Karin's Week Twenty-Nine Recipe: Chicken in Peanut Sauce

I had some chicken breasts that were needing to be used up, and thought, why not try a new Indian recipe? I had all the ingredients for this recipe from Six Spices: A simple concept of Indian cooking, and it looked pretty tasty and quick to make.

Chicken in Peanut Sauce

2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
3/4 c water, divided
4 T oil
1 large onion, chopped very fine
2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 tsp salt
1 T lemon juice
2 tsp brown sugar
4 T crushed peanuts

In a small bowl, mix coriander, turmeric, and chili powders with 1/4 c of the water to make a paste. Set aside. In a nonstick frying pan, heat oil. When oil is hot, add chopped onions and saute until onions become soft and translucent.

Add spice paste. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, adding a tablespoon of 1/4 c of water at a time until you reach a 1/4 cup added.  Add chicken; stir to coat pieces with the spices. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add salt and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 cup of water. Add brown sugar and peanuts. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. Serve with boiled rice.

Although this recipe had ingredients that looked good, the recipe itself was really bland. Even for me. It really didn't taste like much of anything. I thought it might get better if I let it sit in the fridge overnight, but nope, still bland. Both Nate and I were rather disappointed, and agreed to continue the quest for a better, more flavorful recipe for Peanut Sauce.

Karin's Week Twenty-Four Recipe: Creamy Pasta with Chard and Tomatoes

This past Saturday, we once again ventured out to our local Farmer's Market. One of my goals this summer is to eat more veggies of types that I am not used to. This week the Swiss Chard looked very tasty and colorful, along with some of the early-ripening tomatoes - chard is not on my usual veggies list, tomatoes are.  Once we got home, I needed to find something to do with the Swiss Chard. Lucky for me, this recipe used ingredients that were on hand, and fresh. Once again, Joy of Cooking comes up with a recipe for a random ingredient.

Creamy Pasta with Chard and Tomatoes

1 T olive oil (a bit more if your pan is nonstick)
1/4 c chopped onion (I used shallots, about 1/2 c, as they needed to be used up)
2 cloves garlic, minced (we ended up using twice this, as we like garlic)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 cup chopped drained canned tomatoes
1 lb chard, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch strips (including green leaves)
3/ 4 c heavy cream
Black pepper to taste

Cooked fettuccine or egg noodles in amount you need to feed a family.

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over med-high heat. Add onion, garlic and red pepper flakes, stirring occasionally until soft & golden, about 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes (which I did not peel only chopped, as who has time to peel tomatoes?) and cook stirring occasionally until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 5 min. Add the chard and cook while stirring until chard has wilted, about 2 min. Add the cream and black pepper, then cook for 2 min or until bubbly. Remove from heat and serve over pasta.

This took less time to make than I thought it would. Once everything was chopped, it went together in the time it took to boil the water for the pasta. I was worried that this would have the texture of cooked spinach, which I abhor, but the chard ribs stayed crunchy in the sauce. Flavor-wise, the sauce was nice and light, but both Nate and I agreed we would add more red pepper next time, as you really couldn't taste it. This was a tasty recipe that got a thumbs-up and I will probably make it again if I need a quick pasta dish.

Karin's Week Twenty-Three Recipe: Chicken Curry

After reading Jenni's post last week about the Curried Chicken Pot Pie, I got the idea of making curry stuck in my head. Again with the rather quick lunch at my house, I looked through my Thai and my Indian cookbooks for something for which I had the ingredients. I had no coconut milk, so that cut out most of the Thai curries. This one I found in my Indian cookbook, Six Spices: A simple concept of Indian cooking, and it didn't call for coconut milk. Also, this cookbook has been a fun one to read, as the author is local to my area, and really seems to have made complicated recipes simple. There are lots of ingredients, but it goes together in less time than needed to cook the rice. Just make sure you have things lined up on the counter before you turn on the heat.

Chicken Curry (Rase wali Murgi)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lb skinned chicken parts (we used breast meat)
• 2 1/2 tsp salt, divided (I omitted this)
• 6 T cooking oil, divided (olive oil worked fine)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 tsp garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped (I used Penzey's ground, about 1.5 tsp)
• 1 tsp cumin, roasted and ground (again Penzey's)
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder (I used Penzey's Medium)
• 1/4 c water, divided
• 1/2 lb fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 2 T fresh cilantro, chopped (again with the Penzey's)
• 6 T plain yogurt (this I didn't have, but had Vanilla flavor, so used that)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Wash chicken pieces and dry. Sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp of salt and set aside.
2. In nonstick frying pan, heat 2 T of oil on high heat. When hot, add chicken and fry for 3-4 min, turning once. Transfer to a plate. (Chicken will be fully cooked later in recipe.)
3. Add remaining 4 T of oil to the pan. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until onions are soft and golden brown. (I added my ginger with the other dry spices instead.)
4. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cumin, turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, and 2 T of the water. Cook for 1-2 min, stirring constantly. Stir in tomatoes, 1 T of cilantro, yogurt, and remaining salt.
5. Increase heat to medium, add chicken pieces with juices from plate. Pour in remaining water. Bring to a boil, turning chicken in sauce to evenly coat.
6. Sprinkle curry with garam masala. Reduce heat to low. Cover and let curry simmer for about 20 min or until chicken is tender.
7. Add lemon juice and remaining cilantro. Simmer another 5 min.
8. Serve hot over rice.

Note: All spices used came from Penzey's, of course. They had the garam masala in the catalog, and I liked the story so much, that I bought it when I bought this cookbook, as then I didn't have to mix it myself.

