Annabel's Pantry - BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Balsamic Chicken Breasts with Crispy Mint and Pinenuts

(The Best of Annabel Langbein)

A quick roast in a hot oven then into a delicious sweet sour Italian styled sauce makes this easy chicken dish ideal for rush hour entertaining. Cook it like a casserole if you prefer- with bone in cuts like drumsticks or thighs- brown them first then mix in the prepared and cooked sauce and bake for 30 minutes. Great with rabbit pieces too.

6 single chicken breasts, skin on
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Sauce:

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
3 cups chicken stock (or 2 x 375ml tetrapacks)
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, to taste
1 tablespoon honey
2 whole sprigs mint
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon cornflour mixed to a slurry with a splash of water

Garnish:

1/2 cup whole mint leaves, 1/2 cup pinenuts, oil to fry

Mix chicken with balsamic and brown sugar. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour, or up to 12 hours.

Make sauce, heat oil in a large heavy frypan and gently cook garlic for a few seconds. Add stock, wine, vinegar, honey and whole mint sprigs. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard mint. Mix in cornflour slurry, stirring over heat until very lightly thickened. Sauce can be made well ahead of time, refrigerate if not using within a couple of hours.

Make the garnish, heat about 4cm oil in a small pot and fry pinenuts about 2 minutes till pale gold, drain on paper towels.

Add mint leaves and fry until crisp. Lift out of oil and drain on paper towels, put in a small bowl with toasted pinenuts and put to one side.( These will keep a couple of days in an airtight container)

To cook chicken, preheat oven to 220 �C. Season chicken with salt and place skin side up on a shallow baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and add to hot sauce, simmer very gently on lowest heat for 5-10 minutes. Place chicken on hot dinner plates, spoon over sauce and top with fried mint leaves and pinenuts.

Serves 6

A peppery Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon makes a great match.

Accompany with lightly cooked greens and a potato gratin made by very thinly slicing 6 big potatoes, layer these about 4cm thick into a buttered baking dish. Season with salt and pepper between the layers. Pour over about 3 cups milk to which you have added 2 cloves crushed garlic and a good pinch nutmeg, using enough just almost cover the top layer of potatoes. Dot the top with butter, cover and microwave 10 minutes then uncover and bake 45-50 minutes at 200 �C until golden and tender. If you have no microwave bake for about 1 1/4 hours.

Honey Roasted Pears with Blue Cheese and Walnut Crisp Breads

These luscious pears can be prepared and cooked a few hours ahead of time. As well as making this easy and delicious dessert offering, they are divine tossed through salad greens dressed with a light pesto dressing, and along with croutons and thin slivers of blue cheese.

Croutons for garnish - about 2 dozen thin slices walnut or other fruit or nut bread, a little good olive oil to brush*
7-8 large just ripe pears, quartered, cored, each quarter cut in half or thirds if large
1/4 cup honey, preferably dark, melted
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 tablespoons good balsamic

To serve, about 250g wedge creamy blue cheese eg Kikorangi

Cook croutons, brush bread slices lightly with oil and bake at 180 �C for about 20 minutes until crisp. Store in an airtight container if not using at once- they will keep for at least week.

Cook Pears, preheat oven to 220 �C. Place cut up pears in a shallow roasting dish. Mix honey, oil and balsamic together. Mix this through pears. bake for 45-50 minutes until just starting to turn brown. Cool to room temperature.

To serve, divide cheese into portions about 50g each. place on small flat plates with a couple of croutons and a spoonful of pears.

Serves 6.

Accompany with a dessert wine like a chilled muscat.

Balsamic Glaze

This can be made in bulk, it keeps for months. Use to drizzle over salads and grills, or roasted figs or pears

For a commercial substitute use Balsamic crema.

1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

In a small saucepan, combine the apple juice with 1/2 cup of the balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil. Simmer over high heat until thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 8 minutes. Pour the balsamic glaze into a glass measuring cup and let cool to room temperature.

Balsamic-Glazed Duck Legs with Figs and Onions

1/4 cup balsamic glaze or crema
12 dried figs
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
6 large duck legs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 medium red onions, each cut into 6 wedges
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 220�C. In a heatproof bowl, combine the figs and orange juice. Cover with a plate and microwave at 50 percent power for 8 minutes. (Or bring to a simmer in a pot for 2 minutes.)

Prick the duck legs all over with a sharp fork and season with salt and pepper.

Place in a shallow roasting dish and roast until most of the fat has been rendered and the skin is golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer the duck legs to a platter and discard the fat from the dish. Place the onions in a microwave bowl, cover and cook for 5 minutes, or simmer in a little water for 10 minutes to soften.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180�C. Arrange the figs and the onion wedges, in the roasting dish. Drizzle with the fig cooking liquid, olive oil, honey and the remaining 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange the duck legs on the onions and figs, pour the chicken broth around and bake until the duck is very tender, 1 hour.

Transfer the duck legs to the platter and with the onion wedges and figs. Pour the pan juices over the onions and drizzle with the balsamic glaze.

The balsamic glaze can be refrigerated for up to a month. Reheat gently to bring to a spoonable consistency.

balsamic dressing

7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt & grinds of pepper

Whisk all ingredients, or shake together in a jar.

Makes 2/3 cup

Storage Dressing will keep in the fridge for over a week.

ROCKET, AVOCADO AND BACON SALAD WITH BALSAMIC DRESSING

120g rocket leaves
1 sliced avocado
3 rashers crispy bacon tossed with 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette, with shavings of 30g fresh parmesan sprinkled over the top.

Assemble all ingredients together in a bowl or on a serving platter.

Salad of Beets, Broad Beans, Walnuts and Goat’s Cheese

The components for this salad can be prepared ahead of time ready for a quick last-minute assembly.

4 -6 fresh beetroot, (about 600g) peeled and cut into small fingers
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup fresh walnut pieces
4 handfuls fresh rocket or watercress, coarse stems removed
1 cup peeled broad beans (about 2 cups unpeeled)*
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil mixed with 2 tsp balsamic vinegar to garnish
100g goat’s cheese or feta

Heat oven to 180�C. Place beets in a shallow roasting dish. Mix through sugar, vinegar and oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread out to a single layer and roast in oven for about 40 minutes until tender and starting to shrivel. Leave to cool in the pan.

Toast walnuts in a separate roasting dish for 15 minutes at the same temperature.

Toss rocket leaves, walnuts and beans through beets in pan to coat in pan oils.

Divide between 4 serving plates. Sprinkle a little of the oil-and-vinegar dressing around the edge of each plate and grate or shred goat’s cheese over the top.

Serves 4

* Cook’s note:

Broad beans have a short season but are always available in the frozen section. Frozen beans have been par-cooked so can be popped straight out of their skins. Fresh broad beans must first be podded then blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes before peeling off the greyish outer skin.