Another Chicken Curry Recipe

This was a bit of a combo from a Rachel Ray and a Jacques Pepin, so what do you call that?! My earlier chicken curry recipes have all been great, but I always like to experiment. I wasn't sure I'd like the tomatoes but I think this was one of the best curry recipes I've made.

Rachel Ray contributed the curry powder and the mango chutney. Jacques Pepin contributed the coconut milk and curry paste. (Yep, I did both curry powder and curry paste.)

This served 2 adults with one huge lunch portion for leftovers, so call it 3-4 servings.

2 Tbs oil
4-6 chicken tenders (maybe a pound altogether)
1/2 an onion, cut in half and then sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp curry powder
1 12-14 ounce can of unsweetened coconut milk
1-2 tsp curry paste
1 can diced tomatoes since I didn't have fresh ones handy
1 Tbs dried basil (would be better with 1/4 cup fresh)
Major Grey's mango chutney on the side

Start your rice cooking. For 3-4 people, I usually use 1 cup rice and 2 cups water, plus 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook 20-25 minutes. If it gets done before the curry is done just turn the heat off and let it sit a bit.

Heat the oil in a pan at a medium heat.

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Obviously you could use pretty much any boneless chicken parts. I'd just bought a bag of chicken tenders by mistake so that's what I used.

Add the onion and garlic to the heated oil and cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the curry powder and cook another minute.

Add the coconut milk and stir, then stir in the curry paste. (You can use red or green curry paste, depending on how hot you like it. Red works for me.) Cook another few minutes, stirring.

Add the chicken and cook at a simmer until the chicken is done, about 4-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook till heated through. Alternately, you could add peas or bamboo shoots or.... Stir in the basil.

Rachel Ray had you mix in the chutney. I prefer to serve it on the side. It adds a nice sweet counterpoint to the potentially spicy curry, but serving it on the side lets everyone control their own meal.

Slow Cooked Salmon

I have made this salmon from Fast Food My Way several times and it never fails. It is incredibly moist and good--and totally easy. It's great for entertaining because you can get it all ready, then pop it in the oven about an hour before you want to eat. The only disadvantage is because the oven is on so low you can't really cook anything else in it. I served this with roasted red potatoes that I cooked in the convection oven, cabbage and corn salad, and a spinach salad that a guest brought. Oh, and the mango salsa that I love with salmon.

Jacques Pepin says you can cook it right on your serving platter but I didn't have one as large as the salmon I cooked last night, so just cooked it on an oiled jelly roll pan. I forgot the herbs this time and it still came out great.

1 slice bread
1/4 cup hazelnuts
1 tsp oil
2-3 pound salmon fillet (skinless, boneless)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh herbs (a mix of parsley, tarragon, chives, and chervil)

Combine the bread and hazelnuts in a food processor and process until ground together.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Oil your platter or pan with 1 tsp oil and put the salmon on it. Sprinkle with half the salt and pepper, then turn over and sprinkle the other side with salt and pepper. (Mine had skin on it last night so I just cooked it skin side down.) Sprinkle the hazelnut breadcrumbs over the top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. He likes it slightly rare so says 45 minutes. I like mine done so do an hour.

Pepin has a salsa mayonnaise recipe to go with it (sun dried tomatoes, salsa, mayonnaise, and chives) but I served my favorite mango salsa with it.

Cabbage, Corn, and Red Pepper Salad

I always like to try at least one new recipe when I'm having people over. Since I always have plenty of food, if something flops we'll still eat well. I need not have worried last night. This salad from Pam Anderson's Perfect Recipes for Having People Over was delicious! I put a bit less corn in it just because I only bought 4 ears. She said to use about 6 cups but that seemed like a lot. Now having had the salad though, I'd go with the full amount next time.

4-6 cups fresh corn, cut off the cob
1 12-ounce bag of coleslaw mix
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup sliced green onions
1 15-ounce can black olives, sliced
6 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
about 3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes' worth of juice)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and toss. I did everything ahead of time except the oil and lime juice, then added those right before serving.

It was a pretty and delicious salad, very colorful and with an excellent flavor!

Chicken Quesadillas Recipe

I often make chicken quesadillas for dinner when I have some leftover cooked chicken. The other night I had cut up a whole chicken into 10 pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and then cut each half breast in half as none of us eat a whole breast piece). Tonight, I pulled the meat off the leftover pieces. (I would normally save the bones and wings for making broth but I am overloaded on broth in the freezer right now!)

I took the meat and diced it, then put it in a saucepan with some red taco sauce and water. Basically, I emptied the bottle of "red taco sauce" then filled it halfway with warm water, shook it, then poured that into the pan with the chicken.

In the past, I've simmered leftover cooked chicken with cumin and chili powder or green chili sauce. But tonight was a hands-down winner. The red taco sauce added just the right amount of spice (but not too hot).

After the chicken had simmered a bit (20 minutes?) with the sauce, I started the quesadillas. Buttered one side of a flour tortilla and laid it down in a medium hot skillet. Spread some chicken across half of it, then some grated cheese. (I had a Mexican blend but have used just plain cheddar in the past.) Folded the tortilla in half and then cooked until lightly browned. Flipped over and lightly browned the other side. Put it on the cutting board and cut in quarters.

