Italian Style Boned and Stuffed Chicken Legs

While this recipe is fairly inexpensive, boning the chicken legs is time consuming and not without difficulty. Start at the top of the leg and work the flesh off the bone.  If you wish, you can use pancetta instead of jamón, in which case you will need about 8 - 10 slices of thin pancetta.

6 chicken legs (about 2kg)
4 thin slices of jamón or prosciutto
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic
about 10 leaves of sage
rosemary
50 ml olive oil
100ml white wine
Salt & Pepper


Skin and bone the chicken legs without cutting into them too much. Start at the top of the leg and work the flesh off the bone using a sharp knife.  Don't worry about any holes which appear in the chicken flesh, they can be hidden when the chicken leg is rolled. The most difficult part is getting the flesh away from the joint, just be patient!!

Place the garlic, rosemary and sage  in a food processor and chop  finely. Chop the jamón with a knife and mix with the finely chopped herbs and grated parmesan. Place some of this mixture in each of the boned chicken legs and roll up, tieing each roll with string.

Heat the butter and the oil in a pan and brown the chicken rolls on all sides. Add the white wine, cover and cook for around 40 minutes.

Remove the string from the chicken rolls, lay the rolls out on a platter, spooning some of the sauce over the assembled rolls, and serve.

Alternatively, cool the chicken rolls, then chill them. Then slice each roll into 3 mm slices and spread on a platter for a great cold dish which is just as good.

Barbecued Leg of Lamb

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is summer here in Australia, which of course is a good time for a barbecue, but then any time is a good time for a barbecue. One of my favourite summer meals is barbecued leg of lamb. I buy the lower half of the leg, and starting from the side of the leg with least meat, slice down the leg and then remove the bone so that I have have a triangular piece of meat left. I butterfly this so that it is about 4 or 5cm thick. If you wish you can butterfly a whole leg of lamb which would feed more people. Here is my recipe using quantities for half a leg.

1 half leg of lamb, about 1.2kg

3 garlic cloves
a knob of fresh ginger
grated rind of 1 lemon or lime
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 cup of olive oil

Remove the lamb from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking.

Put the garlic,  ginger, cumin, coriander and paprika in a mortar and pound into a rough paste with the pestle. Add the grated rind of a lemon or lime and pound for a further minute, then stir in the olive oil and mix well. You can also process this in a food processor if you wish. Spread the marinade over the lamb by hand, working it in to the meat with your fingers, and leave about an hour for the flavours to infuse the lamb.

This lamb can be barbecued over a gas-fired barbecue grill, or better still, over a charcoal grill. When the barbecue is hot, put the lamb on. Cook for about 12 minutes on each side for medium rare. Put on a plate and cover withe foil. Rest in a warm place for 10 minutes before carving.

When the lamb has been rested, carve the meat into 5mm slices and serve.

I barbecued the lamb with some potatoes wrapped in foil. They are a delicious accompaniment!

Pork and Veal Terrine

It is summer here in Australia at the moment. It is good to have some cold meat for picnics or as an entrée and what could be better than a pork and veal terrine? It is easy to make, relatively inexpensive and most importantly, is delicious.

1 kg pork and veal mince
7 crushed juniper berries
10 lightly crushed black peppercorns
1⁄4 tsp mixed spice
1⁄4 tsp dried thyme
1 sprig rosemary, chopped finely
12 pistachios, chopped
4 chopped prunes
20ml dry white wine
 40ml brandy
50g chopped onions
1 clove chopped garlic
1⁄2 tsp salt
3 short-cut rashers of bacon, chopped

Sprinkle the chopped prunes with a small amount of the wine and brandy. Set the prunes and chopped bacon aside. Now mix together everything except the chopped prunes and bacon. Leave the mixture in a covered basin in the fridge for at least two hours for the flavours to be absorbed in the terrine.

Place half the mixture in an unbuttered terrine. Now sprinkle the bacon and prunes on top of this to form another layer. Finally place another layer of terrine mixture in the dish.

Place the terrine in a baking dish filled with water and cook at 150°C for 1 1⁄4 to 1 1⁄2 hours. The terrine is cooked when it comes away from the side of the dish.

Pimentón Spiced Pork Kebabs

I love Spanish chorizo. Recently, when I bought some pork mince, I decided to spice the pork with pimentón (Spanish paprika) and make some kebabs which taste similar to fresh chorizo. Here is my recipe.

1kg pork mince
100g bacon, chopped
3 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tbsp Spanish paprika, preferably the ahumido (smoked) variety
1 tsp dried red chilli powder
50ml dry white wine
1 tsp salt
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
24 bamboo skewers

Soak the bamboo skewers in cold water.

Place the pork mince in a mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients (not the skewers!) and knead thoroughly by hand. Cover the mixture with cling film and refrigerate for at least one hour to allow the flavours to cure and develop.

Remove the bamboo skewers from the water and pat dry. Take a handful of the mixture and shape it into a sausage shape about 1.5cm wide by rolling it by hand. Thread a skewer through the shape to form a kebab, carefully pressing the sausage shape onto the skewer.

Cook the kebabs over a barbecue or in a grill pan on the stove. Serve with a chutney or caramelised onions.