Curry along sweetie the heat will get you...

Yup turns out am a fan of curry after all these years. If you like spicy Mexican of Szechuan you'll love the deep rich spicy flavor of curry. Got hooked on the stuff when I tried a recipe a few months back, since then its been experimenting with curry.

This recipe has a jumble of flavors some Thai, some classic Indian but tasty none the less. It is spicy, but I suppose you could dial it back if you want by reducing the amount of chili peppers in it.

Thai chilis are so hard to find at my local grocery but I learned on the food channel you can swap out a couple of red jalapenos for them with great success. Which is what I do, can't justify spending a ton in gas tracking down just one chili and no need since red jalapeno are so easy to find at my local groc.

I have learned the hard way that it is best to crush your cardamom seed pods and just extract the seeds for your cooking. The pod itself is way too harsh a spice and if you bite into it you've ruined your mouth for the next few bites. Seriously take the couple of seconds required to bust open the pods and extract the seeds. A little of them go a long way but at least you don't have a big nasty mouthful of pod when you toss them after a seed extraction.

Thai Chicken Curry

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken - 1" dice
• 1 bell pepper coarse diced
• 2 red minced
• 1 onion coarse diced
• 1 bunch spring onion, diced, green tops reserved.
• 1 T garlic
• 1T olive oil
• 1 T sesame oil
• 4 cardamom seed pod crushed and seeds removed
• 2 T curry powder
• 1 T cumin
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T fish sauce
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 c water
• 2 T peanut butter
• Chopped cilantro
• green onion tops
• salt to taste.

Heat oil over medium high flame until shimmering. Add the diced vegetables and stir fry until onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Remove from pan. Add chicken, curry powder, cumin and cardamom seeds and stir fry until well browned.

Return veggies to pan. Add coconut milk, water, soy sauce, fish sauce and peanut butter, stir until smooth. Test for salt and add some if needed. Bring to boil then reduce heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Serve over rice with a sprinkle of green onion tops and cilantro.

Cherry Preserves

Its that time of year. Fresh fruit galore is in season and I have once again bought more than we can eat...but who can resist all of the goodies rolling in? I bought cherries the other day and haven't touched them as there were other things too good to pass up for snacking. Fortunately they didn't "go bad" so I decided to turn them into preserves this morning.

Thank gawd I paid attention to my Mom and grandmothers making preserves over the years. I tend to go with the high sugar and no pectin way whenever I can. Not that pectin is bad for you, its just that its just not a pantry item I stock and don't feel like running out to the store for just that one item...so its pectic free for me when I impulsively decide to make some preserves. Yes, you do cook a bit longer to get a gel but its still just as flavorful with the right consistency in the end.

Of course it means I got to use a new toy today. I picked up, on sale no less, a cherry pitter at Sur La Table the other day and this was the perfect excuse to break it out. Love cooking with cherries, just hated the old knife pitting method. This little "gun" makes it so easy just load, squeeze the trigger and out comes the pit! Worth the few bucks it cost.

Cherry Preserves

• 2 lbs pitted fresh cherries
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 c water
• juice of 1 lemon

In large, heavy (Thick bottom and side) pot add sugar and water. Bring to boil and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add cherries. With potato masher carefully mash down the fruit to release juice and break up fruit. Be careful not to over mash the fruit as you still want big chunks. Bring back to boil then reduce heat to low boil. Simmer at low boil 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in lemon juice. Put into hot sterile canning jar(s). Makes about 2 cups preserves.

What a low boil looks like...more than a simmer but not much.

day old baguette=croutons!

Its been a very hectic few weeks around here. So much so that I have little time for anything much less all my blogging. This morning however I have a few minutes freed up so here goes...

What does one do with a day old baguette that is starting to get just a little too hard? Make croutons off course. Using the microwave takes something that is easy into the fast and stupid easy. Plus you get that half eaten bread off your counter and use it for something other than feeding the black trash can instead of becoming a biology experiment.

Easy Croutons

• day old baguette (or any bread)
• dried parsley
• garlic powder
• cooking oil spray (I use olive oil kind for this)

Cut bread into 1/2" cubes. Spritz cubes and toss several times until all are lightly coated. Sprinkle on parsley and garlic to taste. Toss to evenly distribute. Microwave 5-7 minutes tossing at 2 minute intervals to evenly brown them up.

Quinoa and veggies

Believe it or not sometimes the ancient grains and food stuff are the best for us. Take Quinoa (pronounced Kin-wa) that originated in South America eons ago and has been adopted by us 21st century folks. Its very high in proteins and essential amino acids yet is easy to prepare and is a great flavor transporter.

Quinoa cooks up fast. Use a 2 part liquid to 1 part quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes and voila it is ready.

I like it mixed with a huge veggie saute as a side with my main protein to help get my diet better balanced and live in a healthier way.

