Daring Cooks Challenge - Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

I love almond butter.  There's no denying that almond butter on a slice of crispy toast is a tad dry (try slicking some real butter underneath for just the right amount of creaminess), but you also can't deny the healthy goodness of almond butter.  It never really occurred to me to make my own until I saw this month's Daring Cooks' Challenge.

The July 2010 Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They challenged Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. I opted for the almond butter - natch - and made the delicious Indian-scented chicken dish that was adapted from The Food Network's Butter Chicken recipe.

I made further adaptations to the challenge recipe, using almond milk instead of regular, and cutting down on the (real) butter.  I also used chicken thighs, as I prefer the tasty meatiness of dark chicken meat, and found it a great foil to the rich sauce. 


 Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce
4 servings

2 c raw whole almonds*
1 tbsp olive oil
6 skinless boneless chicken thighs
Salt to taste
½ tbsp garam masala seasoning
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, cut in half lengthwise
1 large garlic cloves, minced
15 oz good quality tomato sauce
⅓ c almond butter
⅓ cup almond milk
½ cup chicken broth or water; more as needed
1 c frozen peas (optional)
Hot basmati rice for serving
Slivered almonds and parsley (optional)

*You will have plenty of almond butter left over.  Use it as a healthy alternative to peanut butter, or in protein shakes.

1.  Turn on food processor, and slowly add almonds in a steady stream. Grind the nuts in the processor until they form a paste or butter. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes for whole almonds; the skin of whole almonds will leave dark flecks in the butter.  


2.  Pat chicken thighs dry and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken; sauté about 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cool slightly, slice chicken thighs; set aside on clean plate and keep warm.

3.  Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl to make spice blend. Set aside.

4.  In the same skillet, melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter and oil with onion flavor. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Remove onions and discard. 

5.  Whisk in almond butter and milk until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce. The almond butter is thick so it takes a while to make a smooth sauce. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.

5.  Stir frozen peas (if using) into sauce. Transfer sliced chicken to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until peas and chicken are heated through.

6.  Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if desired.

We neither used the rice nor the garnish, but just had the chicken straight up, with a lovely green salad on the side. Thanks, daring Cooks, for a delicious dinner treat!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Three Spice Pâté and Homemade Bread

Deep into my Italian adventures, I completely missed the 14th, and the posting day for the latest Daring Cooks challenge.  But at least I did plan ahead and before leaving, made one of the delicious pâtés that Daring Cooks hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of The Chocolate Bunny, chose. Along with pâté, the June challenge called for freshly baked bread. They provided us with four different pâté recipes to choose from and allowed us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

I chose to make the Three Spice Liver Pâté, adapted from Ravenous Couple, which was inspired by White on Rice Couple. For the bread, I made one of my favourites: Six Hour Artisantal Bread.  The rustic and chewy bread, with its crackling crust, was just right with the pâté.

Three Spice Liver Pâté

Yields one 10 x 5 inch terrine or loaf pan

1 lb pork liver (or beef or combination)
½ lb ground pork
½ lb pork fat (or pork belly)
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp coriander (ground or crushed)
½ tsp cumin*
¾ tsp salt
1 tbsp coarse freshly cracked peppercorns
2 tbsp cognac
2 bay leaves
1 package of bacon

*I roast and grind cumin seeds as needed, rather than buying gound cumin.  The roasting (done by heating the cumin gently in a pan over medium heat until fragrant), gives a richness to the cumin that store-bought can't replicate.

1.  Preheat oven to to 350ºF (180ºC).

2.  Cut liver and pork fat into small pieces and add to food processor. Add ground pork, garlic, shallots, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Grind until smooth.

3.  In mixing bowl, incorporate the meat and liver mixture with the cognac and eggs.

I used duck eggs for extra richness

4.  Line bottom of baking or ceramic pan with overlapping pieces of bacon. Place a bay leaf on the bottom and then fill with meat/liver mixture. Cover top with another bay leaf and then overlapping pieces of bacon.

