Red Chicken Mirepoix Curry

Here's another curry recipe. I decided to make a mirepoix curry because it's a mix of veggies I generally keep around, and had it in abundance at that moment. I usually don't put celery in curry, but it was a nice change.

2 chicken breasts (or one whole fillet)
extra virgin olive oil.
1 onion
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 red pepper
2 inch piece of ginger
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 box of chicken broth
1 pack of thai red curry paste
1 teaspoon of curry powder - yellow
1 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 tsp or so of chili powder
sprinkle of red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of fish sauce (patis)

Brown the chicken in olive oil. Cook a cup of rice in a rice cooker with double the water. In the meantime prepare the mirepoix - peeling and dicing the carrots, celery, and onion. Then peel the ginger and dice finely. Add all that in the pot as you are done chopping. Season the meat and veggies while it cooks with salt and pepper, curry powder, red pepper flakes, and chili powder. Then chop the red pepper and add. Allow this to cook for a few minutes. add the coconut milk and broth. Then add the curry paste and stir until dissolved. Then add the fish sauce. cover and bring to boil stirring occasionally. Serve over rice.

Spiced Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spiced Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) salted sweet cream butter
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
½ cup white granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp all spice
½ tsp nutmeg – freshly grated is best.
1/8 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups flour
3 cups quick oats

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
½ cup bitter sweet dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the wet ingredients before adding the dry for best results. Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla until perfectly smooth. Then add the salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Then add the spices – all spice, cloves, and cinnamon. I use a microplane and grated the nutmeg right into the bowl because the flavor turns so much better. Add the flour a half cup at a time and keep stirring until fully incorporated. Then add the oats, a cup at a time and keep stirring. Then add both sets of chips. Scoop rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper – although I hear right onto a cookie sheet works because there is enough butter to prevent sticking. But I love parchment paper. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are barely golden. Cool down and enjoy.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These cookies are called several things. Too dangerous as my friend would say… “the racist cookie” another friend said… in reference to being an all white cookie. I call them thin, soft, and moist. This recipe is not perfect… yet. One of these days I will create the ideal cookie. I had this recipe created in my head for days, so I had to experiment how it would come out. I’m thinking that this recipe could have improved slightly with a ½ cup more flour, and one teaspoon of baking powder. But I will let you know the results next time. In the meantime, as pictures, these are my white chocolate macadamia nut cookies:

1 cup of room temperature butter- salted sweet cream is what I used
1 cup white sugar
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ tsp salt

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2.5 cups flour

1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup roasted unsalted macadamia nuts. Buy them whole, but chop just before using

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. The best way to make cookies to start with the wet ingredients then add dry. So cream together the sugars with the butter, add the eggs, vanilla, and salt. Stir until creamy and fully incorporated. Then add the baking soda and powder. Add the flour a half cup and a time and stir until fully incorporated. In the meantime chop the macadamia nuts by running your knife through them a couple times. Be sure to get any of the crumbles and nut powder from your chopping into the bowl as well. Add the white chips. Drop by rounded teaspoon fulls ( or you can use a cookie scoop if you have it) onto parchment paper and bake for 10-12 minutes. I baked for 11 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet for a minute or two. Then transfer onto a rack and allow to cool completely. Makes 4-5 dozen


mmmmmmmm

Easy Berried Shortcake

Really good. Really easy. It's a variation on strawberry shortcake.

Serves 2

6 strawberries
1/4 fresh cut pineapple
handful of blackberries
whip cream in a can
angel food cups

Place one angel cup down. Place some whip cream on top. Top with fresh berries, pineapple, and black berries. Top with a dallop of whip cream. Or a spray of it.

Two Salads Collide: Cous Cous on Greens

Cous Cous. So nice they named it twice. And this is actually my first time making Cous Cous! This is a combo of a warm and a cold salad. and it tastes pretty good cold the next day.

1 whole chicken breast (or two halves) pre marinated in lemon herb seasoning. available in Henry's meat section

cous cous
1 box of plain cous cous
1 box of chicken broth - or a couple cans

EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
7 cloves of garlic minuced
1 red pepper diced
1 zuchini sliced
red pepper flakes
1 cup of mini tomatos
1 can of artichoke hearts in water - diced
1 large handful of basil - julienned
1 lemon
feta cheese

1 set of mixed greens
cucumber

You will need two pans, one saucepan - for the cous cousand one sautee pan. Cous Cous requires a one to one ratio liquid to cous cous. So it's easy to remember. Boil the directed amount - this was just a 4 -6 serving small box of cous cous - of chicken broth. Add cous cous and turn off heat. cover and let it sit for about 5 minutes or so. then fluff with a fork. In the meantime:

In the sautee pan, drizzle a couple tablespoons of EVOO and heat. place the chicken breasts whole in the pan and brown both sides until done, about 5 minutes a side. Remove from heat and place in a plate and cover with aluminum foil. This will carry over cook.

