Prairie Kitchens - Creamed Chicken & Mamaliga

What's your comfort food? Ask one hundred people and you might get one hundred different answers. For Lisa Lambert, it's Creamed Chicken, a Romanian recipe brought to Saskatchewan with her grandmother one hundred years ago.

"It's steeped in nostalgia," she says. "We crave the foods that hold good memories for us and I have very good memories of Granny cooking good food for us."

Granny Mary Wilchuck was a little girl (nee Gnesner) when she immigrated to Canada with her family in 1914 and settled in Southey. They came from an area called Bukovina which was, at that time, under the authority of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, the area was historically Romanian. So, while Granny Wilchuck considered herself Austrian and spoke German, their immigration papers listed Romania as the country of origin.

This bit of history illustrates how blurred ethnic origins can become through the centuries of shifting borders, and how this is often reflected in favourite family recipes. At 17, she wed a farmer almost twice her age, an arranged marriage. It was not a blissful union, according to Lambert, but Granny Wilchuck was always smiling when she cooked for her family.

In time, she taught this recipe to her British daughter-in-law, Marilyn Wilchuck. Lambert has included the recipe in her cookbook, Recipes I Stole from My Mum, noting that, as a child, she always requested it for her birthday dinner. Mamaliga is the Romanian word for polenta, a corn meal porridge still popular on Romanian dinner tables today.

Creamed Chicken
5–6 lbs chicken parts
Water to cover
2 chicken bouillon cubes or 2 tbsp instant chicken bouillon
2 tbsp salt
4 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 cup flour
1 cup water

Cover the chicken in water in a large dutch oven. Add chicken bouillon, salt and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Remove a small amount of broth and cool. Gradually stir sour cream into cooled broth. Return to the simmering sauce, stirring constantly.

Mix flour and remaining 1 cup water until smooth. Stir into sauce to thicken. Discard bay leaves. Serve over corn meal.

Corn Meal (Mamaliga)
6 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2 cups yellow corn meal

Bring water to boil in a large pot. Add salt and butter. Add corn meal gradually and stir constantly until thick. Simmer about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until corn meal starts to pull away from the sides of the pot. Serve hot.

(This article first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.)

Prairie Kitchens - Chicken Paprika

The curious thing about pioneer food is the sheer diversity of recipes despite a short list of ingredients. Basic groceries included flour, sugar, baking powder, oats, raisins, a few spices, coffee or tea. Most everything else was grown, raised or picked on or near the farm.

Yet in the hands of skilled cooks, with their own ethnic flare, these simple ingredients were turned into the unique flavours of the Old Country. Take for instance, Hungarian cuisine. Spice it with paprika, throw in some poppy seeds, thicken with sour cream, add some dumplings, and you've got dishes to warm the heart of every ethnic Hungarian.

In 1886, thirty-five families arrived at Esterhazy Colony, most of them Hungarians already living in the United States, enticed by immigration agent Count Paul Esterhazy (that wasn't his real name and he wasn't a real count). It would become the largest Hungarian settlement in Canada.

In 1902, the "Count" was hired by the Canadian government to produce a 67-page brochure full of glorious descriptions, prosperous-looking photos and glowing testimonies from farmers already there. On the subject of winter: "peculiarly healthful, elastic, bracing atmosphere." Of summer: "warmed and lighted by an Italian sun."

Perhaps inspired by that pamphlet, the Chomos, Shivak and Herperger families came as a group to Saskatchewan from Hungary in 1906. Their descendant Jerome Chomos of Saskatoon recalls the creamy one-pot stews, poppy seed strudel, homemade noodles and palascinta crepes of his grandma, dishes still lovingly cooked in Esterhazy by his 93-year-old mother Alice.

Chicken Paprika
1 whole chicken, cut up
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp Hungarian paprika
1 tbsp each vegetable oil and butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup sour cream

Pat the chicken dry with paper towel. Place 1/4 cup flour, salt and half the paprika in a plastic bag. Shake chicken in the flour so each piece is lightly coated. In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter on high. Cook the chicken, turning once until browned on both sides. Remove chicken to a plate. You may need to do this in two batches; use more oil-butter if needed.

