Czech chicken with garlic and mushrooms

From Traditional Czech Cuisine
Serves 6-8
Ingredients

2 whole chickens
300g mushrooms
150g onions
3 cloves of garlic
salt, pepper
100g butter
vegetable oil

Slice the chicken along the spine into flat pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and fry on both sides in oil. Rub with garlic, add the sliced onion and the mushrooms (sliced lengthwise) and the butter. Place in the oven to bake for around 15 minutes. Regularly sprinkle with water to keep the onions from burning

The recipe above isn’t particularly specific so I had to improvise. I used 4 chicken thighs. Pre-heated the oven to 190 degrees (fan) and popped the chicken into the oven for 30 minutes. Nice simple rustic dish with good natural flavours of the mushrooms and onions.

Beef goulash (Czech) / Broccoli with garlic and anchovies

From Traditional Czech Cuisine
Serves 4
Ingredients

600g beef (neck, shoulder or knuckle)
200g onions
60g lard
5-10g ground sweet paprika
1 tbsp tomato paste
5 dl beef stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp marjoram
2-3 black peppercorns
lemon peel

Remove sinews from the beef and cut into regularly sized, largish pieces (3-4 per serving). Fry the onion, finely chopped, in lard until golden brown and add the meat. Stirring continuously, fry the meat but do not let the onions burn. Dust with paprika, add the tomato paste and after briefly frying, cover with cold beef stock. Add salt, a pinch of crushed garlic, lemon peel, caraway seeds and 2-3 black peppercorns and lead to simmer. Once the meat is soft, remove it and strain the sauce before re-adding it to the meat. The goulash can be thickened with a bit of fine white flour to be sprinkled over the meat before the paprika is added.

Ingredients

1 head of Broccoli, cut into small florets
3 anchovies, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tbsp olive oil

Cook the broccoli in boiling water until tender.Mix the anchovies, garlic and olive oil until well blended. Add the anchovies dressing to the broccoli.

Pork with wild mushrooms

Adapted from Traditional Czech Cuisine
Serves 4

Ingredients

500g pork shoulder
1 onion
200g sliced fresh wild mushrooms
20g dried wild mushrooms
1 tbp white flour
salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
pepper
1/2 cup stock (preferably white)

Chop the meat into cubes and chop the onion finely. Brown the onions. Add the meat and cook on both sides. Soak dry mushrooms for 1-2 hours before hand. Slice and add to the cooking meat. Douse with the stock. Add salt, caraway seeds, and pepper.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add mushrooms. Continue simmering for another 15 minutes. At the end, thicken with the flour mixed with a bit and water. Cook for another 3 minutes. Serve with potatoes, rice or pasta.

Was in Prague for a holiday and as always, I bought a cookbook there to play with. Very homey rustic dish that goes brilliantly with rice. Also caraway seeds are supposed to help with digestion! Next up, beef goulash!