Indian Butter Chicken

I am not sure why this is called "Butter Chicken" but after looking at some recipes on the internet it seems to be fairly common. This can also be called "Indian Chicken in Tomato Cream Sauce". I am quite fond of the cream and tomato combo, as this is what I usually do in the last few minutes of my marinara. Not too much that the cream takes over, but just a tablespoon or two to really mellow it out.

This recipe is courtesy of the "Sara's Secrets" show on Food TV. I am pretty sure once upon a time I went looking for recipes with garam masala because I love it bunches and would like to incorporate it more into our meals. You can buy it already prepared (the McCormick brand is pretty good) or make your own. Because it changes from family to family (masala means "mixture" and garam means "warm") I'm sure you'll find 101 recipes on the internet for it.

Spice Blend:
1 tablespoon garam masala seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 skinless rotisserie chicken, boned out and pulled into 1 1/2 by 1/2-inch chunks
1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas, placed in a colander and run under hot water to thaw
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Hot basmati rice, for serving
Pita bread, warmed according to package directions, for serving

To make the spice blend: Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the pieces just begin to turn gold, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The spices will be fragrant. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir will. Add the chicken pieces, spoon the sauce over the top and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook, uncovered, until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce is flavorful, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and cover to keep warm.

Shake any excess water from the peas. Add the peas and cream to the sauce in the pan, stir well and heat through. Do not boil. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Serve with rice and warmed pita bread.

Variation: If you prefer shreds of chicken to whole pieces, remove the skin from the chicken and pull the meat into large chunks by hand. Add to the pan along with the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend. Cook for 3 minutes and then add the tomato sauce and continue with the recipe. Serve over basmati rice.

I used the rotisserie chicken because I was lazy and tired. Next time I'll just saute some boneless skinless breast pieces and use those. Because I used shreds of chicken, the chicken was more incorporated into the sauce than it being a chicken vs sauce thing. Next time I'll probably omit the peas and do potatoes and carrots.

Stuffed Peppers

Normally, I make stuffed peppers as a way to use up meatloaf mix. It's usually the last in series of 3 dishes of meatloaf: first night, meatloaf - 2nd night, meatloaf sandwiches - 3rd night, stuffed peppers. This time I was making meatballs and just planned to use a pound of the 3 pounds of ground beef I bought in the peppers.

Stuffed Peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne, if desired
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound ground meat
1 can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cooked rice

4-6 bell peppers, any color

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a medium heat pan. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute one more minute. Add the oregano and paprika, and cayenne if desired, and tomato paste and saute another minute. Add the ground meat and cook until all the meat is browned. Add the can of diced tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes or until mixture is thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat to medium low and add rice.

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the ribs and seeds. Slice off just enough of the bottom so that the peppers sit level. Arrange the bottoms in an oven-proof pyrex or metal baking dish. Fill the peppers with the mixture and put tops back on. You can cover the peppers with tomato sauce prior to putting the tops back on. I was simultaneously making spaghetti sauce so I added a couple teaspoons to the top. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Depending on what kind of pepper you use, the flavor will be different. The picture above was actually the next day with green peppers. The first day I used red peppers and they turned really sweet when cooked. Both the filling and the pepper get deeper and better flavored after cooking. Even the filling, while good before baking, benefited from the flavor of the pepper.

Basghetti and Meatheads

That's how I referred to the classic dish when I was just a wee one. To this day I have difficulty saying "meatballs" rather than "meatheads". I got to thinking after watching a recent episode of Barefoot Contessa that I've never actually attempted meatballs from scratch. If I want meat in my spaghetti I usually just throw in ground beef and brown it up then throw the sauce on top. After making this recipe, I can say I probably won't be doing it again. What a hassle, and what a mess all that grease made. Granted I haven't even eaten it yet (Queen of Food Prep!) but I can't imagine it's going to deliver.

I'm including the recipe here off Food Network's site because Queen Ina doesn't allow her recipes to be posted more than 2 weeks after the show airs (can you see me rolling me eyes?!).
It also occurred to me the cost incurred to make these LK#@(H%$! meatballs was way more than if I'd just bought the great Butterball turkey meatballs, and they would have been a lot healthier.

Yield: 6 servings

For the meatballs:
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
*edit - I don't eat veal so I used 1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed)
*edit - oops, yeah, I used wheat and I left the crusts on - egads!
1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
* edit - since I'm pg I wasn't going to just open a full bottle and let it go to waste, so I used this cheapie 2-serving bottle of red. I didn't look at the label b/c I didn't want to salivate
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving:
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan

Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs. (Her meatballs are enormous, and if I'd left them 2 inches they never would have cooked. I had 24 normal-person-sized meatballs)

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don't crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don't clean the pan. (I used my Le Creuset Dutch oven which does not have a 12-inch bottom. Not all of us have enormous skillets Ina! Plus I like to make sauce in the oven - it NEVER would have fit in a skillet. Is she smoking again???)

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

The sauce I tasted before the long simmer was very strongly flavored of the wine. This is probably my fault for the wine I picked. But still, I like my tomato sauces on the sweet side, and this is definitely NOT sweet. We'll see how it tastes after it's mellowed and picked up the flavor of the meatballs. I have a feeling this is a "grown-up" sauce, and I like mine like I liked it when I was a kid - sweet like Prego. Granted I'd never eat Prego now, but still. Mine is a little grown-up since it has brandy in it...

Since I had bought 3 pounds of ground beef and had some red peppers in the fridge I decided to do a 2-for-1 and made some baked pepper filling as well. I'll add that tomorrow...

Cherry Cobbler

I always get designated the "dessert girl". And I notice this blog has a lot of desserts on it...I never intended to be a baker, but I guess it's just more fun. I have a lot less inspiration when it comes to entrees. Anyway, for our 4th of July out at the lake, I contributed dessert. I made some plain old Toll House cookies (that got mysteriously overdone in my oven at only 8 minutes) and took a request from my adoring fans for some cherry cobbler. I looked around online at recipes that seemed more complicated than I wanted to make it, and just decided to take the family's peach cobbler recipe and siply use cherries instead.

Here's where I don't know much - cherries are not really a staple of Southern food. I certainly wasn't going to buy fresh and pit them, staining my clothing in the process, as much fun as Martha makes it seem. And canned - eh, that's not my style really. So I figured they had frozen cherries, right? Yeah, at $4 a bag! I felt for that much I could go to Whole Foods and get hoity toity organic. I suppose there is not much call for frozen cherries at Albertson's. So I bought 2 bags but came home and figured I could make do with 1. I heated them up on the stove and found them to be not too sweet so I added a 1/4 cup of sugar and soon juice started pouring out of them. I reduced it to get it syrupy, then just followed the recipe...

I know, part of this recipe is really odd, but - that's just the way it is.

Fruit Cobbler

1/2 stick butter
1 cup ap flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
fruit - either 1 can sliced peaches, or a couple cups of fruit in juice

Preheat your over to 350 degrees F.

Put the butter in a 9x13 pan or equivalent baking dish and put in the oven. While it melts, assemble the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Whisk a few times to combine.

When the butter is all melted, pull the pan out and add the milk to the flour mixture and whisk to combine. Pour batter over the butter. Add your can of peaches or fruit over the batter. The batter will rise up over the fruit during cooking.

Cook for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned on top and not soupy in the middle.

Great warm with vanilla ice cream!