Chicken - dressed up!

Dress up your whole chicken into totally stylish (yummy) “feathers” by wrapping it up in bacon slices!


I have this one issue of a Macedonian magazine called “Hrana I Vino” (Food and Vine), although I think now they changed it to “Debeli ama Srekni” (Fat but Happy), and in that issue was this chicken named “model out of the oven”.
Ever since I bought that magazine, I have been making my kitchen a runway for these yummy super models! : )

All you need is a whole chicken, seasoning you like, bacon slices, and potatoes, and maybe other veggies that you like.
Take the skin off the chicken, season (I have used Emeril’s Chicken Rub this time, delicious), arrange bacon slices nicely over chicken breast, and wrap a slice around each leg. Place in a pan with half cup oil.
Bake for about half hour @ 425 F, and then add potatoes (and veggies if you like), and bake for another hour or until done.
I season my potatoes with paprika, try it, you’ll love it! Enjoy your dinner!

Batter Fried Apple Rings

Well, I am proud to join the “make your own dulce de leche” club!!! All thanks to Rivka of “not derby pie” ! Scrumptious! I can’t believe it was sitting in front of my nose all these years…

Winter is still not letting go; the weatherman actually announced more snow tomorrow, 2-3 inches, to be exact; for crying out loud, he almost enjoyed making that announcement--- I could see it in his eyes, hahaha…
So, to comfort myself, and to enjoy some dulce de leche in style, I made some:

Batter Fried Apple rings

Apples
For batter:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
2 eggs
3 Tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt
1 Tsp baking powder
Fresh squeezed lemon juice
Oil to fry
For dusting:
Powdered sugar
Cinnamon

Prepare apples; peel, core, and cut them up in into rings, sprinkle them with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Set aside for a moment.
Now, make batter by mixing eggs and sugar, then milk, and flour in which you premixed 1 Tsp of baking powder.

Dip apple rings into batter, and fry to nice golden brown color. Let them sit for a minute on a paper towel to drain the excess oil, and then serve sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and enjoy with dulce de leche! : )

Baked lima beans

It is a mystery to me as to how we came about this wonderful meat shop, but my family, and friends have been loyal customers of Ilowski Sausage Co., for years now. They have the best smoked bacon, and ribs, ever! For those of you in Michigan, if you are close enough visit them; you will definitely be back for more.

Growing up in Croatia, my family smoked meats every year, and we had awesome sausages, prosciuttio, ribs, and much more. I love smoked meats! We just had a big order @ Ilowski’s this w/e, and would you look at that bacon!

It's only in order, with such nice bacon, to share with you, one of my favorite dishes, and another favorite in the former countries of Yugoslavia, baked beans, better known as “prebranac” topped with sliced smoked bacon, definitely not for those who are trying to lose weight : )

Macedonians call it “gravce na tavce”, and it is traditionally prepared in clay pots, but I didn’t have one. Guess it’s time to update my shopping list because I have few more dishes that are just ment to be prepared in clay pots. Yeah, shopping! I do need some retail therapy; this winter has been nothing short of depressing with another blizzard yesterday afternoon…brrrr…

Basically, there is no true recipe; it’s one of those meals you just put together with key ingredients. You can exclude the bacon, or instead of bacon you can top it with some nice sausages. The flavor is just amazing, the garlic and bay leaf really are the key, and of course smell of baked smoked bacon doesn’t hurt : )

Baked beans (Prebranac or Gravce na Tavce)

1 lb large lima beans
2-3 medium onions, cut up
Approx. ¼ cup oil (to sauté the onions and carrots)
1 large carrot, cut up
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp paprika seasoning
Ground black pepper
Salt
1 Tbsp of flour


Boil beans for about 10-15 min., and then drain completely, and add fresh boiling water, bay leaf, salt to taste, and then cook beans for 2 – 2 ½ hours over low heat. By then it will be cooked, and most water will evaporate, check occasionally to make sure you don’t completely dry them out. Drain, but save the water, don’t discard.

