Chicken Divan

I might try the recipe for Chicken Divan from Art of Manliness sometime. I'm a fool for an easy casserole, especially if it involves cheese.

Slaughterhouse Five Ribs

From O Chef

Maple Mustard-Glazed Chicken

Sherry and I have made pork and chicken dishes with peach preserves and Dijon mustard, but I never thought to try mustard and maple syrup together. The Nobel Pig did.

Fiesta Biscuit Casserole

My sister Leslie has been collecting casserole recipes, and this recipe for Fiesta Biscuit Casserole from My Wooden Spoon caught my eye. The ingredients include Ro*Tel, ground beef and cheese, which sounds like a good foundation for a casserole to me.

The Lady, The Pie and The Guy

Read the story. It will break your heart, and make you want to bake a peanut butter pie. (Thanks to Beth from Eat. Drink. Smile and Michael Silence.)

Shrimp Terrebonne

This is shrimp wrapped in bacon, covered in cheese and grilled, from Smoky Mountain Cafe'. How can that be anything but wonderful?

Chicken Fried Steak

My sister Leslie makes a killer chicken fried steak, and I've been meaning to give it a try. I found a good recipe at Smoky Mountain Cafe'. (Via Michael Silence)

Chicken in Coconut Milk (Murgi Malai)

While the gals enjoyed visiting kittens at the Nashville Humane Association and swimming in the Rolling River pool in our erstwhile neighborhood yesterday, I tried my hand at a dish from Bengal, India, from a recipe in the Best-Ever Curry Cookbook, by Mridula Baljekar, a cookbook Sherry's mom gave me some years ago. Baljekar describes the dish, Chicken in Coconut Milk as follows,

In Bengal, this dish is known as murgi malai, and in the Bengali language, the word murgi means chicken and malai is cream, either dairy or coconut. Coconut is a favourite ingredient of the region, and it grows in abundant supply in Bengal, Orissa and Assam.

Here is the recipe:

1 tbsp. ground almonds
1 tbsp. dry coconut
2/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup ricotta cheese (You can also use more coconut milk, which is what I did.)
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root (I used dry ginger powder.)
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 pound chicken breast, skinned and cubed
3 green cardamom pods (I used dry cardamom.)
1 bay leaf
1 dried chili, crushed (I used three I dried out from last year's harvest.)
2 tbsp. chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) (I used dry parsley, since this is mainly garnish.)

Dry-roast almonds and coconut in skillet until browned a bit and transfer into a large bowl. Add coconut milk, ricotta, ground coriander, chili powder, garlic, ginger and salt to the bowl and mix. Brown chicken in skillet in oil with cardamom pods (I used dry cardamom.) and bay leaf. Pour in coconut mixture, add crushed chili and fresh coriander, cover and cook ten minutes or so, stirring every so often. Uncover, stir and cook for two more minutes. Serve over Basmati, a long-grained rice common in India and Pakistan and available at the Maryville Kroger.

This is the second time I've made this dish, and I knew from the last batch to go heavier on the spices than set forth in the recipe, which I copied above directly from the book. I doubled the seasonings shown above, which may have been a bit much, and I used maybe three tablespoons of ground almonds and perhaps a third of a cup of coconut. My result reminded me a little of the Panang Curry served at Lemon Grass restaurant in Maryville, though my dish was a Westerner's ham-handed attempt compared to the wonderful food at Lemon Grass.

'Mater Pie

'Mater

Laura and Grace met us for supper last night at Sullivan's after attending a meeting about HOPE Academy, which she is exploring for Grace. Yesterday morning La sent me a recipe for a tomato pie. I posted another recipe for tomato pie last summer, and it adds garlic, Parmesan cheese and sour cream to the ingredients in this recipe.

UPDATE: La and Grace made the WBIR story on HOPE Academy. That's them seated at the table.

Tomato Pie

1 - 9" pie shell
3 or 4 - home grown tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1.5 Tbs. of fresh basil chopped
1/2 thinly sliced sweet onion
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 cups grated cheese, the sharper the better for my taste but mild works fine too

Bake pie shell according to directions. Cool. Place thickly sliced tomatoes on paper towels to absorb some of the moisture. Cover bottom of pie crust with tomato slices and onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine mayonnaise, cheese and basil in a bowl and stir together. Carefully dot the mixture over the tomatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, cut and enjoy.

Tajine

I tried my hand at making a chicken tajine yesterday afternoon. (The picture isn't my dish. It is an example from the link.) It was my second attempt, and I think it turned out better yesterday than it did the first time I tried it. The dish is named after the pot that it is cooked in, and like a stew what you put in it depends on your taste and what you have on hand. Tajines are served in several areas in North Africa, but I think the recipes I was working from were going for a Moroccan tajine. Many years ago my cousin David and his wife Margaret entertained us at their home in Washington, DC, and they served a wonderful dish they called Moroccan chicken with couscous. I suspect it was a tajine.

One of my first attempts at cooking outside my comfort zone was Daube of Beef Provençal, and I've made it several times now. I find it interesting that like the tajine the French dish takes its name from the daubière, which is the traditional pot it is cooked in.

Here's yesterday's stab at chicken tajine:

8-10 chicken thighs
2-4 tbs. olive oil
medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander (We were out.)
1 tsp. ground ginger (The recipe called for fresh ginger.)
1 tsp. paprika
4 tbs. salt
2 tbs. black pepper
2-4 cups flour
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup pitted olives
1 cup chicken broth
1 sliced carrot
12 oz. can of apricot nectar (The recipe called for 1 cup dried apricots.)

Travel to North Africa or France and acquire tajine or daubière. Or stay at home in East Tennessee and use your Dutch oven or a big ol' stew pot. Mix flour, salt, pepper and paprika on large plate. Heat olive oil in tajine or other pot. Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat and brown on all sides. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for five minutes, and add and mix coriander and cumin in last minute. Add apricot nectar and chicken broth, increase to boil and reduce by half. Add carrot, olives and almonds and reduce to simmer. Simmer thirty to forty-five minutes. Serve over couscous. (I used leftover Spanish rice I brought home from lunch at Los Amigos.) I might add more seasonings next time.