Curried Chicken with Pineapple

It's been awhile since my last post, as Matt and I went on a winter excursion, courtesy of Delta frequent flyer miles, to New Mexico for Valentine's week. Have been wanting to see that state for a long time now as we both love the desert environs and had hoped to escape the gray, snowy blech of Ohio. Well, we didn't escape it until halfway into our week when we went down to Las Cruces. It was sunny and warm and just what we needed. Albuquerque, on the other hand was pretty chilly, but the locals assured us that it was out of the ordinary, along with the rest of the country. We were more or less scoping out NM for a possible retirement locale, although far off in our future. But we are doing this research now, so as to have some kind of ideas for when it really happens. Right now we are pretty intrigued with Albuquerque, despite the cold weather that they sometimes get in the winter.

We managed to stuff our gullets with plenty of New Mexican and Mexican cuisine. There is a difference betwixt the two. NM tends to emphasize the chilis and the food shines a bit more than Mexican. The latter seems to consist of smothered carbs/protein with sour cream, cheese and guacamole. After a week of almost daily consumption of this stuff, I was ready to hit up a pizza joint or even a schnitzel spot!

As we drove into our driveway, Matt reminded me that I was a chef again, and how nice it would be to dine on anything besides cheese/beans/rice/tortillas. Thus I scoured the freezer and pantry for anything that I could throw together before having to head out into the snowstorm to the grocery. Pretty limited choices. 4 frozen chicken legs, 3 cans of light coconut milk, 4 cans pineapple tidbits, a bag of frozen red/green/yellow peppers from TJ's and another couple frozen bags of haricots verts. I almost always have garlic and onions on hand, and at least 20 lbs of different kinds of rice in the pantry. Therefore, this curry dish was born.

Curried Chicken with Pineapple (and other assorted frozen goodies)

Serves 4 generously

4 chicken legs (skin removed)

1/4 cup each table salt and sugar***

1 can light coconut mil1 bag of frozen peppers medley

1/2 frozen bag haricots verts (green beans)

2 onions, sliced

1 small can green chilis - diced and drained (not jalapenos!)

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 can pineapple tidbits (or chunks, or whatever you have) - drained

2 tablespoons (or more) curry powder

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. coriander

1/2 teaspoon garam marsala (optional)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon grated ginger ( I keep ginger in freezer and use a micro-planer)

***Early in the day, or at least an hour before baking, pour 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup table salt into a container and stir in 1 quart water. stir to dissolve and pour over chicken parts in zip lock baggie. Refrigerate and massage every hour or so.

In a medium frying pan, saute the cumin seeds in olive oil on med/high heat for about 2 minutes until they are fragrant. Don't burn! Add curry, garam marsala and coriander and lower heat. Stir for about 2 more minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine vegetables, chilis, pineapple, coconut milk, grated ginger, garlic, fish sauce if using and bay leaves. Mix thoroughly.

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Put half of vegetable mix into large casserole - (9" x 13")

Drain chicken and lay on top of this.

Pour remaining mixture on top of chicken and distribute veggies around evenly.

Bake for 40 minutes covered w/foil and then uncover for 20 more minutes

1 hour total

Serve over your choice of rice.

Curried Eggplant with Chickpeas and Greens

OK, this is it, I have had it with winter. Come on now, can't mother nature have the decency to provide us with one lousy day of sunshine? This is ridiculous. The dogs are going crazy, despite our daily hike in the woods. Maggie, the young one, just puts her front paws on my lap and stares at me like I am supposed to 'do something' about it. The Christmas tree is still up. Decorations are in a little pile in the dining room. Jees....

Decided to do something with eggplant, as it is one of my fav vegetables and they don't keep in the refrigerator for more than a few days. Didn't want to do a tomato based recipe, so I went with a curry dish. Matt usually complains if there isn't some kind of protein in our dinners, so I chose chickpeas. Also had a bag of collard greens (cleaned and washed) that I needed to use up.

Didn't really follow a recipe. So forgive me if I miscalculated the measurements. I am going from memory. (uh-oh)

CURRIED EGGPLANT WITH CHICKPEAS AND GREENS

serves 4-5

1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/2 bag collard greens ***

2 onions, peeled and sliced

1 can light coconut milk

4-5 large cloves garlic, minced/pressed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon curry

pinch garam marsala (optional)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

sugar and salt to taste

brown/white rice - cooked

put eggplant cubes in bowl of water to cover with a tablespoon of salt. soak for 30 min. drain and pat dry with paper towels.

heat large saute pan on med/high. melt butter and add curry/garam marsala and cumin seeds. saute until cumin seeds are fragrant and butter is almost nut brown. watch carefully that it doesn't burn!

add onions and turn heat down to medium/low. cook until wilted, about 10 minutes

increase heat to almost high and add eggplant - saute for 5 min.

make a well in the middle of eggplant mix and add garlic. cook about 30 seconds

add greens and chickpeas and coconut milk and mix thoroughly

lower heat to medium / low.

cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until greens are cooked but still bright green

serve with brown / white rice

***you could substitute spinach or kale, just adjust cooking time as the former could be thrown on top of the steaming eggplant and barely wilted