Today we are going to prepare the recipe for chicken batzokian original recipe from the Marchioness of Parabere, one of the first women who wrote and compiled recipes in our country. This cook, although she was born into a family of good social and economic position and even married an aristocrat from Bilbao, she never came to have such a noble title.
His real name was María Mestayer and was born in Bilbao in 1887. Initially with her parents and later with her husband Ramón Echagüe, she had the opportunity to travel and discover the great tables of the time, meeting great French and Spanish chefs. She wrote gastronomic articles and recipes signing initially as Maritxu, to later adopt the pseudonym of Marchioness of Paraberewith which she was well known in the 20th century.
Today, his traditional cookbooks remain a reference, continue to be published and continue to be best sellers. With a wording typical of the language of the cooks of the time and using the ingredients with which they cooked then, -frying more with butter than with oil, for example-, their prescriptions are fully valid or require very little adaptation for today’s kitchen.
From one of his books, entitled Selected Basque Cuisine Dishes, we have adapted this wonderful chicken batzoki recipea traditional chicken stew from the Basque Country, which everyone who tries it likes.
Selected dishes of Basque cuisine (NON-FICTION)
Heat a saucepan with a good splash of oil and add the chicken slices seasoned to taste, stirring until they begin to brown. Add the finely chopped onion and garlic and let the whole poach for about five minutes.
Then we add the slices of bread cut into pieces, the very chopped tomato after peeling it and removing the seeds and the cayenne pepper to taste. After a couple of minutes with everything well mixed, we add the stale wine -oloroso or similar- and the broth. After ten minutes of cooking add the chorizo pepper meat and a boiled egg yolk.
Let the mixture continue to simmer for another 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. After cooking, remove the chicken slices, reserving them in a bowl and blend the sauce, letting it reduce by boiling to boiling if liquid remains or thinning it with a little more broth if it’s too thick.
Return the chicken pieces to the pan and give a last boil so that the sauce covers the meat well, and we already have the chicken batzoki ready to take to the table. If it is left overnight, the intensity of the flavors increases and it is even richer, if possible.
With what to accompany the chicken batzoki
To accompany the chicken batzoki recipethe Marchioness of Parabere proposes us some triangles of borona fried -fried cornbread croutons- although we have preferred to accompany this recipe with a good homemade pepper salad so as not to overload ourselves with calories, since with its delicious sauce it will be impossible not to use a good amount of bread.
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