Elderflower Chicken

Omi's Love on a Plate. Gemutlich. ❤️

The last couple of weeks have had a Spanish theme, so this week we’re meandering slightly north to Germany for this divine chicken dish, served with yoghurt baked onions and smashed roasted potatoes.

Anja Dunk’s “Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings” book celebrates the new taste of German cooking and is crammed full of delicious recipes inspired by her grandparents, Omi and Opa, who would arrive in Wales from Germany in a car chock-full of foodie wonders.

Chicken with elderflower is other-worldly, beautifully fragrant and blissfully simple. As Anja writes “the crisp golden chicken isn’t so much flavoured by the elderflower as fragranced ever so slightly - you actually smell the elderflower more than you can taste it”.

I use thighs rather than wings, and marinate a bit, with more elderflower than Anja’s original recipe.

Take your chicken thighs and place in a large bowl with a tablespoon of plain oil (rapeseed or vegetable, or light but not virgin olive), 4 cloves of crushed garlic, 8 tablespoons of elderflower cordial and some salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

Then cook in a large oven tray at 180c for about 45-50 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is deliciously crisp and golden. The sticky dark juices at the bottom of the pan hold all the flavour, so baste regularly with these. If you have time, it is well worth the effort to strain the juices from the pan once cooked, into a smaller saucepan, add a touch mor cordial and reduce to an oozy jus.

To serve, chop spring onions and some fresh mint leaves over the chicken, and spoon over some of the unctuous elderflower juices.

The yoghurt baked onions are another amazing Anja recipe, and the sumac brings a touch of Turkey to Germany. Take four white onions and slice into wedges, pop into a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and scatter over a teaspoon of bashed (but not crushed) coriander seeds.

Bake for about 25 minutes, turning half-way. Remove the onions from the oven, season with sea salt and toss. Mix 150g of thick yoghurt with 100g or soured cream, spoon it around the onions and return to the oven for 5 minutes to warm through.* Drizzle with more olive oil and generously sprinkle with Sumac.

^{*Absolutely no longer than a few minutes or the yoghurt solidifies and the texture is ruined (as I managed on this occasion 🤦‍♀️) - but still tasted lovely!}

As a carb lover, I need something to soak up the juices, so add some smashed roasted new potatoes. These are dead simple. Boil some new potatoes until just about cooked. Drain, and once slightly cooled use a rolling pin or the bottom of a mug to smuush each individual potato until it’s flat. Chuck on an oven tray, season, drizzle with olive oil and roast in a medium-hot oven until golden.

For a stunning, dressed summer salad or BBQ version of this, head over to my earlier post Pats Preposterous Potato Perfection

Gemutlich ❤️ - roughly translates from the German as “cosy”, and that is exactly how this dish and Anja’s lovely book feel.

What’s the best German food you’ve eaten, or your favourite Germanic recipe? Let me know in the comments…

Meantime, for more Germanic delights, grab a coy of Anja’s lovely book - I mean, even the colour and the typeface are completely gorgeous. ❤️Anja Dunk | Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings