• The often-criticized chicken fillets do not dry out at all when stuffed, and here is how to do it. Score the fillets with a very sharp knife like a pointed bread roll. Top with ham and herbs, fold closed. Secure slightly with a cocktail stick. Sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper.

• Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan. Brown the fillets with the rough side down, turn, and brown on the other side as well. Cover and cook gently for fifteen minutes, turning occasionally.

• Wash the snow peas, trim the ends if necessary, and boil for 5 minutes in plenty of water over an open pan. Drain.

• Keep the cooked fillets and snow peas warm.

• Pour the cream into the frying pan and simmer briefly until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the herbs, pour half under the fillets, and serve the rest separately in a sauce bowl. Garnish the snow peas with the whole herbs. Serve with bread.

Wine: Rosé de Provence.

 

Menu suggestion:

•  Starter: hollowed-out tomato filled with cooked shrimp mixed with mayonnaise and chives on a bed of shredded butter lettuce, sprinkled with plenty of basil leaves.

• Dessert: strawberries with bourbon vanilla sugar and fresh mint leaves.

• Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a non stick frying pan. Crumble the bread and sauté it with the almonds until light brown. Ladle into a measuring jug. Wipe the pan clean.
• Heat the rest of the oil. Season the chicken legs with pepper and salt, dust with flour and cook until light brown. Sprinkle with cinnamon and chili. Add onion and garlic, sauté for a moment.
• Put the chicken legs with the round side under in a microwave dish. Pour the wine over the meat. Cook it covered with a microwave cap or clingfilm for 10 minutes at about 500 W. Afterwards keep chicken warm in a flameproof dish.
• Pour the chicken-wine into the frying pan. Let boil for a moment. Pour this liquid into the measuring jug, add the water and with a hand blender mix it into a smooth sauce with bread and almonds. Maybe you will need some more water.
• To serve: pour the sauce under the chicken, garnish with parsley.

 

Side dish: Judías verdes con patatas.

• Boil potatoes and beans until done. Fry onion rings in olive oil with smoked bacon and some cumin seed. Warm potatoes and beans for 5 minutes in  this mixture

 

Wine: Red Rioja

 

Menu suggestion

• Starter : Ensalada Cordobesa. Arange onto leaves of cabbage lettuce: tuna from a tin, small tomatoes, green olives, hard-boiled egg, green pepper, vinaigrette.
• Dessert: Melon con vino. Reduce 100 ml water with 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tbsp sugar to half. Cool. Mix with 100 ml white wine and 2 tbsp cognac. Scoop little balls from a small melon. Mix with the cinnamon wine in a bowl. Cover and cool.

• Leave the pears whole when peeling. Remove the calyx from the base, leave the stalk. Wash and place with the vanilla pod (extract) and sugar in a heavy pan with water almost to cover. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for at least 3 hours with the lid on the pan. Add the dash of wine after 1 hour.
• Using a slotted spoon place the pears in a wide bowl with the stalks upright. Measure out half a liter of pear juice and bring to the boil. Mix the potato flour in a bowl with some cold water to a paste. Remove the boiling liquid from the heat. Add the paste while stirring. Then bring to the boil again while stirring. As soon as the moisture starts to thicken, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the sauce over the pears which will then shine beautifully. Leave to cool.
• Soak a Römertopf (clay-pot) in cold water for 15 minutes. In the meantime, cut the excess fat from the chicken and fill the interior with the peeled onion and lemon balm. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper and put it in the buttered pot. Place in the cold oven, set to 250 ° C /475 F/Gas 9.
• After 30 minutes, arrange the potato slices, mixed with some salt and pepper, around the chicken. Sprinkle the diced bacon and the chopped onion on top. Cover the pot and return to the oven for 45 minutes. Then, if necessary, remove the lid from the pot to give the dish a nice brown color in 5 -10 minutes. Total cooking time approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes.
• Garnish with lemon balm leaves and serve the chicken straight from the pot, handing the pears out separately.

Wine: Medoc.

 

* Best species: Giesser Wildeman. As far as I know not for sale in the United Kingdom. Try to find a small stewing pear, that becomes kind of red when cooked long enough. We appreciate this pear so much that my daughter who lives in England brought a young tree from home. It is growing now on English ground.

** Lemon balm is an easy herb. It walks through your garden if you do not watch it. According to the German medieval abbess Hildegard von Bingen the herb is very good for your nerves. This is still believed in the Netherlands. A nervous business man who had bought a lemon balm drink from an alternative medical provider  discovered when he was halted by the police that his “medicine” was very alcoholic: 75%!  He had become an addict. Natural or organic can be dangerous!

 

• Cook the haricots verts in an open pan in plenty of boiling water until just tender (7-10 min.). Rinse with cold water.
• Brown the cooking butter in a large frying pan. Season the chicken legs all around with salt and pepper and brown gently. Transfer to a microwave dish with the rounded side down. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes at 500 Watts. Let stand for 10 minutes. Another method: brown as above, roast for 40-50 minutes with the lid slightly ajar, turning regularly, then remove from the pan briefly.
• Sauté the spring onions and tomato slices in the chicken fat until soft. Warm rinsed flageolets and drained beans in this mixture. Place the chicken legs on top. Just before serving, sprinkle the vegetables with a border of herbs. Place the whole sprigs with the chicken.
• Wine: Shiraz

Menu suggestion:

• Starter: coarsely chopped Little Gem lettuce dressed with vinaigrette topped with rosettes of Serrano ham and olives filled with paprika. Garnished with plenty of basil. Wine: Pinot Blanc.
• Dessert: thin slices of orange, peeled down to the flesh, with Cointreau and mint sprigs.

• Place the chicken with the whole vegetables and salt and pepper in a large pan. Pour in the boiling water, cover; cook for three quarters of an hour.
• Rinse the rice in a sieve under a hot tap until the water runs clear. Let it stand in hot water for five minutes. Then drain.
• Bring 250 ml of the chicken stock to the boil in a small pan. Sprinkle in the rice. As soon as the stock is boiling again, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until all the moisture has been absorbed. Stir in chickpeas and butter.
• Brown the chicken legs under a hot grill, place on top of the rice.
• Drape peppers around, garnish with sprigs of dill.

Wine: dry Rosé.

 

Menu suggestion:

• Starter: Carrot soup. Puree carrot, potato and onion with a hand blender in the remaining stock of the main course. Spoon warm into the plates, top with some chopped parsley and a spoonful of melted butter, in which some mild paprika powder is stirred.
• Dessert: Turkish yogurt with a dollop of cherry jam and some liquid honey.