Wipe most of the remaining fat from the pan. Reduce heat to medium. Cook the onions and garlic until soft. Sprinkle with remaining paprika and stir well. Add the chicken stock. Bring to a bubble, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.

Return chicken pieces to the pan. Cover. Simmer on low until the chicken is cooked, about one hour, turning chicken once. Stir the remaining flour into the sour cream. Gradually stir into the sauce, spooning over the chicken. Warm through. Serve with spatzle noodles.

Spatzle (Drop Noodles)
This recipe is from The Hungarian Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago, 1973

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup water
1/4 cup melted butter

Sift together flour and salt. In another bowl, mix the egg and water. Gradually add flour to the egg mixture, stirring until smooth. Batter should be very thick and break from a spoon instead of pouring in a continuous stream.

Boil a pot of salted water. Spoon batter into the boiling water by 1/2 teaspoonfuls, dipping spoon into water to prevent sticking. Cook one layer of noodles at a time; do not crowd. After noodles rise to the surface, boil another 5 minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon. As they are cooked, put the spatzle into a bowl and toss with melted butter.

If you plan to make spatzle often, you might with to invest in a spatzle maker: http://www.amazon.ca/Norpro-3128-Spaetzle-Maker/dp/B00004UE89

Do you have prairie recipe with a story? Send a comment. Follow me at twitter.com/prairiefeast.

(This article first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.)

Chicken x 4 and counting

Here we are, the fourth meal from one big farm chicken. (Well, more than four if you count leftovers!) Today, I boiled the carcass with herbs and vegetables to make a nice chicken stock, which I used to make Mushroom Orzotto. Recipe here. There's more stock, so tune in for Meal #5.

Check out the other meals here:

Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3

The chicken is from a CSA operation (community supported agriculture) near Saskatoon: Susan 343-7990.

Chicken x 4 and counting

Meal #3 with my lovely free-range 10 pound farm chicken: Blackened Chicken Breasts on Caesar Salad. Blackened chicken recipe here. Caesar salad recipe here.

Other meals here:
Meal 1
Meal 2
Meal 4

Chicken x 4 and counting

Here we are, night #2 with a 10 pound chicken. First night was Chicken Cacciatore. Tonight, I sauteed the liver with onions. See the other meals:

Meal 1

Meal 3

Meal 4

Chicken x 4 and counting

I bought a lovely free-range chicken from Susan Chalmers' CSA at Furdale, outisde Saskatoon. A CSA is a farm/garden where consumers pay up-front for their food, which is delivered to them through the season as it becomes ready to eat. (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.)

I'm totally hooked on old-fashioned run-around-the-farm chickens. They've got so much more flavour and good chicken fat than factory-farm birds, which makes them, in my opinion, much better for stews and soups. The chicken breasts were thick and juicy without the addition of water, which is often pressed into grocery store chicken meat.

Here's what Susan says about her chickens: "I'm so glad you liked them. They were a huge undertaking, but I am so glad I did them. It was good for my kids to see the process of raising them to table (as well as for me), and I feel good in the fact that they were able to lead a "normal" chicken life (albeit not a long one)." If you're interested in Susan's CSA, you can call her at 343-7990.

It's a big chicken -- more than two people could eat at one sitting -- so I've stretched it into several meals, the first of which was Chicken Cacciatore. I cut the meat off the bones, saving the breast, liver and carcass for another day.

Meal 2

Meal 3

Meal 4

Newspaper Column - four ways with ROAST CHICKEN

Publish in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 23 March 2009

The only thing worse than a frigid March is a frigid March with a chest cold. And when I have a chest cold, there’s nothing I want more than homemade chicken soup. Which brings me to the subject of cooking a chicken.