In a separate pan, sauté onions and carrots, and when nice and caramelized add paprika seasoning, garlic, black pepper, and a tablespoon of flour, and mix it all into cooked beans. Carefully combine, and put in a baking dish of your choice. Pour the water you saved, over the beans, top with bacon or sausages, and bake. I bake it for about 20 minutes @ 425 F.

This little piggy...

The fantastic cook that inspired my piggy mission, goes by username “oblakica” (with recipe in Croatian), says the recipe originates from an old Dr.Oetker cookbook. Her recipe calls for two different kinds of dough, and a filling, and it must be wonderful with cheese, oregano and tomato sauce. I am bound to make that next time.

In the meantime, I have only adapted the silly piglet form for my kids, and just to see if it would work, so I made some dough in my bread machine, just French white, and rolled it to about 1/3 inch thickness, cut out circles with coffee cups for faces, small ones for nose with a bottle cap, and cut a bunch of those small ones into quarters for the ears. Yeah, I know, I desperately need more kitchen gadgets, like cookie cutters : )

I did all that separately; also made small slits in the nose, used peppercorns for the eyes, and put some rosemary for each nostril for more authentic look. Helps to be an artist : )

With all pieces ready, I just “glued it” with egg yolk wash. Bake in a preheated oven @ 405 F, for about 15 minutes or so.

I am so happy with the results, and the kids love them, of course! I make bread often, almost every day, so these piglets are certainly coming back to the table!

My kids ate all those little pigs in no time! I managed to get only one, just to try, and even though it’s just plain bread dough, they have something extra to it!!! I only used like a third of my dough, the rest I baked as a loaf, I wish I made more little pigs… : )

UPDATE !!!
Translation of the original recipe by Oblakica (the best I could)
(link to Croatian version on top of this post)

Makes about 20 piglets:
Dough:
400 g (13 1/2 oz) all purpose flour
1 package instant dry yeast
1 egg
2 dcl (7 oz) plain yogurt
1 dcl (3 1/2 oz) warm milk
a pinch of salt
Puffed or flaky dough:150 g (5 1/2 oz)flour
100 g (3 1/2 oz)magarine (unsalted)
pinch of salt
Filling:As much as you like: cheese(she used Gouda), tomato (pizza) sauce, oregano;
or something else you would like for filling
Wash:Egg white to use as «adhesive»
Egg yolk and some milk to brush @ the end

First, make first dough by mixing all ingrediens, and let it rise in a warm place. In the meantime, make puff dough with second batch of ingredients, and then mix it into the risen dough (yes, mix'em together), and work it well on a floured surface. Roll the dough and with a round cookie cutter or something else cut out circles about 3 inches in diametar or desired size. Leave some dough for ears and noses :)

Make filling with cheese, tomato sauce (pizza sauce), and oregano. You can be creative and use different kinds of ingredients to make a filling of your own. You can also add ham, or salami, or vegetables.

Place half of circles onto baking sheet (aligned with parchment paper), brush edges with egg white wash. Put some filling in the middle, cover with other half of circles, and press the edges to assure nothing will come out while baking.

Remainder of the dough use to make smaller circles for nose, and for ears by cutting them into quarters. Use egg whites wash as «adhesive» for ears and nose. For nose make somewhat smaller circles. For eyes and nostrils use a toothpick to make little lines and then inside, put cumin, pepper or something similar.

Now that you have little piglets, let them rise again for a little while, and then brush them with a little bit of egg yolk wash mixed with a little bit of milk. Bake for about 20-25 min. @ about 385-405 F.

My note: you can use something else for the eyes if you are concerened about kids biting into peppercorns. Oblakica didn'tuse peppercorns, but other herbs. My kids just took the peppercorns out. Enjoy! I am sure for whomever you make them, they will be a hit!!! :)