Butter Chicken

Fact #1: I LOVE Indian food.  More than any other.
Fact #2:  Indian food is hard to make (time and rare spices usually create obstacles)
Fact #3:  Indian restaurants are nearly impossible to find outside of the SLC area (thank you Pakistanis!) and DC
Fact #4:  I'd probably give up my right arm if I could eat at the Banana Leaf in Singapore just once a week.  Dramatic, maybe.  But it's pretty true.

So, imagine my joy when I found a Butter Chicken (what's that you ask -- well it's just the yummiest thing on the planet) recipe that I knew I could do in my own kitchen, with mostly pantry items!

THIS recipe, will definitely be made again.  And again.  And again.  And again.  Until I die.

Now I have to say, I'm starting to realize you can claim any recipe as your own (instead of linking it to someone else) if you just put a small note *adapted by* at the bottom.  You see, the original recipe has 3 degrees of separation from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (where I originally found it).  And when I looked over all the different *adaptations* (to be sure I made the best one possible) I was amazed that most chef's just made one or two changes and then called it their own.  I change one or two things with EVERY recipe.  So from now on, I'm calling them all my own.  Sorry Pioneer Woman, no more credit to you for all the yumminess that floats in my belly.

Okay that rant is over, here's how "I" made Butter Chicken

•  onion (1/2 lb.), peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 fresh jalapeño, seeded, and chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch chunks (I will up to 2 lbs next time)
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter
• 2 cups basmati rice, uncooked
• Lime wedges
• Fresh cilantro, chopped

Cook rice according to package instructions.

In a large saute pan, combine onion, ginger, chili, and oil. Stir often over medium-high heat until onion is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, garam masala, chili powder, cardamom, and coriander. Saute for an additional 2 minutes.

Scrape mixture into a blender or food processor; add tomato paste and chicken broth. Whirl until very smooth. Pour mixture back into pan, add half and half or cream and bay leaf, and bring to a gentle boil over high heat (mixture is inclined to spatter). Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until reduced to 3 cups, about 5-7 minutes. Pour sauce into a bowl. Rinse and dry pan.

Pat the chicken dry. Mix chicken with salt and pepper. Set pan over high heat; add 1 tablespoon butter and the chicken. Stir until chicken is no longer pink on the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sauce and simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until chicken is no longer pink in the center (cut to test), 3 to 4 minutes. Cut remaining 3 tablespoons butter into chunks and stir into sauce until melted.

Spoon chicken and sauce onto rice. Squeeze lime juice over portions and garnish with cilantro.

I used the biggest pan I have (because of all the spattering warnings) and I'm glad I did.  It's weird to saute onions in a big pasta pot, but once you get it all liquified you'll be glad you have it in there.  You'll notice I suggest more chicken.  We had cauliflower and peas (common side with Indian food) and there was so much sauce we just covered those in it as well, which was yummy . . . but I'd still rather use that sauce on some chicken.

Since this dish was way to yummy to waste time taking pictures of it, enjoy this shot of me and some of the world's finest ladies grubbing at the Banana Leaf.  We'd save up all month for this.  Yup, I'm the one with a spoon (nope on closer look those are my fingers, the best way to eat authentic Indian food) shoved in my mouth!

Now, if only I could master garlic naan and mango lassi.  Life would be nearly perfect!

Honey Glazed Chicken

I'm falling in love with Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog.  And so far I've only made THIS recipe.  Truthfully, it wasn't amazing . . . but it was really good.  So why am I in love?  She has SOOO much variety.  I've already added about ten of her recipes to my bookmark.  Ironically, this blog, which was meant to help me remove that bookmark, has actually just doubled it.  I never knew there were so many great recipe blogs out there.  Mel's might be my favorite, and she lives in Wisconsin.  If I only I knew where.

Credit where credit is due though, my friend Shar is the one that pointed me to the Kitchen Cafe and she did so with this very recipe.

It was easy.  Super easy.  It takes some time to cook so I had to start it early, but once it got going I had plenty of time to snuggle and play with Reid while it cooked.  Almost forgot to start the rice though.  Ooops!  But it all made it to the table, steaming and delish!

2 lbs of diced uncooked chicken breast
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
4 TB butter
1/4 cup honey
3 TB lemon juice
2 TB soy sauce
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1.Heat oven to 350. In a shallow dish combine the flower and seasonings. Dip each piece of chicken in flour mixture and coat evenly.

2.Melt 2 TB butter in a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

3.Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt remaining butter and add honey, lemon juice, soy sauce and ginger.

4.After chicken has baked the 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 30 to 40 minutes basting frequently.

