Spanish chicken casserole

On the weekend I cooked a chicken casserole for a student who was having family and friends over for dinner, she asked me to cook a dish I had created in one of my cooking classes a year ago and as I put the ingredients together I realised what a beautiful and jam packed nutritional recipe it is. In the photograph are some ingredients fro the recipe, dutch cream potatoes and Sicilian green olives......the rest is as follows.


1 whole chicken (cut into 8) get your butcher to do this for you
3 cups chicken stock
1 bunch thyme
fresh pepper and sea salt to season
2 tablespoons organic clarified butter
1 brown onion (diced)
5 cloves garlic (cut into halves)
200g good quality green olives
2 tablespoons pine nuts - roasted
1 cup white wine
1 kg dutch cream potatoes


In a large stockpot saute the onions and garlic in the clarified butter, in a large fry pan seal the chicken and get the skin crispy.
Put the chicken into the stockpot with the fat from the fry pan and add all the remaining ingredients (it's so simple)
Cook for 25 minutes on medium heat and then serve with brown rice

Spinach, goats feta and lemon sumac borek

I first came across the delicious borek when I was working for a very talented Israeli Moroccan caterer in Byron Bay, now in Sydney my dear Israeli friend Michal makes them and at Roshana I was re-united with them after my experience with Ronit in Byron Bay!

These ones I made in the photograph were for my friend Alison's birthday party I tried not to sneak any on my way to the party.

I was curious about the borek so went onto wikipedia and this is what it say's: 'Börek is very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, including North African cuisine. The Northern Slavic cuisines, historically developed by people living in close contact with the Turkic peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature derivatives of the börek. In Israel, börek is part of Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Palestinian traditions'

They are the perfect party canape and are really fun to put together!

Ingredients

1 bunch washed and chopped spinach
1 packet goat's feta
1 tablespoon sumac (avail at middle eastern supermarkets)
2 lemons juiced
Sea salt to season
1 packet good quality short crust pastry (check ingredients make sure no trans fats)
black sesame seeds

Method

Quickly cook the spinach and then cut even small, in a bowl add the feta, sumac and lemon and stir, taste and season.
Cut the pastry into 4 pieces and put some filling in the middle then fold up into a triangle shape and put on a baking tray
Sprinkle with black sesame seeds and back in an oven on 170 degrees for 20 minutes or golden and crispy.