Dreaming of a Potager Garden

My father had what we called a "la huerta",  which means "vegetable garden" in Spanish, that he lovingly tended to with the help of the extended family and neighbors. We grew practically everything we needed for our small household's needs in that small plot of land. Whatever we lacked, our neighbours were more than happy to fill with what they had in their own gardens. It was pretty common for us kids to be asked to knock on someone's door to request a missing ingredient at the last minute, and to be told to go get it from the garden ourselves. What fun we had climbing trees or on the fence to pick tropical fruits, and digging out sweet potatoes and peanuts.

Sadly, I no longer have the space nor time to have a la huerta and have to content myself with growing herbs on the kitchen windowsill. But I dream of having a real potager garden again someday...fortunately I live close to the next best thing, a fresh market that sells produce from small, commercial growers in the region. There are also several farmers' markets during weekends so we're really spoilt for choice for the freshest, local, and seasonal produce.

Today I was leafing through Donna Hay's Simple Dinners cookbook for inspiration and stumbled on a recipe for Roasted Chicken with Pancetta and Lentils. When I got to the fresh market, there were no leeks!! I walked the length of the vegetable shelves thrice and nope, no leeks in sight. Having set my heart on a chicken and pancetta dish, I was not going to be thwarted so easily. So I picked up these two ingredients anyway and set about creating these dishes... After I remembered that I had a box of new potatoes hidden away in the pantry from last week that I bought from the market, just because I liked the look of them :)

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

200 g (approx) thinly sliced pancetta (I used smoked pancetta for more flavour)

handful of basil leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

olive oil

1 kg new potatoes

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Wash the potatoes and slice lengthwise into halves, or quarters depending on size. 
3. Put lightly salted water in a pot enough to cover the potatoes, and bring to a rolling boil over medium to high heat. Add the potatoes, cover and boil for 4-5 minutes. 
4. Strain the water out using a colander and leave the potatoes to steam until all the water has evaporated.
5. Wash then dry the chicken thighs well with paper towels. 
6. Carefully slide your fingertips between the meat and skin of each chicken piece to loosen the skin from the meat. Season between the two layers with salt and pepper, and also season the outer part of the chicken. Insert a layer of around 5 basil leaves between the two layers, taking care to make sure that the basil layer is fully covered by the chicken skin so the basil doesn't get burned. 
7. Wrap each chicken thigh with 2-4 slices of pancetta, depending on size.
8. Heat a large skillet over medium to high heat. Pour enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan to around 1 cm deep.
9. Fry the chicken with the skin side down first, for 3-5 minutes per side or until brown. You might need to do this in batches. Turn of the heat.
10. Place the chicken in a roasting dish and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer reads at least 83 degrees Celsius.
11. Take the chicken out of the oven and let it rest while cooking the potatoes.
12. Tip some of the oil out of the skillet, leaving enough oil to saute the potatoes. Reheat the oil in medium to high heat.
13. Add the potatoes, with the cut side down first, and fry until brown on both sides turning occasionally. Again, you might need to do this in batches depending on the size of the skillet. 
14. When the last batch of potatoes are done, return the rest of the potatoes to the skillet. 
15. Add garlic to the skillet and quickly stir-fry with the potatoes to keep it from burning.
16. Turn off the heat, add the chopped parsley and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
17. Serve immediately with the chicken and a simple green salad.

Chicken Cacciatore

I have seen so many versions of this chicken dish, some with a long list of ingredients that I don't even bother reading the recipe. "Cacciatore" means "hunter" and I don't think the hunter's wife would have all of these at hand. And even if she has, she wouldn't waste precious time preparing them when the family's hungry. For me, the beauty of this dish lies in its rustic simplicity.

I always use a whole chicken to make this dish, but if you don't like having to cut it up, you can use pre-cut chicken pieces that roughly add up to around 2 kg. Please remember that the amount of herbs and seasonings is just a guideline...you can reduce or increase the amount to taste. Dried herbs will work just fine, too.

Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1 whole free range chicken, jointed
3 tablespoons Spanish or Italian olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup dry white wine
400 g can chopped Italian tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water or chicken broth
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup black or green olives
1/4 cup coarsely chopped basil leaves
Himalayan or sea salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and sprinkle lightly with flour.
2. Heat a large pan (I use a heavy saute pan) over medium to high heat. Add the olive oil.
3. When the oil is hot, fry the chicken pieces until just brown and transfer to a plate. Do not overcrowd the pan so you may need to do this in batches. 
4. Lower heat to medium and saute the garlic until golden brown. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn!!! Add the onion and stir fry until soft and caramelized.
5. Add the wine and simmer until it's reduced by around half. Add the tomatoes, water or broth, balsamic vinegar, parsley, bay leaves, oregano, and rosemary. Bring to a simmer.
6. Put the chicken back into the pan and coat with the sauce. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Check the chicken halfway through and add more water if it gets too dry.
7. Add the olives, adjust the seasoning and simmer for around 10 more minutes or until chicken is just cooked through.
8. Transfer the chicken into a serving platter and spoon the sauce over it. Sprinkle with chopped basil leaves just before serving.

You can serve this with a salad, and/or a crusty bread, rice, couscous, cannellini beans, or soft polenta...and, of course, a few glasses of Sangiovese or Chianti.