Curried Couscous with Chicken and Zucchini

Picture originally found on http://batter-splattered.typepad.com

First off, I apologize for not following up with Part 2 on my previous post yet. My dissertation proposal is due to my committee this coming Monday, so I've been a little wrapped up with that. It is coming, but in the meantime, I want to share with you a recipe I tried and loved this week!

I downloaded the Epicurious app on my iPhone and found this amazing dish. Without further ado, here it is:


Curried Couscous with Chicken and Zucchini

Curried Chicken and Zucchini

I sliced up about 4-5 chicken thighs (the recipe calls for chicken breast but I tend to buy natural, vegetarian-fed chicken which can get expensive), rubbed in some salt and pepper, and sauteed the chicken until the pieces were golden brown. I removed the chicken from pan into a separate plate. I cut up 2 small zucchini into matchsticks and cooked them in the same pan as the chicken, seasoning the zucchini with salt and pepper. I then transferred the zucchini to the plate with the chicken.

I crushed two cloves of garlic, and cooked it with about half an onion in butter until the onion was softened. I then stirred in 1 tsp of curry powder before adding in 1 cup of chicken broth. I brought the mixture to a boil until it was reduced by half. I added in 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and brought the mixture to a boil again until it was thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. I then turned the heat off and let the sauce sit.

I stirred the chicken and zucchini into the curry sauce and heated the mixture over moderate heat. I seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper, and stirred in some coursely chopped cilantro. 

Couscous

I sauteed another half an onion in butter until softened, and then stirred in 1 tsp of curry power. I then added some butter and 1 1/4 cup of chicken broth, bringing the mixture to a boil. I stirred in about 1 1/4 cup of couscous, and seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper. I then turned off the heat, and let the mixture stand. I cut up about 2 tbsp of butter and stirred it into the couscous. I then let the couscous stand for another minute. I chopped up some cilantro and stirred it into the couscous. I then added in a little more salt and pepper. 

YUM! I squeezed some lime into the dish before indulging. Some thoughts - next time I try this recipe, I may use a red onion instead of white onion. I may also add some dried cranberries into the couscous.

Candied Cacao Nibs

One of the benefits of doing my grocery shopping on Saturdays is that the local Farmer's Market is held Saturday mornings downtown. I figured buying from the Farmer's Market is a good way to keep in check where my food is coming from (see previous post), and also eat locally and organically.

I was drawn to a stand that was selling fresh roasted cocoa beans! They had chocolate covered whole cocoa beans as well as sugared cacao nibs. Since I have not had refined sugar in over a month (I'll blog some time about my month-long experiment with low carbohydrate diet and my recent decision to NOT do it anymore), I decided for the sake of my health and blood sugar levels, I should stick to the plain cocao nibs. The lady looked at me a little strangely when I asked if these cocao nibs were for munching on. No wonder, because it turns out that plain cocao nibs are just BITTER! Still, I did not want to waste these nibs, so I decided to try to candy them with honey.

 I spooned some pure honey into a small saucepan, squeezed a small orange into it, and added a splash of water. I heated the mixture until it was thick, and threw in the cocao nibs, coating the nibs evenly. I then poured the mixture into a baking pan and used a spatula to spread the nibs out.

I sprinkled the nibs with cinnamon, then baked them at 350 degrees in the oven for about 8 minutes. When they came out, I sprinkled the nibs again with cinnamon and also some Stevia (in lieu of powdered sugar). I let the mixture harden and now have delicious homemade candied cocao nibs!


*edit* I realize this is a novice mistake, but aluminum foil is a TERRIBLE idea when it comes to candying items. Never using it again!

Homemade Raspberry Mousse

I've been reading both Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and the Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and have become convinced that we are harming our bodies by eating chemically processed foods, especially refined sugar. To that end I've made a decision to try a low-carbohydrate diet and to give up any refined or processed foods.

I am now three weeks into that journey. Since desserts tend to involve a LOT of sugar and are mostly processed, it has been an adventure learning how to make delicious desserts without refined flour or sugars. I'm sure it helps that I've been really getting into watching the Food Network. Today's adventure involved learning to make Raspberry mousse. Here is how I did it (I didn't measure out any ingredients so don't have quantities listed):

To make the fruit juice, I reduced frozen organic raspberries with some Chianti (next I'm I'll try a fruitier wine or fresh-squeezed lemon juice, but I just happened to have an opened bottle ready). I added a little stevia (which is this natural sweetener that doesn't raise blood glucose levels)  to the reduction, but honey works fine too.

The reduction was a little strong, so I diluted it a bit with water (next time, I might try almond milk instead). I then mixed two ounces of gelatin (okay, so I guess there are SOME processed ingredients...next time I'll leave this out and add marscapone cheese instead) into the reduction as well as a little organic heavy whipping cream. After the mixture cooled, I poured it into some wine glasses, covered the wine glasses with seran wrap, and stored them in the fridge.

