Vegetable Red Curry

nless you have fish sauce, galangal, shrimp paste and lemongrass lying around your kitchen, I recommend doing yourself a favor and buying a $4 jar of red curry paste. Even though the jar I bought is labeled "hot", I found it very mild in the context of this particular dish. Rather, it packs enormous flavor thanks to its numerous spices, and you'll find a thousand dishes to put it in.



Vegetable Red Curry
1 T vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 C white rice
1 T mustard seeds
2 1/2 C chicken stock, divided
1 T red curry paste
1 C fat-free half and half
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
1 C frozen peas
1 16-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, drained
Flat-leaf Italian parsley

In a medium pot, heat 1 t oil on medium-high heat and cook 1/2 the diced onion until soft, 3 minutes. Add rice and mustard seeds, tossing just enough to coat. Add 1 1/2 C chicken stock, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes; fluff with a fork. Meanwhile, add 2 t vegetable oil to a medium pot on medium high and cook other 1/2 diced onion 3 minutes until soft. Add curry paste and heat through; about 1 minute. Add half and half and remaining chicken stock, bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Add potato and cauliflower, cooking 10 minutes or until fork tender. Add peas, chickpeas and tomatoes, increasing heat to medium, cook 1-2 additional minutes until heated through. Spoon vegetables over rice, garnish with chopped parsley.

Chicken with Cous Cous and Apricots

aking homemade chicken stock starts paying off when a simple grain like cous cous is elevated to levels far above where water could take it. The stock started out as a roasted chicken, the meat of which is a big part of the salad, and continues to reconstitute the apricots into flavorful jewels. Add some crunch from the slivered almonds, and you have a satisfying, wholesome meal.

2 C cous cous
2 C + 1/4 C chicken stock, divided
3 C shredded chicken
1 1/4 C dried apricots, chopped
1 C blanched, slivered almonds
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Place cous cous in a medium mixing bowl. In a microwave safe container, bring 2 C stock to a boil. Add boiling stock to cous cous, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let steam for 5 minutes; remove wrap and fluff with fork. Heat remaining stock 2 minutes in microwave until hot; add apricots and cover in plastic wrap until liquid is absorbed. Combine cous cous, apricots, chicken and almonds, seasoning to taste -OR- divide into 5 2-cup servings.

Spaghetti Squash with Chicken, Zucchini and Olives

ny vegetable with the good sense to pose as a pasta is certain to be a hit with me. This veggie-laden dish packs in loads of flavor with roasted zucchini, red pepper flakes, lemon and olives.



2 yellow squash
2 small zucchini
olive oil
1/2 t garlic powder
kosher salt
black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
1 large spaghetti squash
2 C roasted chicken
1 C kalamata olives, pitted
1 lemon

Preheat oven to 450 F. Slice yellow squash and zucchini in half lengthwise, rub with oil and sprinkle garlic powder, salt and red pepper flakes on cut side. Turn squash and zucchini cut side down, add cracked black pepper. Roast 10 minutes, allow to cool.

Meanwhile, cut spaghetti squash in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down in a microwave safe dish with a half C of water; cover dish plastic wrap. Microwave on high 10 minutes. Once cool, use fork to separate "spaghetti noodles" from outer skin.

Combine "noodles" with 2 T olive oil, zest and juice of one lemon, roasted vegetables, chicken, olives and salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

oasted chicken is touted as one of the easiest and most inexpensive meals any cook can make. Yet until this weekend, I'd never tried it. Hooray for trying new things, right? I combined advice from the Food Network's Ina Garten (whose recipe I sought) and Melissa D'Arabian (whose show was on at the time; she was also making roast chicken). The result: yup, pretty easy alright! I just wish I'd roasted the vegetables separately, or at least clumped everything under the chickens where they wouldn't burn.

2 4 lbs whole chickens
1 large yellow onion
1 lemon
6 carrots, peeled and halved
1 lb white button mushrooms, halved
8 red potatoes, scrubbed and halved
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. Thoroughly rinse and dry chickens outer skin and cavity; add salt, pepper, onion and lemon quarters. Tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine or silicone bands. Rub oil onto chicken skin, add salt and pepper, and place breast-side down on wire rack. In large roasting pan, toss carrots, mushrooms and potatoes with oil, salt and pepper. Center vegetables in pan and place chickens on rack atop vegetables. Roast 15 minutes and turn chickens breast-side up, returning to heat for another hour or until juices run clear.

Caramel Brownies

y favorite brownie recipe yields goodies that are tall like cake-style brownies, but with the gooey center of fudge-style brownies. How could I possibly make them better? With caramel sauce baked in, of course.

When I started this blog, I knew I wanted to include all the dishes I attempt, regardless of how successful or unsuccessful they end up. While these brownies were far from a fail, they weren't oozing smooth caramely goodness. This can only mean more attempts the next time I'm in the mood for brownies.

Caramel Sauce
Recipe courtesy Ina Garten
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1/3 cup water
* 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful – the mixture is extremely hot! Watch the mixture very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Don't worry - the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.

Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.




Brownies
1 C unsalted butter
8 oz semisweet baking chocolates
1 t kosher salt
3 C granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 C flour

In a medium microwaveable bowl, melt together butter and chocolate. Mix in the salt. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl beat together sugar and eggs with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture into sugar mixture, combine well. Fold in vanilla, salt and flour, mixing only until incorporated. Transfer to a greased and floured 9x13 baking pan, bake for 37 minutes at 375 F.

Carrot Ginger Soup

inger - aromatic and exotic with some heat. Carrots - sweet, mild flavor in a designer color. Together they should be a "wow!"; unfortunately, this recipe from the Food Network turned out to be an "... oh". I can imagine lots of ways to alter this dish; either playing up to its sweet dessert relatives with some brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon, or even exploring its more lush tones by roasting the carrots and adding cumin and cayenne.

With all this criticism, I must say - the creamy finish makes this a very satisfying soup that I could imagine serving as a small course between more intense dishes. A crisp escarole salad, followed by a spicy fish entree, perhaps? Its really not bad, it just needs some lovin'.

* 2 tablespoons sweet cream butter
* 2 onions, peeled and chopped
* 6 cups chicken broth
* 2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
* 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
* 1 cup whipping cream
* Salt and white pepper
* Sour cream
* Parsley sprigs, for garnish

Directions

In a 6-quart pan, over medium high heat, add butter and onions and cook, stirring often, until onions are limp. Add broth, carrots, and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced.

Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Don't fill the blender more than half way, do it in batches if you have to. Cover the blender and then hold a kitchen towel over the top of the blender*. Be careful when blending hot liquids as the mixture can spurt out of the blender. Pulse the blender to start it and then puree until smooth. Return to the pan and add cream, stir over high heat until hot. For a smoother flavor bring soup to a boil, add salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with dollop sour cream and parsley sprigs.

Spinach Chicken Pasta Salad

f you ever find yourself wandering what to do with leftover sun dried tomatoes, and you've already made a tasty Albacore Penne Salad, might I suggest you combine and refrigerate the following:



3 cups chicken meat
8 oz frozen chopped spinach leaves, thawed and drained
8 oz Farfalle pasta (dry wt), cooked
2 T olive oil
juice of one lemon
1/3 C sun dried tomatoes
salt and ground black pepper
1/3 C grated parmesan