Food from Cyprus - Chicken in Rich, Aromatic Tomato Sauce.

This is one of my favourite dishes, Warm, hearty and absolutely delicious. I just love the combination of the slightly sweet, cinnamon scented tomato sauce, topped with grated halloumi / helim cheese and fresh mint, served on a bed of pasta.

Lots of childhood memories of summer days playing in the garden, with Mum cooking this dish, its wonderful aroma's drifting through the kitchen window, and the gentle sounds of Melina Mercouri's Never On A Sunday playing in the background.

Serves 4 - 6

1 whole chicken
(you can buy ready cut up chicken pieces if you prefer. Allow enough for 4-6 people).
2 medium to large onions
2 x 400 gm Tins chopped tomatoes
1 - 2 tbls Tomato puree
Halloumi or helim cheese
2 tbsp Fresh mint or 1 tsp dried mint
¼ tsp Cinnamon
5 fl oz (150 ml) Cooking oil
Salt and Peper
½ Lemon

Cut up the chicken into 8 – 10 pieces, rinse and pat dry.
Pour the cooking oil into a large saucepan and heat on a stove until hot. Add the chicken peices to the pan in batches of three at a time. Fry until golden and really crispy all over. Place the fried chicken onto a plate and set aside.

Peel and slice the onions, add to the saucepan and fry until dark brown in colour.
Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for a further five minutes, then stir in tomato puree and fry for two minutes. Season with salt, pepper and cinnamon.

Stir the chicken into the tomatoe sauce, bring to the boil, add the squeezed lemon juice, cover pan and simmer for 45 minutes. Be sure to check the sauce while it is cooking and give it a stir. This will prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add a little water if needed.

While the chicken is cooking, grate the halloumi / helim cheese into a bowl and mix in the finely chopped fresh mint or dried mint.

Serve chicken on a bed of pasta, topped with a generous sprinkling of grated halloumi and mint.

* Photos and drawings to follow plus recipe for Spinach, Sultana and Bulgur Wheat 'Boreks' pastries.

Food from Cyprus - Recipe for Rustic Bread with Olives and Halloumi cheese.

From my food from Cyprus book.
I spent this morning trying out the above recipe and it works a treat. Very easy to make and the end result is delicious. The photographs show my efforts before and after baking. If you decide to try it out, please let me know, I would love to hear your comments. Here is the recipe.

1 kg Self raising flour
3 tbsp Yeast
1 level tbsp Salt
1 Teacup (5fl oz) Olive oil
15 fl oz Warm water
1 teacup kalamata olives
Small bunch fresh parsley
1 tbsp fresh mint or 1tsp dried mint
110 grams Halloumi cheese ( half a halloumi cheese )
1 medium sized onion.

Pour the flour, yeast, salt and olive oil into a large mixing bowl. Add the warm water and mix until you have a bread dough consistency and knead for 5 mins on a floured surface. Place the dough back in the mixing bowl.

Cut the hallouni cheese into small cubes. Peel, wash and finely chop the onion. Rinse and chop up the parsley and mint. Add these to the mixing bowl with the olives and fold all the ingredients into the dough. Pour the dough into a well greased large baking dish or tin. If you prefer, you can divide the mixture into two smaller dishes. This mixture would make great savoury muffins as well.

Cover the dough and place in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, pre heat the oven to gas mark 5 or 180 for electric cookers. Place dish in the oven on the top shelf and bake for 45 - 50 mins ( less if you have divided the mixture).

My drawing for the day features some of the ingredients from this recipe.


Halloumi Cheese

Recipe Book update

I have been busy researching and gathering recipes and information for my book and writing them up. There are so many delicious recipes for starters, pastries, breads, and main courses. Starting this week, I will start posting some recipes here on my blog. The first recipe will be a lovely, healthy rustic bread with olives, hellim or halloumi cheese and parsley. It is so sustaining, you could climb a mountain on this bread alone!. I am going to bake it myself today, to make sure I have the correct ingredients and measurements. Basically, if I can bake it anyone can!

This week I will be working on my painting for the book cover. I have also decided to start a new regime of one drawing a day no matter how many other things I have to do. I will post some of them from time to time.