Roast chicken with quinces
Today we make a stopover in the Romanian region of Wallachia, alternatively known as Muntenia, the southern-most territory inhabited by Romanians, on the northern side of the lower Danube. It is Romania’s gateway to the Balkans, and as such it has a wonderful medley of influences in its cooking.
România Internațional, 03.12.2017, 14:07
There are mainly Balkan influences, from Turkish to Greek to Bulgarian, and in the last two or three hundred years it has started adopting western European cooking ideas, such as French desserts, Italian pasta or German minced meat preparations. It is also a cooking culture in which pickled vegetables in brine are omnipresent. And now, on to our recipe. We will show you how to make roast chicken with quinces. You need 4 to 6 chicken thighs, 10 medium sized potatoes, two quinces and one onion.
Peel and cut the potatoes in round slices, cut the onion julienne, and lay them in a covered oven dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with potato slices then put in the onion. Put the thighs on top. Cut the quinces into slices a few millimeters thick, and put them on top of the chicken. Add water to cover the bottom vegetables, cover and set to cook in the oven for about 45 minutes.
Take off the lid, add salt to taste, then put the dish in the oven once again for the thighs to brown and get crispy. You can use a ceramic oven dish as well, as is traditional in peasant households. Serve with pickles and a semi-dry white wine, well chilled.
