Cookalooks Cookery School

My mother was for ever saying things like: I’m sorry I forgot to pick you up from school today but I was running around all day like a chicken without a head…. true story. Growing up in a home where my father reared chickens for our Sunday Lunch roast we understood what my mother meant. We would watch him chop their heads off in the back garden (sorry a bit graphic) and screech with delight as the headless chicken would scurry about for a few minutes before surrendering to the inevitable…

What was inevitable for me,  was that Thursday was going to be one of those running-around-like-a-chicken-without-a-head days. Weber & I had been asked to put together a Men’s Only Night of Whiskey & Weber @ Gwahumbe Game & Spa. I would be doing a demonstration to 40 plus men and they would be doing the braai-ing on the Webers kindly sponsored by Weber. 

On the menu was:

Potato & Bacon Fococcia

Big very Big Espatadas

Peri-Peri Chickens

Braai spice

Grilled Pears with Amarula vodka sauce.

After a busy day of running around (not going to say it again) preparing, setting up and dealing with last minute crisis’s the evening was upon us.The men were eager to start and soon I had them putting the finishing touches to their fococcias, skewering their espatadas and whizzing up a spicy braai spice. When it came time to peri-peri the chickens we couldn’t find them..one minute they were on the table the next minute they were gone……Weber and I ran around frantically like chickens without heads searching for chickens until we found them hidden under the table. A prankster thought it would be funny to hide the chickens….what a ‘chop. After taking deep breaths and counting to a million I felt calm enough to show them how to spatch-cock and make the peri-peri paste. They were soon sizzling on the Webers and agreed by all, to be the best peri-peri chicken they’d ever eaten!

Peri-Peri Paste

100g crushed dried chillies

4x cloves of garlic

100ml lemon juice

30ml paprika

20ml cayenne pepper

30ml origanum

10ml salt

Olive oil for blending

Method:

1. Place everything EXCEPT the olive oil in the food processor and blend until the mixture comes together.
2. Then very slowly start adding the olive oil while the machine is running. Add enough olive oil to make a smooth paste.
3. Check your seasoning –salt, garlic & lemon juice and add more if necessary.  If the salt, lemon juice or garlic is too strong, add more chillies & olive oil until the flavour is right.
4. Stir in an air tight container or glass bottle.

Chicken Peri peri

Ingredients

2x whole chicken, spatch-cocked or into quarters

Peri peri paste to rub into the chicken

Marinade

250- 400ml dry white wine

3x bay leaves

2x garlic cloves, crushed

15ml peri peri paste

30ml olive oil

Method:

1. Cut slits into the chicken and then rub peri peri paste into the slits and under the skin of the chicken.
2. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over the chicken –making sure that the chicken is covered by the marinade.
3. Leave to marinate for 24hrs, turning every few hours if possible.
4. To cook, grill over medium hot coals until done, basting every now and then with the left over marinade. Or roast in a pre-heated oven 180C until cooked –approx 1h15

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