Roasted Chicken With Dried Fruit And Balsamic Vinegar

Roasted Chicken With Dried Fruit And Balsamic Vinegar 

I still have leftover hamentashen filling. So this is a different version of the recipe I posted last week. This time, I thought that I would make roasted chicken and use the hamentashen filling as a glaze, with balsamic vinegar.

My husband felt that the vinegar made it too sour. So, it was his suggestion to spice it up with the red pepper flakes. It really made a difference!

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut up

Mom’s Chicken Spice Rub

1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper, garlic, onion, paprika, ginger, mustard powder

Raisin-Date- Apricot Filling for Hamentashen

2 cups pitted dates (approximately)

1 box (15 oz.) sultana raisins

1 cup dried apricots (approximately)

1 lemon zested and juiced

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1/2 cup water (approximately)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional, but I thought it made it taste better)

I also added more cinnamon, garlic powder, pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste. 

I did not measure the balsamic vinegar. Together with the water, I added enough to get the right consistency and taste.

This was an experiment. So, measurements are not exact.

Instructions 

Boil all ingredients in a pot until soft. For the hamentashen, the filling needs to be slightly thick, so it is important not to add too much water. 

As a glaze for chicken, I added more liquid. This time I also added balsamic vinegar and additional spices.

Instructions 
Place chicken in large pan. Season chicken with Mom’s Spice Rub, and then add the hamentashen filling on top. 

If possible, let marinate prior to cooking.

Preheat oven to 425*F.

Roast in oven for 1.5 hours, or until cooked, turning over for last 30 minutes.

I think that this could be made in a crockpot and pressure cooker, but the texture would be different.

In both cases, the chicken would need to be browned or skinned prior to cooking. For a liquid, I recommend at least 1/2 cup water or broth. 

Cook on low until done or 7 minutes to pressure, quick release method.

Here are the pictures:

Spiced:

chicken spiced with Mom’s chicken spice rub

   Glazed:

spiced chicken and dried friut, balsalmic vinegar & additional spices

 
The final product:

 

chicken with dried fruit and balsamic vinegar

 
  

It smelled great. 

I will find out tonight how everyone else liked it.

Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken With Dried Fruit

Roasted Chicken With Dried Fruit

My life is a little hectic. 

The countdown to Passover has begun. We are also going to be moving soon. So, even more than before, I am particularly time challenged.

Passover is the time of year when we eliminate all leavened products from our home. Practically, this means I try to clean out my pantry and freezer.

I still have leftover hamentashen filling. So I thought that I would try to make roasted chicken and use the hamentashen filling as a glaze.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut up

Mom’s Chicken Spice Rub

1 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper, garlic, onion, paprika, ginger, mustard powder

Plus, additional cinnamon to the chicken.

Raisin-Date- Apricot Filling for Hamentashen

2 cups pitted dates (approximately)
1 box (15 oz.) sultana raisins
1 cup dried apricots (approximately)

1 lemon zested and juiced

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 
1/2 cup water (approximately)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional, but I thought it made it taste better)

Instructions 

Boil all ingredients in a pot until soft. For the hamentashen, the filling needs to be slightly thick, so it is important not to add too much water. 

As a glaze for chicken,more liquid and more cinnamon is needed.

Instructions 

Place chicken in large pan. Season chicken with Mom’s Spice Rub, and then add the hamentashen filling on top. If possible, let marinate prior to cooking.

Preheat oven to 425*F.

Roast in oven for 1.5 hours, or until cooked, turning over for last 30 minutes.

Here are the pictures:

Spiced:

  
 

With the hamentashen filling. 

After I started cooking, I realized it was too thick. So, I added more filling, with a thinner consistency when I turned the chicken over. I also added more cinnamon.

 

The final product:
  

This was a definite hit. Raizel ate the chicken legs right out of the oven (you can see where the leg was on the plate) and declared “this is killer!”

Enjoy!

Lazy Hamantaschen – Not

This year, in honor of this food blog, I made hamentashen for the first time. This is a recipe that I found on line. The title naturally appealed to me. 

It reminds me of my sugar cookies and I liked the fact that I didn’t need to roll out the dough. Other than that, hamentashen are not for the time challenged and best shared as a fun group and not solo activity.

Lazy Hamantaschen – Not

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

4 cups flour

Instructions 

Using food processor:

Mix eggs, sugar in a food processor until blended. Slowly add oil through the feed tube and then add the vanilla.

Add flour and pulse until just blended.

I use plastic wrap to shape dough into 3 logs. I then wrapped them in parchment paper and foil and froze them until ready I was ready to assemble and bake them.

Before assembling the hamentashen, thaw slightly and slice dough approximately 1/4 inches thick.

I flattened the dough, placed the filling in center of dough and then pinched it together to create a triangle.

Bake at 350°F until done, about 20 minutes.

Source: “The Jewish Holiday Do-book”

This is my own recipe that I made up as a filling for the hamentashen.

Raisin-Date- Apricot Filling for Hamantaschen

2 cups pitted dates (approximately)

1 box (15 oz.) sultana raisins

1 cup dried apricots (approximately)

1 lemon zested and juiced

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts 

1/2 cup water (approximately)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional, but I thought it made it taste better)

Instructions 

Boil all ingredients in a pot until soft. Be careful not to add too much water.

Blend using an immersion blender until smooth. The mixture should be quite thick.

Mixture can be prepared in advance and refrigerated for several days, or frozen.

Here are the pictures: 

Preparing the dough:

 

Shaping the dough into logs:

  

Slicing the dough:
  

This is the filling:

  

Et voilà! The final outcome:

  

Outcome: my husband’s response to the cookies was pretty funny. 

He said, “they may not look good, but they taste great!” 

Raizel said: “they are hard, but they taste great!”

In particular, Jay loved the filling. Any leftovers can be used as jam. 

Jay also thought that the filling would make a great glaze for chicken.

I was very happy that the cookies held their shape. I guess that’s why the dough is so stiff. Plus, since it was homemade, the ingredients were all natural with no dyes, additives or preservatives. 

Hopefully, others will enjoy them too.