Chicken and Pasta (the Greek way)
Posted on March 23 2018,
Hilopites are small, square shaped egg noodles, especially made in Greece. The pasta can be made from scratch and the recipe is super easy. (Find it at the end of this post.)
But you don’t have to do all that... just buy a bag at the nearest Greek grocer. If there isn't one near you, no problem! Get some thin or medium width egg noodles, crush them gently while sill in the package or use orzo. This recipe will work just as well with those substitutions.
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 - 6 pieces of chicken (thighs, breast, drumsticks, bone-in or deboned but remember to adjust cooking time for bone-in pieces)
2 - 3 cups hilopites, crushed egg noodles or orzo
14 ounce can of whole, peeled tomatoes
2 and 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided)
I large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon allspice (whole)
all purpose flour
salt, pepper and oregano to taste
Heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a large, wide-bottomed pot. Lightly flour the chicken pieces and add to the pot; brown over high heat a couple of minutes on each side, adding a little salt and pepper as you go. Don’t cook all the way through.
Remove the chicken to a dish/bowl, cover and keep in a warm place. To the pot, add one chopped onion and 4 cloves of garlic (minced) and sauté until the onion is translucent and soft.
Add tomatoes, a teaspoon of whole allspice and salt and pepper to taste (about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper is recommended). Cook for 5 minutes then add one cup of water and the chicken. Cook until chicken is done (5-10 minutes, depending on whether you’re using boneless or bone-in pieces).
Remove chicken and set aside in a warm place, add another two cups of water to the pot and the hilopites (or whichever type of pasta you’re using) and cook as directed on the package. (Hilopites usually cook within 5 minutes.) Add water if the sauce thickens too quickly (hilopites tend to “drink” up the liquid) so that you have a thickened but not “dry” sauce. Add the 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to finish your sauce.
Serve the pasta and chicken with grated parmesan and a salad of your choice and enjoy!
Fresh Hilopites
ingredients:
7 cups all purpose flour
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup of salt
3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Combine the first four ingredients and half the olive oil adding milk or flour, as needed, to obtain a firm dough. Once you make the dough, add some olive oil to a work surface and roll out the dough with a long, long rolling pin (my mom still uses a special “broomstick” kind of rolling pin she had made especially for this purpose) Wrap the dough around the pin (you will have many layers) and cut long strips through all the layers. The strips should be slightly wider than a fettuccini, about the width of your pinky. Then cut those strips crosswise, spread the pieces out on table to dry and ta-da you have hilopites.
If not using immediately, once thoroughly dried, store your hilopites in an air-tight container in the refrigerator (we keep ours in the crisper). In addition to the Chicken and Hilopites recipe above, you can use the hilopites in most pasta dishes, especially those calling for a delicate flavor and texture.
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