[Nogrod]

This one continues the quite heavy standards of a northern Middle Earth kitchen. I’ll promise to bring forth some lighter recipies in near future. Just made this today, and got an inspiration to share it.
Indeed this one is a kind of a variation from the famous “Kiev chicken”, and the slavic mentality is followed in the side dishes, f.ex. the usage of canned peas, gherkins & smetana (russian sour-cream, quite near creme fraiche). But as the Kiev chicken is pretty hard to make – it requires handcraft skills – this one is relatively easy, even though there is quite a lot of work in it. But that should be fun, even to a beginner (getting everything ready at the same time will require some thinking). Making it twosome is even more fun. The recipe uses dried herbs, but fresh ones are alway preferable, just remember to cut them well and use a little more of them.

Erebor chicken

This recipe comes from Esgaroth. The name of the dish doesn’t in the first instance point to the lonely mountain as such, as it contains a pun of sorts. The famous herb “dragon” is the pivotal point here, for it is used in almost everything that is served with this dish. This is a typical winter-food, using preserved ingredients and having relatively nice amounts of butter & cream in it. And in part just because of the latter, it tastes wonderful.

For the “salad”:
- gherkins (salt preserved cucumbers, particulary russian thing: if you can get the original ones, the better) and canned peas (salt preserved too, but more common than the cucumbers around the world), 1/3 gherkins vs. 2/3 peas. The exact amount should be decided by the number of eaters.
(- radish, as much or little less than gherkin, optional)
- smetana (or any thick sour-cream)
- ground white pepper
- dragon, marjoram, parsley

Side dishes:
- 1-2 potatoes / person
- ½-1 carrots / person
- salt & pepper
- dragon, parsley
- smetana

- 1 medium yellow onion / person
- salt & currypowder

The chicken:
- 2 small breasts of chicken / person
- butter
- salt & pepper
- dragon, parsley
(- fresh rosemary, optional)
- flour & breadcrumbs
- ground paprika
- 1 egg (for 2-3 portions, more as needed)
- about ½ ltr. / 2 cups of oil, for deep-frying

1. About an hour earlier, pound the chicken breasts in between a folio, baking paper or whatever you can find (use a meatpounder, a bottom of a bottle, a casserole, or anything). Just try to make them as thin as you can without breaking them (the most important thing being: Don’t break them!). Fit them as pairs, two against one another. Then season every two of them from the “inside” = rub herbs into one side of every breast, then add seasoning, to the same side, then put thin wedges of butter over one half of each pair. Place the non-butter breast over the other, so that all the seasoning & herbs & butter is left inside this “cake”, outsides being clean. Take cocktailsticks, toothsticks etc. and secure them against each other. Just as starting a needlework and leaving the needles in (some 4-5 sticks / portion should do).

2. Take some flour and pour it to a plate to form a “cover” over the plate. Turn the tied-together chicken breasts over in the flour, a couple of times. Set the chicken aside to dry for a second. Meanwhile dust extra flour off the plate and replace with breadcrumbs, season with pepper and paprika, stir. Break one egg (or more, if needed) and whisk it in another plate. Turn the chickens in the beaten egg first, then carefully roll them in the breadcrumbs, so that they are totally covered. Cover and refrigirate for an hour.

3. After about an hour, begin making the salad. Cut the gherkins in small bits and combine with the peas in a bowl. Let rest a minute or two. If there is a lot of liquid in the bowl after that, discard of it. Pour in about 1 tablespoon of smetana / person over the peas & gherkins and stir. Season and stir again. Put a folio or something over the bowl and put into the fridge.

4. Put enough water to boil for the potatoe-carrot mash. Wash and peel the potatoes and carrots. Cut the carrots in very small bits and add to the water immediately (they need more cooking time than the taters). Season with dragon & parsley, salt & pepper. At this stage, bring the deep-frying oil to heat up in a separate pan. Also turn the oven on, 150C (300F). Then cut the taters a bit rougher. Add the taters after the carrots have boiled a couple of minutes. (If you are having a big dinner party, the boiling of the water might take a while: in that occasion, put the taters into a bowl and cover them with cold water; that way they will stay fresh before cooking).

5. When the oil is hot enough (try with a piece of white bread, it should turn nicely brown in a minute), put the chicken portions in to the oil, 1 or 2 at a time (depending on the size of the vessel: do not “overcrowd” the thing, for the oil will cool down and the frying won’t be good). Boil for several minutes, about 3-5. Watch them carefully not to brown them too much, they should be mild yellow-brown in colour.

6. While the chicken are frying, peal the onions, and cut them into rings. When the chicken have a nice colour, take them from the oil and rest them over a householdpaper or something (to suck the extra oil). Meanwhile pour the onionrings into the oil. Put the chicken in an ovenproof vessel and into the oven. They should be ready in 5-10 minutes. (While chicken should not be eaten raw, an overcooked chicken is dry and tasteless – so be careful with the timing, and check)

7. As the taters are beginning to feel soft, pour out the water – and according to your hurry, cover and let rest, or mash immediately. You should have an eye for the onions too, and stir them time time, and be careful not to burn them. But in any order. Mash the potatoes (do not use a machine, for it will produce “clinical” results: better to have something to bite in a mash). Add smetana and taste fot the seasoning. Pick the onions with a slotted spoon and put them over a paper or towel. Season the onionrings with salt and currypowder.

8. After all is done – and hope someone else has laid the table ready, you should go on serving. The “salad” should be served from its own bowl. You may pour the onionrings over the mashed potatoes/carrots or serve them separately. And last but not least, the chicken portions should be served, straight from the oven, to each plate.

9. Even though north seems to be the ale-country with Tolkien also (and the russian origins of this meal would underline it), feel free to have some cold, dry white wine or fresh ice-cold water with this one.