Sweet Potato Curry

Sweet Potatoes and Coconut...so good together!

I made a curry last night that I want to share. It has all the principles of a family keeper. It was fast,fast, fast, easy and fast. It's so tasty, and the kids loved it. As in I actually got a "Wow, Mom, this is delicious!" Did I mention I got compliments from the kids..as in they ate it all. I almost fell off my chair. On that virtue alone, I post it here. Maybe one of you may be so lucky and get empty bowls without whining!

I based the curry I made on a recipe I found online. Here is the link if you're interested in seeing that version. One of the main differences, I didn't puree the onions in a food processor. I also added chicken because I was making a main dish, not a side dish or vegetarian main. I think it would certainly be delicious without the meat. I also used candied ginger. You could use fresh ginger, but the candied was really superb. Candied ginger has this sweet heat, it really added depth of flavor. This recipe serves 5.

1 onion, chopped
a few pieces of candied ginger, chopped fine
1 T virgin coconut oil (substitute butter, ghee or olive oil)
1-2 t. garam masala + .5 t. whole cumin (I make my own garam masala, but you could use any nice blend of warm spices)
salt and pepper to taste
1 to 1.5 cups coconut milk. Unless you're using fresh, in which I say bully for you! I really recommend using the powdered coconut over the canned stuff. The flavor is so superior, you will forever pooh-pooh the can.
3 smallish sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked. Use more if you're making this vegetarian.
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chunked (use breast if you prefer)
3 T fish sauce (nuoc mam, nam pla..etc) If you're veg., use soy sauce.
2 t. turbinado sugar, or to taste

Start the onions working in the coconut oil. You want a little more than translucent, but not really brown. Add the ginger, then the spices. Let this cook a minute or two to take the raw off the spices. Add the coconut milk and then the sweet potatoes, chicken, fish sauce and sugar. Put a lid on it and let simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender.

I served this over a mixture of brown rice and beans (from the garden! hehe). When you use chicken, the meat naturally creates some more broth, so if you prefer a drier curry, I would add mostly cooked brown rice and beans or lentils towards the end of cooking and let them soak up some of the broth. Or add raw lentils straight to the curry, they themselves will soak up moisture. Just check it periodically to make sure there's enough liquid to cook everything nicely.

The sweet potatoes were so good! They developed this silken texture, it was almost like silken tofu with sweet potato flavor. MMMM!

I have to boast and show a picture of some of my latest garden goodies. :)

Boast, boast, boast

Enjoy!

Chicken Liver Pâté with a Difference

This is a delicious pâté that was the most popular at Christmas Dinner. I was surprised actually, because it's not what I consider a normal pâté, in that it contains fruit soaked in alcohol. But maybe that was the trick!

The original recipe calls for currants, and you're welcome to try it that way, but I have to say, I used dried sweetened cranberries and it was fantastic. I also used rum and creme de cassis instead of cognac and port, used less butter in the pâté than the recipe called for, and made ghee for the top, which I think has a much nicer flavor than simple clarified butter. The original recipe comes from the 1995 edition of "The Martha Stewart Cookbook" and it's called Chicken Liver Pâté with Currants. This is my version.

1/3 c dried sweetened cranberries
5 T mixture of rum and creme de cassis, or cognac and port, or other sweet and/or fruity alcohols of your choice
4 T butter
1- 1&1/4 lb. chicken livers
1 garlic clove, minced. Use a nice generous one.
sea salt and pepper to taste
a little minced thyme

Soak the cranberries in the alcohol overnight.
Clean and wash the livers. If the livers are very dark and bloody, soaking them in a strong salt water will improve them.
Sauté the livers in the butter until lightly done, meaning the interiors are still pink. Remove the livers from the pan, leaving the pan juices. Drain the alcohol from the cranberries and add to the skillet with the garlic, salt, pepper and thyme. After pan is deglazed, remove from the heat.
Purée the livers as smooth as you like your pâté to be, adding the liquid from the skillet.
Mince the cranberries, and stir them into the pâté. Pack into a crock or terrine or bowl or whatever you want. Seal with the ghee, a depth of about 1/4 " is perfect and let this pâté sit in your refrigerator for 2 days before serving. The flavor really does improve with the sitting.

Enjoy!


You know, I was just thinking that pâté is one of those weird things that is usually considered a special occasion, fancy dish, which usually means time consuming and expensive, but it's really quite easy and inexpensive to create. Did chicken livers used to be a more expensive meat? Perhaps because pâté de foie gras is pricey? Did you know that using fancy accents on every French import word is fun?




Sorry about the fuzzy nature of this photo, but it's the only one I took of this pâté for whatever reason.

My Christmas Dinner or Gooses Geeses

I have been off enjoying myself and I hope everyone has had a fantastic holiday! I had a wonderful Christmas. Family, friends, food... it was great! I wanted to talk Goose and share a couple of photos. I also wanted to share a recipe for pâté that turned out fantastic, so I'll post that tomorrow. Back to the Goose. This is a Roast Goose which was one of the traditional foods my family likes for Christmas. To me, Goose is very Dickens...and God bless us, every one! The meat is very dark, if you've never had goose before, and the bones and joints are not like a chicken, so be forewarned if you're going to try and joint the thing. Another thing about a goose is the enormous amount of fat that bakes off of the bird. Use a deep roasting pan to make sure that the rendered fat has somewhere to go other than all over your oven. I removed a lot of the visible fat from around the goose cavity when I was preparing the bird, but still got quite a bit in the bottom of the roaster. Also, you want to prick the skin of the goose gently with a fork to help the fat render out, especially on the breast.



The rub is equal parts ground fennel, coriander and white pepper. The cavity is stuffed with 2 oranges, quartered, and some fresh thyme and rosemary.



Here is the Goose still in the roasting pan.




Here is some sliced and on a plate.

I've decided to make Rillettes out of the goosey leftovers. Mmmm. That's almost better than the original. :)