Η συνταγή και στα ελληνικά στο τέλος της ανάρτησης!
What I am really fascinated with is, when a certain food has a history behind it. And when I am saying history, I don’t mean my history, but a story that goes back many, many years.
As you may or may not know, Greece has been enslaved under Ottoman Empire for 400 years between 1453 when Konstantinople (Istanbul for the Turks) was conquered by Sultan Mehmet II and 1821 when Greeks started their fight against that regime.
During these 400 years the dynamics that were created, helped people to survive and maintain their ethnic identity. Roles became ambiguous as everyone was trying to create a life for himself.
During that period, Ottoman Empire delegated certain roles to certain people in order to maintain the stability and control of the area. That same time two separate groups formed which, in the beginning, acted against each other; Armatoles and Klephts. The prime were recruited by the Ottoman government to control certain areas of interest delegated to them by the local Ottoman Pashas. These areas were hard to access or had high levels of brigandage. They were carrying guns and tried to maintain the delicate status-quo with the Ottoman authorities.
In direct contrast, the Klephts were anti-Ottoman insurgents, who were the descendants of Greeks who retreated into the mountains to avoid Ottoman oppression.
At some point and during the Greek revolution the roles of these two separate groups have blurred and both started having a common goal; their country’s freedom.
Now, you will ask how all this history is connected to this chicken! I will reply to you that Kleftiko or Klephtiko means the one coming from the Klephts. During those years of oppression and the subsequent ones of the revolution, those people in order not to be discovered they had to invent ways to cook their meals in the mountains. They had to find tricks not only to eliminate any smoke, but also to not be able for anyone to smell the cooking meals. Thus, they cooked their meat, that being lamb back then, in a sealed pit.
So, nowadays all meat that is cooked in a sealed parchment paper or in any such manner is called Kleftiko or Klephtiko. This chicken is wrapped in parchment paper and sealed with a thin rope and thus falls under this category. I can tell you that it was amazingly soft and burst with flavors, as all the juices from the chicken and all the liquids I added were surrounding the chicken and kept it very tender. Eventually, ten minutes under the broiler gave the layer of vegetables above the meat the necessary depth of flavor.
Chicken Klephtiko
Ingredients
3 chicken breast halves
70 gr. / 3 oz. of feta cheese per half breast, I used 210 gr. / 9 oz. in total
1 tomato, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
A bunch of parsley, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 ½ tbsp sugar
¼ cup sweet wine per half breast, I used sweet wine of Samos, but any sweet wine is fine, ¾ cup in total
3 tbsp olive oil per pocket
½ tsp dried oregano per half breast
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200° C / 400° F.
Cut three pieces of parchment paper big enough to carry a half breast along with the vegetables and liquids and be able to seal it with a thin rope.
Take one half breast and place it on the parchment paper.
Repeat with the rest.
Salt and pepper them.
Add the 70 gr. / 3 oz. of feta cheese above each one of them.
Divide the vegetables equally among the three pockets starting with the tomato, after add the pepper, next the onion and finishing with the parsley.
Divide the sugar equally to all three of them.
Without pouring the wine and olive oil and open as they are, squeeze them in a pan very close to each other.
Pour the wine and olive oil and seal them with the thin rope.
Spray the pockets with water and bake them at the lowest level of your oven for an hour.
Remove from the oven.
Open the pockets and place them under the broiler at the medium rack of your oven at 225° C / 437 ° F for about 10 minutes.
Now please pay attention, don’t leave the oven unattended as broiler has very high temperature and can burn your meal.
Remove and drain the liquids.
Place the liquids in a small pot and boil for five minutes.
You can thicken this sauce by whisking 1 tbsp of corn flour dissolved in 1 tbsp water into it.
Transfer them to a platter and serve pouring the sauce on top of them.
Chicken Klephtiko was featured at Hun…What’s for Dinner?
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- 3 chicken breast halves
- 70 gr. / 3 oz. of feta cheese per half breast, I used 210 gr. / 9 oz. in total
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 3 carrots, sliced
- A bunch of parsley, chopped
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 ½ tbsp sugar
- ¼ cup sweet wine per half breast, I used sweet wine of Samos, but any sweet wine is fine, ¾ cup in total
- 3 tbsp olive oil per pocket
- ½ tsp dried oregano per half breast
- Salt and pepper
- Preheat oven to 200° C / 400° F.
- Cut three pieces of parchment paper big enough to carry a half breast along with the vegetables and liquids and be able to seal it with a thin rope.