Coincidentally, I have just joined the Facebook group “Support Backyard Chicken Coops in Saskatoon” which calls on city hall to permit the raising of a few hens in a cage in the backyard. I have heard rumours that some agrarian souls are already raising chickens on the sly, so perhaps this is a good time for a general discussion on the merits and demerits of the concept.

The idea is not far-fetched: Two weeks ago, the city of Vancouver asked its staff to draft a bylaw amendment that would permit urban chicken coops. Apparently, it’s been standard practice in Portland, Oregon, for so long they offer workshops and tours of their backyard henhouses. But at this very moment I am most interested in the chicken in my pot.

Day One: Roast Chicken.
It is best to begin with a big meaty chicken, not a dainty fryer, and preferably a bird that got some fresh air and sunshine during its time on this earth. Place the bird breast-side down in a roasting pan. Put a few cloves of garlic in the cavity. Surround it with potatoes, carrots and onions cut into quarters.

Drizzle everything with olive oil, sprinkle on salt, pepper and herbs such as rosemary and thyme (fresh or dried) and pour in one-half cup of water. Place in a 400F oven. Baking time will depend on the size of the chicken. A free-range four-pound bird will take about an hour, bigger birds will be longer. To test for doneness, insert a knife into the thick part of the thigh joint. The juice should run clear, not pink.

Remove from the oven and carefully lift the chicken onto a cutting board, tipping it so all the juices flow into the pan. Carve the chicken and eat with the roast vegetables.

After dinner, place the roasting pan on low heat. Add a half-cup of water and simmer, scraping up the brown bits. Pour the juices through a strainer into a large glass measuring cup or bowl. Refrigerate.

Day Two: Chicken Stock
Remove the meat from the chicken. Put the carcass in a large soup pot. Add onion, carrots and celery roughly chopped, a handful of parsley stems and all, peppercorns, coriander seeds and a bay leaf. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer two hours.

Pour the stock through a sieve to remove the bones and vegetables. Cool and place the stock in the refrigerator (or outside when it’s cold). Skim off the fat that rises to the top. Discard the vegetables (preferably to the compost). Remove any remaining meat and discard the bones.

Day Three: Chicken Soup
Take the pan juices from the fridge. They will have separated into layers. Remove and discard the top whitish layer. The bottom layer is now a flavourful jelly. Melt the jelly on low heat in a soup pot and proceed with the recipe below.

Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken jelly
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tsp dried herbs (thyme, oregano, coriander, basil)
1 bay leaf
1-2 cups leftover chicken, chopped
1 tsp salt and ample ground pepper
Small soup noodles

Melt the chicken jelly in a stock pot. Sauté onion and garlic until brown. Add carrots, celery, chicken stock, water, parsley, herbs and bay leaf. Boil until carrot is cooked. Remove bay leaf. Add chicken, salt and pepper, keeping at a simmer.
Meanwhile, boil the pasta noodles according to the package directions. Taste the soup, adding salt and pepper if needed. To serve, place noodles in a bowl and ladle on the soup.

Day 4: Chicken Pie
When I roast a big chicken for John and I, we usually have enough meat left over to make my grandma’s chicken pie.

Leftover chicken - GRANDMA'S CHICKEN PIE

John loves roast chicken because he knows it results in a chicken pie a few days later.

I learned to make chicken pie by watching my grandma. She didn’t use exact measurements and neither do I. So, there’s plenty of room for experimentation and adding your personal touch.

It starts with a roast free-range chicken that includes roast potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, plus the flavourful jelly made from the drippings. Sometimes I add cooked fresh peas when I have them.

Approx. 1/4 cup chicken jelly or butter, or a mix of both
Approx. 1/4 cup flour
Leftover chicken, roast potatoes, carrots and onions
Dried or fresh sage and thyme
Salt and pepper
Double pie crust

In a large skillet, melt the chicken jelly and/or butter.

Chop the roast onions and garlic. If there aren’t a lot of roast onions, chop some fresh onion, too. Add to the melted chicken jelly. Sauté until warm and soft.

Sprinkle on most of the flour and stir with a fork to incorporate. The flour should absorb all of the liquid. If it doesn’t, add a bit more flour. Cook the flour paste until it starts to brown.