5.Serve over rice. I usually double the sauce ingredients to make more to serve over the rice.  I didn't do this, though I did make 1 and 1/2 the sauce called for.  I just used it all as the glaze though.  I actually thought that was a little too much liquid, as my chicken didn't crust like the picture on Mel's blog.  Flavor wise though, it was a good amount. 

Dill Potatoes

*Alright,  I'm adding this to the gril category as well.  The next day we grilled the leftovers up and they were even better!

This is a simple potato recipe I made to use up some of our old dill.  I hate having fresh herbs go to waste, so I just googled dill potatoes and two recipes caught my eye.  One was dill and garlic, the other dill and parsley.  Well, I had garlic and parsley . . . so I decided to just adapt the two and make my own.  I crossed my fingers and VOILA!  It turned out great.

6 to 8 medium size potatoes, cut in half and then quartered (or whatever "bite size" you prefer).
3 Tbs melted butter
3 medium size garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbs fresh dill, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

I just put the potatoe quarters in a pot and filled it with water, about an inch above the top of the potatoes.  I brought that to a boil and then let it boil for about 8 minutes (don't let them get mushy, like mashed potatoes, you want a bite on them).  I actually just pulled an average size quarter out and took a bite to see if I liked it's tender crunch.

Drain the potatoes, then return them to the pan to let them dry out.  Meanwhile, melt the butter and then mix all the chopped spices into the melted butter.  Now put the potatoes in your serving dish and pour the butter mixture on top, try to coat evenly (you may have to toss a little).

I then let the serving dish sit in the (off but) warm oven until dinner time.  This step isn't necessary, but I'm just letting you know how I did it cause they turned out wonderful.

Obviously you can leave out either the garlic or the parsley if you don't have them both, but I'm really glad I meshed the two recipes and created my own little flavor.  It was a yummy way to use up some herbs.

Chicken Thai Pizza

Long ago Ben and I decided Friday night date night shouldn't just mean dinner at a nearby restaurant.  It was a bold move.  But a good one.  Good for our budget.  Good for our quality of time together.  Good all around.  Snuggling up with each other, a box of red vines, and the cast of 30 Rock can be even more intimate than footsies at a side booth in California Pizza Kitchen (which I usually called California Pizza Chicken, or California Chicken Kitchen).  The sad part was, I knew if we only dined out once or twice a month we'd never choose CPK again.  Good food, but Crystal/Pentagon City neighborhoods had better.

This meant I had to come up with my own way to make Thai Chicken Pizza.  We tried just buying the freezer aisle one at the store, but it wasn't nearly as good as the real thing.  So, we decided to just read the ingredients on the back of the box and try making it fresh.  Brilliant!  This is so easy to make and tastes way better than the frozen kind and only slightly less better than the actual restaurant one.

Here's how:

Pizza dough (we just do Pilsbury cause I'm terrified of making bread).

Peanut Sauce

1 breast  chicken, cooked and cubed (I use really small pieces, usually just by tearing at the cubes, and I usually don't even use a full breast, this is a go-to skimpy-meat meal when our budget needs a squeeze)

Shredded Carrots (generous handful)

Bean Sprouts (generous handful)

1 1/2 cups low-moisture, part skim, shredded mozzarella cheese

5 or so steams of cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Basically just prep the oven however your pizza dough tells you to.  Grease a cookie (or pizza sheet) and then layer on all the ingredients in the order I have them listed.  

It really is so easy, quick and cheap.  We love it.  I actually think Ben would tell you he prefers it to the one at the restaurant.  I probably don't, just because the one at the restaurant requires no prep on my part.

Chicken Roll Ups

I'm going to go with this name, since that is what Ben and I have called them over the years.  But I think Homemade Hot Pockets would be more fitting.  Or Chicken Stuffed Biscuits.  I don't know, they just don't really feel like "roll ups."

To the point:  this recipe is a combination of one of Ben's mom's classics and a dinner my mom made for us back when I was hospitalized.  We just took the two dishes and came up with one dish we like best.  We use to make these all the time.  They'll feed two people for days.  I made them once for my volleyball team while I was head coach at Dunbar.  The girls were super impressed and if anything it just made me feel bad that they never have homemade (or family style) meals.  Anyway, enough recollecting the "comfort" in this comfort food.  Let's get to the recipe.

You'll need:
*  2lbs cooked chicken, cubed
*  3 cans regular (or low fat) triangle crescent rolls
*  1/2 a small/medium head of brocoli
*  small can mushroom stems and pieces
*  8 oz softened cream cheese
*  8 oz sour cream
*  1 can cream of chicken soup
*  3 Tbl melted butter
*  Italian bread crumbs (if all you have is plain, just add some spices to "Italian" it up (oregano, marjoram, etc))

Pull out the cream cheese and let it soften a little.  Shave or cut the top (bushy part) of 1/3 to 1/2 a head of brocoli (you want small pieces of brocoli to go inside your rolls).  Prepare chicken (our mom's boil the breasts, if you do this method you will want to start the chicken first.  I usually cut it up small and then saute it in some olive oil or chicken broth and then wash and prep my side dish while it cooks).  In a medium bowl add chicken, brocoli, can of mushrooms (with juice) and cream cheese.  Stir until incorporated evenly.

