Chicken Provencale with Nokedli

One of my favorite foodie words is fusion... It gives me permission to pretty much experiment away with flavors all under the guise of fusion... I embrace this word! This dish is a classic fusion success story... French, Italian and Hungarian...

My parents are both Hugarian and so much of my early food experiences were Hungarian... I was also blessed with Italian aunts and uncles... Food growing, cooking and sharing was a constant through out my childhood and has greatly influenced the way I do family and food now...

My uncle Frank made the best dried olives with garlic and rosemary... And his wine... A little spritzy... But after a glass you really didn't care! Ahhh the memories!


So this dish draws on all these memories as well as bits and pieces I have picked up along the way...


I'm also really keen on food that I can throw together in a few minutes and leave to cook itself while I get on with other things... I'm also a big fan of minimal dishes... this dish ticks both these boxes! We are still on hoildays and this is what we had last night for dinner...

Chicken Provencale with Nokedli

 So lets get cooking...

You will need...


For the chicken Provencale


6-8 chicken thighs
1 bunch of basil
one brown and one red onion
3 cloves of garlic
680g pasatta
olive oil
salt
pepper

For the Nokedli


4 cups of plain flour
6 eggs
1/2 - 1 cup of water...
salt






To make the Provencale


Oven on 220c


This dish is a one pot wonder... Take a heavy casserole style dish and place a good glug of olive oil in the base... About 1cm deep. Peasant chop your onions... I like to use a mix of brown and Spanish onions... It's a better flavor than just brown in my opinion... Plus I like the colours! Put half of your onions on the bottom of the dish in the oil. Tear half of your basil and place in dish.

Take your garlic and using the blade of a wide knife crush the cloves...peel off the skin and take off the ends... Now a bit more peasant chopping of your garlic...And would you believe that is all your work done... 

All you have to do now is assemble and place in the oven... so next you throw in the garlic and place the chicken thighs on top... like so

then throw on the rest of the onions, the rest of the basil and sprinkle on the olives...

 

 

To finish this dish pour over the passata and add 2 cups of water to the dish... a crack of pepper, sprinkle of salt and another drizzle of oil and then into the oven for 40 minutes with the lid on... then reduce to 180c and take the lid off for a futher 20 - 30 minutes... you'll have chicken that falls apart in your mouth by now....

and will look like this...

Now for the Nokedli...

Nokodli is a Hungarian fresh pasta that you cook by dropping into boiling water...


It will seem and look much harder than it really is... So give it a try... You'll be surprised!

Place flour in a glass or metal bowl... Crack in your eggs and combine...

 

 









Add in water and a pinch of salt until you achieve a thick paste like consistency.give it a good mix...it will
go a bit stringy looking this is perfect...

 Get a big saucepan of water rapidly boiling... Pinch of salt in the water... Now the tricky bit..on a wet wooden board place a big spoon full of dough.

Using a wet butter knife cut of a strip of dough and then cut small pieces of dough off into the water...

My daughter filmed me doing this.... which I'll post when I work out how to post videos! It's actually easier than it looks. The Nokodli is cooked when it floats up to top of water. Use a slotted spoon to fish out the Nokodli and place them in a bowl with a little bit a of olive oil and salt....repeat until all the dough is finished...

I think this is a nice way to finish any day!

yours,

Honey Lady