Red chicken / beef

This is a family favourite and comfort food at its best. It was a treat to have a few cooler days last week. Was getting a bit bored of salads.

In Greek cooking, when meat is braised in a tomato based sauce, the dish is referred to as ‘kokkinisto (insert meat of choice)'. This essentially translates to reddened. I grew up eating red chicken and beef and while it’s the simplest dish in the world to make and to make well, my yiayia Koula’s is still the best kokkinisto I’ve eaten. It’s such a thrill to visit her and find a pot of it on her stove.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
A knob of butter
1 medium onion, finely diced*
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamom
500g chicken thighs(or chuck steak), diced into two cm pieces
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomato
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
Optional
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon sugar / 1 apple, peeled, cored and diced.


Preheat oven to 160 C

Heat the oil and butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole dish(one that can also be place in the oven). When the butter has melted and is starting to bubble, add the onion and stir around until covered in oil. Reduce heat to low then add the garlic and stir occasionally until the onion has started to soften. Take care to avoid burning the onion.
When the onions are soft, add the cinnamon and stir to combine, allow to cook until you kitchen smells deliciously cinammony, usually 1-2 mins.
Push the onions to the sides of the pan, and add a splash more oil to the pan. Add your chicken (or beef) to the pan and brown it on all sides.
Once this is complete add your tomatoes and stir occasionally until it comes to the boil.
If you want to season your dish, now is the time to do it. However, If your child is under one, it is advised to season it at the table or after you have served theirs. Do add the apple at this stage though.
Put a lid on your dish and transfer it to the oven for one hour.

When you take it our, the chicken should be very tender and the tomatoes should be lovely and oily.

Serve it with boiled rice or risoni. Mum used to use individual jelly moulds to make mountains of rice and the sauce on the side with a drizzle of tomato on top.

Children are very susceptible to presentation so do experiment and do what works for you.

* When your children are a bit older, I’d recommend cutting the onion in half then very finely slicing it instead. This is purely for aesthetic reasons.

My kids both love this. Lexi has hers blitzed a bit, but we're gearing up to chunkier textures.