Monday, October 9, 2017

Moldavian Barbecued Chicken

Back in February I did a recipe from a terrific vintage 1970s era cookbook, Russian Delight: A Cookbook of the Soviet Peoples, Georgian Beef Chakhokhbili. As I noted then this excellent cookbook is misleadingly titled as it covers all the various regional cuisines that used to make up the USSR.










Today we are going to do our take on a different dish from the cookbook's section on Modavian cuisine, a cuisine that the introduction to the section says is influenced by both Greek and Turkish traditions and in which lamb and barbecue cooking are very popular. While today's recipe is not a lamb one, it is barbecue!

To make this dish you can use chicken halves, whole legs or thighs. These should be skin-on and bone-in. I used thighs and made a dozen in total.

First, lay your chicken out skin side up on an aluminum barbecue tray.  If you can get the ones with the small slits on the bottom those work best.

Sprinkle each piece of chicken with cayenne pepper and sea salt. I am fairly liberal with both but you can vary it according to your taste and desired level of spice. Then brush the chicken with about 2 tablespoons of white wine and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and let the chicken sit for 30 minutes to an hour (in the fridge is recommended).





While the chicken is sitting prepare your charcoal barbecue and when you are ready to cook top your chicken with 2 chopped onions, 6 cloves of minced garlic and liberally with chopped parsley.



Place the trays on the BBQ grill a cook for around an hour or until the chicken is done.

Around half way through the grilling time, brush the chicken pieces with a bit more olive oil and flip them so that they are skin side down for the last half of the cooking time.



To regulate your heat and the flame levels, as well as to make sure you get that nice smokey flavour, I recommend cooking the chicken 10 minutes BBQ top on, then 5 top off, in a cycle until the cooking is done.



This dish is terrific served with rice and a Greek salad and accompanied by more white wine.

Enjoy.

See also: Georgian Beef Chakhokhbili

See also: Beef Short Ribs Charcoal Barbecued with Homemade BBQ Sauce

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