Month: May 2022
Cooking With Christie!
This Week’s Recipe: Mussakhan (aka Roast Chicken with Sumac & Red Onions)
Inspiration: Watching the bevy of cooking shows on television one of the spices I keep hearing about is Sumac. Needless to say when I finally found a jar on a grocery store shelf I bought it posthaste, then set about finding a recipe featuring this spice which lead me to The NY Times cooking page.
And it turned out great!
Though, to be fair I did marinate the chicken overnight, rather than a few hours and instead of roasting the chicken exclusively in the oven I browned it in a cast iron skillet and then stuck the pan and all into the oven to finish.
Christie: Honestly, I can see any of Christie’s detectives eating this dish! Even Hercule Poirot. Especially, if served over rice with a nice pickled carrot on the side. It’s bright, herby, juicy, and tender.
Cooking With Christie: Outtakes!
Here’s the final product of my quest to make chicken gyros! Due to the less than pliable pita I made they were more deconstructed than I’d planned – but they were still delicious!
Cooking With Christie!
This Week’s Recipe: Pita Bread
Inspiration: In my quest to make a homemade chicken gyro it was time to focus on the bread….which turned out with mixed results.
Using the recipe from my Ankarsrum mixer cookbook I set about making pita. However, due to not adding quite enough flour when mixing (I think) — on the second rise they turned rather light and delicate. Which normally would be great, but proved problematic when trying to move them seamlessly from the counter to the baking sheet as they stretched out and tore.
Rendering my nice round and fluffy dough into odd alien shapes and quite a bit thicker and tougher than one is looking for pita.
Though still tasty.
The next time I make these, I’m going to lay the pita dough directly on the parchment paper liners for the second rise – then slide it onto the cookie sheet to bake. Thus avoiding the need to handle the dough.
Then perhaps my pita will resemble the pictures more closely…
Christie: Perhaps, Miss Marple, Tommy & Tuppence, Race, and Battle would try this bread whilst on vacation? Otherwise, I can’t really see any of the detectives would necessarily eat this otherwise.
Cooking With Christie: Outtake!
Here is the thick spicy yogurt marinate for the chicken – which both adds flavor, helps tenderize the meat, and keeps the chicken moist during cooking.
Cooking With Christie!
This Weeks Recipe: Chicken Gyro
In my quest to make my own chicken gyros at home, I researched several recipes and landed on this one from The Mediterranean Dish – which turned out beautifully!
Despite my changes…as I marinated it overnight, added a bit of sumac (because I couldn’t resist), and had to substitute white vinegar rather than red wine vinegar (of which I’d run out of). I used boneless chicken thighs, rather than chicken tenders — as they are cheaper and a more flavorful meat. All I did was put them inside a large ziplock bag, pound them flat with a rolling pin (which is therapeutic if you’re having a bad day), then marinate them. I also don’t cut them into pieces until half way thru the cook, so I don’t accidentally overcook the meat! (As I’m prone to do, otherwise.)
Christie: Again this is a dish I could easily see Marple, Battle, Race, or Quin & Satterthwaite partaking of…perhaps not inside a gyro but between two buns or on its own! As it’s not spicy and very flavorful!
My 52 Weeks With Christie 
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