St. Tropez Chicken and Latkes for Hanukkah

Traditionally my family gets together for a Hanukkah Celebration each year and each year the question is what to prepare that isn't exactly the same as last year's celebration. Thankfully, Ruth of Once Upon a Feast came to my rescue and shared her recipe for St. Tropez Chicken. A family favourite Ruth promised this dish would not disappoint and she was so right.



Apologies for the poor plating but by the time I got the camera out people were already fixing their own plates and within seconds half the dish had already disappeared. For a nicer plating, check out Ruth's site.

St. Tropez Chicken

Prep time: 10 minutes
Marinating time: 1-2 days
Roasting time: 45 minutes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 roasting chicken, cleaned and cut into 8 pieces or, you can do as I did and just buy bone-in chicken breasts and thighs. I usually get 2 thighs per person (they’re so small) and 1 breast per person with a few extra pieces for the hardier eaters or left overs.
2 large heads of garlic, peeled and just whacked to crack them
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup honey
½ cup rose wine (or white in a pinch)
1 tbsp Herbes aux Provence (mixed dried herbs that have lavender flowers)

1. Combine everything into a zip lock baggie or shallow dish and marinate in the fridge for at least one day, maximum, 2 days.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C

3. Prepare a shallow baking dish that will hold all the chicken in one layer, skin side up. I actually lined a lipped large baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Place the chicken in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the chicken skin is golden and the juices run clear. The meat should not be pink.

4. It’s ready to serve, but if I need some time I just cover the chicken with foil to keep it warm without drying out.

Along with a main entry, you just can't have a Hanukkah dinner without including the famous potato latkes.



This recipe will feed about 10 hungry latka eaters.

Ingredients

10 lb white potatoes (my preference is russet, peeled and grated (we used the food processor to grate them)
2 large vidalia onions, grated
1/2 cup flour (we used quinoa flour)
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
canola oil for frying
sour cream and/or applesauce

1. Grate both the potatoes and onions
2. Put the grated potatoes and onions in cheesecloth and drain as much of the starchy liquid as you can - this makes for a crispier latka
3. Add eggs, flour, salt and pepper
4. Mix together well
5. With frypan on medium high and warmed add about 2 heaping tablespoons of mix to form patties and fry until brown, turn to finish frying. Serve warm with sour cream and/or applesauce.



Note: You'll need to keep adding oil to your frying pan. Remember that the latkes will absorb as much oil as you place in the frying pan so use sparingly.

Poppyseed Cookies

Sunita from Sunita's World has an event each month that encourages you to think about the spices in your kitchen and how you use them. For the month of December the decided spice is poppyseed and this month the guest host is RV of Food for 7 Stages of Life



This one was a no brainer for me since one of my warmest memories growing up was the smell of poppyseed cookies baking in my mother's kitchen. I knew I had a good recipe for them and also knew I was going to be making them this week for a gathering on the weekend. It's fun surprising my mother with treats that haven't been part of her daily life for many many years.




3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in poppyseeds

In large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar for approximately 4 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time until incorporated (about 1 minute each). Add juice, vanilla and almond extract. Stir in flour mixture slowly just until blended. Divide dough in 3 discs. Warp each in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Line baking sheet with parchment.

On lightly floured surface or between sheets of plastic wrap, roll out a dough disc to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out cookies with your cutter of choice leaving about 2 inches in between. Re-roll or refrigerate any remaining dough.

Bake in centre of preheated 350F oven until edges begin to brown - about 10-12 minutes. Mine were done at 11 minutes.

And look who are waiting for me to just drop one - please mom, just one - we promise to share.



This event is open until the end of the month and I know you're all in your kitchens getting ready for the holidays. Here are the guidelines:

1. Post any kind of recipe(s) cooked with White or Blue Poppy Seeds between now and Dec 31st 2009.
2. Provide a link back to Food for 7 Stages of Life" and Sunita from Sunita's World You can send archived entries as well. Update/Repost and provide a link to both posts. Please feel free to use the logo.

3. Mail your entries to foodfor7stagesoflife(at)gmail(dot)com with below details:

Mail Subject: Think Spice Think Poppy Seeds
Your Name:
Blog Name:
Recipe Name and URL:

4. Non bloggers can send their recipe(s) and picture to foodfor7stagesoflif(at)gmail(dot)com

Mini Greek Meatballs

For some reason this is a bigger year for social gatherings than in past years. Are people feeling better about the economy? or is it just the time of year that brings out the best (and sometimes the worst) in us. I'm doing my fair share of entertaining since I've always celebrated this season as Hannamas which combines Hanukkah and Christmas. Just give me a reason to celebrate and I'm there.

One of the events is a potluck and I really wanted to simplify my life. I happened upon an interesting recipe over at Kalyn's Kitchen that adapted a South Beach Diet recipe. I loved the ingredients and decided to give it a trial run before I make it for the pot luck. It also doesn't hurt that it's figure friendly given that I'll probably have to have my jaws wired shut just to get through the holiday season.



Mini Greek Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef (I used lamb)
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 cup very finely crumbled feta cheese (measure after crumbling finely with a fork)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large egg
1 T extra virgin olive oil, plus more for baking dish
1 T dried Greek oregano
4 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt (optional - I didn't use it since the Feta is salty)
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp Greek seasoning (I omitted this since I didn't have any on hand)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Use a food processor to chop the onion very finely (or a box grater), then drain if it seems like there is a lot of liquid.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, then use your hands to mix ingredients.

Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish (I foiled and sprayed). Shape meat into 1 Tbsp size meatballs and place on baking sheet.


Bake 20 minutes, after which time you will see liquid oozing out.


Turn meatballs and bake 10 more minutes. Turn again, and bake 5-10 more minutes, until meatballs are well-browned and cooked through.

Tzatziki Sauce is great with these meatballs.

Verdict: Using the lamb instead of beef gave it a distinctive and wonderful flavour. I found that I didn't need the full 20 minutes in my oven before the first turn and that the meatballs were done by the end of the first turn.

I would make these again and double or triple the recipe for a crowd.