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[the problem child]

Okay, this is impressionistic, but I wanted to share my recipe for chicken curry. It also works with turkey, if'n you're in a Bridget Jones mood.

To make this, you need either bottled curry paste (like Patek's Biryani paste) or to make your own. I like bottled, because I don't have the fresh ingredients that would make it really zingy. Soaking curry powder and chili powder in olive oil overnight just doesn't do it for me. It would probably work with bottled curry sauce, but I don't know what proportion of it I would use.

Cold Winter's Night Chicken Curry

You need:

enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of your biggest stew pot
2 large onions, chopped roughly 1/2 inch pieces.
as much garlic as you like - I use half a dozen cloves, crushed and then chopped fine
4-6 sticks of celery chopped roughly 1/2 inch lengths
bottled curry paste
half a dozen to a dozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs, depending on how big they are.
2 cups of hot chicken stock or whatever clear liquid broth
one can coconut milk (or you can use a cup and 1/2 of the powdered coconut stuff; rehydrate it in the chicken stock, if you like, or use some hot water) OMG, if you actually have a real coconut, make sure it is an unripened one and scrape out all the gooey gelly part to use with the milk! Sooo good.
4-6 carrots chopped into 1/2 lengths
3-5 potatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces.

Sauté (medium-high on my stove) the onions, garlic and celery until the onions are starting to turn translucent and softish.

Dump in the curry paste and work the paste through the onions etc. Keep agitating it for about a minute.

Then heave in the the chicken thighs, and give the whole thing a bit of a swirl for about a minute. You are not trying to brown the chicken, just getting the curry paste nicely distributed and keeping the chicken and paste from sticking. 

Add the coconut milk and stock. It should just about cover the chicken.

Dump in the carrots and potatoes. Add enough water to barely cover everything.

Turn down the heat to medium and cook covered for about 45 minutes, occasionally stirring, until the chicken is starting to fall apart.

Then further reduce you heat and cook uncovered to reduce the sauce that is left until it is a nice, saucy sauce. Use a spoon to break up the chicken bits. It should be really falling apart by now. The potatoes should also now be sort of rounded off at the corners as they break down into the sauce and further thicken it. If there is excess oil on the top of the curry, soak it up with a paper towel.

Serve over rice or not, with naan or not, with raisins or almonds to garnish or not, and eat it with your fingers or not.

[Jamie]

When we lived in Italy, I did an apprenticeship in a millinery studio where I would sit day after delightful day with a workshop of real Italian Mamas in their 50's and 60's who saw me as a silly child that needed to be taught the how-tos of properly taking care of my man. Every day they would ask me what I was making him for dinner, and more often than not I would say "a salad and maybe a cheese platter" or "soup". Mamma mia! They were sure that I was going to lose him with my neglect. So they gave me cooking tips and recipes.

This is a wonderful and easy recipe from Nadia, head milliner extraordinaire:

RABBIT WITH YELLOW PEPPERS

Rabbit, cut into pieces (or equivalent amount in selected pieces)
flour
sage and rosemary, preferably fresh, but dried in a pinch works just as well
glass of dry white wine
3 or 4 large yellow peppers (know that they shrink)
1 bouillon/stock cube
salt and pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Wash the rabbit and pat dry.

Toss the rabbit pieces in flour.

Heat the oil (or oil/butter) in large skillet or heavy pot and fry the rabbit pieces, a few at a time without crowding, with the sage, rosemary and the glass of wine until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes per batch (drizzle the wine slowly over the rabbit as it browns so it doesn't drown, sharing the one glass of wine between the batches).

Remove the sage and rosemary if using fresh whole herbs.

Meanwhile, cut the tops and bottoms off of the yellow peppers, remove white ribs and seeds. Slice the peppers into rings and put in the pan with all of  the browned rabbit pieces.

Add the bouillon cube, salt and pepper and add 1 to 1 1/2 cups warm water.

Cover and cook over low heat for about an hour, checking occasionally to make sure there is qlways liquid in the pan.

Best served with creamy polenta. Another option, if you prefer, cook the polenta and allow to cool formed into a log, then slice and fry in a little olive oil or lay out on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil and grill.

[gran567]

Local store is selling beef from a company new to me "Rambo" part of Cargill in Kansas.  They have a cut of really ugly meat called "cheekmeat".  Anyone ever tried cooking it or have a recipe for it?  I searched a lot of on-line recipe collections and couldn't find anything.  I have a feeling thaqt it is aimed at the Hispanic population.. 

Gran567

[Charcoal Sniper P.]

i haven't heard of the brand or the cut but i will get back to you if I do

[Jamie]

Re : CHEEKMEAT

I live in France and "Joues de Boeuf" - which translates as Beef Cheeks, is a delicate part of the beef, fairly common here. I have never cooked with it, but I just put "joues de boeuf" in my google search engine and came up with a slew of recipes (in French, of course);

[arkangel3]

Winter approacheth...so that means it's time for soup...especially when you have a cold.  My mom is the Italian, and hence the most amazing cook I know; so many of my own culinary abilities were honed in her kitchen, and I have taken many of her recipes and made them my own.  She always made the world's best chicken soup, and I've taken her recipe and changed things around a bit...but I got the ultimate compliment one Thanksgiving when I served my soup before dinner and she loved it.

