Curried Butternut Squash with Cous Cous

We're continuing to experiment with curried dishes around here - this one was a moderate success. 

(warning, what follows is a tangent!)  Has anyone else noticed that the grocery stores seem to have suddenly given up on butternut squash in the natural state?  It seems that all of a sudden, everyone's decided it's just too much work to peel one of those curvy cucurbita maxima (winter squash) so now you have to buy pre-peeled and pre-chunked squash in a plastic tub.  We are going to have to look harder!  For one thing, they're sometimes not as fresh, and for another, I hate throwing out one of those plastic containers when I could be composting the peel.  At least one store around here is selling the chunks from a bin, like they do for salad, so you're only left with the plastic bag to contend with.  But really, what was so terrible about the squash?  Of course, I'm all for convenient food, so the pre-chopped stuff is on my good list for weeknight dinners,  but I do resent not having the choice.  There are a few nights when I'd welcome the opportunity to chop open one of those luscious squashes and scoop the seeds out of it's fresh, sunshine-orange center.

Well, now that we're done with that rant, back to our curry.  We chopped our pre-chopped squash down to size and brought it to a simmer in chicken broth (veggie broth would work just as well).  After about 20 minutes, it was getting tender, and I added about 2 TB of red curry paste.  The squash cooked a little longer, and there was still a lot of stock in the pot.  I didn't have a starchy side, so, wanted to absorb the liquid, we added 1/4 cup cous cous and let it sit in the pot, lid on, heat off, for 5 minutes.

The resulting side was tasty, but a little too thick and gloppy for my taste.  Everyone ate it up, the kids loved the flavors, but next time, I think I will make the couscous on the side and serve the squash and liquid over it.

The flavors went really well together though, and I'm intrigued by some other possibilities - like a more traditional curry with roasted squash.  Now, if only I could find a whole squash!

Coconut Chicken Strips with Orange-Endive Salad

I have a terrible tendency to mess with recipes - it's a meddlesome quality that sometimes results in a good twist and sometimes....I learn why the recipe said to do such-and-such. 

With this chicken dish, we learned that there is such a thing as taking it too easy on the oil!  Lucky for us, the results were edible, just not golden.  You'll see what I mean in the photo below.

We started with some buttermilk - soaked the chicken strips (about 1 lb of chicken breasts, cut into thin strips) for about 30 minutes, then dredged them in a mix of 1 cup panko, 1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened!) and 1 tsp of chili powder.

Now, we've already made some modifications to the original recipe I was inspired by, but here's where I went wrong: I didn't use enough oil in the pan.  The recipe said 3 TB of oil.  I thought I could get by with a large non-stick pan and some canola oil spray.   As the chicken strips cooked, the outer edges of the coconut got very cooked, nearly burning, but the panko crumbs didn't brown at all.  In an effort to lighten the dish, we ended up with some visually unappealing chicken.  When we used a little oil, they looked great.

For the next batch, I used 3 TB of oil in the pan and amazingly enough, they browned.  There are times when I get too impatient and try to cut corners.  Then there are times when I learn the hard way why certain formulas appear over and over in our cookbooks.  Putting some oil in the pan seems like a pretty basic one, hum?

At any rate, we served the chicken strips with some carrots (microwaved and seasoned with a little salt and pepper) and an orange-endive salad.  The endive was just chopped, raw, and tossed with lettuce and segments of a blood orange.  The dressing was a store-bought vinagrette and the contrast between the slightly sweet chicken and the tangy, citrus of the salad was excellent.

The kids love dredging and coating things for the stove top, and I love an experiment, so it was a successful dinner all in all.

Celery Root Salad

Do you ever look at some of the things we eat and wonder who on earth ever dug this thing out of the ground and decided to eat it??  Celery root is a case in point.  Would you eat this thing?

And yet, it's a really delicious thing to eat.  I was often served grated celery root in France as a side dish and never having seen one before, was mighty confused when I'd ask what it was and people would respond "celery".  Because I knew it wasn't any kind of celery we had back in Ohio.

It wasn't until several years later that I realized the French "celery" was "celery root" in english.   It's a hairy, ugly looking thing in its natural state, but actually pretty easy to deal with (don't be fooled by people who bemone the knife-crazy experiences they've had with these things.  A sharp knife is a good thing.).  You trim the rough outside off and chop it into pieces that'll fit into your foodprocessor tube.  Shred it and mix with some dressing.  That's it.  It's got the appearance of cole-slaw, but with a fresh, smooth flavor, seasoned to your taste, it's a great way to provide a light, healthful side to many meals.

Simple Celery Root Salad

Peel a celery root with a sharp knife, working your way around the outside.  Slice off any rough or dry parts. 
Chop the root into food-processor sized chunks and grate.
For dressing a softball-sized root, we used:
2 TB mayo
1 TB mustard
Juice from 1/2 a lemon (about 4-6 TB)
Salt and pepper to taste.

You could also use a vinagrette or other salad dressing in a pinch.

The lemon juice adds a nice tang to the dish.

