Buon Appetito

Chicken Negressco a la Salma Keir

This is a versatile dish that you can add vegetables to in the mix before baking. The most common vegetables to add are zucchini, peas or even broccoli.
Negressco is made of three different parts that come together in the oven.

-Chicken: Prepare chicken anyway you wish. For this recipe, I use a roasted chicken from the store. Strip all the meat from the bone. Cut to bite size and set aside.

Here is Salma’s recipe for chicken:
– Wash whole chicken inside and out with salt and flour to get clean and take away any unsavory taste.
– Place rinsed chicken in large stock pot with:
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 bay leaves
1 large onion (keep tail on and cut in four half way through)
Boil 45 minutes

-Pasta: Boil Penne or Elbow macaroni following package directions.
Salma adds 2Tbsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of salt to boiling water for pasta.

–Beshamel Sauce: Remember that you made your Beshamel sauce: shown last week.

Assembly:
-Mix boiled pasta, chicken and 1 cup of Beshamel sauce in a large pot or bowl.

-Spread mixture into a large rectangular oven pan.

-Pour the rest of the Beshamel sauce on the top.

-Bake at 375 until golden brown and serve.

In the end:
– Let stand for 10 minutes out of the oven for easy serving.

– Use spatula to serve rectangles or squares of the baked Negressco.

– Serve with a green salad or a Caesar salad.

– If you wish you can sprinkle some fresh Parmesan cheese on top of every serving.

– Serves 12. Freezes well. Heat in microwave or oven.

Easy to prepare in advance and tastes incredible. Salma froze squares in old empties for her client Eleanor.

This is the first of two parts of Chicken Negressco from Salma Keir from Caring For Eleanor.

Beshamel
4 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 oz flour
2¼ cups milk
salt
1 egg

– In a sauce pan, heat oil.
– Add flour and whisk vigorously to lightly brown the flour.
– Add salt as you whisk.
– Add milk a little at a time whisking to avoid lumps.
– Remove from heat when thickens.
– Add raw egg and whisk into mixture.

Now it is ready to be added to whatever dish you want to add it to.
This sauce is a white sauce to use with pastas and making Croque Monsieur, ham and cheese with sauce on top.

If you find it hard to follow my directions, check out this video and see if it helps. :0)

One of the foods I made for Eleanor was a spiced French Toast. Used to having her scrambled egg and toast every morning, I made her something new. She loved my cooking and gave me leeway to serve her new and delicious foods.

In the next few weeks, I will share some of the foods I made for her. Yes, she loved my cooking.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• Pinch Cardamon
• Dash Allspice
• 2 pinches Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla
• 2 Slices of toast or Hawaiian Bread or potato Bread
• Butter for frying
  Maple syrup

Directions:

• Beat egg and milk.
• Add spices and vanilla. Set aside for a moment.
• Heat butter in skillet.
• Dunk each slice of bread covering both sides with spiced mixture.
• Place in medium hot butter.
• Brown on both sides.
• After placing in serving plate, cover with Maple syrup.

When she tasted my concoction, she asked for it many times after that. Blind, all her other senses were enhanced and she appreciated the sensual flavors.

Salma Keir

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup bulgur, fine cracked wheat
• juice of 4-5 lemons
• 3 bunches fresh parsley, finely chopped
• handful fresh mint, finely sliced (not necessary)
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 6 green onions, thinly sliced (include green stems)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt (to taste)
• romaine leaves, for serving

Directions

1- Soak bulgur in 1 cup of warm water. It will soften and expand.
2- Mix all cut up vegetables and place in bowl.
3- To add bulgur, take handfuls and squeeze out all the water. Then add to mixture.
4- Toss all and serve over romaine.

Ideas: Add to sandwiches, to falafel or as a side dish.
Bulgur is very versatile and excellent to use. It comes in many grain levels from fine to coarse. It is used as a filler, in stuffing chicken instead of bread or rice. It gives a smoky wonderful taste. It can also be made instead of rice as a side dish.