Curry in not so much of a hurry

Nigella inspired me to make a chicken curry for dinner for R, myself, and little brother last night. For my version of the dish, I first browned about 2 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts in a bit of oil. Once brown, they were set aside on a plate. In the remaining oil, I sauteed two finely chopped onions until soft. I then added about 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, 2 tsp cumin, 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1 1/2 tsp ground cardomon, salt, pepper, and 5 minced garlic cloves. I let the spices toast a bit, then put in about 1 1/2 c Greek yogurt, 1/2 c heavy cream, 1 c chicken stock, a cinnamon stick, 1 1/2 tsp garam masala, a tiny bit of sugar, and more salt/pepper. I added the chicken back in and cooked at a low bubble until the chicken was cooked through.

Meanwhile, I sauteed another small onion, finely chopped, in a few tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan with some salt and pepper. I then added 3 c uncooked basmati rice (this was to last several meals) and let that toast for a bit. I then added about 4 c water and 1 1/2 c chicken stock and cooked the rice for about 20 min, then let it sit in its pan off the heat, covered, until we were ready to eat. Delish.

Serve topped with some sliced almonds and you're off.

Christmas baking time

Here are some cookies. From the top left: almond bars, jam thumbprints, peanut butter chocolate biscotti, shortbread thumbelinas, and of course, cream cheese sugar cookies with royal icing (flavored with almond, not lemon).

Mmm...roast beast....

So, I purchased a giant eye of round roast over the weekend. Half went into the freezer and the other half was gently roasted in the oven and made part of a delicious Sunday roast, with potatoes, gravy, and roasted asparagus. And knotted yeast rolls, which I purchased from the fab Fresh Market and are not in the picture sadly.

For the roast, I smashed four cloves of garlic and quartered (did not peel) an onion. I spread a tiny bit of butter on the roast, sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper, and rested it on top of the onions and garlic. It was placed in a 325 deg oven for about 2 1/2 hours. We generally like our roast beast at medium and I accidently let it go to 156 deg before I removed it from the oven, so by the time it had rested and I had made gravy, it had gone beyond the desired medium doneness at 160 deg. Oh well. Live and learn. While it rested, I boiled up the smashed potatoes and roasted the asparagus. Delish.

Crockpot Stroganoff

As Rachael would say, we took the express train to eastern Europe with this passport meal. For said crockpot goodness, I cut 2 lbs of chuck into 1 1/2 inch cubes and mixed 2 thinly sliced medium onions, 8 oz. of sliced buttom mushrooms, 1 can of cream of onion soup, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper, and about 1/2 c of water in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours until the meat is lovely and tender. Cube one 8 oz package of cream cheese and add to the meat mixture, stirring until melted. Meanwhile, prepare 6 c of egg noodles or rice to serve under the meat. Once the cream cheese is melted, add 8 oz. sour cream and serve over the noodles or rice. DELISH for a winter's night.

Thanks to Miss M at work for the recipe!

Cookies!

I generally bake a LOT of cookies at the holiday time, and here is one of my faves, almond bars.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cream together 1 stick of butter with 1 c of sugar until fluffy. Add one egg and 1/2 tsp almond extract. Sift together 1 3/4 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Gradually add to butter mixture and mix until combined. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and form the mixture into two 12x13 inch logs. Place the logs on a lightly greased cookie sheet, brush with milk, and top with sliced almonds. Bake for 9-12 minutes, then turn the pan, and bake another 9-12, until the ends are rather browned and the middle is turning brown. Slice, while warm, on an angle, allow to cool a few minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack. Then slam.

Cowboy Chicken Casserole

Now that I have less flexible work hours, I have to plan meals ahead over the weekends. For part of this week, R and I are dining on cowboy chicken casserole, or at least, my modification of such from an Emeril recipe.

To start, in a sauce pan, mix about 1 1/2 c chicken broth, 1 c water, 1/2 c white wine, a handful of cilantro stalks, the juice and hulls of two limes, salt, pepper, and oregano. Place 4 chicken breasts in the pan and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, then let the chicken steep in the poaching liquid for 45 minutes on the back of the stove.

Meanwhile, crush many handfuls of tortilla chips and put at the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Once the chicken is fully cooked and steeped, pour one cup of the poaching liquid over the crushed chips.





Chop the cooked chicken, 1-2 onions, 1-2 bell peppers, and 1-2 jalapenos (or chipotles, as I used) and place over the chips.



Top this with shredded cheese, then place a layer of flour tortillas over the mix. Top with one can of drained and rinsed black beans, one can of drained corn, and one large can of diced tomatoes.



Top this layer with more cheese and more crushed tortilla chips.





Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Serve and enjoy. We found it tasted better the second day and with a dollop of sour cream.




If I were to make it again, I think I'd ditch the bottom mushy layer of corn chips - I didn't care for it - and replace it with more flour tortillas. I think I'd also make a cheese sauce versus just using shredded cheese. And finally, I think I'd use salsa instead of just canned tomatoes. But we really did enjoy it!

Mama's little Daisy loves shortbread....

Yeah, so we discovered that Daisy loves shortbread so much, she's willing to get her feet up on the counter and nose around to get it off the back of the stove. I'm willing to overlook it, because the shortbread IS quite tasty. Thanks to Miss M who gave me a ceramic shortbread cookie pan for Christmas - the British Isles version, with imprints of a Celtic knot, Welsh dragon, Scottish thistle, and English rose-type thingee (see right).


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For said shortbread, one mixes 1 stick of butter, 3/4 powdered sugar, 1 1/2 c flour (I think, will double check), and a splash of vanilla. Press into a lightly greased shortbread pan and bake about 35 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then slide a knife around the edges and flip out (gently) onto a cutting board. Cut into wedges and devour.