If there was one dish to represent Greek summer, for me it has to be kota kokkinisti, or chicken in a tomato sauce. Sitting at a taverna by the beach, or around a kitchen table with the family, the windows wide open to the breeze in late in the afternoon, the summer air is heavy with hints of sweet jasmine, the salty ozone sea and savoury mountain herbs. Your legs ache under the table from a day spent swimming in clear waters and running across hot sand, your skin prickles with a salty crust. Your starving from all of that energy spent relaxing. Could there be anything better than having placed in front of you, a huge bowl chicken in tomato, aromatic with garlic and wine and super thin, hand rolled noodles glistening with a liberal dose of sheep milk butter and dusted with a grating of hard, salty sheep milk cheese? No there is not. At a pinch this scene could only be made better by the table also having a jug, peppered with droplets of condensation, holding a very chilled, local rose wine.
Ionian style kota kokkinisti
Κοτα κοκκινιστη
Ingredients
- 1 Chicken preferably organic and cut into pieces
- 1 Lemon juiced
- Sea salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Butter preferably sheep milk
- 1 Onion grated
- 6 cloves Garlic peeled and left whole
- 1 wine glass White or rose wine
- 500g grated Fresh tomatoes
- 1 tsp Ma's chilli puree (see basics under recipes tab) or to taste
- 1 packet Hilopites preferably homemade with sheep milk
- grated Hard sheep milk cheese pecorino, ladotiri or kefalotyri to serve
Instructions
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The night before you wish to cook with chicken, clean the pieces well and rub with lemon juice and sea salt. Place in a ceramic dish and place in the refrigerator, uncovered.
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The next day, heat a saute pan with a little extra virgin olive oil or a mixture of sheep milk butter and extra virgin olive oil. Fry the chicken pieces until golden and set aside.
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Heat a large casserole pot with 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add the garlic cloves and cook until the oil becomes aromatic (but do not let them burn). At this point, you can remove the garlic cloves, or if you are a fan - leave them in. Add the grated onion and saute until aromatic. Add the wine and let the alcohol evaporate. Finally, add the chilli puree, grated tomato and around one wine glass of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 10 minutes. Then add the chicken pieces. The sauce should cover the pieces. Bring back to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for around one hour or until the chicken is falling-off-the-bone tender. At this point, if the sauce is a little watery (and it will depend on your tomatoes), remove the chicken pieces and bring the sauce back to the boil to reduce a little. Return the chicken pieces to the sauce to keep warm.
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Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook your hilopites according to the packet instructions (generally around 10 mins) until al dente. Drain well and mix the noodles with a little melted sheep milk butter.
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Serve a bowl of hilopites topped with chicken pieces and sauce. Also bring a bowl of grated hard sheep's milk cheese to the table and let everyone help themselves