One of the things I did was make this as easy and painless as possible...and VERY LOW FAT.  This is PERFECT for cold days when you are just sitting around reading or watching movies, or on a Sunday when you are watching football and need something to cook while you root on for your team, and stir occasionally as you go for another beer and "return a rental" (if you catch my drift! ).  Rather than use a whole chicken, I use trimmed chicken breasts.  I make up for the loss of any flavor given off by bone marrow by using GOOD QUALITY CHICKEN STOCK you can buy in the supermarket in a carton.  This is not College Inn or Swanson we're talking about here.  Use Wolfgang Puck, or Emeril, or my favorite: Kitchen Basics.  These Stocks are excellent in flavor as well as low fat and sodium. 

As is customary in an Italian kitchen, we rarely measure anything (except the proper amount of pasta, tomatoes, and wine to use!)...so I'll approximate what I think are the measurements. 

ARKANGEL's CHICKEN SOUP...serves however many people you have.

PREPARE IN A 6 QUART CROCK POT:

6-8 Perdue Frozen pre-trimmed Chicken Breasts
4 Tablespoons Dehydrated Soup Greens
1 Carrot chopped into rounds
2 teaspoons minced garlic (the kind already prepared and available in a jar in your supermarket)
2 small palmfulls of dried herbs de Province
1/2-1 full box of Good Quality Chicken Stock (depending on taste)
8-10 cups of water (adjust according to amount of stock used...and how close to the top of the pot you are now!)
1 packet Sazon Goya (OPTIONAL) w/Saffron- adds a wonderful color and savoriness with just a hint of Iberian flavor
3 short (small) shakes of Cayenne Pepper*
7 turns of the black pepper mill*
6 turns of the sea salt grinder*
*Adjust to taste.

Throw the whole damned thing into the crockpot, stir, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.  (I told you this was painless).  Stir VERY occasionally (once every 60-90 minutes).

When the soup is done, remove the breasts to a separate plate and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Cut breats into pieces (your choice of size), and return to crock pot. 

Add cooked soup pata or rice (already prepared according to package directions. Please don't even think of using butter with the pasta or rice when making the pasta.  It will ruin the soup and your arteries will thank me later)  to the soup at this point as well.  As far as pasta goes, my kids love Orzo.  I personally love Acini de Pepe or rice.

Refrigerate leftovers (shelf life about 2 days) or freeze leftovers. 

NOTE: ALWAYS let chicken soup (or any soup containing meat) to cool to room temperature before putting the leftovers away.  If you put hot or very warm leftover soup in the fridge, a really nasty bacteria can form and get you unpleasantly ill.  Unless you like reading the entire Sunday NY Times in one sitting (pun intended), I strongly advise you take my advice here.  Just make sure that when your leftover soup is cooling, your crockpot is off and unplugged and the cover remains on the contents until you're ready to start putting the leftovers away.

Oh yeah...ENJOY!  (And let me know how this worked out for you)

[gran567]

Thanks Jamie - the french name for this meat sure helped.  Found recipes on google and there was a translation option which was a big help.  Most called for a bottle of red wine - so off I am to shop for it.  Thanks again.

[ira2]

[...]
Mamma mia! They were sure that I was going to lose him with my neglect. So they gave me cooking tips and recipes.
[...]

HAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!! OMG, Jamie! This is the first time I've heard (read) that since my mother told my sister and me that our (American) husbands will run away from us if we keep cooking them - *gasp* - frozen vegetables - *GASP*!

For years, I thought it was just her... now I think it's an European thing 

[Jamie]

Hey ira2 -

It's great to finally catch up with you! I actually thought it was an Italian thing. They felt such pity for me.... The French have turned into pretty lousy cooks in general (not all, but a lot) and now you see so many more frozen things here. I remember in Italy, in the supermarket, no frozen meals, nothing canned, you really could only buy and cook from fresh ingredients. But then, the markets were fabulous!

[A Brit Abroad]

Okay, just for Jamie - but I hope everyone else enjoys them too:

Micke's Swedish Pancakes (sorry about the decimal measures)

4 eggs
800 ml milk
250 ml flour + 50 ml wholemeal flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp butter/margarine, melted in the frying pan

Beat the eggs with half of the milk in a large mixing bowl.
Add the flour and salt (might be a good idea to sift them in).
Mix until the batter is smooth, then add the rest of the milk and the melted butter.

Add a small amount of the batter to the hot, greased frying pan and swirl around to coat evenly.
Cook until the pancake is nicely browned underneath, then flip.

Don't forget to stir the batter occasionally while cooking the pancakes, otherwise it goes thick and goopey at the bottom of the bowl.

In our house this serves 3, but the recipe claims it's for 4. Serve with jam and ice cream, or maple syrup. In Sweden pancakes are eaten on Thursdays, after a first course of split pea and pork soup.

