Katerina's Kouzina - Authentic Greek Recipes and more

Chicken in tomato and red wine sauce

In Greece there are a lot of days when we don’t eat meat. All of you who have stayed at Odyssey have heard me say that often. Growing up, a typical day when I and my family would eat meat, was Sunday. Most of the time we would cook a chicken recipe. In honour of this family tradition I share with you my recipe for Chicken in tomato and red wine sauce!

Cooking with love

To me, one of the nicest Greek chicken recipes is Kotopoulo Kokkinisto; chicken in tomato sauce; Loved by all of us and my mother was very proud to cook it. The way she made it was never the same; the miracles of this world. Having said that, you might think I am exaggerating, but I am not. The nice thing is that although every time her Kotopoulo Kokkinisto tasted a bit different, the feeling of this recipe remained the same. Especially the comfort it gave us. I suppose the feeling the food gives the people you cook for is the most important for a cook, as it was for my mother.

Greek Sunday lunch

Years later on Sundays, cooking for my husband Rik, my daughter Dora, and the rest of our family and friends, I suppose I was doing the same. I often cooked chicken in tomato sauce on Sundays. It’s funny how we become like our parents as we get older. I guess often my recipe was different from the last, but I made it with love while thinking of all those I would be sharing it with.

Chicken in tomato and red wine sauce

Today’s chicken recipe is no less of a taste sensation than the one just described. Chicken in tomato and red wine sauce is one of the most successful out of all my, and my mother’s recipes we have made throughout the years! Try it at home and you will love it. A few of the things you have to take care over are the following:

– Try to get a free-range chicken

– Cook with love and think of your loved ones! It does not matter if you follow all the steps exactly; it does not matter if the result is a bit different, just enjoy making and sharing it with your family and friends. And remember, in a way your Odyssey family will be joining too!!

– Try to use a beautiful Greek red wine. I think that the dry red wine Portes Merlot of Skouras Winery is the best choice you can make.

Greek macaroni

For the chicken in red wine sauce I have used the Greek macaroni called Bucatini. With this pasta we also make Pastitsio. We consider it the perfect side dish for a lot of tomato-meat sauces. Try to find Bucatini, as this pasta has a very special taste and is very interesting to look at on the plate!! Bucatini is bigger and thicker than the average macaroni and because of that, I think it absorbs more of the sauce and makes it very tasty.

Greek tomato paste Kyknos

The tomato paste I used is from the Greek brand Kyknos and I love it! It’s a local product from one of the oldest factories of Greece that started near Nafplio (A town close to Poros and in my opinion the most beautiful in Greece) and is still operating in the Peloponnesus. Kyknos has been a family company for more than a century now, and they work with the same tomato seeds that they started with. They are not genetically manipulated so they have tomato varieties that are suitable for our climate and soil characteristics. Kyknos tomatoes are famous for their superb taste and aroma.

The company survived the Greek economic crisis and still makes a very nice tomato paste that tastes like it’s made from sun dried tomatoes, has a very intense flavour and a beautiful aroma, as it is canned within 6 hours maximum! Try to find or use another nice tomato paste.

Enjoy making the Chicken in tomato and red wine sauce!

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