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

February 3, 2010

CURRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND BROWN RICE SALAD










This month cannot go by quickly enough. So tired of the incessant gray skies. Bleak and dreary. It's a wonder that my eyes even open every morning. If it weren't for an obsessive dog pawing at my face, they probably would stay shut until spring.

But, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Matt and I are leaving for New Mexico on Valentine's Day. Checking out Albuquerque and Las Cruces environs for a possible move there in the next year or so. Natural beauty throughout the state, and the southern region (Las Cruces) has relatively mild winters. At any rate, whether we end up moving there is besides the point…it is certainly a nice change from Ohio winter.

I have had this butternut squash collecting dust on top of the counter for a couple of weeks now, and I figured that I had better get to cooking it. Have been pretty excited about the recent discovery of roasted squash with curry. I also had a large quantity of cooked brown rice in the refrigerator awaiting a culinary invention. Having been totally obsessed with Thai/Vietnamese cooking lately, I decided once again to satiate that itch.

Curried Butternut Squash and Brown Rice Salad
serves 3-4 as a main course

Preheat oven to 475 F

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon coriander (optional)

Toss in large bowl and spread on large baking sheet.
Roast for 30 minutes, Stir once after 15 minutes
Set aside

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 container spring mix lettuce ( about 6 cups)

for the dressing:

Juice of 1 lime
2 Tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 large cloves garlic - minced or pressed

Mix dressing ingredients in microwavable dish and microwave for 1 minute
Pour over brown rice

Mix lettuce with the brown rice and add any seasonings that you think are needed. Extra sweetener, rice vinegar, or sesame oil

Plate and top with butternut squash

February 2, 2010

Today was one of those days. I spent it assembling receipts, yet again, due to my inadvertent deletion of all of my previously entered data in Turbo Tax 2009. Home office receipts for utilities, real estate taxes, blah blah, countless medical receipts due to our sucky medical insurance lately and capital gains records. In addition, I had to deal with some financial issues with my 90 year old mother, who is currently getting her 'ducks in a row' for when 'the time arrives'. To top things off, I had stupidly consumed several cups of coffee/cocoa mix last night before retiring, and just lay there in bed, tossing until 3 am. At that time both dogs got up and the older one, Riley (14 1/2 yrs. now), goes out of the doggy door to the deck. She is so arthritic, that she can barely get up and down the stairs. So she pitifully barks for someone to help her. The younger one proceeds to go out as well, and both of them are barking up a storm until I drag myself out of a nice warm bed and shuffle into the kitchen where I start tapping on the windows, thinking that would bring them back. But no, I had to stand in the 62 degree kitchen, open the windows and in my best whisperscream…. "you get in here, right now, Maggie!" Well, 10 minutes later, after my body temperature has dropped at least ten degrees, and the blood has left my fingertips (Raynaud's Syndrome), the damn dogs finally decide to mosey on in. So, we all get settled in our respective beds and I lay there some more, tossing and turning. Must have drifted off around 4 am.

Which leads me to tonight's dinner decision. This had to be something mindless and easy. But it had to have some pow to it because I needed some kind of 'feel good' after suffering all night and all day today.

VIETNAMESE CHICKEN NOODLE SALAD

Makes a huge bowl - enough for 4-6 as an entree

1 package - (1 1/4 lbs) boneless/skinless chicken thighs/breasts. (you can substitute shrimp/pork/beef that has been grilled or cooked)

1 box Thai rice noodles - 16 oz.

1 small head of napa cabbage - sliced thinly

1 large, shredded carrot

1 bunch scallions

1 cup chopped mint

1 cup chopped cilantro

** 1 cup coarsely chopped peanuts (optional)

Dressing:

3/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use light)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar ( I used 2 packets of blue stuff)

3 cloves minced or pressed garlic

Asian garlic hot sauce for serving

About an hour before eating:

Put noodles in large bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak about 20-25 minutes until they are soft. Don't let them get too soft. Drain and run cold water over them to cool. Set aside.

Mix dressing ingredients in glass measuring cup and microwave for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Get an enormous bowl and mix the veggies together.

Cut chicken into 1/2 inch strips and put in microwave safe shallow bowl or plate. Microwave 2 min. Stir and repeat for another 2 - 2 1/2 min until no longer pink.

Set aside to cool.

When you are ready to eat, toss the chicken into the veggies and pour dressing over the whole thing. Toss and serve. You might need 2 bowls. This makes a lot!

**You can add chopped peanuts as a garnish if you want the extra protein/flavor calories. I opted not.

February 1, 2010

February 1...this is the day, every year, where I make the effort to get out of my winter funk, throw out all of Matt's "Cheez-its" in the pantry, maybe wash a window or two, and go on a meat hiatus. Don't get me wrong, I'll come back to this stuff at some point, but right now it is "cleaning house" time for the old bod.

I actually could become a vegetarian quite easily. About the only time that I crave red meat is around the holidays, when I have an excuse to browse all of the recipes for beef bourguignon and crown roast. The latter is something that I haven't tried, and probably won't. But fun to read about.

Most of the time I am happy enough to live on fruit, salads and my current favorite, tortillas stuffed with various goodies. My recent infatuation has been with tortillas that are sauteed in the skillet until they are just crispy, filled with some kind of bean concoction, shredded vegetables and perhaps if I am feeling decadent...some reduced fat cheese.

Every time I go to Trader Joe's, or the grocery store, I am compelled to load up on beans. Beans in cans, dried beans and lowfat refried beans. I think I have about 5 lbs of chickpeas in the pantry. I used to put off making dried beans due to all of the hassle of either soaking them overnight, or doing that "quick way", both of which require time and planning.... until I learned that you can put a bag of beans in the crockpot, pour about 7 cups water or broth over them, and cook for 3 hours on high. Perfect every time.

So today was chickpea day. And what better to make with chickpeas but hummus?

I almost never follow a recipe for hummus. It is thrown together with what ever random items are at hand. But one addition is somewhat quirky, and I discovered it while eating probably the best hummus I have ever had at a little middle eastern luncheonette near the Dayton Mall.

When I asked the waitress how they made their hummus, besides the usual chickpeas/garlic/lemon/tahini/etc., she said that the owner puts chopped dill pickles in it! Whodathunk? Well, it just so happens, that in our spare refrigerator, which I use to store nuts, coconut, flours, corn meal (we get miller moths in our pantry), rarely used condiments and an occasional IPA...sat a lonely little jar of cornichons from Trader Joe's. Not quite sure what I had used them for, but the timing was perfect.

Tortillas with Hummus and Broccoli Slaw

I always double my hummus recipe, as we devour it pretty quickly in our house. This was our main course, after all. Makes about 4 cups

2 cans chickpeas - save the juice

2-3 cloves garlic (we like alot of garlic)

1 cup cilantro

1 bunch scallions - green and white parts, sliced thinly

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup tahini

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of sumac (found in middle eastern grocery stores...a tart berry product)

pinch cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Tortillas

Broccoli Slaw in a bag

In a food processor, mix garlic and cilantro together until minced (or mince by hand)

Add remainder of the ingredients and mix until pureed. Add chickpea juice until it is the consistency that you like.

Get your skillet nice and hot (med-high) and spray with olive oil/butter spray.

Place tortilla in skillet and smear hummus on one half. Sprinkle with broccoli slaw. Let it sit for about a minute, then fold over the unsmeared half. Cook until golden brown and serve.