[Jamie]

Thanks for that, Brit. I'll try them and see how close they are to French crèpes.

[Lin]

and if there is an interest will post my tofu turkey...dont laugh...yes we make this every year...along with a real one for meat lovers
[/quote]


Trish, I'd be interested in your tofu turkey recipe, too.  I'm a vegetarian, but I'm a lousy cook....hope your recipe is easy!

[Lin]

Trish, I'd like to see your tofu turkey recipe; I'm a vegetarian, and I like new recipes, but I'm a lousy cook...unfortunately...sorry to post twice (I'm really new)

[ira2]

Hey ira2 -

It's great to finally catch up with you! I actually thought it was an Italian thing. They felt such pity for me.... The French have turned into pretty lousy cooks in general (not all, but a lot) and now you see so many more frozen things here. I remember in Italy, in the supermarket, no frozen meals, nothing canned, you really could only buy and cook from fresh ingredients. But then, the markets were fabulous!

That's one thing I miss terribly about Germany - even though I'd hardly be able to afford to buy "real food" - the butcher and the baker and the grocer and the cheese shop and the markets    Real, honest, fresh, local food. It's not that I don't like convenience, I really do, but to have little choice in the matter sucks.
I have to say though that the idea of the French using - *GASP* - frozen things is thoroughly shocking! I've been gone a long time, huh?! LOL!

The "real food" thing is why I like wild game and foraged foods and home-grown meat and produce. You know what goes into it, and you can preserve it the way you want to. It's kind of like making your own market 

[ira2]

@ Jamie & Brit:

Pancakes aka Pfannkuchen are a favorite of my sister's and mine:
http://sibylleandmark.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/the-day-my-lover-made-pfannkuchen-for-me/

Hmmm... I really, really have to go out to cut up firewood, but all I want to do is make some of the goodies from this thread. Drat.

[Sirenoftitan]

Brit's pancakes reminded me of another pancake recipe using chickpea flour (gram) which is quite popular in our household for brunch on Sundays.

(apologies for metric measurements)

200 g of chickpea flour (gram)
450 ml of water
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
ground black pepper

Heat oven to 325F/170C
Line baking tray with greaseproof paper and brush with a little oil
Mix together all ingredients in a bowl - batter should be smooth and lumpfree.
Use small frying pan (ours is about 6" in diameter) brushed lightly with olive oil and put on a high heat for about 2 mins
Turn down to about half heat and add batter mixture to about a depth of 1/4".
Once bubbles appear, turn pancake over and do the otherside.
Once nice and golden brown put pancake into baking tray and pop in oven to keep warm
We usually get about 5 or 6 pancakes (depending upon how heavy handed we are)

We serve them topped with lots of fried onions (I know - not good) - all nice and golden,seasoned to taste - and lots and lots of grilled vine tomatoes (again with some oil/salt/pepper) .  My youngest likes them with baked beans.

I'll try and get my mother's recipe for Welsh Cakes - haven't had proper home made ones in a while.

BTW - Trish I liked your tofu turkey recipe.  It's always good to come across a recipe that does good things for tofu.

[Jamie]

@ira2

thanks for that link. I'll try that recipe too. After spending almost 7 years in Italy (1992-98) and experiencing their fabulous markets and food shops, we returned to France to realize that mostly what you would find at the market place was exactly the same thing all year around. In Italy, if it didn't grow in Italy, you didn't find it on the market. And if it wasn't in season, ditto. In France, want eggplants or tomatos or anything else anytime of the year? No problemo! There still are people who sell "real" stuff here - the guy who sells apples and pears in season and nothing else, same with mushrooms and potatoes.

[Jamie]

@ sirenoftitan

Thanks for that recipe. It'll be added to the TRY list.

[aggirl]

Okay, here's one for those who like dates.  My must do (as directed by those who have received some) every Christmas.  Soooooooo easy and last (if not gobbled up immediately) a long time.  Great with coffee.

Date Nut Bars

2 eggs
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon shortening (I use butter) melted
1/4 cup sifted all purpose flour (calls for cake flour but all purpose is what I use)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup nuts, chopped (I use walnuts)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs until light.  Add sugar and shortening. Blend well.  Sift dry ingredients together and add (I usually blend it in till smooth.)  Add dates, nuts and vanilla. Blend well and pour into greased shallow cake pan. (You will have to spread it to the sides and make it even) Bake in slow oven (325 F) about 25 minutes.  Cut into bars and roll in confectioners' sugar.  Makes about 24.

I usually quadruple the recipe and use two 9x13 baking pans.  I make a lot along with other, easy recipes and play Santa delivering to my clients and friends.

Enjoy!
JaneE

[judi]

Thanks for this recipe...it is one of my husband's favorites and I just have not found a good recipe for it!  Will make for sure this Holiday season!

Question...do any of you make stuff as gifts?  With money so tight we have made chutney's and spice mixtures to give...but would love to hear your special things that you make to give as gift.

Thanks...frugally trying to have a great christmas here