I always believed that the most authentic recipes are hidden in the small villages of Greece. I came across one of them during a trip to Northern Greece, in a small village outside Kilkis. Invited by a good friend, I had the chance to try the most delicious braised rooster I have ever eaten.
His mother, Aunt Sia – as everyone in the village called her – got up at dawn, slaughtered the rooster and cooked it in the traditional way, in a clay pot in a wood-fired oven. After boiling the meat, she used its rich broth to boil thick spaghetti, which she served with plenty of grated hard mizithra cheese. It was a dish full of aromas, history and hospitality.
The recipe that follows has been adapted so that it can be easily made in the home oven, without losing its traditional character.
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For the rooster
1 small rooster, cut into 8 portions
salt & freshly ground pepper
8 small garlic cloves
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 tbsp. olive oil
½ cup red vinegar
3 small onions, chopped
1 cup chopped tomato
2 tbsp. tomato paste
500 ml of water
1 glass of dry red wine (optional)
For serving
thick pasta, cooked according to package directions
grated hard mizithra cheese
Preparation
With a small knife, make a small slit in each piece of the rooster. Place a clove of garlic inside and season well with salt and pepper. Nail a clove to the surface of each piece.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the rooster pieces together with the chopped onions until they turn a deep golden brown color on all sides.
Deglaze with the red vinegar and, once the intense acidity has evaporated, add the wine (if using). Let it boil for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chopped tomato, the paste, the cinnamon and stir. Simmer for about 10 minutes, so that the sauce base thickens.
Add the water and transfer all the contents to a casserole dish. Cover first with a piece of parchment paper and then with the casserole lid.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C, for about 2 hours, until the rooster becomes very tender and almost melts off the bone.
Remove the rooster from the pot and, if necessary, thicken the sauce with a little cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water. Let it boil until it has a velvety texture.
Serving
Serve the braised rooster over hot thick pasta and top with plenty of grated hard mizithra cheese. For an even more authentic result, you can boil the pasta in some of the rooster sauce or broth, as was done in the villages in the past.
