Thai Red Curry Chicken with Lime Scented Coconut Rice

I really do need to think about better photos - this doesn't look as appetizing as it could.

I love when meals come together.  You know, those last minute ones, where you've been out of the co untry for five weeks and you get home and there is nothing fresh in the house - you might be lucky and have some frozen chicken and some rice, and waaaaay in the back of the pantry. . . . what's this?  A jar of Trader Joe's Red Curry Sauces?  Hmph.  Now seems like a good time to check that out.  I call the mister to see if he can grab it seems that  me a lime and a can of coconut milk because I am struck by inspiration.

Now, I have a confession to make here.  Rice and I?  Not the best of buddies.  I used to make a lot of what I called Spanish rice when I lived in Australia (tomatoes, chorizo, green onions, scrambled egg), but a lot of the time, regular old rice turns out too goopy (let's be honest, my Spanish rice was almost always too goopy - more risotto than anything else) or too dry.

My five weeks in Mexico have given me a new confidence and interest in rice, so I figured I'd go for it.  Now, I can't take all the credit here - seems I'm not the only one that has had great luck with the TJ's red curry, (and what's this?  it's not horrible for you?!  hot damn!!) so I highly recommend you grab a bottle and keep it on hand.  Plus, this only took me as long as it took the rice to cook - about 20 minutes or so.

Thai Red Curry Chicken with Lime Scented Coconut Rice
2 chicken breasts (the ones I had were nice and thin and not gargantuan monstrosities)
salt and pepper
garlic powder
olive oil
1/2 of a large white onion - 1/4 cup finely diced, the rest roughly chopped
2 cups of frozen broccoli (or fresh if you have it!)
TJ's red curry sauce
1 cup of rice
light coconut milk - 1 to 1 1/2 cups
water - 1 cup
lime zest - 1 tbsp or so

Nuke your frozen broccoli, or cook it til just tender if you're using fresh and set aside.
Season both sides of the chicken breast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Put 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and heat over medium high and cook about 4-5 minutes on each side til lovely and golden brown and cooked through.  If it was a teeny tiny bit pink in the middle, that would be okay - just set it aside.
While the chicken is searing, get the rice going - In a pot, add 1 tbsp olive oil to heat over medium high and then add the finely diced onions and let them start to get translucent; you don't want them to brown.  Once ready, add the cup of rice and sort of dry fry it with the onions for a few minutes.  You can let it go until it's translucent as well, but I had people in the kitchen that I hadn't seen in a while, so I really didn't pay much attention to how far I let it go.
Add the cup of coconut milk and the cup of water.  Allow to boil, turn down to simmer, cover and allow to cook until done.  Check on the rice to see if it needs more liquid - if so, you can add more milk or water; I added another 1/2 cup of milk.
In the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, add the roughly chopped onions and a little more oil if necessary.  Sautee until just starting to get soft, then add the jar of curry sauce and broccoli.  Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, add to the sauce, and allow to simmer over low.
If you're lucky, your chicken mixture and rice will be ready around the same time.  Just before serving the rice, stir the lime zest in.

A

Awww, look at the cute little green flecks!

Spoon up some of the rice, and cover with yummy curry and eat it up!  It was enough for three people.

Ina does it again

Darn that Ina Garten for tempting me with nomtastic deliciousness yet again. Delightfully French, and maybe even somewhat healthy, a little, somewhere, if I try. But hey, French people are thin, so maybe it's okay.
Right?

Mustard Roasted Fish
4 (8-ounce) fish fillets such as red snapper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces creme fraiche
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 teaspoons drained capers

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. (You can also use an ovenproof baking dish.) Place the fish fillets skin side down on the sheet pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Combine the creme fraiche, 2 mustards, shallots, capers, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Spoon the sauce evenly over the fish fillets, making sure the fish is completely covered. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it's barely done. (The fish will flake easily at the thickest part when it's done.) Be sure not to overcook it! Serve hot or at room temperature with the sauce from the pan spooned over the top.

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli
4 to 5 pounds broccoli
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil leaves (about 12 leaves)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut the broccoli florets from the thick stalks, leaving an inch or two of stalk attached to the florets, discarding the rest of the stalks. Cut the larger pieces through the base of the head with a small knife, pulling the florets apart. You should have about 8 cups of florets. Place the broccoli florets on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Toss the garlic on the broccoli and drizzle with 5 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.

