Recipe: Lemon Caper Cream Chicken

A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch. – James Beard

Next to no time to make, but certainly doesn't taste like something "quick."

I’ve used that quote before, but it’s such a fun one it bears repeating. Also, this dish is a little tart and with the cream it's not really "diet" food.

The ingredients may sound  a bit unusual for a pasta sauce, but they’re not really. The result is a creamy concoction with complex flavours that I’m sure your family will love.

The onions, garlic and mushrooms. The "fond" from the
bottom of the pan gives a brown colour to the sauce.

The inspiration for this dinner came from carbonara, believe it or not. At least the idea of capers did, and I built out from there. For example, lemon is a natural accompaniment for capers, I already had mushrooms, etc., etc…

So I guess some of the inspiration can also be blamed on my pantry. All meals should have an element of that.

There’s quite a few Italian-inspired dishes that use lemon and cream. No one less than Lidia Bastianich (Lidia’s Italy, PBS and several famous restaurants) has a recipe for maccheroni with lemon cream.

There’s also vermicelli with lemon cream and many others. Gremolata is a famous Italian meat accompaniment made with parsley, garlic and lemon zest. So my cues are all coming from sound sources.

Of course Italians also use lemons for dessert. Good ones, too… Maybe one will appear here soon.

This sauce is a delicious combination of different tastes. Somewhat tart, a little salty and earthy. If you’re looking for a new way to serve chicken this is something you should try.

Just a quick note about "fast." Prep and cook times listed for recipes can be misleading. Many recipes (mine included) list them separately and may give a misleading idea of how much time something takes to prepare.

Most times some preparation is done while something else is cooking. For example in this one the onion, garlic and mushrooms are prepared while the chicken is searing. So really this recipe can be ready in about 18 minutes.

How’s that for putting something tasty and delicious on the table in a flash?

Recipes like this are especially handy as life gets more hectic as the Holidays approach. Keep it on the back burner. Not literally – you know what I mean!

Finish cooking the chicken in the sauce.

Lemon Caper Cream Chicken

Prep: 5 min  |  Cook: 18 min  |  Serves 4

4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp salt 

pepper to taste

1 med onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

250 g crimini mushrooms, quartered

1/4 cup white wine

2 tbsp capers

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup whipping cream

Heat the butter in a wide sauté pan. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and sear on both sides until brown. The breasts do not have to be cooked through. Remove to a plate.

Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms and sauté for 3-4 minutes. If you feel you need to add a little more butter do so. Then add the white wine, capers, stock and cream. Bring to a boil and let cook until reduced by half.

Stir in the chopped parsley. Then add the chicken breasts back to the pan. Let cook until they are done through and the liquid is reduced to a sauce that coats a spoon.

Serve on top of spaghetti.

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Recipe: Old World Poppy Seed Roll

Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in excess. – Walter Savage Landor 

Swirly... and just like I remember.

Since we were in the Balkans yesterday I though I would take a short geographical jaunt to get some dessert.

I remember this pastry from many years ago. There used to be a small Eastern European specialties store in Halifax decades ago. At Christmas and Easter they used to sell this roll as well as other foreign delights. Mmmm...

Always proof your yeast. No action,
no lift...

This recipe is very much like what I remember buying. Quite a lot, actually.

Poppy seed roll is a common Christmas and Easter pastry in many Eastern European countries, including Serbia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria and others. In Hungary it is often served with sweet wine.

Poppy seeds come from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). In an episode of the comedy “Seinfeld.” Elaine is accused of using drugs because she tested positive for opium after eating a bagel with poppy seeds on top. Highly unlikely.

Actually harvesting poppy seeds is in conflict with harvesting opium. Poppy seeds are harvested when the seed pods have dried. Opium is harvested while the seed pods are green and their latex is easily extracted.

So don’t worry about opium in your poppy seed roll. The seeds contain very little of the opiate.

The butter ready to be kneaded in.

There is a tea made from the ground seed heads called doda. In Canada and other countries the dried heads are imported for flower arrangements and then illegally used for the tea. Apparently the tea contains more significant opium quantities.

Oddly, you can legally buy and import papaver somniferum seeds to grow in your garden… Just sayin'.

