Beer Butt Chook

Well, I did make this chicken in Australia, and therefore it must be a chook...?

27 days of eating, drinking, and being merry. I've just come out of an amazing holiday season that I spent with Nathan and my parents. It has been a hard adjustment to say goodbye to them knowing that, because I live on the other side of the world, it could be another long haul until I see them again. Either way, holidays are never really over because they live on in our memories. And boy do I have some good memories. 

Of those 27 days, 12 were spent at our home in Adelaide. We went on a lot of adventures while here, had some great lunches, but every single night but one was spent at my house. That's 11 dinners in a row - with not a lot of time for prep in a given day. If you know me, you'd know I didn't take this task lightly.

Brilliantly, I sat down with Nathan ahead of the holidays and made a meal plan for the nights in Adelaide. That, I must admit, was genius on my part. The other thing that made my life SO much easier was having my beautiful Mom as my "sous chef." I'll halt there and pick that up in another blog entry. Let's get on with the main takeaway for you - the juiciest, easiest, yummiest chicken I have ever made. Enjoy!

1 whole chicken

1 can of beer at room temperature

Rub - you can use any rub you like, I've played around a lot and loved this one:

2 tsp chile powder 

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp paprika (can used smoked for added va va voom)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

a few grinds of sea salt and pepper 

1. Wash chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towel. My chickens don't have any of the insides in them - but if yours does, remove and discard.

2. Cover chicken with rub, using all the rub. If you have some left over when the chicken is covered, I suggest pouring it in the cavity for extra flavour. 

3. Pour out half the beer. Using a small knife, carefully put two more holes in the top of the can. Slide the chicken over the beer can.

4. Carefully place on the BBQ, placing the legs forward so the can and the two legs make a tripod. BBQ over indirect medium heat for about an hour - the time will depend entirely on your BBQ, but the chicken's internal temperature taken at the thickest part of the thigh, with out hitting the bone, should be 170F. 

5. Let the chicken rest 10 minutes before carving. 

Serve and prepare to take your praise!

Sarah's Chicken Puttanesca

Puttanesca. Generally meaning a spicy dish of tomatoes, onions, capers, olives and anchovies, and usually served on pasta. Those of you that know me might know now why I added the qualifier “Sarah’s” in the title. There’s no way I am using anchovies in anything. (I don’t care how you feel about that, Dad.)

We had this lovely dish for dinner last night with an Australian Shiraz. It was fantastic yet again. We have this one every once in awhile as it is one of Nathan’s favourites.

When I thought about the blog entry for this dish, I decided to use my handy Food Lover’s Companion, which I’ve mentioned before. Much to my dismay, the definition of Puttanesca in this book was rather off-putting and I didn’t find it appropriate for my blog at all. Let’s just say, it comes from the Italian word Puttana which means, um… a… lady of leisure, if you will. It goes even further about why it is named after that, but that’s where I am stopping. And, let’s just say, the amendment I make to this dish (mentioned above) eliminates the comparison completely…

Anyway, here goes.

1 tbsp olive oil

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 medium onion cut into 1 cm rings

12 garlic cloves split lengthwise

1 35 oz can of whole plum tomatoes

½ cup sliced black olives

½ cup sliced green olives (with pimentos)

2 tbsp baby capers

¼ cup sundried tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 pinches red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

1.     Heat oil in large frying pan over medium high heat. Brown chicken on both sides, about 4 minutes each. Remove from the pan and set aside.

2.     Lower the heat to medium low and add onion and garlic to the same pan. Toss until softened, but careful not to burn, about 8 minutes.

3.     Stir in the tomatoes, followed by the remaining ingredients. Add the chicken back to the pan and coat well with sauce. Cover and simmer until sauce is thickened and chicken tender, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve on pasta and prepare to take your praise!

Slow Cooker Chicken Chasseur

I hate leftovers. I get that from my Dad who also hates them. Though some people would eat leftovers for breakfast (sister) and even cold (husband), I avoid them like the plague. I prefer to send all leftovers to work with my husband, or to the trash can. Having said that, I made this recipe last night and...drum roll...I can't wait to eat the leftovers tonight.

Here's a little tidbit of information I pulled from my Food Lover's Companion, a book that I use every once and awhile to look up foods, techniques, etc. It is basically a food encyclopedia, very cool for all foodies. "Chasseur" means hunter in French. Therefore, this recipe is for Hunter's Chicken, French style. The most popular type of Hunter's Chicken is the Italian version - Chicken Cacciatore [kah-chuh-toh-ray]. I am going to go out on a bold limb here and say that I like this better than its Italian counterpart, and you just might too.

I know that sometimes "slow cooker" means "kinda dull." I have started to realise, however, that there are plenty of gourmet and even company-worthy recipes that you make using your slow cooker, and this is one of them. I repeat - I would serve this for any lucky crowd.

Prep: under an hour
Slow cooker time: 3 hours on high
Thickening time: 15-20 minutes after slow cooked
Serve with crusty bread
Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

8 oz of bacon, chopped fine (about 8 normal slices)
4-6 large skin on, bone in chicken thighs
1.25 lbs cremini (swiss brown) mushrooms, quartered
1 red onion, chopped medium
4 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 cups dry white wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 (400 gr) can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 oz dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed and chopped fine
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced

I added a whole carrot, chopped for colour.

1. Turn slow cooker on to preheat. Cook bacon in skillet over medium heat until it is crisp, about 8-10 minutes. Add bacon to slow cooker, reserving the fat in a small dish.

2. Dry the chicken with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Add half the bacon fat back into the skillet and heat on medium high until just smoking. Brown chicken, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the browned skin from chicken and add to the slow cooker.

3. Add the rest of the bacon fat to the skillet over medium heat. Add cremini mushrooms, red onion, 1/4 tsp salt and carrots (if using) and cook until mushrooms are brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic until fragrant (about 15 seconds). Add wine and tomato paste and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Pour veggie mixture into slow cooker.

4. Add the tomatoes, 1.5 cups of the broth (saving .5 cup for step 5), porcini mushrooms, thyme, bay leaves and red pepper flakes to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.

Simmer the sauce and flour mixture over medium heat to thicken

5. Remove chicken from slow cooker and put on plate, tenting loosely with foil. Pour the mixture into large skillet over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the remaining .5 cup of broth and stir into the sauce. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15-20 minutes until sauce is thickened and doesn't taste like flour. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Pour sauce over chicken in a shallow bowl, garnish with parsley and serve with warm crusty bread on the side.

Serve and prepare to take your praise!

Serving suggestion: Overnight Artisan Crusty Bread