Heat oven to 400

Melt your butter on one plate and pour bread crumbs on another.  Open crecsent rolls.  Do not separate triangles; leave two together in form of a square.  Dip one side in butter, then crumbs, then place crumb side down on cookie sheet.  Spoon chicken mix onto one half of the roll.  Pull the "un-chickened" side of the roll on top of the mixture and pinch sides together, making your stuffed pocket.  Repeat until you fill 2 cookie sheets with 12 squares.  You're finges will get messy.  When we use to make these together one of us would dip and the other would stuff and pinch.  Great combo.  

Cook about 12 minutes.

While cooking combine the sour cream and cream of chicken soup  in a saucepan over medium-high heat (and if you accidently pull cream of celery or cream of mushroom out of the cupboard you'll be fine, trust me).  Use this mixture as a gravy to serve over the pockets.  It's yum, don't worry about "soggy" pockets.  This really adds great flavor.

And one day I'll have a *finished product* picture go here.  But yesterday I just wanted to gobble them up when I pulled them out of the oven.  Hot food on a snowy day, YUM!

We like steamed veggies (a brocoli, cauliflower, carrots medoly) as a side dish.  Green beans, asparagus, even corn and potatoes will work as well.  I feel like this would be a great dish to use when teaching a tween how to cook.  Not much they can mess up but it takes long enough they'll really feel like they accomplished something in the kitchen.  Just sayin'

Turkey Burgers

I'm a hamburger type a gal.  But Ben's not really a beef kind of guy.  So we compromise with Turkey Burgers.  It took us a few years, but we've finally found a way to give them the bite "real" hamburgers have.

Start by adding salt and pepper to the ground meat
Then dice some dried tomatos
Chop up a few basil leaves
After that, you can really add just about anything else you might have on hand.  Like crumbled feta (just go easy on the salt in step 1 if you plan on adding feta).  Any other fresh leaves you have (rosemary, parsley, dill, whatever) can be added in moderation to help build flavor.  Don't feel like you have to add anything other than a little salt and pepper and about 1/4 cup each of tomatoes and basil; these ingredients alone will make a great burger.

Once you have a mix of flavors you like start shaping the patties.  I've learned not to over handle the meat though.  I know some people add bread crumbs and/or an egg to their meat to help it hold.  Go for it if that's you.

While they broil/bake/grill/foreman/however-you-cook-your-patties, go ahead and warm up a medium skillet with equal parts butter and Olive Oil (about a tablespoon each).  Slice up some fresh mushrooms and saute them for about 5 to 6 minutes.  Remove the mushrooms and then caramelize some sliced onions.   Once that's done you can now use the skillet to toast some buns.  And if you'd like you can pull out the almost done patties, layer them with the onions and mushrooms and top it with a provolone or swiss cheese.  Yum!

Add condiments (or don't, cause then you really get the flavor of your spices and the juicy meat).  I know the whole, "making a burger" process may be second nature to some.  But if you've tried substituting Turkey meat only to find it comes up short by comparison, try this recipe and you'll change your mind about the healthier white meat.

Ground Turkey Goulash

I didn't actually love this Goulash (will I ever love a Goulash), so I wasn't planning on putting it up here, but Ben implied he'd like having it again.  So HERE it is.  Now, I'm not so easily swayed (manipulated) by my husband, but as we discussed the flavors  (we do this with all new dishes) I realized this will be a really easy pantry meal for a big family, which we will hopefully have one day.  Think hamburger helper, but healthy and fresh.  

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 package, 1 1/3 pounds average weight, ground lean white turkey
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons sweet paprika (I just used regular)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• Black pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock, available in small 8 ounce paper containers on soup aisle of market
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped dill

Bring a pot of water to boil for pasta.  When ti comes to a boil, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water.  Cook pasta 6 minutes to al dente.

While water comes to a boil cut and prepare your vegetables and spices.  While pasta cooks, heat a deep skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil then butter then ground meat. Break up meat and crumble, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic, onions, red bell peppers and seasonings to the turkey. Cook 5 or 6 minutes then add chicken stock and sour cream to the pan. Bring to a bubble and reduce heat to low. Add cooked pasta and stir. Let pasta absorb some sauce, a minute or so. Adjust seasonings and serve. Garnish the prepared dish with chopped parsley and dill.