Prog Chefs Unite!!!

Happy Easter to you and all others here, Micky. I think I have an idea of what your nose is going through ;-)

Ghost Rider wrote: I haven't made curry in years, but I remember that in the past I used to make some mean vegetable curry. However, today I'm quite busy with traditional Italian stuff - used those polenta leftovers and baked them in the oven with tomato sauce and goat cheese, then sautéed a nice batch of Roman zucchini (thin and light green, with flowers attached) for lunch. They're so good they don't need anything that a little oil for the sautéing, salt and pepper. Now I'm off to make pastiera - must cook the wheat berries in milk with various flavourings (orange and lemon rind, and a piece of cinnamon stick). The artichokes are ready, and in the fridge I've a rather sizeable shoulder of spring lamb ready to be roasted tomorrow!

Thanks a ton, Angelo. I've already done the shopping for the week, but I know what I'm making next Sunday.

Tonight I'm making baked spaghetti with garlic bread. Got 'er in the oven right now.

E

E-Dub wrote: Angelo wrote: I made chicken curry yesterday, with fresh naan bread. I made that quite often, but yesterday it turned out just perfect - better than ever.Right now I'm enjoying the smells of onion soup that my wife is making. Angelo, I will name my second child after you if you share your chicken curry recipe with me. I always say that when I get to Heaven, I hope it smells of curry. I freakin' love the stuff. I may even make it tomorrow. E

Oh, I'll share the recipe, but only if you withdraw that proposal for child abuse

Here's the recipe for approximately 2 adults and 2 children (or 3 adults), except for the naan bread, I got that from the Indian store and they only sell the bread, not the recipe:

Ingredients (if you do all cutting etc. before turning on the heat it's finished in 15-20 minutes):
koriander seeds (large teaspoon spoonful)
mustard seeds (slightly smaller amount than the koriander seeds)
3 large or 4 medium sized onions - very finely chopped (I always run them through the food processor)
3 green chili peppers, cut lengthwise andseeded, then cut into 1 cm wide strips
1 tomato (finely chopped, like the onions)
400 ml of coconut cream
2-3 table spoons of garam massala (curry powder)
2 teaspoons of kurkuma (yellow colorant, I keep forgetting the English name)
a handful of chopped koriander leaves

300 grams of chicken breast (cut into 1.5 cm wide strips)
2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper

Heat oil in a (stewing)pan with a thick bottom. Put in the koriander and mustard seeds. Once the seeds start popping, add the onions and heat for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add the chili peppers, stir for another minute. Stir in the garam masala and the kurkuma, and let cook on moderate heat.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan and lightly powder the chicken strips with cayenne pepper. Put them in the frying pan until they start to brown (it's ok if they are still a bit raw the middle).
While chicken is browning add the coconut cream to the onions and spices, and after that add the tomato to the mix. Add the browned chicken and let cook for another 5-10 minutes, giving it an occasional stir to prevent sticking. Add the koriander leaves before serving (stir them into the sauce).

Serve with white rice or warm naan bread - goes well with cold bear or some cool white wine.

If I need a bit more, e.g. because we have an extra adult, I sometimes put in 100 grams of sugar snaps together with the chicken.
On occasion, I replace the chicken with some chunks of firm white fish for a fish curry.

Enjoy!!!


Edited by Angelo - April 07 2007 at 12:14

Angelo wrote: I made chicken curry yesterday, with fresh naan bread. I made that quite often, but yesterday it turned out just perfect - better than ever.Right now I'm enjoying the smells of onion soup that my wife is making.

Angelo, I will name my second child after you if you share your chicken curry recipe with me. I always say that when I get to Heaven, I hope it smells of curry. I freakin' love the stuff.

I may even make it tomorrow.

E

Nothing planned as of yet. Just hanging with the wife and kid. I usually plan the weeks meals on Saturday, so it'll be a game time decision.

Tonight it was chicken and sausage mac and cheese.

E

Easter lunch at the AR mansion will feature such delicacies as fresh egg tagliatelle with mushrooms and peas, roast spring lamb (called 'abbacchio' in central Italy) with potatoes, braised artichokes and pastiera - the Neapolitan Easter cake made with sweet pastry, ricotta, wheat berries and candied peel. Hard-boiled eggs with salami are a classic feature of Easter lunches in Italy, but I think we'll skip them if we want to enjoy the rest.

Pretty much had a down home meal tonight: meatloaf, mashed red potatoes, and maple glazed carrots.

I just started doing meatloafs within the last year, and my key ingredients are sauteeing diced onions and roasting red and green bell peppers. I also add some Italian sausage in with ground beef.

E

Re the Saltimbocca: it may very well be that in restaurants they use both butter and flour to thicken the sauce, but hardly anyone does it at home. Saltimbocca are a very popular meat dish, and many butchers sell them ready to be cooked.

Today we had some great food. For lunch I made spaghetti with shelled prawns, cherry tomatoes, white wine and parsley, and a salad of mixed leaves, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes and smoked salmon with a yogurt-mayo dressing. For dinner, we had polenta with Italian-style sausages in a sauce of tomatoes, dried porcini and sage. Delicious!

E-Dub wrote: Ghost Rider wrote: Angelo wrote: Saltimbocca is veal with prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham) and sage (stuck on top of each other with a pin), browned in butter. Brilliant stuff and as simple as can be.Too bad yours wasn't as good as expected NS - it's so simple it's hard to screw up...(and if I got all of this wrong, Rafaella will probably kill me ) No, you're 100% correct about Saltimbocca (jump-in-your-mouth), which are a Roman speciality. The original recipe doesn't contain any cheese, and the sauce usually doesn't require any thickening agent (flour is very rarely used in Italian cooking, unlike in France). I usually buy Saltimbocca already prepared from my butcher, but of course they're dead easy to make at home. However, as in Rome and the whole of central Italy butter is not really used for cooking, I sauté mine in the now-famous EVOO.Sicilian ricotta-based desserts can be out of this world, though perhaps a little bit too sweet for my personal taste. I think for Easter I'll make the traditional Neapolitan ricotta and wheat berry pie called 'pastiera' - another absolutely marvellous dessert! I think if I ever have the pleasure of visiting Italy that I would simply eat my body weight. Put me in an Italian restaurant and it's simply an orgiastic feast for the senses. E

I'm with you on that one. How about going there together?

For Easter, my wife makes a traditional Abruzzi (the region of Italy from whence her family originates) ricotta dessert called "fiadone" - great with coffee for breakfast!