Lemon Chicken with Avgolemono Sauce

This Friday I made dinner for my folks and grandparents. Growing up this was the night my mom traditionally served chicken, usually roasted but not necessarily. So I decided to do the same, however I wanted to add a little twist. Now, plain old roasted chicken, with salt, pepper and either garlic or garlic and lemon, is perfectly tasty, filling, and quite comforting. But if you're in the mood to add a little something extra, the dish I made is a spin on a traditional Greek chicken dish and is a nice way to add a twist without needing to go over the top. I've modified this a bit from the original, found in "How To Eat" by Nigella.

Lemon Roasted Chicken with Avoglemono Sauce:

• 6 Tbs olive oil (you may need slightly more)


• 1 large chicken cut into 8 or 10 portions, or two small chickens cut into 6 portions each.


• zest and juice of 1 large, or 2 small, lemons (wash well if they are waxed)


• 1 Tbs oregano


• 1 1/4 cup of dry white wine (you may need more of this as well)


• 3 eggs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken in large baking dish it should hold the chicken and fit over two burners on your stove top. If you do not have a baking dish that can also go on the stove or is too small, you can use a frying pan for this step instead on make in two batches: Place chicken in heated baking dish or frying pan on stove and pour on oil. turn chicken until golden. Once all pieces are done, place pieces in their dishes that are going into the oven. Add the lemon zest, oregano, wine, salt and pepper. Splash on a little bit of water, about 1 cup for all the chicken (divided between the two pans if you are using two). Whack it in the oven and cook for 30 - 40 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, when the internal temp reaches between 170 - 180 it is finished. Remove chicken from dish and place on serving plate. Place plate in oven and turn off.

To make the sauce: Pour off all the chicken juice from dish into a separate container and measure off approx. 1 1/4 cup to use in the sauce and set aside.

Into a sauce pan, on very low heat, put the eggs and juice from the lemons and start whisking (by hand or electric whisk). Keep whisking until the mixture is frothy and then slowly add in the chicken juice while whisking. The sauce is ready when it reaches the consistency of thin custard (keep whisking over the heat if you want it thicker. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a separate jug, bowl or, if you got it, gravy boat and serve with the chicken.

Notes: For the chicken: you can skip the frying bit and go straight to the oven, just make sure to cook it in the oil, lemon zest, salt, pepper and oregano first then add the wine and water once the outsides have started to golden. If you want and can find it, use rigani instead of oregano.

For the sauce: If you are nervous about curdling, have a large bowl filled with water and ice next to you in which you can plunge the pan to prevent overheating and splitting. If you do not want to make the sauce directly over the heat, you can make it in a bowl placed over a sauce pan filled with water brought to a gentle boil. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water while you whisk.

I also made a pretty kick-arse flourless chocolate cake for dessert, if anyone wants the recipe I'll post.

December's Meet

I don't even know if we'll be able to have a December meeting, but if so I had an idea for the meal: Holiday Theme, where everyone trades their family's or their special holiday recipe. Will elaborate further soon...

Thanksgiving Menu

Here are a list of the dishes I've found for the Dry Run Thanksgiving. Choose which one you would like and let me know and I will send you the recipe: (not all have to be used, dishes with stars have already been taken)

• **BUTTERNUT SQUASH APPLE SOUP: k


• **ROAST TURKEY: s


• **ROASTED TOFURKEY-- s


• WILD RICE, APPLE, AND DRIED-CRANBERRY STUFFING


• **CORN BREAD AND CHESTNUT STUFFING -- j&x?


• **MASHED POTATOES WITH WATERCRESS AND GREEN ONIONS: e


• **MASHED ROOTS: t


• JELLIED CRANBERRY SAUCE


• **CHERRY CRANBERRY RELISH: t


• WHOLE ROASTED YAMS WITH MAPLE-ALLSPICE BUTTER


• EASY PUMPKIN PIE


• **HONEY-PECAN PUMPKIN PIE --e.mc?


• **CRANBERRY-RIBBON APPLE PIE: k


• **REGULAR WINE/NON-ALCOHOLIC CIDER/DRINKS: k.s.

side note: if every dish is not taken by the 1st and you are bringing your partner and they would like to cook, they can choose the remaining dishes if they'd like.

"Dry-Run" Thanksgiving -- Nov. 19

The first meeting of the NY/NJ Cooking Club will be on November the 19th at 7:30pm at Sara's house in Astoria. The theme of the meal is "Dry-Run Thanksgiving." Menu to be announced shortly. Return here to view menu, corresponding recipes, and who will be cooking what.

Club "Rules" (so far):

• "Meetings" aka Dinner to take place on the third sunday of every month approx at 7:30pm, unless notified otherwise.



• * The venue of each meeting will rotate from member to member so that each person gets a chance to host.



• The host will cook the entree



• A vegetarian entree option will be available at every meal (unless it's a vegetarian theme, in which case, duh.), however vegetarian club members will not be the only ones expected to make the vegetarian option, this will rotate as well.



• Themes or Type of meal will be agreed upon by all the members attending the previous meal.



• Wine and Non-Alcoholic beverages will be supplied at each meal. The beverages paired with each meal should be part of the learning/eating experience.



• No one will be forced to cook or eat anything they do not want to

* if you are unable to host for whatever reason, but would still like to participate, it is allowed and you will still get a turn at cooking the entree.

umm. so that's it so far. These aren't really rules so much as they are guidelines so none of us get confused or feel short-changed or what have you. Feel free to add to the "rules" as necessary or suggest modifications or changes.

First Meeting: November 17th/18th?

From Sara: NY/NJ Cooking Club has moved here, and this is its permanent home. Hopefully it'll get off the ground, right?

OK. SO! First meeting / meal is either Saturday or Sunday, third week of November. I'm all for making the third weekend of every month cooking night, btw. Emails will go out regarding this new date, time, place and also the theme/menu, after all this info gets approved by the "main committee".

Once you've signed on for this month, by replying to the email, you'll be assigned a dish and its recipe. You'll also get a login to this blog so you can post.

Today's Food Related Things, By Sara:
• Cheese I am most into right now: Halloumi.
• Food I am most curious to try: brain.