Remove the broccoli from the oven and immediately toss with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon zest, lemon juice, pine nuts, Parmesan, and basil. Serve hot.

Honey Vanilla Fromage Blanc
32 ounces fromage blanc
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup good honey
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Vanilla seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean nocoupons

Ripe stone fruit such as peaches, nectarines, plums
Berries such as raspberries and strawberries
Citrus fruit such as oranges, cut in segments
Raspberry Sauce (see below)

Stir the fromage blanc, cream, honey, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and vanilla seeds together in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble, spoon the fromage blanc mixture into shallow bowls. Place the fruit artfully on top and drizzle the dessert with raspberry sauce. Serve with extra raspberry sauce on the side. I find that some people like it less sweet with just a drizzle of sauce while others prefer more sauce.

Raspberry Sauce
1 half pint fresh raspberries
1/2 c sugar
1 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 tbsp framboise liqueur

Combine raspberries, sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 4 minutes. Pour the cooked raspberries, jam, and framboise into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until very smooth. Chill.

Fall flavors to celebrate Summer in SF

A few weeks ago I had dinner plans with my mom. Not in the mood to go out, and having withdrawals from a lack of kitchen time lately, I invited her up for dinner. I may have had to bribe her with one of her favorite dishes since I know she gets nervous driving through city streets and hunting for parking. My bait? "Impossible Chicken n Broccoli Pie" from an old Bisquick recipe book I was given when I first started cooking.
The impossible stands for impossibly easy in this case. Fantastic in the fall (or brisk SF summers) because it's warm and comforting, and the veggies you use are frozen. I highly recommend it.

1 10 oz package frozen chopped broccoli - you can just toss it into a colander in the sink and let it thaw as you cook the chicken and get everything ready. If it's not thawing fast enough, or I waited too long to pull it out, I just run some water over it and break it up with my hands. Caution - if you choose to do this you should know that your hands will turn bright red and lose all feeling.
2 c shredded cheddar cheese - jack would be good too, but I like the tang from the cheddar
1 c cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces - if I'm lucky, I'll pick up a roaster chicken and it's done for me; if I'm not, I just boil some skinless boneless breasts (or better yet the little tenders since they cook faster and I'm impatient). I know, what am I, Irish?! Boiling chicken. Honestly. But don't worry, you still get plenty of flavor.
1/2 cup of chopped onion (I hate recipes that say "medium" or "small" onions - what size is that any more?!), but I think I typically just use the entire onion if it's close, so I may end up with 3/4 cup
1/2 cup Bisquick
1 cup of milk (yes, I use nonfat)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper - I use more s&p than this. I find it just a bit bland with this ratio, and depending on your onion, maybe a touch too sweet. And really, anyone who still thinks I'm actually measuring these things out at this point is delusional.

Preheat your oven to 400 F and grease a glass pie plate - I use olive oil spray, the Pam kind, but it really tends to stick, especially if you stir later, so be generous or use butter or Crisco or something awful like that.
To avoid the stirring quandary, you can toss the chicken, broccoli, onion and 1 1/2 cups of cheese in advance, and then add them to the plate. It's much easier to do it this way anyhow.
Whisk the eggs, milk, Bisquick, s&p to get most of the big lumps out - some lumps are okay. Pour over the top of everything in the pie plate and shake gently to distribute.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, until a knife comes out clean from the center. Now sprinkle it with the rest of the cheese and pop it back in until the cheese melts (and gets a bit brown if you're like me).
Now the hard part. Letting it cool. See, at this point your entire house smells delicious and if it's one of those dreary days you are really looking forward to eating the hell out of this (and please, don't be alarmed if you can eat half of the entire pie dish yourself - this appears to be completely normal; in fact, you may want to make two at the same time just so you can have some leftovers), but you MUST LET IT COOL. Cutting into it too soon does nothing but make you regret it. If you just can't wait, forget all about cutting nice slices or wedges out, and just get a big old spoon and glop it onto the plate. Don't burn the roof of your mouth.

If this has you in the mood for more yummy fall flavors, check out this awesome dinner over at Mock Eel!