City Chicken. The delicious chicken dish that really isn't chicken. This fabulously tasty recipe is a Polish American recipe for making something very tasty which was developed during the Depression to help create a delicious supper dish that tasted like chicken, but was made with meats that were not quite as pricey to buy.
It is a recipe which was first shared with me by my sister many years ago and I have to say it is incredibly delicious!
I was sitting here yesterday morning doing Christmas Cards and I was trying to think of what my first Christmas memories were of myself and my sister. I am three years older than my sister, and I wasn't exactly very happy when my mom brought her home from the hospital. I wanted my mom to take the baby back, probably because I was used to being on my own and the baby was taking up far too much of my mothers attention.
For a week the only glimpses of my mother had been through a hospital window when my father had taken me to the hospital to see her. To have her come home finally, only to be accompanied by this small squealing attention getter was not exactly what I had been hoping for.
I must have been quite spoiled by having had all of both of my parent's attentions for three years to myself. That's all I can surmise.
It was only when my mother explained that if the baby went she would also have to go as the baby needed someone to take care of it that I relented and decided the baby could stay.
Little did I know then that my mother had brought home to me the best and most beloved friend that I could have ever had or wanted.
My life has been enriched and richly blessed through the years by this marvelous woman that I am lucky enough to be able to call sister. Cindy.
I love her so very much. It was she who taught me how to crochet. In fact she taught both my mother and myself. I am not sure where she learnt how, but she came home and taught us.
We spent several hours together one afternoon learning together. It is a skill that I have always been grateful for.
Through the years we have shared many loves and experiences with each other. We both love to craft and to create things with our hands.
Some of my happiest memories are of those we spent together manning craft tables filled with our wares at craft sales . . . the best part of which was getting to spend a whole day with each other without any children or husbands nipping at our heels.
We both love bird watching and nature. We have often compared notes through the years of different birds we have seen and have sat and watched them together.
I have fond memories of us having discovered an old discarded orchard filled with apples and blackberries and wild raspberries and picking large containers of them so we could make jam.
Everything my sister does is done with great skill and expertise and she is good at all that she does. I have always considered her to be the great baker in our family.
She has always created cakes that rise and pastry that is as light as a cloud. I was always more of a savory cook.
But one thing was certain, we both loved to create, cook and bake delicious meals and foods for our families to enjoy.
At a time when smaller families were most common, we both had what was considered somewhat larger, me having five children and she four children. Even my brother had four.
I think we all just have hearts for family and home.
One thing my sister and I have done a lot of through the years is sharing recipes. Some of my favourites come from her, like her Portuguese Gumdrop Cake, her Zucchini Casserole, her Stove Top Mac and Cheese
All delicious, and then there is this one . . . City Chicken, which isn't really chicken at all, but cubes of pork threaded onto wooden skewers, breaded, fried and baked until tender and juicy and incredibly delicious.
It was a recipe she got from her late mother in law, and it was one of her then husband's favorite meals. She shared the recipe with me and it became one of ours.
These kinds of recipes have always been my favorite kind of recipes. No question about it.
Recipes that are handed down and shared and that become a part and a parcel of the fabric of your family.
So whilst this tasty dish has nothing to do with Christmas or Christmas memories, or even chicken . . . . it has plenty to do with family and the love that most family's have for and share with each other.
Yield: 4
City Chicken
This is an old, old recipe I got from my sister back in the 1970's. It was a favourite of her in laws. It isn't chicken at all but beautifully tender pieces of pork.
ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds of pork tenderloin, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 free range eggs, beaten lightly in a shallow bowl
- 180g seasoned dry bread crumbs (1 1/2 cups) in another shallow bowl
- oil for frying
- 6 to 8 wooden skewers, about 5 to 6 inches in length, pointed on one end
- 120ml chicken stock (1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook City Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a shallow casserole dish large enough to hold all of your skewers in one layer.
- Trim and season the pork cubes with salt and pepper. Thread the pork onto the skewers, leaving a portion of the skewer bare at the end for holding.