Add a cup of water and stir well so that the liquid breaks down all the flour, with no clumps. Simmer until thickened.

While it simmers, chop the roast potatoes, carrots and chicken into small pieces. When the liquid is thickened, add another half cup of water along with the potatoes, carrots and chicken. Stir well. Add the herbs, salt and pepper.

Sage is a powerful herb so don’t add too much. I start with about a teaspoon of crumbled dried sage or 4 big leaves of fresh sage, finely sliced. After cooking awhile, taste to determine if there’s enough sage and add more if you like. Also taste for salt and pepper to determine if more is needed.

By now, the mixture will have absorbed much of the liquid. Add more water so that the meat and vegetables are about half covered. Simmer. The liquid will thicken up again. When it is no longer runny, turn off the heat and let it sit until it cools off a bit.

Place a pie crust in a pie plate. Pour in the cooled meat filling and apply the top crust. Cut slits in the top crust. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes, until the pie crust is a nice golden brown.

It’s best not to serve the pie piping hot from the oven. Let it rest and cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Flavours of the Orient - HOT & SOUR SOUP

Hot & Sour Soup
Despite its Asian flavours, most of the ingredients in this soup can be found locally in and around Saskatoon. Here is a list of the ingredients in my soup, but feel free to substitute what is available to you. Measurements are not precise—use as much or as little as you like:

Mushrooms – sun-dried Saskatchewan chanterelles (rehydrated in hot water)
Chicken broth – homemade from a farm chicken (see technique)
Tofu – locally-made; purchased at Chung Wah Chinese Grocery in Riversdale.
Bean sprouts – sprouted from the Asian blend sold by Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds.
Chives – from my garden
Green onions – from the grocery (local when available)
Hot sauce – made by Droolin’ Devil (a Saskatoon company)
Bamboo shoots, sesame oil, white wine vinegar, soy sauce, rice noodles – imported brands.

Bring 4-5 cups of chicken broth to the boil. Add the mushrooms and their soaking liquid. Add sliced bamboo shoots (perhaps 1/2 cup). Add firm tofu cut into bite-sized cubes. Add one bunch of rice noodles (thick or thin). Reduce heat and simmer a few minutes, until the noodles are soft. Add a few chopped green onions and a big handful of bean sprouts. Stir in:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed in 1/4 cup water

Stir soup until thickened by cornstarch. Remove from heat. Beat one egg. Pour egg in a stream into hot soup, stirring all the while. Season with salt to taste. Spice up with hot sauce to your liking. Serve in bowls sprinkled with chives.

(In the past, I have varied the ingredients to include: chopped leftover chicken, snow peas and/or broccoli.)

There's life in them thar bones - CHICKEN STOCK

So there I was, listing off the ingredients in a pot of stew, one of which was homemade chicken stock, and my friend Vance interrupted: "How do you make chicken stock?" Vance, my dear, it's the easiest thing in the world. No chicken bones (or ham or bison or fish) pass through my kitchen without doing second duty as stock. So here's how to make chicken stock:

Buy chicken and cut the meat off the bones, or roast a chicken and use the leftover bones. Put the bones in a pot and cover with water. Add one big onion quartered, one or two carrots quartered, one or two celery stalks quartered, some sprigs of fresh parsley (or dried), a bay leaf, a pinch of peppercorns and, if you have it, a teaspoon of coriander seeds. (You may have noticed that, other than the peppercorns, this is made entirely with Saskatchewan ingredients.) Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer covered for an hour. Cool the pot. Put the pot in the fridge (or outside when the weather is cold) until the fat solidifies on the surface -- lift off the fat and discard. Drain the stock to remove the bones and vegetables. The stock is now ready for cooking. Use it in: Barley Risotto, Four Grain Soup, Zuppa del Contadina, Hot & Sour Soup or Beef Bourguignon.

