Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry

These days I am all about finding meals that are quick and easy. I have so many irons in the fire at the moment that I just don't have a lot of time to cook. So, while I was looking through recipes on epicurious.com, I found one called Coconut Chicken Curry in a Hurry, and I knew that was for me. Then I read the recipe. I would have to stand at the stove for 22 minutes! What's quick and easy about that? I don't want to stand at the stove at all. In taking a good look at the recipe, deciding that I wanted no stove time whatsoever, and really did not want to cut chicken breasts into chunks, I adapted it for the crockpot.

You really have to love those crockpots. They make life so darned easy. The recipe turned out wonderfully, and is a great candidate for the freezer. If you're like me, and you don't want to spend your time slaving over a stove, grab your crockpot, set it on your counter, and make it as welcome as any member of your family. That's the way I feel about mine.

Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry

Adapted from epicurious.com

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 1/2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk (preferably full-fat)

1 (2 1/2") piece ginger, peeled

4 garlic cloves, peeled

5 ounces baby spinach

1 cup frozen peas

Toss chicken with curry powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until well coated. Place breasts into the bottom of a slow cooker. Top with chopped onion.

Purée coconut milk, ginger, and garlic in a blender until very smooth. Pour on top of onions and seasoned breasts.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Shred chicken in the crockpot and then stir in spinach and peas; cook an additional 30 minutes. Top with cilantro. Serve with rice or naan alongside.

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Accidental Asparagus Tart

This recipe is the result of my having thawed puff pastry sheets, thinking they were actually piecrusts. In order to save room, I'll often take the puff pastry sheets, shells, and piecrusts out of their respective boxes, and pop them into the freezer as it allows me more packing room. Never in the past have I mistaken one for the other, until now. My intention was to make a ham, Gruyere, and asparagus quiche. Instead I ended up making a ham, Gruyere, and asparagus tart.

What a wonderful mistake this turned out to be! This is one of the easiest things you can possibly make, and quite delicious. I sliced diagonally and served it along with a leafy green salad. You could slice it into bigger squares to serve as a main dish, slice into small squares to serve as an appetizer, or do what I did, and serve it with a side of soup or salad. Whatever you decide to do, you need to give this a try. It is easy, and delicious, and looks a whole lot fancier than it is. What more can one ask?

Accidental Asparagus Tart

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

½ pound fresh asparagus, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into 1-1/2” pieces

1 cup cubed ham

6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Place puff pastry onto a cutting board and slice into two equal portions. Using a sharp knife, cut slices into edges of dough about 1" towards the center, all of the way around.

Top each puff pastry rectangle with shredded cheese, asparagus spears, and ham. Drizzle top of tarts with olive oil and cracked pepper.

 

Using a spatula, carefully place onto Silpat-lined baking sheet (or, you can just build them directly onto the Silpat). Bake for 20-25 minutes until asparagus are tender, and pastry is puffed and golden.

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Better than Bread Co.’s* Cream Cheese Potato Soup (*Panera, if you must)

If you were paying attention while reading yesterday's post, then you doubled the amount of jalapeno cream cheese. The reason that I asked you to do that was because of this recipe right here, based upon a copycat for Panera's Cream Cheese Potato Soup. I like their potato soup, but I was looking for more zip and zing. So, when I made that grilled cheese sandwich, I just knew that I was going to use jalapeno cream cheese in making the potato soup. What a huge difference this made in taste! This really kicks potato soup up a big notch, and will make any that you serve memorable. Anybody can make potato soup, but only someone special can make it with a tasty kick like this.

Better than Bread Co.’s* Cream Cheese Potato Soup

 (*Panera, if you must)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cut into chunks

1 fresh jalapeno, minced and seeded

1 teaspoon garlic powder

4 cups homemade chicken stock

4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes

¹⁄₄ cup minced onion

¹⁄₂ teaspoon seasoning salt

¹⁄₄ teaspoon white pepper

¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground red pepper

In a large bowl, stir together cream cheese, jalapeño, and garlic powder; set aside.

Combine broth, potatoes, onion, and spices in a medium stockpot. Set over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes depending upon the size of your dice of the potatoes.

Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening. Reduce to low heat. Stir in cream cheese/jalapeno mixture, and continue stirring until cheese melts.

Serve, garnished as you see fit. I used chopped scallions, grated smoked cheddar, and homemade croutons.

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Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

Do you ever find yourself unloading bags of groceries upon returning home from the store, asking yourself, "What was I thinking?". I found myself doing this just the other day, when I unloaded a package containing eight fresh jalapeño peppers. Don't get me wrong, I like jalapeños, I just have absolutely no use for eight of them. Not to worry, I do plan on dicing some and freezing them like I do with green peppers as you saw here, but I also planned on trying some new recipes. While rummaging around on the Internet, I happened to find an enticing recipe on delish.com for a Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese. As someone who loves both jalapeño poppers and grilled cheese sandwiches, this seemed custom-made for me.

 

This easy-to-make sandwich is a delicious combination of the two. Make the cream cheese mixture ahead of time -- the day before if you like (and you might want to double it, just sayin') -- and the sandwich goes together in a flash. I grilled mine using very little butter in my Copper Chef pan and was enormously pleased with the results. As you can see from the picture, even the melted cheese came out of the pan without a problem, and gave the sandwich lots of extra crunch.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 jalapeño, finely chopped (seeded if desired)

1 tsp. garlic powder

kosher salt

Finely ground black pepper

4 slices french bread (I used sour dough)

2 c. shredded Cheddar

4 slices cooked bacon, halved

In a large bowl, stir together cream cheese, jalapeño, and garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the other side of two slices, spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add bread with cream cheese mixture, buttered side down. Top with 1/2 cup cheddar and half the bacon, then top with another 1/2 cup cheddar. Top with remaining slice of bread, buttered side up.