From the Government of Canada Canadian Biodiversity Information facility web site:

Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is an ornamental flower that can still be found around some older homes. The plant persists by setting seed each year. This plant is the source of pharmacological and recreational drugs, as well as the poppy seeds that are used for oil and as a condiment on bagels, cakes, and other foods. 

Cattle have been poisoned in Europe after ingesting either stalks with pods that were being discarded or seed residue left over from oil extraction. Humans are either poisoned or addicted by various contained and derived chemicals found in the opium poppy (Frohne and Pfander 1983, Cooper and Johnson 1984). 

It is important to note that poppy seeds sold in stores are harmless, as the toxins have been destroyed by heat (Fuller and McClintock 1986).

I can’t find any information about how long poppy seed roll has been made, but one would imagine it would date to the introduction of yeast into baking and the importation of poppy seeds from Afghanistan and other areas in the middle east. So we can safely say several centuries.

So you can’t get a buzz by eating this. There’s another drawback as well. make sure toothpicks are handy. You’ll need them to get rid of the poppy seeds stuck in your teeth!

The dough ready to be rolled up

Old World Poppy Seed Roll

Poppyseed Filling (make the night before)*

Prep: 10-15 min

1/2 cup prunes

1 lb poppy seeds, ground

3/4 cup white sugar 

1 tbsp butter, melted 

juice and rind of 1 medium orange

1/2 cup hot milk

Purée the prunes with the poppy seeds and sugar to make a sticky mass. Add the butter, orange and milk. Purée again to mix well. Place in a container in the refrigerator overnight.

* You can also buy pre-made filling in sone places.

Yeast Pastry

Hands on: 30 min  |  Rising: 3 hrs  |  Bake: 40 min

2-1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110°-115°F)

2 tbsp sugar

After filling, let the rolls rise again for an hour.
Use parchment, not foil. Big, sticky mistake.
I didn't have any on hand. I should have
went to the store.

1 egg, separated

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 cups all-purpose flour, or more if needed

1/4 cup butter 

Proof the yeast in the water and sugar until foamy. Then mix in the egg yolk and salt. Stir in the flour until the mixture almost comes together. 

Break the butter up into pieces on top of the dough. Knead the butter in to the dough until it is incorporated. Knead for at least 5 minutes more.

Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise until double, about 2 hours.

After 2 hours, remove the dough and divide in two equal pieces. Roll each piece out into a triangle 10” x 14”. The dough will be very thin. It will rise.

Take half the filling and spread it over each piece of dough, leaving about 1” along the 10” dimension free of filling. With the ling dimension facing away from you, fold the bare 1” up over the filling and then roll into a log 10” wide. Seal the ends by pinching so the filling doesn’t escape.

Let rise for another hour on a parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Beat the egg white and brush then top of each roll just before baking. Bake the rolls for 40 minutes.

Let cool, covered with a towel to keep the crust soft.

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Vampires Away! Serbian Garlic Pork Roast

They say that shadows of deceased ghosts, Do haunt the houses and the graves about, Of such whose life's lamp went untimely out, Delighting still in their forsaken hosts. – Joshua Sylvester

Spookily, not super garlicky... but very rich and delicious.

What do the dead have to do with today's post, you might rightly ask. I'm not one to take chances, you see.

There’s a vampire on the loose, maybe. At least that’s what some of the folks in the small remote village of Zarozje, Serbia believe. This story has been carried by all significant news wires over the last week.

Artist's depiction of the handsome
fellow, Sava Savonic.

There’s rumours that a legendary vampire “ghost” has awakened and may be looking for a new home.

It all started with the collapse of an old mill. For several decades it has been run by the same family as a tourist attraction. Recently, due to the lack of much needed repairs, it has fallen in.

The owners say they were never inside for the whole time they owned it because of fear. It was purported to be occupied by Sava Savonic, Serbia’s most famous vampire ghost.

Vampire ghost? Apparently he was caught and "staked" but his spirit managed to escape in the form of a butterfly. One with very large teeth, I guess.

Sava is said to be one of the – if not the – oldest vampires in Serbian vampire lore. Sava would drink the blood of unsuspecting villagers who came to the mill to grind their grain.