Egg Shell Tip

This tip comes from Talia, who taught it to me.  If you crack an egg, and a piece of shell goes into the egg, it's hard to get it out, right?  Chasing those bits around with your fingers is like trying to catch a cat when it's time to go to the vet's office.  Good luck.

Well, if you take a larger piece of shell, you can use it to scoop out the smaller pieces.  It really works.  I don't know why, but there must be a good reason somewhere in the food-science world.

What I do know is she read this in a storybook at school about Hanukkah and the people in the story were making Latkes.  A kid dropped a shell and the grandmother taught her the trick.  Then my daughter taught it to me.  Wish I'd read that book a long time ago....

Pancetta with Greenbeans - French Friday

I love a simple side of veggies and this was a keeper.  The green beans were fresh at the grocery store (we're lucky to have early veggies here) and I got a 1/4 inch slice of pancetta from the deli counter, then we were ready to roll.

We ate this with shepherd's pie, so I felt like we needed a couple of veggies to round out the plates: boiled beets and pancetta green beans!

The beans were simple.  Boiled for a few minutes in salted water then rinsed in cold, to stop the cooking.  The diced pancetta was browned in a large pan, some fat removed and the beans were tossed back in.  Done.  The browned pancetta bits were crunchy and salty served over the beans.  Easy dishes like this are perfect for the kids to help with.  They were in charge of: 

• snapping the ends off the beans
• watching the pot boil
• timing the various pots of water
• chopping pancetta
• stirring the pan

I confess that I was not ready to put them in charge of chopping the red beets.  At least, not until I figure out what removes beet juice from clothing!

You may remember my earlier delight in learning that both kids like roasted golden beets?  Well, I tried red beets, simply boiled, and they were not as big a hit.  I'll have to try red beets roasted next, to see if it's the roasting that makes all the difference!

For all three recipes, check out Around my French Table.

Chicken with Coconut Curry

This dish turned out to be a very simple one-pot dinner that required very little effort on our part.  The hardest part was peeling and chopping two carrots and cleaning and chopping some mushrooms.  Once that was done, we were pretty much on mix-and-cook mode.

Veggies prepped, we heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, browned four chicken thighs for about 6 minutes each side and poured off some of the oil (you can use a baster to just suck it out if you have a high-temperature baster, or you can just tip the pan over a jar, catching most of the oil - we didn't even remove the chicken!).  We added the veggies directly in with the chicken, tossed briefly then added a can of light coconut milk, a cup of chicken stock, two crushed cloves of garlic and two tablespoons of red curry paste.

I like the flavor of curry but didn't want this dish to be overpowering.  You could add more curry paste if that's to your family's liking.  We also tossed in a couple of stalks of chopped celery, but you could add water chestnuts or another veggies (chopped bell pepper or onion, for instance) depending on what you have on hand.

Once the liquids came to a boil, I turned the heat down to a simmer and let it cook about 25 minutes, until the chicken was tender and cooked through.



We served ours with a prepared mix of wild and brown rice (Uncle Ben's microwave mixes are really handy on a weeknight;although I find them to be a little too salty for everyday use, they are convenient).

This dish was everything you want in a homemade weeknight dinner.  Minimal prep, not too much time at the stove, and it cooks just long enough to set the table, wash up and oversee a few worksheets of fractions and spelling words.

Based on this first foray into homemade curry, I think we'll be coming back down this path!

Chicken with Coconut Curry
4 chicken thighs
1 (14 oz) can of light coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
two large carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
8-10 mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (stems can be removed or left on)
2 stalks celery, optional, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 TB (or more to taste) red curry paste
Cooked rice or noodles, for serving.

Brown the thighs in 2 TB hot oil about 4-6 minutes each side.  Add chopped vegetables and garlic, toss for about 1 minute, until garlic is fragrant.  Add broth and coconut milk (shake the can well before opening).  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer the chicken for about 25 minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles.

Microwave Eggs

It just doesn't get much easier than this.  Grab yourself a newspaper (or tablet or device) and put the kid-chefs to work on breakfast this weekend!

What they'll need:  a small bowl or cup for each egg.  Eggs.  A splash of milk (or half-and-half if you're feeling decadent), a dab of butter and the seasonings of your choice.  And a microwave.

Beware: the eggs must be covered.  Trust me.  We learned that the hard way.

Microwave Eggs

Put a small dab of butter and a splash of milk in a ramekin or small bowl.  Microwave for 20 seconds, just long enough to melt the butter and heat the milk.

Add a dash of salt and pepper along with the herbs of your choosing.  Thyme, Italian seasonings, cayenne pepper, ground chipolte - whatever you like with eggs. 

Break one egg into the ramekin.  Put the Ramekin in the microwave and cover with a plate or plastic-wrap.  Really, you don't want to forget to cover it!  There may be loud popping noises while the egg cooks, but at least it won't get all over the microwave.  The yolk won't explode, but the bubbling up under the whites seems to be the source of all the fuss.

Microwave for 80 seconds.  The egg white should be cooked through, the yolk will be mostly done, similar to a fried egg.

Serve with toast.

Wasn't that easy?