We grew up eating Kalamata olives as appetizers with feta cheese and pita bread, and in Greek salad. They were on the table with every dinner and we loved them. I had never cooked with them, however, so I was excited to be given this recipe by our new friends who were musicians at our dance seminar in Crete, from Macedonia. Peppers are abundant in that part of Greece so they gave us some of their favorite family recipes. This is one of them on page 128 of our cookbook.
2 onions sliced 3 ripe tomatoes, diced, (or one
1 small roasting chicken (3 lbs or so)or 14 oz. can diced tomatoes)
boneless chicken thighs 1 c dry red wine
Salt & pepper to taste A pinch of thyme
3 red bell peppers cut in large pieces 3/4 c olive oil
1 c pitted and chopped Kalamata olives
Oil a baking dish or pan and line the bottom with sliced onions. Place the chicken (or pieces) on top. Salt and pepper generously (inside and out of whole chicken). Surround the chicken with the chopped peppers and olives. Combine tomatoes, wine, thyme, and olive oil and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Cover with foil and bake about 2 hours in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F, or until veggies are soft and chicken is tender. Baste at least once during roasting.
Just tonight a friend of ours on the east coast called to say she is making this dish and wondered what we recommend to serve with it. We suggested any buttered pasta or rice is good with it because there will be alot of pan juices to pour over “something’. Don’t forget the crusty bread to sop up any excess juices.
This is just one of the recipes shared by our Macedonian friends that have peppers as the main ingredient on pages 127-129. Haven’t ordered the book yet? You can do it right from here. Just click on the book cover and off you go!! Enjoy.
See you next time…Yassou!!
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Delicious! When I substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs, I like to brown the pieces first and then place them in the roasting pan. This is the first recipe in our Greek repetoire that we cook with Kalamata olives. The only other time I’ve cooked with any olives is in the famous Italian Putanesca pasta. In fact,the other night as I was cooking,Floyd asked ,”Is that a Greek thing?” I said ,”No it’s an Italian thing.” ” Oh,” he said,”I forgot you can cook outside the heritage!”