- Roll the pork skewers into the beaten egg and then roll them into the bread crumbs to coat completely. Set them on a plate as you go along.
- Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet. Working in batches as required (over-crowding the pan will cause the oil to cool), brown the pork skewers on all sides. Transfer the skewers to the casserole dish when browned. Make sure there is some space between each one. Pour the chicken stock in between the skewers. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 10 minutes to help crisp the breading.
- Serve hot with mashed potatoes, gravy and a vegetable on the side.
I love simple meals like this. Just the meat, some gravy, piles of fluffy mash and some peas and carrots on the side. The only thing missing was my sister. Oh but I wouldn't have given to be able to sit down and enjoy this with her. Maybe one day . . .
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
A lot of us are going to be entertaining people in our home over the next month or so. Some of them may even be staying overnight.
When I have people overnight, one thing I like to do is to serve them a special breakfast in the morning when everyone is up and about.
I don't think you can get much nicer than a beautiful Apple Puff Pancake.
It cooks in one pan and will feed six, and you don't have to stand over top of it while it is cooking like you do regular pancakes.
You can throw it together, pop it into an oven and then sit down and enjoy a hot drink or a glass of juice with your guests.
Its really very simple to do. If you are thinking ahead, you can take the milk and eggs out of the refrigerator as soon as you get up so that they are at room temperature, but no worries if you haven't had the forethought to do that.
I give you instructions on how to do that very quickly in the notes of the recipe.
I like to use Granny Smith apples for this. They have a lovely sweet/tart flavour and they hold their shape well when cooking.
You don't want apples to settle into mush . . . you want to see the pieces in there!
I like to use my iron skillet as it moves very well from oven to table top. Its oven proof and is quite attractive.
It also holds the heat well, so your pancake won't cool off too quickly if you have stragglers who take their time getting to the table.
Just make sure you warn your guests not to touch the handle as it will be very hot.
Even better, wrap the handle in an attractive tea towel or get one of those handle shaped pot holders. Better safe than sorry.
You butter the skillet really well with real butter. I don't like butter substitutes if I can help it. There is no substitute for the flavour of real butter . . .
The apples are peeled, sliced and tossed together with some sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. These get dumped into the buttered pan.
Its okay if they look lopsided and some end up sticking out of the batter.
These bits will get a bit caramelised and add not only to the beauty of the finished dish, but also to the flavour.
Other than that all you need to do then is to beat together the pancake batter and pour it over the apples in the skillet. It won't cover them all as I said, that's okay.
Gently shake the pan back and forth with the handle to help the pancake batter settle into the pan and then just bang the whole thing into the oven.
Now put out some rashers of streaky bacon on a lined baking sheet, and set it aside until about 15 minutes before the pancake is done and go have a sit down with your company for a few.
Pop the pan of bacon into the oven about 15 minutes before the pancake is done and set the table. Fill a pouring jug with some pure Maple Syrup.
Let the pancake sit for about 10 minutes before you serve it. It looks really pretty dusted with some icing sugar. Cut it into wedges to serve along with some crisp bacon and a drizzle of maple syrup. Oh boy, some good!
Yield: 6
Apple Puff Pancake
In a French Kitchen, this would be called a clafoutis. Clafoutis, Pancake, apple flan, no matter what you call it, this is one heavenly breakfast dish!
ingredients:
- 2 tsp softened butter to butter the pan
- 150g white sugar, divided (3/4 cup)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
- 140g plain flour (1 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large free range eggs, at room temperature
- 240ml whole milk, at room temperature (1 cup)
- icing sugar to dust and maple syrup for pouring
instructions:
How to cook Apple Puff Pancake
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a heavy 10-inch oven proof skillet with the softened butter and set aside.
- Take 2 TBS of the sugar and mix with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the apples and toss well together. Transfer to the buttered skillet.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt along with the remaining sugar, until well blended.
- Whisk together the egg and milk. Add all at once to the flour mixture. Whisk together until smooth and well blended.
