Quick Chicken Curry

This recipe comes from the Joy of Cooking. Colin gave me my copy of the 'bible' for Christmas two years ago, and despite the numerous food blogs I read every day (seriously, thirty seven and counting in my feed reader), I return to JoC time and again. Something about the thin pages, columns of text, and line drawings are so reassuring; it makes me feel like I'm a cook!

The Quick Chicken Curry recipe is one of the 'classic' recipes, and I think it could use some updating. It's not quick exactly (about 30 minutes, if your chicken is already cooked), but it's simple. The flavor doesn't quite stand up and needs a little tinkering. More pineapple? Fresh pineapple? Fresh ginger? More spice? As is, it's a fine go-to recipe, especially if your boyfriend went on a let's-make-pina-coladas-from-scratch kick and you've got most of the ingredients already on hand.

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (13.5 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/4 c chicken broth
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple with juice
2 to 3 c cooked chicken (or turkey)
Salt & pepper

Yields
4+ servings

Directions
1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, adding the onions and cooking until translucent (about 7 minutes)
2. Add flour, curry, ginger, and cinnamon to the onions, and stir it all together as best you can (it should be pretty paste-y).
3. Remove the pan from heat and whisk in the coconut milk, chicken broth, and pineapple.
4. Put the pan back on the heat and bring to a boil, stirring 'constantly' until the sauce reduces to a nice thick consistency. I say 'constantly,' because really, are you gonna stand over a hot stove for 10 full minutes? Or are you going to stir a bit, then go update Twitter, stir a bit, then start the rice, stir a bit, then check the baseball scores, stir a bit? I thought so. Your sauce will survive.
5. Add your diced chicken and let cook on low for a few more minutes. I also tossed in (already cooked) potatoes, since our favorite curry at Rearn Thai has potatoes in it. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Serve with cooked white rice or naan (pictured).

Recipe from Joy of Cooking, photo from me.
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Pork with Camembert Sauce

Fancy but easy.

Ingredients

1 lb pork medallions

1 tbsp butter

3 tbsp dry white wine

3/4 c whipping cream/crème frâiche

1 tbsp fresh herbs (marjoram, thyme, sage, rosemary, etc)

4 oz. Camembert cheese (or Brie or other creamy cheese)

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Pepper

Serves
2-3 people

Directions

1. Melt butter in frying pan over medium-high heat, then add the meat. Cook, turning once, for about 5 minutes. Remove and keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, chop herbs.

3. Add wine to the pan drippings, and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the porky goodness. Stir in the cream and herbs and bring back to a boil.

4. Add the cheese and mustard, as well as any juices accumulated from the meat. Stir until the cheese melts, adding more cream/seasoning as needed. Try not to eat the sauce by the spoonful.

5. Serve over the pork and enjoy!

Recipe from Cook's Encyclopedia of 30-Minute Cooking; photos from me.

Printable version of this recipe

Culinary Aspirations

I subscribe to many, many food blogs. Twenty-three, to be exact. This leads to a LOT of bookmarked recipes, all of which I swear I'll make one day. Here's a round-up of some of my recent favorites (that I've still yet to try):

Easy Sausage and Peppers from The Kitchn

Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry from Serious Eats

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon from Migs, via It's All About the Bacon 

Hot Caramelized Onion Dip from Closet Cooking

 

White Chicken Chili from Closet Cooking

 

Pear and Gorgonazola Omelette from Closet Cooking

Beer-Braised Beef and Onions from Gourmet Magazine, via Epicurious

 

Pretty much Marlboro Man's entire Birthday Dinner from Pioneer Woman

Tyler Durden Chicken

This recipe is from All Bower Power. It's called Tyler Durden Chicken because in their version, they make it super spicy. My version is less spicy, and kind of changes every time I make it.

Let's start off with this:

Normally, I would never be suckered into a product packaged in individualized portions. Why not just buy generic store-brand chicken breasts, then wrap them in plastic wrap myself? But this was on sale, you guys! And it was calling out to me and me single-mouth household. This is a serious issue around here, because when you are only feeding one person, you have to go through ingredients before they spoil. So while something could serve a family of four or five for one meal, at my house it means having the same thing for lunch and dinner every day for a week. With this 'perfect portions' chicken, I can pull out just one serving to defrost at a time, and the rest can stay frozen for weeks. Also it was on sale. Did I mention that already?

Back to Tyler Durden Chicken:

Ingredients
Chicken
Butter
Seasoning
Garlic (real or powdered)
Cayenne/Red Pepper/Chili Powder/What have you
Orange Juice

Directions

1. Toss some butter in a pan and get it going. Meanwhile, chop up your chicken into bite size pieces.

2. Add your chicken to the pan. I like to add my seasonings at this juncture - salt, pepper, chicken seasoning, garlic powder, cayenne, or whatever you like.

3. After the chicken cooks for a minute or so, pour in the OJ. I pour about 2/3rds of the way up the chicken.

4. Cook that sucker on medium high. Stir it occasionally.
5. Let the orange juice cook down until it's nice and goopey. This may take awhile. If you are impatient, start with orange juice concentrate instead of regular orange juice. I've found a good balance is partially watered-down concentrate, but either way will work. You're good to go when it looks like this:

You can serve it with rice, or a salad, or you can be lazy like me and eat it alone. Enjoy!

Easy As Chicken Pie

Here's a great throw-it-together recipe that I came up with. I even entered it into a recipe contest. A few of the commenters there despaired that it was 'not cooking' and that 'you might as well just buy a frozen chicken pot pie from the supermarket and call it a day.' But then others chimed in that they appreciated the easiness of the recipe, and while it may not be health food, it's damned delicious!

Ingredients
1 deli rotisserie chicken
1 can condensed chicken soup
1 can condensed potato soup
1 bag frozen vegetables (optional)
1 can refrigerated biscuits or puff pastry or pie shell

Directions
1. Shred the chicken from the deli and place into pie pan. Save the carcass for stock and make chicken stock!
2. Combine both cans of soup with one cup of milk or water, then pour over chicken. If you want to add thawed frozen vegetables, go for it.
3. Place biscuit dough/puff pastry on top of the pie mixture.
4. Bake until the biscuits/puff pastry are ready (about 20 minutes at 375 degrees)
5. Eat!