One would think it wouldn’t take a small village very long to realize they were losing all their millers… But anyway, the mill is now a pile of rubble, and so the rumour is that Sava may be a little peeved and looking for new digs.

This ought to keep him away.
2 full heads of garlic.

So everyone had better be on the lookout. Never a superstitious lot, the local council has issued an official public health warning for residents to rub their doorways and windows with garlic, and may locals have also placed crucifixes inside their homes.

To add to the panic the winter season has moved in. So supposedly the vampire will be “living” in the cold all winter and looking for somewhere (or someone) warm – at least until spring when repairs can get underway.

The economy’s in the toilet, the local attraction has fallen down… add one plus one… Potential tourist opportunity? Why not – Transylvania has been milking Dracula for over 100 years.

By the way, area garlic sales have skyrocketed.

I know it’s half a world away, but just to be on the safe side I decided to make a Balkan-inspired garlic-infused roast. 

Vampires can travel. In the movie “Dracula” (1931) he arrives in England in a ship’s cargo hold. Halifax is a port city…

There’s enough garlic in this one to not only keep vampires away, but also loved ones who may be within 3-4 feet!

This is actually based on a Balkan lamb recipe, but I’ve change it up considerably. So in honour of the residents of a small village in Serbia and a dilapidated mill, here’s my recipe.

You'll notice that in the picture I have used thyme sprigs rather than just thyme leaves. If using fresh, estimate how many sprigs will yield about 1/4 cup leaves. Just remove the stems before thickening the gravy. Anyone who's ever removed thyme leaves from stems will know why this is a wise move.

Suffice it to say, worthy accompaniments would be roasted and rustic, like anything you can forage from your root cellar.

No need to carve this roast. It’s fall apart tender.

Serbian Garlic Pork Roast

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 2 hours  |  Serves 4

1-1/2 kg pork shoulder 

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

2 whole heads of garlic, peeled

250 g white mushrooms, small (or halved)

1-1/2 cups red wine 

3/4 cup water

3 bay leaves

1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tbsp dried

1/4 cup fresh parsley 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp flour, kneaded together with 3 tbsp butter

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, or other heavy pot with a lid. Brown the pork on all sides.

The "gravy" with this dish is absolutely amazing. Great on
roasted potatoes, too.

Scatter the garlic cloves and mushrooms around the meat. Add the liquids and then the thyme, bay, parsley, salt and pepper.

Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to simmer.

Cook—covered—for 2 hours, keeping check on the liquid level.

After 2 hours, remove the pork and add the flour/butter mixture. Let the liquid thicken and serve on top of pieces of roast.

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Viennese Dessert: Boozy Apricot Linzertorte

Marriage is a dinner that begins with dessert. – Toulouse Lautrec 

The boozy apricot filling really kicks this up a notch. You can use jam, if you must.

Is it a cake, is it a tart, is it a cookie? Well yes, to all three, and it has been true for quite a long time.

It has been written that the first mention of a recipe for this cake was in a book published in 1696. It originated in the German city of Linz. Torte is German for “cake.” Linzer - torte.

Knead this "mess" until it comes together in a ball.

My first exposure to this dessert was in a used cookbook I bought from Schooner Books on Inglis Street in Halifax. It’s an amazing place for rare and used books on any topic. I purchased my copy of Larousse Gastronomique there.

The cookbook was The Cooking of Vienna’s Empire (1968), one in a series called Time-Life Foods of the World. 

It’s 3/4 travelogue and 1/4 recipes, but many more recipes are referenced. Being published in the 1960s the travelogue parts are rather quaint.

A separate book came with each instalment that contained all the recipes. Of course, people got rid of the “picture books” and kept the recipes. I have four or five from the series, but no recipe books. They're all great.

Luckily, many classics have printed recipes in the picture book, like Dobos torte, Sacher torte, and Linzertorte. Many very interesting appetizer and entrée dishes are in there too. You can still buy the sets on Amazon.com.

Tortes are different than cakes. A torte uses more ground nuts in the dough than it does flour. A torte can be single layered, but also sliced horizontally and filled with jam, candied fruit, butter cream or whipped cream. 

I make my linzertorte with a lattice crust and filled with jam. That's another traditional way. Mmmm...