Drizzle more EVOO in the pan and cook garlic for a minute, then add zuke and red pepper. Add a few pinches of red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. add in the rest of the veggies as you chop them. Then add the cous cous and basil. mix well and fluff. squeeze over the lemon juice and add a handful of feta.

On a cutting board slice the chicken. Take any juiced from the chicken plate and put that in the cous cous and mix

On a plate, arrange some greens with some cucumber. top with feta sliced chicken. next to it place a couple scoops of the cous cous. This also works by layering the cous cous on top of the greens, then adding the chicken on top.

Choco Cran Nut Cookies

This cookie recipe is inspired by a cookie that I had at my friend Alysa's house. And also every other cookie I had from Mike's Pastry's in Boston had a lot of almond extract in it. So delicious. So this cookie's got chocolate, cranberries, and pecans in addition to the almond extract which also makes it a little different. I believe this was my first attempt to come up with a cookie recipe entirely on my own from start to finish, and not just tweak a current recipe, and it turned out pretty decent.

1 cup butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups bittersweet dark chocolate chips (Ghirardeli)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans chopped.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugars, eggs. Add extract. Beat on low or hand mix until fully creamed together. Add salt, baking soda, and baking powder and continue mixing. Add in the flour a 1/2 cup at a time. Stop mixing occasionally to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Mix until the dough is fully incorporated and moist. Add in chocolate chips, cranberries, and pecans. Drop by rounded teaspoon fulls on parchment paper. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until barely golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Seared Ahi Salad

Lost Night Recipe part deux. This salad plates and presents pretty nicely. Can I just say how awesome that this particular salad had no chemicals or pesticides. Well if you buy the right stuff. The tuna was wild and sushi grade, as it should be if you are serving it rare. This salad was pretty big, enough for 8 people and generously portioned. But that was served with some things that would be a little filling, like lighter noodle dish and other apps – see previous post on baked brie en croute. I actually wasn’t thrilled with the dressing as I didn’t think it through and just assembled it in front of everyone at the last second. And I ran out of garlic. But it came out ok I think. The seared ahi came out pretty amazing, if I can say so myself =)

Meat and marinade:
2 large and 1 small - sushi grade ahi tuna filets - Costco has some quality seafood very reasonably priced.
1 lemon
Soy sauce
Montreal steak seasoning (to cook with only, no need to marinade with it)

Salad:
4 large handfuls of baby spinach
1 red pepper diced and seeded
1 english cucumber thinly sliced
½ - ¾ cup edamame removed from shells
2 whole avocados diced, but not too small

Dressing:

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Sesame oil
Hot chili oil
1 lemon
Apple cider vinegar
Soy sauceground black pepper

I allowed the meat to marinade at room temperature 2 hours before cooking. I placed the tuna in a baking dish with raised sized. Cut a lemon in half and juice over the tuna. Then splash some soy sauce over the top of the fish as well. Flip the fish over then squeeze the other half of the lemon over and splash on more soy sauce. Set aside. Allow to marinade for about 1.5-2 hours prior to cooking.

In the meantime you can assemble the salad. Place the spinach down first on a very large serving platter. Then around a large oval layer the red pepper, cucumber, avocados, and edamame. Remember you are placing the meat in the middle and on top so you want the veggies to peak out underneath.

I can’t measure dressing, sorry. Just remember you want to eyeball about 2 parts oil to one part acidity – which includes the lemon, vinegar, and soy sauce. For those measuring challenged you can always make the dressing in a liquid measuring cup. For the oil, I am pretty sure I used ¾ths EVOO to ¼th sesame oil ratio and hot chili oil. Sesame and hot chili oil can be overpowering so you want to go a little easy on it. Like it was just a splash of hot chili oil. But adjust to taste. Sprinkle some cracked pepper and stir vigorously. Serve on the side. If I could do this dressing again, I would have added a smidge of Dijon mustard, 1 minced garlic clove, a ¼ inch piece of minced fresh ginger, and a little drizzle of honey. THAT would have been a dressing. But this recipe is what I made, and it was pretty simple to throw together.

Just before serving, preheat a grill pan on high heat. I would give it a solid 2 minutes. Although you can do this in a regular pan, the grill pan leaves the cool grill marks on the fish. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray (PAM). Sprinkle some montreal steak seasoning over one side of the fish. Place the seasoned fish face down on the grill pan. Repeat with other fishies. Now be very careful and only SEAR the fish. Don’t cook for more than a minute. It should be long enough to create some grill marks, and since the fish is at room temperature it should cook better and slightly faster than cold meat would. Sprinkle a little steak seasoning on. Use a pair of tongs to carefully turn the fish over. Sear a minute. Remove the fish from the heat and place on a cutting board. Allow the meat to rest for about a minute or two. Then cut slowly against the grain to ¼ inch thick slices. Place on top of the salad. Serve with dressing on the side.