TIP I keep a zipper bag of scrap vegetables in the freezer for making stock: things like carrot peels, onion and celery trimmings, stems of parsley and other herbs, garlic skins, tomato ends -- anything that would add flavour to stock. When I start a batch of stock, I dump this bag of scraps into the water with the bones. Nothing goes to waste!

Spice of Life - CHICKEN TAGINE

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE

This recipe is named for the type of ceramic dish in which it is traditionally cooked. Any covered pot will do, preferably one that can go from the stove to the oven.

The following ingredients are produced in Saskatchewan: chicken, canola oil, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, onion, tomatoes, garlic, carrots and chickpeas. If you cannot find the spice seeds, substitute curry powder such as Chatty’s Calcutta Curry (made in Saskatoon).

1 chicken cut into pieces
1/4 cup olive or canola oil
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 onion chopped
6-8 canned tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
1 can chickpeas
12 prunes and/or dried apricots
salt and pepper
2 tbsp. almond slivers, toasted (opt.)
preserved lemon rind (opt.) (see below)
black or green olives (opt.)

Grind the spices (coriander, cumin, fenugreek) in a spice grinder.

Heat the oil in an oven-proof pot. Lightly salt the chicken and sauté in the oil. Sprinkle with a bit of the spice blend. When the chicken is nicely browned, add the rest of the ingredients, except the optional items. Add four cups of water and bring to a boil.

Cover the pot and bake in a 325F oven for 2 hours. Check occasionally and add more liquid if necessary. During the last half an hour, stir in the preserved lemon rind and continue baking uncovered. You can also add black or green olives at this point.

Before serving remove the lemon peel. Serve alone or with couscous or rice, sprinkled with the toasted almonds.

PRESERVED LEMONS
6 small lemons, preferably organic
1/4 cup rock salt (un-iodized)
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
6-8 coriander seeds
3-4 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf

You’ll need a glass container with a tight-fitting lid.

Cut the lemons in half. Then, cut them ALMOST into quarters, in other words don’t slice all the way through.

Press one section of lemon into the bottom of the jar, releasing the juice. Sprinkle with salt. Press a few more slices on top, sprinkling with salt as you go along. Put the cinnamon, coriander, peppercorns and bay leaf into the jar. Continue pressing in lemon sections, releasing the juice and sprinkling with salt, until all the lemons are in the jar. The lemons should be completely covered with lemon juice. If they are not covered, add some more juice or water. Secure the jar and refrigerate, shaking now and then.

Leave in the jar to marinate one month before using. To use, remove the flesh and wash the peel of salt. Use the peel only.

Have a heart? - CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE

I buy free-range chickens from Karen and John Dale at Meacham, Sask. They are delivered to my house cleaned, frozen and bagged. I found it curious that my chickens had a heart and a gizzard, but no liver. So, I asked Karen why there was no liver in my chicken. Well, it turns out that she sells the livers separately, rather than leave them in the chicken for someone who would just toss them out. Smart, I thought, and I ordered two extra pounds of livers. Here’s what I did with them:

CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE
3/4 cup butter
olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup brandy
1 pound chicken livers
small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems

Melt the butter on the stove until it separates. Strain off the yellow clarified butter and throw the milky liquid away.

In a frying pan, warm up enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Toss in the onion and garlic, stir and cook until tender. Remove to a bowl. Wipe the frying pan clean with paper towel. Heat some more olive oil and add the chicken livers and thyme. Cook in a single layer, turning as needed, until they are dark on the outside but still pink in the middle. Pour in the brandy and let it sizzle off.

Slide the livers into a blender, add the onions and garlic, pour in the clarified butter, season with salt and pepper – and blend to a smooth purée. Scoop the purée into a fine sieve and press it through the holes. Some solids will be left in the sieve – this should not be put into the mousse, but it’s good to eat nonetheless.

Place the mousse into a bowl or terrine and cover it tightly with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic against the surface of the mousse. This will keep well for at least two weeks in the fridge and, in fact, the flavour improves in a couple of days.

