Dancing Chicken aka Beer Can Chicken

Yes, I'm making a Dancing Chicken today.  I'm going to make that Chicken literally DANCE!!  This is actually a BBQ recipe, but since my bbq pit isn't big enough nor does it come with a fully covered lid, i used the oven instead.

If you do have a bbq pit with a full lid, pile the charcoal on the inner corner of the pit, light it.  Heat should reach about 180 degree celsius.  Cook the chicken in the corner of the pit that has no charcoal.  Brush marinate on it every half and hour.  After 1.5hours of cooking turn the chicken so that it browns evenly.  Cook it for about 3hours on the pit.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

1 Chicken (I prefer to use free range)
1 can of beer
1/2 a french onion
Salt
Black pepper

Marinate

(You can basically use anything you fancy for the marinate, whatever u can find at home, I used the following)

1/4 can of beer
2 table spoon of oyster sauce
A dash of sherry
Soy sauce
Chopped onions
chilli sauce
mustard

How to cook

Preheat oven at 180 degrees celsius

Wash chicken, Cut onions into cubes
Rub chicken with a little salt and pepper

Use only 1/2 can of beer

Stuff beer can with 1/2 beer into chicken's "ass", make sure your onions stay intact inside the chicken's cavity (So now your chicken is standing and ready to rock) This actually allow the beer to infuse into the flesh of the chicken during cooking and keep it moist from the inside and crispy on the outside during the long  cooking time.

Stand the chicken in a baking tray

Brush on marinate on the chicken, make sure u coat it well.

Usher your chicken on to the "dance floor" (oven)

Let it dance for 30mins, brush on marinate again.

While waiting, fry the fries in hot oil for 5-7 mins on high heat, depending on how crispy you want it

Keep brushing it with marinate every 30 mins for about 2hours or till it's beautifully browned and crispy.

Serve with Salad or Fries.  I used the frozen fries my dad had brought for me recently.

 Bon Appetit,

Monica Eng

Singapore

Fresh green beans or Louvi

I decided to cook something more traditional. In Cyprus people eat Louvi (Fresh Green Beans) twice a week. I remember my mum forcing me to eat it when I was a child. Even though louvi is tradition for us, I love it and it is consider a healthy meal.

For the plain recipe I used Cypriot fresh Green Beans/Louvi and for the salad i used Austrian beans. You can use watever you want.


Plain Fresh Green Beans-Louvi Ingredients

Fresh Green Beans - Louvi (as much as you want)
Olive oil
1 lemon
salt
bread

Method

Clean the beans really well.
Boil the green beans on high temperature for about 5 minute and then reduce the temperature at least half of what it was, cover the top of the pan and cook for another 25-30 minutes until cooked.
Drain them and add a bit of olive oil, lemon and salt.

Serve them with bread or some anchovies. If you want you can also serve them with a can of tuna, sliced onions, lemon, olive oil, salt and some parsley.











Ingredients for the salad

Fresh Green beans-louvi (I used Austrian beans this time, they are smaller in size)
fresh greens for the salad
canned tuna
onion or leek sliced(depends on your taste)
baby tomatoes (cut in half)
lemon
oil
salt

Method

Cook the Green Beans as mentioned above.
Then add all the ingredients in a plate with a bit of olive oil, lemon and salt and serve.





Enjoy!!
Mary
Cyprus

Cupcakes

Anyone can do them. They are not as difficult as everyone thinks. Just make sure all the ingredients have room temperature.

Ingredients (serves 4)

225gr Slightly salted butter
225gr Superfine sugar (caster)
4 Medium eggs
225gr Self raising flour
1tsp Vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven 165 C, then put cupcake cases on a backing tray.
Add sugar, sifted flour, butter and vanilla in a processor, blitz on med power till mixed well.
Add eggs one by one and mix in between each addition.
Spoon into cases and fill just over half.
Cook for 15-20 mins or till golden brown.





















Icing

100gr unsalted butter
125gr creme cheese (if you don't have creme cheese then you can add 125gr more butter)
450gr sifted icing sugar
2 1/2 tbsp of cold water
1tsp vanilla extract
coloring.

