Coconut & lemongrass chilli chicken

For ➍
3 plump stalks lemongrass
50 g fresh ginger
2 hot red chillies
2 cloves garlic
a bunch coriander
2 limes
2 tbs groundnut oil
200 g tomatoes
2 tbs fish sauce (nam plah)
2 tbs dark soy sauce
8 chicken thighs
40 cl coconut milk
8 apricots, halved

Peel and discard the outer leaves of the lemongrass. Cut the inner leaves into short lengths and put in the food processor. Peel the ginger, then slice into thin pieces and add to the lemongrass.
Chop the chillies, discarding their stems and add to the ginger with the peeled garlic.
Roughly chop the stems and half of the leaves of the coriander to add to the food processor, reserving the rest for later.
Grate the lime zest into the food processor, reserving the limes for later, then turn the machine on and let it chop everything to a coarse paste. Add a little groundnut oil and scrape the sides down with a spatula if it sticks.
Add the fish sauce, soy sauce and the tomatoes and process for a few s longer.
Warm a further tbs of groundnut oil in a deep pan over a moderate to high heat and use it to brown the chicken pieces, turning them so they colour nicely on both sides.
Lift the chicken pieces out and pour away anything more than 1 tbs of oil and juices.
Add the spice paste and let it fry over a moderate heat for 2 m till fragrant, stirring almost constantly, then return the chicken to the pan.
Pour over the coconut milk, stir, cover and leave to simmer over a low heat for 15-20 m.
Meanwhile halve and stone the apricots.
Test the chicken for doneness. Add the apricots. Leave to simmer for a few m, then add the juice of the limes and the reserved coriander leaves.
Serve with aromatic rice.

Chicken drumsticks with fennel & apricots

For ➍
12 chicken drumsticks or 4 chicken thighs*
2 fennel bulbs
200 g dried apricots
1.5 dl dry white wine
1 tbs apple vinegar
2 tbs butter
1 tbs bouquet garni
1 tbs dragon
salt & pepper

Cut the fennel into small cubes.
Heat 2 tbs of butter in a saucepan. Brown the drumsticks. Season with salt and pepper and 1 tbs of bouquet garni. Add the diced fennel and white wine, cover and let simmer for 20 to 25 m*.
Add the dried apricots and let simmer for another 10 m.
Remove the chicken and thicken the sauce slightly. Season with 1 tbs of tarragon and 1 tbs of cider vinegar.
Pour the sauce over the drumsticks and serve with croquettes or fresh pasta. Serve with a dry white wine like Gewurztraminer or a red wine like Côtes du Rhône.

*Cook for 50-60 m with chicken thighs.

Strucolo di ciliege (a Friuli cherries' strudel)

For ➏
350 g flour
warm water or 2 eggs, lightly beaten*
1 ts of vinegar
salt
1 kg cherries, pitted & sliced**
25 g bread crumbs, toasted in a little butter
1 lemon, juiced & zest grated
50 g butter
125 g sugar

Sift the flour on a workplace, make a well in it. Add a pinch of salt, water or eggs, vinegar and knead the mixture well into a smooth dough that does not stick.

Roll the sheet out thinly (1 mm). Let rest for 30 m. Put on a clean kitchen towel and push out the dough into a rectangle.**

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Mix the cherries, bread crumbs, lemon juice, grated zest, butter and sugar together. Spread over the dough. Leave a free border at both side and and on the side close to you.

Lift the end of the towel towards you and gently push the dough to roll up. Use the last border part to seal the package. Seal the left and right borders as well. (Seal with some egg white.)

Put on a sheet of baking paper. Move gently into the oven and bake for 45 m.

Serve slices of the strucolo warm or lukewarm. A good grappa will make excellent company.

*Or just the yolks for a richer dough. Save egg whites for sealing.
**You can use apricots instead: 700 g apricots, pitted, sliced thinly + 80 g sugar + 25 g bread crumbs, browned in a little unsalted butter + 25 g butter. Change the filling to apples (and raisins). Walnuts and raisins with some rum and chocolate will do as well.
***As the dough is not sugared, it can be used for savory filling as well.

Until the end of the First World War, the Goriza province of the Alpine Friuli stayed a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The other provinces of the Carso plateau were already turned over to Italy in 1866, but stayed more central European than the rest of Italy. It has developed a cuisine that's close to Austrian and German cuisine.
This struciolo seems a variation of the classic Austrian Apfelstrudel, made with apples. This one, with cherries, is called Weichselstrudel in German. It goes well with the Trieste goulash (Gulyas alla Triestina) or Friuli winter salad for a hearty winter meal.
The strudel is a variation to the Ottoman cuisine baklava, made with flaky phyllo dough (which some cooks use as a replacement), and may have been developed in the Byzantine era. During Turkish occupation of central Europe in the 16th and 17th century, baklava shifted in some of these areas to a filling with apples, and a high gluten dough. From the former Turkish territories Croatia and Bosnia, close enough to Friuli to have a been a direct influence, and Hungary, it came to Austria, and became popular in the whole former Habsburg Empire and Germany. By immigration from central Europe, it spread to the United States, Israel and Brazil.