Cook until melty and golden, 4 to 5 minutes, then flip and cook 5 minutes more.

Repeat with second sandwich.

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Fruit & Spice Cookies

As I've mentioned on this blog ad nauseam, I am not a baker. But, I am an eater who loves her cookies, and if I'm not going to bake them, who will? The other day I had a hankering for a fruity, spicy, nutty cookie. Something that was really tasty, and a cross between a Joe Frogger and a raisin cookie. So, I grabbed a couple of familiar recipes, substituted here and there, based upon what I had in the pantry, and came up with these. I’m quite pleased! Normally, I don't like a softer cookie, but when it comes to a spicy cookie with a light molasses base, soft and chewy is good. Because this is a recipe I just pulled out of my head, feel free to substitute the walnuts for pecans, and the mixture of currants and golden raisins that I used (that is all that I had at the time) for a full cup of any type of fruit that you have on hand. If you like cookies with lots of taste, you'll enjoy these.

Fruit & Spice Cookies

½ cup salted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

1 large egg

2 tablespoons water

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ cup currants

¼ cup golden raisins

½ cup walnut halves

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Spray baking sheets with Pam, or line with parchment or a Silpat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Add egg and water, and beat to combine.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in fruits and nuts.

Using a cookie scoop, drop dough 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake until edges are golden brown, approximately 12 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool completely.

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Creamy Italian Tomato Soup

When I'm working on a project, I often like the comfort of television playing in the background. In cases such as this, I tend to turn on programs that I've already seen before, so I don't have to concentrate on what's happening, I can just enjoy it peripherally.

The other night I was watching The Big Bang Theory, an episode called, “The Intimacy Acceleration” (Season 8, Episode 16). In this episode, among other sub plots, Sheldon and Penny spend the evening performing an experiment to see whether people can fall in love in a few hours. Part of their conversation went like this.

Penny: Do you want to stop? I know you have trouble with eye contact.
Sheldon: Well, you have a brown fleck in your right iris that looks like a Formula 1 racecar, so I'm just concentrating on that. Plus it's easier around people I'm comfortable with.
Penny: Oh, sweetie, I'm comfortable around you, too.
Sheldon: Of course you are. I'm warm and soothing. I'm like a human bowl of tomato soup.

Huh, I thought. Tomato Soup really is warm and soothing. In this case, what would be more soothing for a meal on “Soup Some Soup Sunday” than a heartier, most satisfying version, and that led me to this recipe online. Talk about hearty comfort in a bowl! This is certainly it.

Creamy Italian Tomato Soup

Adapted from insidebrucrewlife.com

1 pound ground Italian Sausage

1 cup diced yellow onion

1/2 cup diced green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth (or homemade stock)

2 cups water

8 ounces uncooked rotini pasta

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon dry basil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese mix

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the ground sausage into a medium stock pot and cook until done. Drain any excess grease that remains in the bottom of the pan.

Stir the onion, peppers, and garlic into the sausage and cook for 3-4 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.

Pour in the tomatoes, broth, and water; bring to a boil.

Add the pasta and bring the mixture back to a boil. Keep the soup at a low boil for the amount of time indicated on the pasta box (in my case 11 minutes). Add the heavy cream, basil, and cheeses, and stir until all is melted and incorporated. Season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer on low until ready to eat. 

Top as desired. Serves 6.

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Cuban Pork

I think we all tell ourselves with the coming of the New Year that we are finally going to get organized. We have good intentions, and that organization generally lasts little more than a couple of weeks. During my process of organization, I told myself that, at long last, I was going to clean out the big freezer. I really do need to use up a lot of things that I bought last year, so one morning as I was rummaging through I found a pork tenderloin. 

I was tired of doing the same old same old, recipe wise, with pork tenderloin, so started rummaging around on the Internet and found this recipe for Cuban Pork. It called for a 3-pound pork shoulder that I didn't have, but I did have a 1-pound tenderloin, so adapted the recipe to fit. The house smelled fantastic the whole time it was cooking, so much so that I could hardly wait to dig in. But, patience is a virtue when using the Crockpot, because the longer you wait, the more tender this delicious meat will become. 

This meat was so tender and so flavorful that I had a hard time stopping myself from eating it all. It would be excellent on a sandwich, but I chose to serve it as a main dish alongside a portion of cilantro rice (you can find the recipe here), and side of blanched broccoli. It was a fabulous, satisfying meal, and so ridiculously easy.

Cuban Pork

Adapted from bellyfull.net

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup orange juice

¼ cup lime juice

¾  teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon cumin

½  teaspoon dried oregano

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 small sweet onion, sliced thin

1 bay leaf

1 1-pound pork tenderloin

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, orange juice, lime juice, salt, cumin, oregano, red pepper flakes, pepper, and garlic.

Make slits in the pork with a pairing knife and liberally coat pork with the oil mixture.

Place meat in the slow cooker; top with the onion and bay leaf. Pour the remaining juices from the bowl over the pork.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Transfer pork to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Using two forks, shred into thick chunks. Return to juices in Crockpot to warm through. Serve with Cilantro Rice and spoon sauce over the top.

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