Quinoa Vegetable Saute

• 2 C chicken broth
• 1 C quinoa
• 1 bell pepper coarsely chopped
• 1 onion coarsely chopped
• 8 oz mushrooms sliced
• 1 zucchini halved and sliced
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Combine your chicken broth and quinoa to sauce pan and bring to simmer. Simmer covered 15 minutes. Turn off heat and keep it covered until needed.

Coat a large skillet with olive oil. Add mushrooms and pepper to taste. Saute over medium high heat until mushrooms start to brown. Add bell pepper, zucchini, onion and salt to taste. Saute until onion is translucent and the pepper and zucchini have begun to brown...about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir into cooked quinoa. Serve warm as side to meat, chicken or fish.

It was just chicken for crying out loud...

...and I didn't even bother to take a pic of it
Go figure, am not a fan of chicken and when I made this recipe the other day I didn't even bother to take a picture of it on the plate. Why? Because its chicken, not a fan of the stuff, I tend to think of it as just a flavor delivery mechanism. The Fam however loves the stuff but this particular recipe brought huge reviews. Actually they acted like they never had chicken before and just raved about how moist and good it was. So I'll add it to the repertoire of things to do with chicken as they liked it so much.

I use chicken breasts from Costco...you know the kind, the multi-pack that sells for $2.99 lb and gives one enough to make many meals. Breasts do want to dry out faster than the dark meat does. This recipe however yielded a very moist breast and I think its because of the marinade I used more than anything else.

Ranch Marinated Chicken

• 1/4 c ranch dressing (I use Hidden Valley)
• 1 lemon juiced
• 2 lbs chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1 .7oz Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix

Put chicken breast in a bowl. Add ranch dressing and lemon juice. Toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for 30 minutes.

In another bowl add flour and dry salad dressing mix. Toss to combine well. In skillet heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Dredge the chicken breasts in flour and add to hot skillet. Cook a couple of minutes per side until browned and crispy. Put chicken pieces on a baking sheet and bake in a 400F oven for 20 minutes to cook through.

Stupid Easy Peach Cobbler...the Video

Its my first official video...appeared on the Snacky Shack, a youtube channel that takes artists, their food and shares it with their audience. It is run by two really cool guys here in Monrovia (suburban LA), artist Joseph R Davis and musician Tommy "Mac" MacCarthy.

The recipe that I did for the show was my Stupid Easy Peach Cobbler which I have blogged here in the past. To save you the look up here it is again.

The homemade vanilla extract in the video is stupid easy to do as well. Take a small jar and fill it with 1 c brandy or bourbon. Take two vanilla pods and split them lengthwise then cut in half to fit into the jar. Let it sit a couple of weeks and voila...your own homemade vanilla.

Stupid Easy Peach Cobbler

• 1 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2 15 oz cans sliced peaches
• 1 t vanilla extract
• cinnamon
• 1/2 c butter (1 stick I use unsalted)

In mixer with whisk attachment add the flour, sugar, salt and . Crack egg into a small dish and beat lightly to break yolk. Add egg to dry ingredients and whiz in the mixer at medium speed until it resembles sand.

Drain 1 can of peaches and add to 8X8 baking dish. Add the contents of the entire can of remaining peaches. Stir in vanilla. Sprinkle with cinnamon to taste. Sprinkle the flour mixture evenly over the top of the peaches. Do not stir to blend.

Melt butter and drizzle over the topping mixture. Bake in 375 oven until topping is browned and starting to crisp up...approx 55-65 minutes.

Salsa Fresca (Fresh Salsa in case you need some help)

OK there are prolly as many recipes for salsa as there are Mexican grandmothers, but my base recipe didn't come from one of them, rather the basic idea came from the LA Times somewhere around 1989. Their recipe included a secret ingredient...a splash of acidity from citrus to brighten it up a bit without really changing up the idea of it being simple salsa. It reportedly came from the kitchens of El Torito (A big chain here in the SW) according to my now brown tinged recipe.

It does include cilantro. I use the full amount, 1 cup as my household loves the stuff. If your family isn't a big fan of the green herbage feel free to cut back on it, but don't eliminate as it really is there for flavor.

The other thing that it needs you attention is the use of a jalapeno. I use the red kind, even though they are a bit more expensive, as they have a fuller sweeter flavor than the green kind. By all means swap out the green if that is all you can find, the red is purely my flavor choice.

The other flavor choice comes with the tomatoes. Again you pay a bit more than the usual grocery store stuff, but its worth it. I use the small cherry tomatoes as they are so much more flavorful compared to the regular 'maters in the grocery store. By all means use the large ones if you are growing your own this summer.

This could take FOREVER to do if you don't have a food processor. I can only imagine how long it would take to fine dice all the tomatoes, onions etc.,. By all means break out the machine as you have salsa literally in a few pulses with it.

Salsa Fresca

• 12 oz cherry tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1 red jalapeno
• 1 c cilantro - loosely packed
• 1/4 t salt
• juice of one lemon or lime (I use alternate depending upon if I have a huge crop or not)

Place ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times until you have a fine dice.

Serve with chips, in tacos, or where ever, how ever you use salsa.