- Take one half breast and place it on the parchment paper.
- Repeat with the rest.
- Salt and pepper them.
- Add the 70 gr. / 3 oz. of feta cheese above each one of them.
- Divide the vegetables equally among the three pockets starting with the tomato, after add the pepper, next the onion and finishing with the parsley.
- Divide the sugar equally to all three of them.
- Without pouring the wine and olive oil and open as they are, squeeze them in a pan very close to each other.
- Pour the wine and olive oil and seal them with the thin rope.
- Spray the pockets with water and bake them at the lowest level of your oven for an hour.
- Remove from the oven.
- Open the pockets and place them under the broiler at the medium rack of your oven at 225° C / 437 ° F for about 10 minutes.
- Now please pay attention, don’t leave the oven unattended as broiler has very high temperature and can burn your meal.
- Remove and drain the liquids.
- Place the liquids in a small pot and boil for five minutes.
- You can thicken this sauce by whisking 1 tbsp of corn flour dissolved in 1 tbsp water into it.
- Transfer them to a platter and serve pouring the sauce on top of them.
- 3 μισά στήθη κοτόπουλου
- 70 γρ. τυρί φέτα ανά μισό στήθος, χρησιμοποίησα 210 γρ. συνολικά
- 1 ντομάτα, κομμένη σε φέτες
- 1 πράσινη πιπεριά, σε φέτες
- 3 καρότα, κομμένα σε φέτες
- Ένα μάτσο μαϊντανό, ψιλοκομμένο
- 1 κρεμμύδι, κομμένο σε φέτες
- 1 ½ κ.σ. ζάχαρη
- ¼ φλ. γλυκό κρασί ανά μισό στήθος, χρησιμοποίησα γλυκό κρασί Σάμου, αλλά κάθε γλυκό κρασί είναι μια χαρά, ¾ φλιτζανιού συνολικά
- 3 κ.σ. ελαιόλαδο ανά πακέτο
- ½ κουταλάκι ξερή ρίγανη ανά στήθος
- Αλάτι και πιπέρι
- Προθερμένετε το φούρνο στους 200° C.
- Κόψτε τρία κομμάτια χαρτί ψησίματος αρκετά μεγάλα ώστε να χωράει το καθένα από μισό στήθος με τα λαχανικά του και τα υγρά του και να μπορείτε να το κλείσετε σαν πουγκί.
- Πάρτε ένα στήθος και βάλτε το στο χαρτί.
- Κάνετε το ίδιο και με τα υπόλοιπα στήθη.
- Βάλτε αλάτι και πιπέρι.
- Προσθέστε τα 70 γρ. τυρί φέτα πάνω από κάθε ένα από αυτά.
- Μοιράστε τα λαχανικά εξίσου ανάμεσα στα τρία πουγκιά ξεκινώντας με την ντομάτα, μετά από προσθέστε την πιπεριά, στη συνέχεια το κρεμμύδι και στο τέλος το μαϊντανό.
- Ρίξτε τη ζάχαρη εξίσου στα τρία επίσης.
- Πριν ρίξετε το κρασί και το λάδι, τοποθετήστε τα σε ένα ταψί στρυμωγμένα το ένα δίπλα στο άλλο.
- Ρίξτε το κρασί και το λάδι και κλείστε τα με το σκοινάκι.
- Ψεκάστε τα πουγκιά με νερό και ψήστε στο χαμηλότερο επίπεδο του φούρνου σας για μια ώρα.
- Βγάλτε από το φούρνο.
- Ανοίξτε τα πουγκιά και τοποθετήστε τα κάτω από το γκριλ στη μεσαία θέση του φούρνου σας στους 225° C για περίπου 10 λεπτά.
- Προσέξτε, μην αφήσετε το φούρνο χωρίς παρακολούθηση, γιατί το γκριλ έχει πολύ υψηλή θερμοκρασία και μπορεί να κάψει το φαγητό.
- Βγάλτε από το φούρνο και στραγγίξτε το ζουμάκι σε ένα κατσαρολάκι.
- Βράστε για πέντε λεπτά και αν θέλετε να πήξετε τη σαλτσούλα προσθέστε 1 κ.σ. κορν φλάουρ διαλυμένο σε 1 κ.σ. νερό και ανακατέψτε.
- Σερβίρετε σε πιατέλα έχοντας περιχύσει με τη σάλτσα.