Method

Beat the butter and the creme cheese in a food processor until soft.
Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar and water a little at a time until fluffy.
Add colouring and beat again so it mixes well, just at the end add the Vanilla extract and beat on high setting for a few seconds. You can use a spoon to put it on top of the cupcakes or pipe it with a bag and nozzle. I used a spoon to make these ones. You can also use whatever you want for decoration, I used vermicelli.

















Enjoy!!
Mary
Cyprus
xxx

Salty Rice (Kiam Png - 咸饭)

After a whole week of obligational McDonalds meal, I was really craving for a simple and light dish.  I remember when I was young, my mum used to hold 2 jobs at one point of time and sometimes she didn't have time to cook so she'll do a one pot dish.  I didn't use to like it very much as I love variety, but over the years I grew to love this simple dish.

I was contemplating if I should blog about this dish as it's really really simple.  I decided to do it the minute I opened the rice pot and smell the familiar fragrance of this simple dish.  So the photos taken today are using Iphone. :P

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1/2 a Chicken (Preferably free range chicken aka Kampong chicken)
5-6 long beans
1/2 a cabbage
dried anchovies (Optional, i didn't add this today)

Cut chicken into pieces
Marinate chicken with salt and let it sit for an hour. (optionally you can also add some sesame oil and chinese rice wine to the marinate)  I went for the simplest way, just salt.
Cut long beans into 2 inch length
Cut cabbage into bite size squares
Wash rice
Use a little lesser water for the rice then usual as the vegetables and chicken have lots of water in them.

Put vegetables and cabbage in the pot.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt, mix well.

Lay the chicken pieces on top of the rice and vegetales.  That way the essence from the chicken will go into the rice as you cook. And you won't wash off too much of the marinate in the rice water too.

Serve with some sambal chilli or just cut chilli with soy sauce.

Bon Appetit

Monica Eng

Singapore

Salmon gnocchi bake recipe

I was bored today and i wanted to do something quick so I decided to make gnocchi and salmon in the oven

Ingredients

500gr packet fresh gnocchi (you can make them yourself but you can also find fresh gnocchi at the supermarket)
25gr butter
1 small leek, thickly sliced
200gr cream cheese
2 tbs tomato puree
1 or 2 tsp dried chili flakes (put as much as you want)
Zest of Lemon
a handful of parsley
150gr salmon fillet, chopped into small pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi and cook for 1-2 minutes, until cooked. (The gnocchi will float to the surface when they are ready.) Drain and reserve 250ml of the cooking water. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a wide, deep frying pan and gently fry the leek for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Stir in the cream cheese, tomato puree, chili flakes, lemon zest, parsley and reserved water (not a lot, until it covers your ingredients), until the cheese has melted and everything is combined. Adjust the seasoning.

Add the gnocchi and salmon to the frying pan and stir to coat. Spoon into a deep dish and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden on top. You can serve it with a slice of lemon if you want.

Inspired from delicious magazine

Enjoy!!
Mary Savvidou
Cyprus

Reviews 1 - Kuzina Athens

Me and Marilena visited Athens last weekend and we went to eat at the Kuzina Restaurant. It was my boyfriend's idea and it was a lovely idea indeed. Most of the dishes are variations of the traditional Greek cuisine and some are influenced mostly from East Asia.

The restaurant is located at Thissio, a really busy street opposite Acropolis. If you find a table at the roof you will enjoy a really amazing view.

We ordered:

cured octopus with fennel shavings
calamari with ginger sesame oil and chili
crab cakes with spicy aioli sauce
risotto with pumpkin charred corn goat cheese and saffron
pork roasted in the oven for 12 hours with lime basil and a pineapple
dumplings filled with feta cheese mousse and served with pomegranate sauce

Sorry about the photos. I had my small camera with me and i forgot to take photos of all the dishes because i was enjoying the food soooo much :)

the calamari:





and this was my favorite, dumplings filled with feta cheese mousse and served with pomr grande sauce. The taste was really amazing.




It was an interesting experience for us, so if you are in Athens, pay it a visit.

You can find more information on their website