5.  Place in oven in the larger baking pan and add enough water to cover 2/3rds of the pan containing the meat/liver mixture. Bake for about 1-1.5 hrs, and remove from oven.  The pâté will contract and the juices will be on the bottom. Allow to cool and soak up the juices. Remove any excess bacon and discard the bay leaves.

Six hour bread has crusty goodness

NB.  I clearly didn't read the directions carefully and left the bacon on - oops.  Must be my love of all things pork.

The pâté was part of a Sunday brunch spread, a birthday celebration with dear friends.  Watch for upcoming posts on the rest of the menu: Fire Roasted Chicken; Three Cheese Fritatta and a super-lemony panna cotta with the season's first strawberries.

The table set for a celebratory feast

Roasted garlic for the chicken

April Daring Cooks Challenge: Brunswick Stew

     

Here it is - my first Daring Cooks Challenge post! (a little late because of my Asian travels).  If you don't know about The Daring Kitchen, be sure to check it out - foodies from all over the world sharing their love of food, recipes, tips and - once a month - cooking (or baking) the same thing. 

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.  I used the Lee Bros. version and modified the recipe by using edamame beans instead of butter beans, all chicken thighs instead a chicken pieces and white wine to deglaze the pot.  Try it, y'all - it's divine!

Brunswick Stew
adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners, by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

serves 6 generously

⅛ lb slab bacon, rough diced
1 Serrano or Thai fresh chili, stem trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened
1 lb rabbit loin pieces
3 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
½ tbsp sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste
1 cup dry white wine
6-8 cups Sunday Chicken Broth (recipe below), or low sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 large celery stalk
1 lb bintje potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced
¾ cups carrots, chopped
1¾ cups onion, chopped
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1½ cups shelled edamame beans, defrosted if frozen
1 19 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes, drained and cut into small pieces (approx. 2 cups)
⅛ cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
Tabasco sauce to taste

1.  In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Add the chili to the bacon fat in the pot. Toast the chili until it becomes fragrant, about a minute. Remove to bowl with the bacon.

2.  Season the rabbit and chicken liberally on both sides with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear on all sides, until just browned, and add to the bowl with bacon and chili.  Brown chicken thighs, adding more fat if needed, on all sides. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit, and set aside.

Rabbit loins browning in bacon fat

  

3.  Add the white wine to the pot and deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom. Bring to a boil and reduce by half.  Add 6 cups of stock, the bay leaf, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chili and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a rolling boil, over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover.  Simmer for approximately 1½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes. 

4.  With a pair of tongs, carefully remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Remove the bay leaf, celery and chili and discard. After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot.

5.  Add the carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

6.  Add onion, edamame, corn and tomatoes. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and beans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice; stir to blend well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired. It's so thick and delicious that a spoon will stand up in the stew on its own.

Look Ma, no hands

7.  You can either serve the stew immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side. 

Sunday Chicken Broth
from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners, by Matt Lee and Ted Lee


Makes about 1 quart

Bones and trimmings, but not giblets, of one 3 ½- 4 ½ lb, or 12-14 oz (approx. 2 cups) chicken bones and trimmings
1 large onion, trimmed, peeled, quartered
6 large stems fresh flat leaf parsley
1 stalk celery, cut into 2” lengths
2 large bay leaves
5 cups cold water
1 cup crisp dry white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  Place bones/trimmings in medium stockpot and add onion, parsley, celery and bay leaves. Add wine and water; liquid should cover all ingredients, if not, add more until it does. Bring to vigorous simmer over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer gently for roughly 45 minutes to an hour, skimming any scum or fat that comes to the surface.

2.  Strain broth into bowl through fine mesh strainer. Discard the solids. Salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Store in tightly sealed container in refrigerator until the remaining fat congeals on the top. Remove the fat, and unless not using within 2 days, keep tightly sealed in the refrigerator. Otherwise, freeze, and it will keep for upwards of a month.