Tammy's BBQ IN A BAG

I just met one of my fans – a young woman named Tammy who lives here in Saskatoon. She wrote to my blog and we met for coffee. Since she loves to cook Saskatchewan foods, I thought it would be fun to share some of her recipes with everyone. Here is the first installment. I haven’t tried it yet – but I will as soon as it stops raining!

Tammy writes:
In my humble opinion, BBQ’ing the tender white flesh of the chicken breast produces those nice grill stripes, but an otherwise bland (and often dry) piece of meat. The ‘tin-foil bag’ method is an easy, tasty alternative, with the bonus of virtually no cleanup.

Use a generous length of tinfoil – a good arm’s length is best. Fold the foil back on itself, shiny side in, pinching the bottom and left edges up and in on themselves, a few times to create a seal. This will leave the opening at the top, and room for two to four chicken breasts, depending on how many vegetables you want to include. If you are feeding more than 4, create more than one bag. Preheat the BBQ to a low to mid heat, about 500 F. Lay the chicken breasts flat inside the foil ‘envelope’. There’s no comparison to the taste of a free-range, organically raised Saskatchewan bird, but the main thing is that they are boneless and skinless, trimmed of visible fat. Add one of the following to the chicken:

Mushroom & Wine:
Handful of torn local mushrooms – I used fiddleheads last year, superb. Dried mushrooms create a more pronounced flavor, not as many are required.
Good glass of red or white wine
3 generous spoonfuls of butter
Handful of fresh thyme and/or sage (a teaspoon of each dried will suffice, for those less industrious)
Depending on one’s passion, one or two minced garlic cloves
Few twists of freshly ground black pepper.
Rations of chopped, raw bacon increases the fat but more than accounts for it in taste…

Asian Inspired Version:
Generous handful of fresh cilantro (rolling it in your hands helps release that fantastic aromatic flavor).
Minced hot pepper: amount will depend on one’s tolerance for heat – a sprinkling of dried chili flakes works as well;
Couple good lugs of soy sauce
Heaping spoonful of honey (I’m a fan of any creamed version from Northeast Saskatchewan)
Thumb sized piece of grated fresh ginger
The ever versatile minced garlic cloves.

Finally, add any roughly chopped root vegetables – enough to accompany the chicken as a gloriously marinated and roasted side dish. Carrots and parsnips are a divine combination, or some potato wedges. There’s no need to add any additional oil or moisture to the bags because the natural juices from the meat and vegetables creates an exquisite, healthy sauce. You’re ready for the BBQ, so seal the top edge in on itself, and ever-so-gently tilt and tip the bag to jumble up and mingle all the flavors – but be very careful not to pierce the foil. Place bag sealed side up, directly on the grill – I use the upper shelf of our BBQ because it’s a tad prone to flare-ups, but a more sophisticated griller can likely use the bottom grill. Close the lid and forget about it for half an hour. To serve – place the sealed bag in a deep roaster and carefully slice open the foil, using tongs to pull out the foil from underneath the steaming and fragrant meat and veggies. Serve straight from pan with a big spoon, with a mixed green salad, the perfect baguette and a your favorite bottle of white.

I love this dish in spring because the outdoor cooking provides a hint of the summer meals to come, but you’re using up the last of the previous year’s harvest.

Newspaper CHICKEN CACCIATORE

This column first appeared in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on 19 February 2006

One of the crazy food words that keeps popping into my head is Catch-a-Tory. Perhaps this is because we just had a federal election. When I was a kid, somebody’s mother made Chicken Catch-A-Tory and I thought it had something to do with the federal election of 1974. Funny what kids think! In 1974, the Liberal party under Pierre Trudeau won a majority government, catching a few seats from the Tories. So, it made obvious sense to me that this dish was named in anticipation of Tory defeat.

In the U.S., a Tory was someone who sided with the British in the American War of Independence, and youngsters there learn that Catch-a-Tory had something to do with catching the enemy. This is just a joke, of course, because it’s not really Chicken Catch-a-Tory. It’s Chicken Cacciatore, which I discovered years later means "hunter" in Italian. So, correctly translated, the dish is called Chicken Hunter-Style.