This curry was simple to make, and the vanilla yogurt didn't affect the taste or smell at all. Both of us agreed it was tasty and worth making again, maybe with a slightly different meat. We ate it with brown rice (not my favorite, but Nate's choice), and it wasn't as spicy as you would think looking at the ingredients list. This could be made with root veggies for a vegetarian version, as almost the same ingredients are on the facing page for Mixed-Vegetables Curry. It does make a lot, and tastes great as left-overs.

Karin's Week Twenty Recipe: Shrimp & Peppers Pasta

I have been greatly remiss in posting my last few weeks of recipes, so you're getting them all in a bunch. I'm going to try and be better in the coming weeks.

This recipe is one I pretty much made up for a light quick lunch on a workday. The ingredients are simple, and to make it only takes the time needed for pasta to cook al dente. I have since made a slightly different version again, with great success.

Shrimp & Peppers Pasta

1/2 box rotini pasta
1 lb raw frozen shrimp, thawed and peeled
2 bell peppers, not green (I used 1 orange and 1 red)
1 medium size sweet onion
2-3 T olive oil
1 T chopped garlic
Shredded Asagio cheese, for sprinkling
Black pepper to taste

Place water for pasta on to boil. Meanwhile, peel shrimp and chop peppers & onion into bite-size chunks. Heat 1 T of olive oil in non-stick pan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for about 2 min. Add onion and peppers and saute for a few more minutes. At this point, you may need to add a bit more olive oil to the pan to keep things from sticking. Place pasta into boiling water, and place shrimp into pepper/onion mixture. Cook until shrimp are pink. Drain pasta and return to shrimp/pepper mixture. Toss to combine. Serve with shredded cheese and black pepper sprinkled on top.

Would I make this again? Yep, already have. It is nice and light, yet filling enough for my carnivore. It also tastes great cold, or reheated. It helps greatly if the peppers are nice and ripe and sweet. I didn't cook things until they were mush, rather let them sweat a bit to give up some juices and keep their crunch.

Karin's Week Nineteen Recipe: Ramps 'n' Taters

Last year we had discovered ramps at our local Farmer's Market, and loved the way they tasted. What are ramps, you ask? They are sort of like a combination of leeks and green onions.  They can be called Wild Leeks, and are only available in the early spring. This year, we saw them again, and I decided to look for a recipe to use them with. I found several, but this seemed the easiest and I had all ingredients on hand.

Ramps 'n' Taters

4 or 5 large potatoes, diced
1 lb bacon
1.5 lb ramps, cleaned and cut up (we used about 13, and only the white bits)
6 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside. Fry diced potatoes in bacon grease for 3-4 minutes, then add ramps, and cook until potatoes are done. Add eggs and scramble with potato mixture. Place bacon on top, and simmer for 2 minutes until heated through.

This was excellent. And easy. And tasty. Although, we did take out about 1/2 the bacon fat before putting the eggs in, as otherwise I think we'd have had bacon grease soup. And we crumbled the bacon into the pan at the end. We had this for a weekend breakfast, and would definitely make it again. It also reheats well in the microwave, if you can't finish it all in one sitting. There was also discussion that this would make a great camping breakfast, using green onions instead of the ramps. I think the camping version may be trialled later this summer...

Karin's Week Thirteen Recipe: Potatoes Lyonnaise

This recipe was mostly chosen by Nate.  He wanted a potato dish that was made with slices of potato and butter to go with the giant ham that I was baking for Friday dinner.  This fit, and also had onions to boot.  It's from the Test Kitchen Favorites 2007 cookbook accompaniment to the America's Test Kitchen TV show on PBS. The show tests not only recipes, but kitchen equipment too.  The cookbook shares some of their findings.  This recipe is supposed to be an easier-to-make take on a classic French potato recipe.  I did look in my Julia cookbooks to see what she had to say, and sadly it was not in there, so I couldn't compare the two. Make sure to read this all the way through before starting, as you have to do somethings simultaneously.

Potatoes Lyonnaise

3 T unsalted butter
1 large onion (about 14oz, or smaller ones to equal such), halved pole to pole and sliced 1/4 in thick
3/4 tsp Kosher salt or 1/2 tsp table salt (I used the salt grinder)
2 T water
1.5 lb medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced crosswise into 1/4in rounds*
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 T minced fresh parsley (I forgot to use this)

*The cookbook is very specific on the type of potato. They say that Russets will not work right, so I made a special trip to get the Yukon Golds.

1. Heat 1 T of butter in a nonstick skillet (I used our cast iron pan) over med-high heat. When the foaming subdies, add the onion and 1/4tsp of salt and stir to coat; cook stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften, about 3 min. Reduce the heat to med and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the onions are light brown and soft, about 12 min longer, deglazing with water when the pan gets dry, about halfway thru the cooking time. (I didn't use any water, and also forgot to cover the pan. My onions stayed moist.) Transfer to a bowl, and cover. Don't wash the pan.

2. While the onions cook, microwave 1 T of butter on high power in a large bowl until melted. Add the potatoes to the bowl and toss to coat with the butter. Microwave on high power until the potatoes just start to turn tender (aka bendy), about 6 minutres, tossing halfway thru the cooking time. Set aside.

3. Melt 1 T of butter in the onion skillet over med-high heat. When the foaming subsides, add the potatoes and shake the skillet to distribute evenly. Cook, without stirring, until browned on the bottom, about 3 min. Using a spatula, stir the potatoes carefully and continue to cook, stirring every 2 to 3 min until the potatoes are well browned and tender, 8-10 min more. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.

4. Add the onions back in to the skillet and stir to combine. Cook until the onions are heated thru and the flavors have melded, 1-2 min. Transfer to a large plate, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

This was a pretty quick dish to make, and all eating it liked it quite a bit, especially the onions. I thought it could've used a bit more seasoning, such as garlic. Either way, it was a great way to use up potatoes and onions, especially if you have the Yukon Golds on hand. I'd probably make this again.