, and always coming away with a bit of flour dust on my cheeks. To say she influenced me, and continues to do so, is an understatement.

She was often asked for her recipes, and she would recite them in her quaint European accent, so that the person asking, could note them down on a scrap of paper, or the back of an envelope. Sometimes a pencil and paper were not at hand, so instructions had to be very brief in order to be remembered.

Now we have to have it all spelled out in black and white or we are lost. Or maybe not. 

I think we're smarter than that, and I'm resurrecting the Recipe in 4 Sentences. You'll see some already at the top of my page here, and I'll be adding to those regularly.

To get us started, here are three favourite Chicken recipes, that I think you're going to love....

Poached Chicken Breasts...Bring 6 cups of chicken stock to a high simmer, and add a bouquet garni. Add 3 chicken breast fillets, or a whole small hen, return to a high simmer (not a rolling boil), cover the saucepan and switch the hotplate off, removing the pan from the heat source. Allow the chicken to poach for 20-30 minutes without lifting the lid. Slice into a breast after 20 minutes and if it's cooked through to the middle it's ready to be served.

Chicken Ragout....Bake 8 chicken thighs for 40 minutes at 200C, in a large baking dish, with one pound (500gms) of diced tomatoes, 2 stalks diced celery, 1 diced capsicum and a chopped onion. Add 2 stock cubes, 2 crushed garlic cloves, and a teaspoon each of basil and thyme. Serve with pasta and a crisp garden salad.

Balsamic Chicken Breasts...Marinate 4 chicken breasts sliced in half lengthwise to yield 8 thinner fillets, in Balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of brown sugar for four hours. Pan fry over a medium heat, and serve with slivered green spring onions, crisp roasted potatoes and fresh baby peas.

For more recipes in 4 sentences, and others that are longer but worth it...see my dedicated recipe page here.

...Mimi...