This week at the grocery store I was feeling inventive so I decided to buy some light coconut milk and see where it took me. Where it took me was to this amazing curry recipe that is so good you can just sit over the pot with a spoon and drink it (don’t ask me how I know). I found the base recipe on epicurious.com and what I liked about it is that it was easy to adapt and didn’t call for any ingredients that were more odd than coconut milk.

The first thing you want to do with curry is to build the sauce. The longer it cooks, the better and more developed the flavors will become. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil– I wanted to keep the coconut theme going)
• 1 medium onion diced finely
• 2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 4 cloves garlic

Heat the oil in a pan and add onion, ginger, and garlic. Cook on medium- low heat about 10 minutes until the onions are soft. My trick with fresh ginger is to keep it in the freezer. You never use ginger in as much quantity as they sell it to you so instead of throwing it away, pop it in the freezer. When you’re ready to use it, use a vegetable peeler to grate the skin and grate it. You won’t believe how nicely and easily it grates in this state.

Next, add:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili sauce (I used sriracha and next time I would put at least 2 tsp in)

Mix together for 1-2 minutes until the spices are toasted and fragrant. Let me tell you, this is the point you really feel like you’re creating something. I’m not sure if it’s the smells or the awesome color that the spices add, but I felt pretty chef-y.

Next, add 1 cup water, 1 can light coconut milk (13.5 -14 oz can), 1 Tbsp light brown sugar, and 3 Tbsp lemon juice (if you have lime juice or an actual lime, use that and put some grated zest in as well). Cover and bring to a simmer. Season with salt to taste.

In the mean time, dice 1 lb of chicken breast into cubes. When the sauce is simmering, add chicken, cover, and let it cook. This will take about 10 minutes. While that’s cooking dice 1 red bell pepper and measure 1 cup frozen peas. Now, these are the vegetables that I had on hand and they worked really well. You could add carrots if you had them, or any other vegetables that you had on hand.

Once the chicken is cooked, add vegetables and let simmer uncovered for another 5-10 minutes. Taste the sauce (this is where you might be tempted to just stand there drinking it) and season with more salt if needed. 

This recipe would feel 4 easily and it’s really great as leftovers. I served it over some steamed rice and Geoff called it “restaurant quality.” I like that better than “interesting.” Next time you’re feeling adventurous buy light coconut milk and make this!! You won’ be disappointed.

Post cooking thought:

Though the color is more yellow than a Panang curry you would get at a restaurant, the flavor is pretty dead on. I hope you just added coconut milk to your shopping list this week.

This weekend I was in Boston visiting some friends– Kristin and Becky. One common love we have is food so it’s no surprise that we cooked (and ate) a lot. Kristin joined a CSA for the season and had produce a plenty so we decided to incorporate as much of it as we could into a chicken pot pie.

This was a new recipe for me, as I’d always written chicken pot pie off as one of those dishes that was complicated, unhealthy, and took way too long to cook. Edge’s chicken pot pie (named for Kristin’s dad) put all my preconceptions about the dish to rest…except for the length of cook time– it does take way too long to cook, but it’s worth the wait!

Similar to many Mich Dishes, this is one that could be easily adjusted based on what produce you have in your fridge. We used:

• 2 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts (approximately 6 oz each)
• 1 carrot
• 2 russet potatoes (1 large and 1 small)
• 1/4 pumpkin (or butternut squash), peeled, and seeded
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• thyme
• rosemary
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 frozen pie crust packs (each comes with 2 crusts, so 4 in total)
• 1/2 cup cornstarch

The first step is to cook or partially cook the first list of ingredients (except the frozen peas). You can either cook the chicken in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes with salt, pepper, and some olive oil or cooking spray (until the juices run clear) or you could bring a shallow pot of water filled just enough to cover the chicken to a boil and poach the chicken until cooked through.  In the mean time, fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water and lay a steamer basket in the bottom (if you don’t have a steamer basket or anything similar, put a colander over the opening of the pot and find a lid that will cover it). Add the carrot, potatoes, as well as the peeled and seeded pumpkin*. Cover and steam for about 15 minutes until each can be easily cut. Cut chicken, carrot, potatoes, and pumpkin into small cubes of roughly equal size. 

Add the diced ingredients, chicken broth, frozen peas, salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary into a large saute pan. Cover and bring to a simmer. Mix cornstarch with 3/4 cup cold water until all the lumps are gone and a thick paste has formed. Add cornstarch slurry to the saute pan and mix until combined.Let it bubble for a few minutes, until it gets very thick. At t his point, you’ll want to taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.

Set 2 of the frozen pie crusts side by side onto a large baking sheet. Add 1/2 of the filling into each crust. Remove the second 2 crusts from their foil liners and place upside down over the first to seal the pie. Using a sharp knife, cut a few 1 inch slits in the top of the crust to allow steam to vent. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes or until the crust is baked and golden brown (feel free to turn the broiler on for the last few minutes if its not getting to the color you want it to be). Allow the pie to cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

We served the chicken pot pie with a side of roasted pumpkin salad and cooked white beans.

Post cooking thoughts:

*Though you’ll only be using a little bit of the pumpkin, it’s a good idea to steam the whole thing that way you can use the rest of it more easily. We served a salad with roasted maple pumpkin and steaming the pumpkin helped roast it to a delicious golden brown within 15 minutes (as opposed to 40+). Dice the pumpkin as you would for the squash, toss with some cooking spray and maple syrup and roast at 425 for 15 minutes, mixing after 10 minutes and adding more maple syrup if necessary.

We also cooked the pumpkin seeds with chili powder, salt, and cinnamon at 350 for 15 minutes. They would have been great on the salad, but we ate them all before we got to dinner 🙂