- Pour the batter over the apples in the skillet. Give the skillet a bit of a shake back and forth so that the filling settles. Its okay if some apples are sticking out of the batter as they will slightly caramelise.
- Place the whole skillet into the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let sit for 10 minutes, then dust with icing sugar and serve. Cut into wedges to serve and serve with some bacon and maple syrup if desired.
NOTES:
To bring milk and eggs to room temperature, heat the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds and place the eggs into a measure of hot tap water and leave them to sit while you get all the other ingredients together, at which time they will be perfectly at room temperature.
If you really wanted to be festive you could add some fresh or dried cranberries to the apples before you pour the batter over top, but trust me when I tell you it is pretty perfect just as it is!
If you had to pick one thing that was synonymous with Saturday night suppers when I was growing up it would have to be the Baked Bean Supper.
I am not sure if this is a Canadian maritime thing or not, but Saturday night in our home usually meant baked beans.
Sometimes my mother would serve them with ham and scalloped potatoes as I have shown them here today, and sometimes it would be wieners.
Ham, wieners. It didn't and doesn't matter. Something smoky to serve with baked beans is a must!
Sometimes we would have oatmeal brown bread and sometimes we would have steamed brown bread . . . sometimes it would just be white bread and butter, but there was always bread of some sort.
Cornbread is also very nice. We love cornbread.
All the better to sop up all of those delicious juices from my mother's baked beans. They were so good you didn't want even a morsel to go to waste.
If it had been polite to lick our plates we would have been licking our plates.
Mom always started her beans on Friday night. She always used dried pea beans, or dried haricot beans as they are called over here in the UK. She would pick them all over and rinse them really well.
Sometimes you might find the odd stone in a bag and it was surprising that they could sometimes be a bit dirty. Then they would be put into her large saucepan and covered with cold water to soak overnight.
Next morning, bright and early she would bring them to the boil and then simmer them just until the skins began to split when you put a couple on a fork and blew on them.
You knew then they were ready for the bean crock. Oh, and a pinch of baking soda went into the water as well. Any foam that rose to the top would be skimmed off and discarded.
Mom had an old stoneware bean crock. She would put the simmered beans into the pot with only enough water that you could see it through the beans.
Molasses and some brown sugar would be stirred into them along with a bit of apple cider vinegar, a spoonful of tomato ketchup, dry mustard powder, some salt and some pepper.
A whole peeled brown onion would be pushed down into the centre of them and then a slab of salt pork would be set on top.
The lid would be placed onto the crock and they would be put into a slow oven where the smell of them baking would serve to tantalise us all the day through!
Oh boy but they were some good. Mom always kept a container of the leftovers frozen in the freezer, even after we had all gotten married and left home.
Baked beans are something which freezes very well. They are one of those things which tastes even better a day or two later!
You could almost guarantee that when we came home for a visit some would be thawed out and our first supper would be mom's home baked beans and brown bread.
We didn't really want anything fancy. Just that simple meal.
It makes me a bit sad that I will never again have the pleasure of sitting down to my mom's homemade baked beans and brown bread . . .
I know I can make them myself, but somehow what I make never ever comes up to what the memory of hers tastes like.
Yield: Makes one loaf
Quick Brown Bread
A moist and delicious whole wheat quick bread, sweetened with molasses that goes perfectly well with baked beans!
ingredients:
- 240ml buttermilk (1 cup)
- 280g whole wheat flour (2 cups)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 120ml molasses (1/2 cup)
- 60ml sunflower oil (1/4 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Quick Brown Bread
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 X 5 inch loaf tin really well and line the base with baking paper. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and soda together in a bowl. Whisk together the molasses, buttermilk, egg and oil. Add all at once to the dry mixture and stir all together just to combine. Pour into the prepared loaf tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 to 35 minutes, until risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve cut into slices and buttered.
This is the perfect recipe to end November on. Comfort season is in full session now! Bring it on!!
This content (written and photography) is the sole pr
operty of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!!
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