I then made homemade marscapone mousse by whipping up marscapone cheese with heavy whipping cream and some more stevia. I placed a dollop on each wine glass. Finally, I ground some hazelnuts and coffee grounds as a garnish. As Rachael Ray says, "Delish!!"

I think next week I'll try making a raspberry cream mousse using the marscapone cheese. Note: I do not a natural talent for cooking, so would appreciate any advice and feedback from those who do!

Spinach Lentil Soup

Picture originally found on Allrecipes.com

This is probably the favorite dish I've cooked so far this year. Here it is:

• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cups water
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 1 1/4 cups dried lentils, rinsed
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach, torn
• 
  
• In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, saute carrots and onion in oil until tender. Add the water, salsa, lentils and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in spinach; simmer 5-10 minutes longer or until spinach is wilted.

Bon Appetit!

Mashed Turnips

I keep getting turnips in my CSA box and I keep throwing them out because I don't know what to do with them and then they go bad. As I hate wasting food, that has been weighing heavily on my conscience. Well I read somewhere that you can cook and mash them like mashed potatoes. So I peeled, quartered, and boiled the turnips until soft. I then mashed them with milk, butter, and salt. It turned out quite tasty. Who would have thought? 

Holy Brocamole?!

I LOVE guacamole. It is my comfort food. In fact, whenever I sound a little down or tired on the phone, my dear friend Heather always knows to have homemade guacamole waiting for me when I visit, or she chooses our happy hour locales based on the quality of their guacamole.

Anyway, today I picked up another box of vegetables from the Farmer's Market and planned out some recipes for the week. I wanted to do something a little different with the broccoli this time so went to Allrecipes.com and entered in some of the ingredients I had. Believe it or not, I found a recipe for BROCAMOLE!

Here is the recipe:

• 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1 large head fresh broccoli
• 2 tablespoons red onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• salt to taste

1. Boil or steam broccoli until very soft.
2. In a large bowl, mash broccoli with avocado. Mix in onions, garlic, lime juice, hot pepper sauce, and cilantro until mixture resembles the consistency of mashed potatoes. 
3. Season to taste with salt.

I ended up boiling the broccoli because it was quicker to cook that way. I made sure to rinse the broccoli with cold water and drain completely before mixing it in with the avocado. I bought Hass Avocado which are very small right now so I ended up using about 4.5 Avocados. I left out the hot pepper sauce since I'm not a huge fan of spicy foods. For the lime juice, I squeezed in an entire lime. Next time I might actually squeeze in an orange.

The results, as Rachael Ray says, YUMMO!

Hearty Winter Soup

I made this soup to use up more vegetables before they began to wilt. This recipe was meant for a crockpot, but since mine broke right before I left for Christmas, I tried to adapt it into a regular stovetop recipe. Here is the original recipe:

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 pound turkey bratwurst, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 
  
• 1. Place the sweet potatoes, cabbage, and carrots into a slow cooker, then place the bratwurst slices on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with the salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Pour the wine and chicken broth over the vegetables.
  2. Cook on Low until the sweet potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
• 
  
• Instead of Turkey Bratwurst, I thawed and used the ground beef I had brought back from our trip. I then simmered the soup in the chicken broth, and then when the broth all but evaporated, poured more in and simmered it again. Altogether, I used about 8 cups of chicken broth until the soup was ready.
• 
  
• I think that either my friend Steph had pre-treated the ground beef, OR the white wine I used was not dry enough because Holy Batman the soup was SWEET. Don't get me wrong - it was tasty, but I ended up having to eat some salty vegetable chips along with it to balance out the sweet flavor. Note to self: next time buy drier wine. 

Kitchari Recipe

I made my first meal since getting back from vacation. To settle me back into a routine, I made Kitchari which is meant to be a balancing and nourishing meal according to Ayurveda. I added in sweet potatoes and broccoli from my CSA produce. The result turned out to be delicious!

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup Basmati Rice

1 cup Mung Dal

2 tbsp Ghee

1 tsp Cumin Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Turmeric Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Coriander Powder/Seeds

1 tsp Fennel Powder/Seeds

1 tsp of Mustard Seeds (only if you are feeling a bit lethargic)

Vegetables of Choice

7 cups boiling water

salt to taste

1. Wash Rice and Mung Dal separately

2. In a large saucepan, heat ghee. Cook any seeds you are using in the ghee until seeds pop

3. Add in Mung Dal, Cumin, Coriander, Fennel, and Salt and pour in 7 cups of boiling water. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Dice Vegetables and stir into saucepan along with Rice. Bring mixture to boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add water if necessary, but make sure all water is absorbed before serving.

Enjoy!