I made up some guacamole with half an avocado, a pressed garlic clove, and some lime juice and salt. We had that, some sour cream, and salsa at the table as well.

Bourbon Marinade for Beef

This is from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Complete Meat Cookbook. I use less less and pepper than they call for. It seems plenty salty due to the soy sauce. Sometimes I use fresh ginger and sometimes ground. Mostly I use fresh garlic but if I'm in a rush I sometimes use the granulated. I often leave out the onion, or add some onion powder.

3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
1/4 cup bourbon
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs minced red onion
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

This works great with flank steak, tri tips, top round, or the good part of a cut up 7 bone blade roast (top blade, mock tender, flatiron).

In fact, it was this book that taught me to pick up the 7 bone blade roasts when they are on sale and cut them up into top blade, chuck-eye, and under blade. I use the first two for barbecue and the tougher piece for stew or some sort of braising.

I tried to find a picture online like they have in the book but cannot. Here's a decent article from Sunset on cutting up various cheaper cuts of beef though.

Shepherd's Pie Recipe

2 tsp oil
1/2 an onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 cup frozen peas, partially thawed
1 tsp beef bouillon
1/2 cup hot water
1 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 cup sour cream
3-4 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese

I'm not giving a recipe for the mashed potatoes because I never really measure. I do LOVE my potato ricer though and it's the only thing I use anymore to make mashed potatoes.

Heat the oil and cook the onion a few minutes, then add the ground beef, stirring to break up. Add the garlic. Cook until the beef is crumbly and browned (no pink left).

Stir in the ketchup and Worcestershire. Stir in the peas.

Combine the bouillon and water, then stir in the cornstarch. Pour this into the ground beef and simmer a few minutes. Turn the heat down and stir in the sour cream.

The potatoes should be nearly done, so drain and mash them (or put them through the ricer), then stir in butter and milk, salt and pepper to taste.

If your skillet can go under the broiler spread the potatoes on top of the meat and sprinkle the cheese on top, then broil a few minutes.

You can also spread the meat in a 9x9 baking dish, spread the potatoes on top, top with the cheese, and then bake or broil.

Cheap Recipes

The Food Stamp Nutrition Connection has a recipe database which tells you the AVERAGE cost per serving of a whole lot of recipes. You can search for ingredients or browse by category. The costs are based on a national average, adjusted for inflation (but perhaps a bit behind right now). It doesn't show you what it costs you in your area so your actual costs may be more or less but it's a nice dataset to have for a starting point.

http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/

Recipe for Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

I mentioned before that I grew red cabbage in my winter garden this year. Tonight I cooked one up, using Simply Recipes' version of sweet and sour red cabbage. Very very good! I probably had less than her 12 cups red cabbage. My red cabbages are smallish. But it came out delicious and made a great side dish. The rest of the menu was

• kielbasa
• white beans
• fried apples
  

Yum, yum, yum. Perfect dinner for a cool evening. And now we're making strawberry ice cream for dessert. Does life get any better?

Barbecued Chicken and Black Bean Burritos

We often make burritos as a way of repurposing leftover meat and/or beans. And they're good. But I saw this recipe for Barbecued Chicken and Black Bean Burritos in Cheap. Fast. Good! and thought they'd be a nice change from our usual burritos. I had cooked black beans in the freezer so thawed them enough to scoop out the cup I needed and put the rest back in the freezer for later. I used the plain chicken I'd cooked up the other day.

These were sweet but not overpoweringly so. I'd tried a recipe before for sweet potato and black bean burritos and they were way too sweet for our taste. In these, the black beans were a bit sweet to begin with and the barbecue sauce added a nice complexity without making the burritos cloyingly sweet.

You could of course make this with raw chicken. Just dice it and then saute it a bit to cook it before adding the onions and garlic.

1 Tbs oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1 -2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cooked black beans, drained
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar or "Mexican blend" grated cheese
flour tortillas

Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add the black beans, barbecue sauce, and cooked chicken and heat thoroughly, stirring periodically. Sprinkle the cheese across the top and let it melt while you heat up the tortillas.

Spoon 1/2 cup or so of the bean and chicken mix onto a tortilla and roll up. Repeat 3 more times.

You could add sour cream if you'd like, but we left it out and it was plenty rich tasting.

Chicken for Later

A few days I roasted two chickens. We had part of one for one dinner, then a day later I pulled all the meat off the two carcasses, and made LOTS of chicken broth with them. I cubed the meat and then divided in half. I roughly followed an idea from Cheap. Fast. Good!. Their idea of batch cooking follows my mindset. I don't really do freezer cooking in the sense of cooking whole dishes for the freezer, but I often do stuff like this, what I call "building blocks." It relieves some of the time crunch and effort but is still flexible. I can turn the cooked seasoned chicken into

I sauteed an onion and some garlic, then added a few cups of cooked cubed chicken to it and heated through, then seasoned with some Worcestershire sauce. I packed it up and froze it for later.

They have half a dozen recipes suggested for using this up, including chicken stew, burritos, a curry, a casserole with green beans, a pasta dish, and a lo mein dish.

The other meat I left plain and made Barbecued Chicken and Black Bean Burritos for dinner tonight with some of it, then froze the rest for later. It will probably show up as a chicken pot pie or creamed chicken or King Ranch Chicken.