Cornie's Home Made Chicken

The story of Cornie's is an old one for us. On our first cruise, Meredith and I ended up hanging around a beach in St. Maarten for much of the day sitting in beach loungers, reading, drinking beer and eating chicken.

Cornie's was a little shack with a patio near where we rented our loungers and beach umbrella. The initial attraction was the two-for-$3 bottles of beer, but lunch was a pleasant surprise.

At the counter, there was a large pot of chicken slowly cooking on a burner. We were told it'd be ready by lunch time and lunch was great. There was something in it that reminded me of my grandmother's Saturday afternoon chicken dish, and I liked how it tasted - so I asked for the recipe. I didn't get much out of it aside from some ingredients (no quantities) and a general order of what to add when scratched on a piece of paper.

Knowing that I'd eventually lose that paper (and I did - I have no idea where it went), I typed out the instructions and emailed it to myself. Once a year or so I'd look at it and say to myself "I should really give this a try soon." It wasn't until this March that when deciding what to make for supper, I gave Meredith the option of me giving Cornie's chicken dish a try (as an experiment), or another of my standards.

Meredith chose Cornie's chicken and when I left work that day, I picked up the ingredients and got to work. I think the real trick to this is to let it cook for a long time, to let the flavours blend, the chicken fall to pieces, and the sauce to thicken. I don't claim to have nailed the quantities of ingredients on the first try, but it's good enough and tasted great. I've been avoiding excess amounts of sodium so I used no-salt canned tomatoes, low-sodium soy sauce and low-sodium ketchup. Either way, with those products as part of the process, there's likely no need to add any extra salt.

Our friend who joined us for dinner that day pointed out that the recipe was a variation of a frickazee.

Meredith thought that there was a little too much lime in the mix, so I'll actually discard the lime after the marinating next time, instead of letting the lime pieces cook in the stew (I've reflected that in the instructions as well).

print recipe

Cornie's Home Made Chicken

by Daniel Saraga April-6-2012

This chicken recipe is from a small eatery in St. Maarten.

Ingredients

• 1 kilo chicken legs or thighs
• 1 lime, quartered
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 can tomatoes, diced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

Instructions

1. Place the chicken in a large ziplock bag and squeeze juice from lime quarters into bag. Add squeezed lime and vinegar, close and shake bag to coat chicken.2. In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, soy sauce, onion powder and garlic powder, and add to the bag of chicken, shaking to coat evenly. Refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight if possible.3. In a dutch oven, heat oil on medium.4. Add onions and celery and fry for 3-5 minutes.5. Add garlic and fry for another minute.6. Add tomatoes, potatoes and chicken (discard the lime pieces) and bring to a boil.7. Reduce to medium-low and let simmer for at least 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce should be thick and chicken should be falling off the bone when done.
Note: always check the label for gluten-free labelling on prepared sauces (e.g., ketchup and soy sauce).

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 1 hour 10 mins Total time: 1 hour 25 mins Yield: 4-5 servings

Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen
Try other tasty recipes

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

Throwing together dinner on a Wednesday, I decided to use the leftover cilantro in the salad. I've chopped it up directly in salad before but it just ends up sticking to the bottom of the plate, so I decided to research adding it to a salad dressing.

Surprisingly, there were several recipes available. Several of them were variations on using cilantro and lime juice, so I decided to run with that.

The result easily passed the Meredith test and she asked me when the recipe was going to appear on the blog. I hadn't even thought about it, so I quickly prepared some veggies to drizzle the dressing on for a photo.

print recipe

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

by Daniel Saraga April 13, 2011

This dressing has a sweet and tangy flavour from honey and ginger.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced3/4 tsp ginger powder1/4 cup lime juice1/3 cup honey2 tsp balsamic vinegar1/2 tsp or to taste saltsmall bunch cilantro leaves1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and blend using a hand blender.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 10 mins Yield: 325ml

Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen
Try other tasty recipes

Pad Thai

photo by Ian Cargman

I don't do Thai.

I love eating Andrea's Pad Thai. Given all the moving and other crazy at home, I asked Andrea if she would mind being a guest chef for this week's post, and she agreed.

I chose Andrea for Thai because Thai is one of those cuisines I just suck at, and Andrea just does such a good job every time. I always wreck the noodles somehow, no matter how hard I try. Forget what the pan looks like by the time I'm done!

My brother Beez seems to have a handle on rice noodles as well. Of course, he's had more practice with it at Gluten Free Edmonton.

• 1 package medium rice noodles
• warm water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (reserving 4 tbsp in a separate bowl)
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 kilo chicken, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 3/4 cup medium-firm tofu, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/4 cup fish sauce (check label for gluten-free)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp paprika
• 4 green onions
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 lb bean sprouts
• ground chili
• ground roasted peanuts
• lime wedges

1. Partially cook noodles by soaking for 20-25 in warm water..
   Note: If the water is too hot, you'll overcook the noodles and end up with mush. The noodles should be flexible yet firm.  
2. Drain noodles and set aside.
3. Mix fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, and paprika in bowl and stir until sugar dissolves and set aside.
4. Heat oil in wok on medium-low and stir-fry garlic until translucent.
5. Increase heat to medium and add chicken and tofu. Stir-fry until meat is no longer pink on the outside. 
6. Add noodles and toss to coat with mixture.
7. Add the fish sauce mixture and bring to boil rapidly, gently folding in the noodles.
8. Reduce heat to medium and boil the mixture, folding frequently until the noodles have absorbed the liquid.
9. Lift the noodles gently from one side of the wok.
10. Pour half of reserved oil along the side and break egg into oil (letting the egg slip down the side of the pan).
11. Break yolk and immediately cover egg with noodles.
12. Repeat process on other side of wok with second egg and remaining oil.
13. Allow eggs to set over moderate heat. Add extra oil if wok becomes too dry.
14. When eggs are set and almost dry, fold gently but rapidly into the noodles, trying not to break noodles.
15. Distribute eggs evenly throughout noodles.
16. Add green onions and bean sprouts and gently toss for two minutes.
17. Spread mixture on large platter. Sprinkle with chilies, peanuts and lime juice.

(recipe from Andrea Altberg)

Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen