Wednesday's dinner was so awesome!

The Chicken Korma was awesome!  The chicken was perfectly done and the sauce was so yummy.  It was not overly spicy and I think Miss K would like this now that her palate has changed and matured a bit.  The adjustments I would make are this:  Cut the liquid in half and increase the chickpea flour if necessary. By this I mean the decrease the heavy cream by 1 cup.  There was so much gravy that I had enough for 8-10 servings.  This could have been served in bowls as a soup like meal with plenty of rice underneath.  If you were going to serve it that way, then keep the proportions as they are.

This is my second picture from my new smartphone.  It's still a bit awkward for me, but I'm getting the hang of it.  My kids are happy I've crossed over.  My old phone protected me from so much...

Anyway, I did a meal swap for tonight.  We had a 2 day conference to go to for coaching, so cooking was not in the game plan for yesterday.  I'll make the Baked Chicken Breasts with Curry-Lime Butter tonight.  I'll be back later with the outcome.

The ITCCCA conference was good, we gleaned a couple of things we'll put in our warm ups and core workouts as well as ideas on other ways to use equipment we already have.  Glad we went.

Chicken Korma!

Wednesday is Chicken Korma.  The recipe we use comes from Indian:  A Collection of Over 100 Essential Recipes, Parragon Publishing, Bath, UK, 2008.  It is a yummy dish that we love at our house.  This is not overly hot but very flavorful.  I serve this over rice, and usually with, you guessed it, peas.

Chicken Korma
1 chicken, weighing 3 lb.
1 c. butter
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 t. mild chili powder
1 t. ground turmeric
1 t. ground coriander
½ t. ground cardamom
½ t. ground cinnamon
½ t. salt
1 T. chickpea flour
½ c. milk
2 c. heavy cream
fresh cilantro leaves to garnish
freshly cooked rice, to serve

Put the chicken into a large pan, cover with water and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat, lift the chicken, and set aside to cool.  Reserve ½ c. of the cooking liquid.  Remove and discard the skin and bones.  Cut the flesh into bite-size pieces.

Heat the butter in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the ginger, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and salt and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the chicken and the reserved broth.  Cook for 2 minutes.

Blend the chickpea flour with a little of the milk and add to the pan, then stir in the remaining milk.  Bring to a boil, stirring, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.  Stir in the cream, cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.  Garnish with the cilantro leaves and serve with the rice.

Friday is Baked Chicken Breasts with Curry-Lime Butter.  Again this is a yummy main dish.  It has been a while since I've made this, but it makes a lot.  

Baked Chicken Breasts with Curry-Lime Butter

8 T. butter, softened
2 t. minced ginger root
2 t. freshly grated lime peel
1½ t. lime juice
1 T. curry powder
½ t. salt
12 boneless chicken breast halves
2 eggs
1½ c. fine dry bread crumbs

Mix 6 T. butter, the ginger, lime peel, lime juice, curry powder and ¼ t. salt; chill until firm.  Cut a 3" slit in the underside of each chicken breast to form a pocket.  Fill each breast with 1½ t. of the butter mixture; smooth the flesh over the butter.  Whisk the eggs and ¼ t. salt in a shallow dish.  Dip each breast half in the egg, then in the crumbs to coat well.  Arrange 1" apart on 2 greased jelly roll pans.  Dot with the remaining 2 T. butter; cover with foil.  Bake in a preheated 425° oven for 10 minutes. Uncover; turn each piece and bake 10 minutes longer or until the crumbs are golden brown and the chicken is tender when pierced. TO FREEZE:  COOL COMPLETELY, WRAP INDIVIDUALLY IN FOIL.  TO REHEAT:  PLACE FROZEN WRAPPED PORTIONS ON A BAKING SHEET IN A PREHEATED 400° OVEN 15 MINUTES, OPEN FOIL AND BAKE 10 MINUTES LONGER OR UNTIL HOT. Serves 12.

I can't believe break is over!

It seems like break was just yesterday...oh, wait, it was.

I tried very hard to make our last dinner of break as headache free as possible.  A 5 lb pork roast went in to give me 3 hours of freedom to leisurely set up and cook dinner.  I even set up things I needed for the week of prepping hubby's lunch so that wasn't a scramble in the morning.  It worked for the most part. The only problem I had happened this morning.  A dish fell out of the cabinet at me while putting dishes away from the dishwasher and broke (Mind you, we never break anything here.  It is really rare.) on the counter on it's way to the floor.  The upside is it was a new thrift store purchase at Thanksgiving, so the cost was negligible and the investment in our lives was short.  The downside was I needed to quickly sweep up the floor so my little furfaces (cats) would not have bloody paws when I came home from work.  All this before 7:15 AM. 

Chicken broth happened last night and became chicken soup tonight for our dinner.  I paired the soup with Tuna Sandwiches and since the broth was made last night, I just had to prep the veggies and chicken and toss it with the simmering broth.  It was ready in 20 minutes.  Again this was essentially free, save for the 1/2 of a chicken breast half I sliced up to put in the soup.  I took 12 carrot sticks that I had prepped last night and diced them, diced a small onion and a celery stalk, and then stir fried for a couple of minutes with the chicken until it was no longer pink.  I added this to the simmering broth with some garlic salt and orzo (melon seed shape) pasta and simmered until the noodles were done.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Chicken Orzo Soup
1 lb chicken bones (I froze my bones from 2 dinners of drum sticks)
8 cups water
vegetable scraps ( Carrot peelings, onion peelings, celery cuttings)
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 chicken breast, about 4-6 oz., cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 t. garlic salt
1/2 c. orzo pasta
Place the chicken bones, water and vegetable scraps in a 3 qt saucepan.  Simmer on low for about 2 hours.  Drain the broth through cheesecloth in a strainer.  In a 10" frying pan, add the veggies and chicken breast and saute until the chicken is no longer pink.  Add this to the reserved broth with the garlic salt and the orzo pasta.  Simmer 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is done.

Today was a long day.  First day back after Winter Break and I have finally become part of the digital age...I got my first smart phone today. It's been an adventure to say the least!  

Wednesday is Chicken Korma and Friday is Curried Lime Chicken Breast.  I'll post those recipes tomorrow.

Beef Barley Soup and Beyond

Beef Barley Soup...and beyond

So I made Beef Barley Soup for dinner last night.  I almost forgot to take a picture of it. (I was so silly, I ate my whole bowl of soup before I remembered!  Fortunately, I could still pour another bowl...I was hungry enough for seconds.)  We had the soup with our favorite potato rolls from Aldi...so yummy.

I usually make the recipe on the back of the Goya brand barley that we use.  It is perfect.  This time, though I made broth from the bones from our standing rib roast from Sunday and the meat for the soup came from the bones I used.  Essentially making this a free meal when it comes down to it.  I had saved my vegetable trimmings from Thanksgiving and New Years and frozen them.  I used half for the beef stock and I'll use the other half for the Chicken stock I'll make on Monday.  When I make my soup stock I just quarter an extra onion and peel the carrot I'll use for the soup itself and throw the peelings in too. (My Mormor would be so proud of me 💖)

I looked on the Goya website and couldn't locate the recipe that has been there forever.  So here is a variation of the Goya Recipe:

Beef & Vegetable Barley Soup
1 T. olive oil
1 lb boneless chuck, cubed
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t. dried oregano
4 t. beef bouillon granules
4 c. water
1 bay leaf
15 oz can veggies, undrained or 1/2 bag frozen mixed veggies + 1 c. tomato        juice or tomato sauce
1/2 c. barley
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and brown the beef.  Stir in the onion and garlic.  Cook until the onions are tender.  Stir in the seasonings and water.  Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer one hour.  Add the veggies and barley.  Cook over medium heat 30 minutes.  Serves 4.

Dinner Monday is Chicken Soup...I'll post the recipe tonight!

Pytt i Panna and this weeks meals...so far

The kids loved the Curried Beef in Pastry.  It made 18 pieces using all the crust recipe but I did have some filling leftover.  I put some on crackers and it was really good.  

Needless to say there were no leftovers for me to freeze...That means on Tuesday the 17th, the day the Indoor Track Season opens, I'm free to go out or make something else for dinner!  I think I'll make something else...I'll keep you posted.

That night we had Dusted Pork Chops for dinner.  That was delicious!  I sprinkled some garlic salt on the chops before broiling them.  As I said before I just combine the dry herbs and spices from South American Chicken and Quinoa in a spice shaker and then shake the dust on the chops (or chicken) until they are well coated.  I then broil them for 6 minutes on a side. Yum.

Which brings me to today.  I made Pytt i Panna for our meal today.  I had a recipe that I've misplaced, but this one I found is very close to why my recipe was like.  It comes from Swedishfood.com.  I made a vegetarian version for my kids who need to keep kosher or halal or who are indeed vegetarian.  I also made a version loaded with smoked sausage.  That was devoured. I am left with a generous serving I can freeze for the 19th. When I serve that I will make some eggs and sourdough English muffins for me to go with.  DH will do well with some biscuits and maybe some gravy as well.

