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Fragrant Chicken Curry w/ Spiced Rice

April 8, 2011 in Recipe by Tristina | 2 comments

We love, love, love Thai and Indian food in our house.  My husband is especially addicted to it and was ecstatic when my parents gave us a Thai cookbook and an Indian cookbook for Christmas a few years ago.  We cook from both extensively because we love all of the fresh flavors, the combinations of spices and textures and the simple fact that one recipe makes A LOT of food so he can take it to work the next day for lunch!

Also?

Olivia approves as well.

Hmm...do I eat the rice, the chicken, the broccoli or THAT pea first?

Fragrant Chicken Curry

What you Need

  • 3 Tbsp Neutral Oil
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 Tbsp Thai red curry paste
  • 4 Cups coconut milk
  • 2 lemon grass stalks, coarsely chopped
  • 6 Kaffir Lime Leaves, chopped*
  • 2/3 Cup Greek Yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp Apricot Jam
  • 3 lbs Cooked Chicken (can be a whole chicken or pieces)
  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro/coriander
  • 1 Cup Chopped Broccoli, steamed
  • 1 Cup Frozen Peas
  • Salt and Ground Black Pepper

What You Do

  1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes until soft. Stir in the red curry paste. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes.
  2. Stir in the coconut milk, then add the lemon grass, lime leaves*, yogurt and apricot jam. Stir well. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Transfer the sauce to a food processor or blender and process to a smooth puree, then strain it back into the pan, pressing as much of the pureed mixture as possible through the sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside while you prepare the chicken.
  4. If needed, remove the skin from the chicken and remove from any bones. Cut into bitesize pieces. Add to the sauce.
  5. Bring the sauce back to a simmer. Stir in the Steamed Broccoli, Frozen Peas, fresh coriander and season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice when peas are warmed through.

* If you can’t find Kaffir Lime Leaves at your grocer and don’t have an Indian/Asian market nearby, you can use the zest and juice of one lime.

Spiced Rice

What You Need

  • 2 1/3 Cup Basmati Rice
  • 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • 4 Cloves
  • 4 Green Cardamom Pods
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 4 Cups Water and/or Chicken Stock

What You Do

  1. Wash the rice twice, drain well and set aside in a sieve.
  2. Melt the butter in a medium pan, add the cloves, cardamoms, bay leaf and salt. Lower the heat and add the rice. Fry for about one minute, stirring constantly.
  3. Add the water/stock to teh rice and spices and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Taste a grain after 10 minutes; it should be slightly al dente.

Do I have anything stuck in my teeth?

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Bacon Walnut Larabar

March 23, 2011 in Recipe by Tristina | 4 comments

So, after making bacon-wrapped dates, Stephen, while munching happily on them, remarked that he would love to figure out a way to make them “breakfasty” and then remarked something about a larabar.

For those of you who don’t know, larabars are all-natural, gluten-free fruit and nut bars that are insanely delicious.  Their ingredients are things like “dates” and “nuts” and all totally identifiable.  However, they cost nearly $2 a bar.  Thankfully, with a handful of dates and some other ingredients, you can make your own!

There are a million recipes out there for homemade larabars and, after the bacon-wrapped date adventure, I wanted to turn my recipe into a larabar.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the process but here goes.

What you need:

3/4 Cup Pitted Dates
1/2 Cup Walnuts (unroasted, unsalted)
Cooked bacon, Fat trimmed off, Minced (I used the bacon ends I cut off from the wrapped dates)
Some of the rendered out bacon fat from the pan (optional)*
Manchego Cheese (optional)

What you do:

In a food processor (or you can get busy with a knife), whaz up your dates until they are a nice pulpy, clumpy pile.

Dump into a bowl.  Don’t clean the processor.

Pour in the nuts and pulse until coarsely ground.  Add a bit of the bacon grease, if you’re using it, pulse to combine.  It’ll get a little pasty.

Dump into a bowl.

Add bacon bits and, if you want to, zested manchego cheese.

Get in there with your hands and mush it all together until it’s a nice big play-do looking ball.

Taste.  Add more bacon grease if necessary.**

Using either plastic wrap or parchment paper, shape into a bar or a log, wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour to set.

*I used rendered bacon fat because I was only using the excess ends from the dates I made the day before.  When I trimmed off the fat, very little meat was left.  If you prefer, you can use solely bacon meat and no fat and the flavor should be fine.

**The bacon flavor does intensify over time.  If you can stand to, leave it overnight.  It will be amazing in the morning.

In the morning (or whenever), cut it up into whatever shape you prefer and enjoy!

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Manchego Cheese and Walnut Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Dates

March 23, 2011 in Recipe by Tristina | 5 comments

There is a lovely Spanish Tapas restaurant here in Atlanta that I adore mostly because it reminds me of our honeymoon to Spain.  While I would love to eat there every single night, we cannot afford to.

Sigh.

They have an amazing appetizer on their menu – bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with manchego cheese and walnuts.  They are served over a spicy romesco sauce.  They are [to die for].

So, with some shopping at my farmer’s market, I decided to make my own.

What you will need:

Pitted Dates
Plain, unroasted, unsalted walnuts
Bacon
Manchego Cheese

You can find Manchego usually in the artisanal cheese section.  It’s usually sold by the wedge and is a firm cheese with a salty flavor – much like parmesan.  Side note: It makes an excellent grilled cheese sandwich.

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Line a sheet tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Set out some toothpicks or long skewers.

Chop up a good handful of the nuts. I’m not going to put measurements because it’s going to depend on how many of these you’re making and how big the the dates are.

Put your nuts in a small mixing bowl.

Yes.

Using a zester or a fine cheese grater, add a nice pile of cheese to the top.

Get in there with your hands and start mashing everything together.  Add more cheese if necessary.  You are looking for the mixture to stay packed if you squeeze it.

Now it’s time to stuff!

I used a pair of scissors to cut open one side of the date, opening it much like a hot dog bun, taco or hoagie roll.  Pick your visual.

Pack some of the mixture into the date!

Avoid eating!

Lay them out all nice and pretty on your sheet pan and stuff away.

I did 20.

Now it’s time to wrap!

Depending on the length of your bacon and the size of your dates, you should be able to get two dates wrapped for every slice.  I just wrapped one, cut it with scissors, skewered it, wrapped another, cut off the excess at the end (mostly fat anyway) and skewered it.

Repeat.

You can, again, use toothpicks or skewers.  I used skewers because that’s all I had.

Yay!

Now bake at 375 F for 30-40 minutes.  Mine took about 35 minutes.  You are looking for nice crispy bacon and dark caramelization on the dates.

Enjoy!!

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