The crust for this torte has a base of ground almonds. This is an unusual dough to be sure. It’s actually more like a cookie dough with the lattice being piped on top rather than placed on in rolled strips. Good luck trying to roll this dough.

If you read yesterday’s post for Apricot Brandywine (another "Mmmmm...) I told you to save the brandy-soaked apricots. If you’re not going to make brandywine, or can’t wait, soaking the apricots overnight will just have to do.

The boozy apricots are made into a quick jam for the torte. The jam is not overly sweet, which in this kind of dessert can be a bonus. It means you can have a second piece (or third!!).

I should have snipped a smaller hole in my piping bag.
Luckily the taste isn't affected!

Boozy Apricot Linzertorte

Prep: 1 hour  |  Bake: 35 min  |  Yield: 9” torte

2-1/2 cups apricot jam (recipe follows)

1-1/2 c slivered almonds

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c butter

1-1/2 c. flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

Process nuts until ground. Add the sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter piece by piece until well mixed.

Turn out into a bowl and add the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together with a spoon. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Knead briefly until the dough comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. It will be very soft, more like cookie dough than crust.

Press 2/3 of the dough into a fluted edge tart pan. Make sure you press dough up to the top edge. Cover bottom crust with jam. 

Knead the remaining dough with your hands to to warm it up. Place the dough in a bag and snip off a small corner. Pipe the dough in a lattice pattern on top touching the crust edge.

Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes. It will darken up quite a bit. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing form.

Boozy Apricot “Jam”

Prep: overnight  |  Cook 35 min  |  Yield 2-1/2 cups

375 g dried apricots, soaked overnight in 1/4 cup brandy

1 cup water

juice of 1 orange

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients together in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer. 

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then uncover and let cook until there’s only about 1/4 cup liquid remaining. Don’t let the mixture burn.

Remove from the heat and purée either with a masher, food processor or emulsion blender.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

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Homemade Booze: Apricot Brandywine

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat. Please do put a penny in the old man’s hat. – traditional English Christmas rhyme

Is 7:30am too early to be testing brandywine. Maybe.

But rather than putting a penny in the old man’s hat why not a nice glass of apricot brandywine, to warm his bones?

As I write this, it’s December 2. That leaves just enough time to make this for the holiday season. Maybe not in time for Christmas Day per se, but for Christmas week, or most definitely for New Year’s Eve.

I can’t believe I just wrote that. Another year has flashed by. When will the time slow down, if ever?

Anyway, enough griping about time. I should just have a glass of apricot brandywine and even forget what day it is, rather than just what time of year.

This stuff is not what you buy in the store as Apricot Brandy. That is 24% alc.vol. I figure mine comes in at about 16%. Still dangerous, but less so. I think it's better.

Did you know that brandy is actually distilled from fruit, as opposed to grain? Some of the usual culprits are apple (Calvados), fruit like blackberries or currants, and grapes (brandy, cognac, armagnac).

Brandy actually started out as simply wine. Since the time wine was first fermented it has been a popular trading product. (I wonder why…) 

In the 1500s a Dutch trader invented a way to ship more wine per boatload. He removed some of the water. It was then reconstituted when it reached port. Clever…

The Dutch name for this product was "bradwijn," meaning "burned wine," and later became "brandy.

Since we’re not actually creating brandy from fermenting apricots we’ll have to settle for infusing existing brandy with apricot flavour. It’s actually very good, with a definite apricot taste on top of sweet wine. So be careful in what wine you buy.

This isn’t as intense an apricot flavour as “apricot brandy” but is an excellent thing to make purely for itself. It’s also a wonderful gift to receive, or to share with friends.

It’s not a strong enough alcohol taste to be used in apricot brandy cocktails like a Sidecar. Try it room temperature in a nice brandy snifter.

By the way, save the apricots. I’ll show you what i did with mine tomorrow.

Apricot Brandywine

Prep: 5 min  |  Age: 3-4 weeks  |  about 16% alc vol

1 cup sugar, divided
375g dried apricots, chopped
375 ml French brandy

750 ml good Kabinett

Mix together the sugar, apricots and brandy in a Mason jar. Let sit in a cool place for 3 weeks. Shake daily until the sugar dissolves.

After the 3 weeks, strain the mixture, reserving the apricots for another use. 