Here is the recipe:

Pytt i Panna
2 lbs. cooked potatoes, peeled
5 oz. bacon
5 oz. leftover meat or ham
5 oz. smoked sausage
2 onions, minced
1 T. oil
1 T. butter
1 t. fresh thyme, chopped (1/2 t. dried)
1 T fresh herbs, such as parsley, to garnish

Roughly dice the peeled potatoes bacon, meat, and sausage into 1/2" cubes.  Finely chop the onion.  Heat a large nonstick frying pan or wok on medium heat.  Add the oil and butter and when foaming, add the potatoes and onions and fry until golden brown, stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, heat a separate pan and when hot, add the diced bacon.  When the fat starts to render, add the meat, smoked sausage and thyme.  Fry  until everything is golden brown, giving it an occasional stir and adjusting the heat if it looks like it may burn.  When the meat is cooked, add to the potatoes and mix thoroughly.  Taste and add seasoning.  It will probably need a good pinch of pepper, but may not require any salt as the bacon is fairly salty.  Keep warm while you fry the eggs.  To serve, garnish with fresh herbs and top with fried eggs.  Serves 4.

Going to Museum of Science tomorrow...long, fun day!

Recipes & a more complete calendar

The calendar looks so much better!  Anyway,  here are the recipes for the week. 

Curried Beef in Pastry

2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. salt

2/3 c. butter

1 egg yolk, beaten

1/2 c. milk

1 small onion, diced

1-2 T.  oil

1/2 lb. ground beef

Salt & pepper to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 t. curry powder

Dash sugar

1-3 T. Ketchup

1/2 t. cornstarch

1 T. dried breadcrumbs

one egg, beaten

     Combine the flour, salt, butter, egg yolk and milk.  Form into a ball and set aside in the refrigerator.  Cook the onion in the heated oil until limp. Add the beef, salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until beef is browned (4-5 minutes).  Add the garlic, curry powder, sugar and ketchup.  Cook and stir another minute or two.  In a small bowl, make a paste of the cornstarch and 2 t. water.  Add to the meat mixture; cook 1 minute.  Remove from the heat; stir in the bread crumbs.  Taste and adjust the seasonings; refrigerate covered.  (The filling can be prepared ahead of time and either refrigerated for a few days or frozen.)      

     To assemble, roll out the crust into a long rectangle.  Place the filling using one heaping teaspoon at a time in mounds along one of the long sides of the dough one inch apart and 1 inch from the edge.  Dip a pastry brush in water and moisten a circle of dough around each mound.  Fold the other side of the dough rectangle over lengthwise.  Press down around each mound to seal.  Using a cookie cutter or a glass to cut each mound with a covering of dough.  Place the rounds on a greased cookie sheet and brush the tops lightly with a beaten egg.  Bake in a 325° oven until browned, about 35 minutes.

Makes 16 appetizer servings or 4-6 dinner servings.

It's January and my calendar is naked!

     I just noticed my calendar is naked!  I'll take care of that.  Dinner tomorrow is  Curried Beef in Pastry, Wednesday is Pytti Panna and Friday is Beef Barley Soup.  

     For New Years Day, we had an awesome Standing Rib Roast for dinner. Our good friends C & D joined us as well as our kids, Miss K and Miss M. Also our sister in law, L joined us with our nephew young Master D.  Dinner was so awesome and yummy.  I made Herb & Garlic rolls and had a misstep with my stand mixer.  Well it was a big misstep actually.  It just flat out broke. Fortunately, I still had my old stand mixer and used that to finish the job. ( as Miss M & Miss K pointed out, it was a good thing I had not donated the old mixer like I had wanted to.) The rolls weren't the best attempt and looked fairly rustic, but they still tasted great.

     We rounded out the meal with broccoli, peas, carrots, mashed and gravy. Did I say yum?  We had cookies and coffee or tea depending on who you were for dessert.  I had made more iced lemon cookies and melting moments to complement the pepparkakor that we still had left from my holiday baking earlier.
     That said, the bones from the roast are the base of the meal on Friday. I saved all the drippings from the meat and that's in the fridge waiting for me to make a glorious gelatinous broth from those drippings and the bones on Wednesday night.
     I also have a confession.  I did not make the dusted pork chops.  But tomorrow we have kids stopping by and I'll make dusted chicken for them instead.  It will work, and I'll get a picture of the finished product.  I decided not to cook on Friday because Miss M had been house sitting and baby sat that night.  It's one of the meals I like to make for her so I was going to make it on Saturday as a meal swap instead.  But our Saturday went differently, too.  We ended up going to our friend's house to celebrate New Years Eve, I so had two nights off of cooking!  It felt a little weird.

    DH had a 5K road race this morning.   When we got home the roast went in the oven.  I worked on the rolls, broke my mixer, found my old mixer, finished the rolls and then worked on the rest of the meal.  It was a busy day all in all.  The girls set the table and put things on the table as they were finished. The dishwasher is now humming with the 3rd and last load of dishes of the day.  
     The next post will have my recipes for the week and I'll update the calendar.