“Cooking with Georges Revisited” takes us back to two memorable sessions in the kitchen with Georges Collinet. The first one features Georges’s unique recipe for Yassa Chicken, and you’ll find the recipe below.
The second features Ogun’s Fish and Obatala’s Rice Pudding, prepared by Georges and guest chef Baba John Mason. We don’t have the text for those recipes, although you can get what you need from the program itself. If you want more, look for Baba John’s book Idana Fun Orisa: Cooking For Selected Heads. And let us know how you make out when you try these yourself. Don’t forget the music, the key ingredient.
Happy cooking!
GEORGE’S YASSA CHICKEN For 8 people:
Ingredients:
2 chickens about 3 lb each
Zest of lime
A cup of lime juice
One dozen small yellow onions
3 tbs of peanut oil or other oil.
Sprig of thyme
2 laurel leaves
Espelete pepper or whole habanero pod
Salt and pepper
4 cups of rice
1. Cut up chickens in 4 pieces and keep the carcasses for other use
2. Marinate chicken pieces in lime juice for at least 2 hours, turning them from time to time.
3. During the marinade time, peel onions and cut them in thin slices. Light up wood charcoal grill.
4. Remove and dry chicken pieces, but keep marinade and place chicken pieces on grill, checking regularly, making sure they do not burn.
5. Put oil in a large frying pan, add onions. Cook till golden, then add thyme, laurel, lime zest, marinade, salt and pepper.
6. When marinade and onions start boiling add chicken pieces. Cover and cook over very low flame for about 20 minutes adding espelete or habanero pepper according to taste.
7. Serve the chicken pieces set in the middle of a large plate with the onions around them. Put the marinade in a sauceboat and boiled rice in a bowl.