Measure the liquid in a large measuring container. You should have about 1-3/4 cups of infused brandy.

Add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and stir until it dissolves. Top with the Kabinett to make 1 L. Stir to mix.

Bottle and let sit for a further week before using, but can be used sooner.

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Recipe: Kaddo Bourani (Squash with Mint and Meat Sauces)

God comes to the hungry in the form of food. – Mahatma Gandhi

Only one word: wow.

Original from The Helmand Restaurant, published in SF Gate

It's amazing what you can find on the internet. All I was looking for was a different way to serve squash. I believe I found a culinary diamond. 

This dish is wonderful candied squash, topped with minty-garlicky yogurt sauce and then beautifully Middle Eastern spiced meat.

This is a recipe for Afghani Kaddo Bournai, or perhaps I should say a recipe for Kaddo Bourani from an Afghani restaurant. There is a difference.

This is the beef chopped in the food processor. Far
chunkier than ground beef. It add a nice texture.

It all started from a Google search for "unusual squash recipes". I had half a squash left over in the refrigerator.

What came up was the same recipe over and over and over. It sounded really good, and from post to post the recipe was almost cut and paste identical. It seems to have originated at a restaurant called The Helmand, with locations in San Francisco and Baltimore, USA.

In a couple posts some bloggers helpfully tried to give an alternate name, Kadu bouranee.

According to Wikipedia, Kadu bouranee is a pumpkin dish made by frying pumpkin with different spices. It is topped with sour cream and dried mint. That's not this Kaddo Bourani.

First, in Kaddo Bourani the pumpkin (in my case squash) is baked with sugar to sort of candy it (just a little); the sour cream sauce is yogurt, mint and garlic; and there is a delicious simmered meat sauce. That isn’t present in Kadu bouranee at all.

This was amazingly good. 

I have adjusted the amounts to reflect what I think will feed four people. What I prepared was nowhere near enough for two people. We could have eaten double the amount.

My spouse said this was the best way he ever had squash. High praise. For my part, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I have a physical reaction to food that I find well above par. I get kind of a slight body shiver. I got shivers over this one. Plural. Shivers.

Of course, I have altered the recipe somewhat from the original, but the heart of it remains intact. If you like squash and want to try something a little different make this. In fact, make a point of serving it this weekend. It's relatively inexpensive, too.

Even before it hits your plate you're treated to the wonderful exotic aromas of the spices in your kitchen. Cumin must be one of my favourite scents.

You've not experienced heaven on earth until you've tasted baked squash with garlic-mint yogurt and meat sauce. Seriously.

One last note: the recipe calls for a sugar pumpkin. This is not a jack o' lantern pumpkin. It's the small cooking pumpkin. You can also substitute your favourite winter squash variety. Pumpkin and squash are both "squash," after all.

Kaddo Bourani

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 1 hour  |  Serves 4

This is the sauce just as it starts to simmer for 1/2 hour.
The time tenderizes the meat and the tomatoes
break down to make a wonderful, slight sauce.

1 large sugar pumpkin, or medium squash

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp sugar

yogurt sauce

1-1/2 cup plain yogurt

5 garlic cloves, minced

1-1/2 tsp dried mint, or 1-1/2 tbsp fresh

1/2 tsp salt

meat sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, diced

2 lb beef, chopped or ground

4 plum tomatoes, chopped

8 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp salt

1-1/2 cups beef broth

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Clean the sugar pumpkin (or squash) of seeds and cut into four quarters. Remove the skin from the squash. Place the squash in a baking dish, rub with the oil and sprinkle each piece with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour.

While the squash is baking mix the yogurt, the 5 garlic cloves, mint and salt together in a bowl. Let the flavours mingle on the counter while the squash finishes cooking.

Make the meat sauce by heating the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the onion and sauté.

Prepare the beef (or use ground beef). I chopped my beef in a food processor so it had a rougher consistency than ground beef. It added a more "country" touch.

Let the onions cook in the pan until they begin to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the beef and cook until no longer pink.

Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. Let the mixture cook until he squash finishes cooking, about 30 minutes. The mixture will be almost dry and the tomatoes will break up.

To serve, place a squash quarter on a plate. Add a river of yogurt sauce and then top with meat sauce.

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