In Italy, a dish that is "hunter" style includes tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs. While it is most popular nowadays with chicken, it is also a great way to prepare rabbit, lamb and wild fowl. I can just imagine the burly Italian "cacciatore" out for a day of pheasant hunting, filling his pockets with lusty oregano and thyme from underfoot, and picking a handful of wild mushrooms on the walk home. Since hunting takes place in autumn, tomatoes would be ripening on the vine. Add a few cloves of garlic, and there you have the makings of a delicious supper. Best of all, this dish can be made entirely from foods grown in Saskatchewan.

Since last April, I have been focussing all my kitchen energy on local Saskatchewan foods. I am always looking for new and wonderful ways to prepare the great bounty this province has to offer. I spend endless pleasant hours poring over cookbooks from France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, the Middle East and even Japan, searching for new ways of preparing local ingredients. It’s proof that a Saskatchewan meal doesn’t have to be meat and potatoes. After all, if our farmers are growing food to feed the world, we might as well see what the world is doing with it.

Pasta is a great example. Canada is the biggest producer of durum wheat for pasta in the world, and 80 percent of that is grown in Saskatchewan. A good portion is exported to pasta makers in places like Italy and the United States. To ensure that I am eating Saskatchewan durum wheat, I buy only pasta that is made in Canada. My personal favourite is Primo pasta because it states clearly on the label that it is made with Canadian amber durum wheat. (Many packaged foods don’t say where it’s made or where the ingredients come from, in part because the manufacturers don’t want you to know. They don’t want you basing your food purchases on local preferences – unless, of course, they are local and proud of it.)

Chicken cacciatore is an old recipe with many variations. Here’s mine...

Chicken Cacciatore
Cut a chicken into serving pieces. If you’re buying chicken pieces, choose those still on the bone. In a big cast iron frying pan, heat 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil. Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper. Brown the meat on all sides in hot oil. Remove chicken from pan.

To the oil add 1 onion, 1 green pepper and 2 cloves of garlic, all chopped. Sauté until soft. Pour on 1/2 cup of dry red wine and simmer until it is almost evaporated, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Add a mix of herbs to your taste: basil, oregano, thyme and/or rosemary. Return chicken to pan.

Add 10 chopped tomatoes from the garden, fresh or thawed. (Or 1 can of tomatoes and their juice.) Lastly, toss in a handful of chopped mushrooms. (I use chanterelles picked last summer near La Ronge.) Cover and simmer on low for 2 hours. If it gets dry, add some water. Adjust salt and pepper as needed. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti or other long pasta. Serve the cacciatore sauce on the pasta with a piece of chicken on the side.

Week 10 - CROSTINI DE FEGATO

Saskatchewan Menu of the Week - June 21.

Breakfast – Yogurt and strawberries.
Lunch – Toasted tomato sandwich, rhubarb crisp.
Dinner – Crostini de Fegato and a big green salad.

Crostini di Fegato
Crostini is a popular Italian appetizer – it begins with a slice of toasted bread spread will any sort of topping. This version is made with chicken liver.

1 tbsp bacon drippings or lard
1 tbsp onion, finely chopped
1 chicken liver, chopped
4-6 sage leaves, slivered
a bit of white wine (optional)
1/4 cup chicken broth or water
a dab of butter
salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic
sliced baguette or crackers

Sauté the onion in the bacon drippings or lard. (You can substitute butter or oil.) When the onion is soft, add the liver and the slivered sage. Cook until the liver starts to lose its pink colour. Toss in a dash of white wine and cook until all the liquid evaporates. Add the broth and simmer slowly until the liver is no longer pink. (Add more broth if needed to keep the liver moist.) Season with salt and pepper, and melt a dab of butter over top.

Toast the bread lightly on one side. Rub toasted side with clove of garlic. Spread the chicken liver on the bread. Eat warm or cold at the start of a meal.

Source: chicken liver from the Dale farm.