Chicken Curry for Sunday dinner

A cold Sunday after church here in Omaha. Before we left, I took some split chicken breasts out of the freezer.  When we got home I fired up the sous vide and cooked all the chicken, setting some aside for lunches this week. Meanwhile, I did a bit of research on recipes and found a lot of great ideas.

Here is my version.

Chicken Curry

1-2 chicken breasts, either cooked and cubed or shredded or cubed raw to cook with the dish.
1 medium onion cut into thin petals
Shitake mushrooms. I bought about 4 ounces bulk.
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tbls oil
1 tbls garlic ginger paste
2 tbls curry I like hot
1 pepper I bought a Serrano and sliced it thin
2 cans of coconut milk I used Lite
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper to taste
A squirt or 2 of Siracha Sauce
Cilantro
Green onions cut diagonally

In my large chefs pan or wok, heat the oil till shimmering. If you are cooking the chicken, do it now, cooking till just done.  Remove the chicken and set aside. Drop in the onions and saute till it starts to soften. Add the garlic, mushrooms, garlic ginger paste and pepper. Cook a few minutes then add the curry and let it toast a bit. Add the coconut milk all at once. Stir and allow to thicken just simmering. If your chicken needs a few minutes more of cooking, add it or shred your cooked chicken and add to the pot. Adjust seasoning. I found the coconut milk a bit sweet so I squeezed a lime in to tone it down. Garnish with green onions and cilantro or basil. Serve over rice.

Champagne Shrimp Bisque (when you don't have the exact ingredients)

 Two weeks ago, at the Fangman's, Lori made this soup for dinner. It was delicious and it was meatless day so I decided to make it also.

The original recipe from The Cottage Journal looks like this:


Makes about 6 cups

4 tablespoons butter
½ cup minced shallots
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups clam juice
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 pound
Medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup Champagne or other dry sparkling wine
2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh chives
Garnish: Gruyère cheese, chives
1. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallots, and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle in flour; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Gradually whisk in clam juice and stock; bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. (At this point, soup can be refrigerated up to 3 days.)
2. Cut shrimp into ¼-inch pieces. Over medium-low heat, add cream and Champagne. Return soup to a simmer, and slowly whisk in cheese ¼ cup at a time, letting melt between additions. Stir in chives and shrimp, and cook for 3 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Garnish with shredded Gruyère and chives.
Note: Clam juice can be replaced with chicken stock for a milder flavor.

Tom's pantry version

 Not having  some of ingredients I subbed a few things with a pretty good outcome. The soup was velvety and smooth with a great flavor.

Firstly, Clam Juice. Well you can buy it bottled but what are you going to do with all those shrimp shells?  You are buying shrimp in the shell right? It tastes the best and has the best texture so once thawed and peeled, reserve those shells.

In a saucepan, place a medium onion, unpeeled, cut in half. Also a few stalks of celery, a chopped carrot or two, half a head of garlic cut in half along the equator and your shrimp shells. Cover with cold water, add some salt and a few peppercorns and in about 30 mins you have a quart of shrimp stock!

Next champagne? Well I did have a cup of a dry Chardonnay as a sub.

2 Cups of Gruyere? How about 2-3 slices of processed Swiss (melts better) and a little Parmesan to round out the edges?

I also subbed onion for the shallot, minced. Now just make the recipe with the substitutions.

I found the roux to be perfect for the amount of fluid listed and I used all Shrimp stock and it was great. Of course I had dried chives but they reconstituted well in the process. Taste along the way to make sure you headed the right direction. This was a great meal but lesser without our friends.

Ravioli Soup and family

Every year about this time we venture west to Brenda's folks and have a quiet dinner and gathering. This year, besides the Stromboli, which is required to cross the county line, I brought a soup recommended by Lori last week. Ravioli Soup uses frozen ravioli but the rest is on me. Cooking for about 8 this will feed all with leftovers. The recipe for stromboli is elsewhere on the blog, explore.

Ravioli Soup

2 pounds of sausage I used Jimmie Deans and an Italian bulk  sausage
Medium or large onion chopped
5 cloves minced garlic or more
5 cans of tomatoes  I used all diced but a few cans of sauce would have been best. 2 large can of Hunts Spaghetti sauce would have hit the mark too.
2 quarts chicken stock
1 tbls oregano
1 tbls basil
Salt and pepper
8 ounces mozzarella shredded I used whole milk
A few cups torn spinach leaves
2 bags of  frozen mini cheese ravioli

Brown the sausage and drain the excess fat leaving enough to saute the onions then the garlic. Add the tomatoes, stock and spices let simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
To assemble, bring soup to a rolling boil. Pre heat the broiler. Place a handful of spinach in each heat proof bowl lined up on baking sheets.  Drop ravioli in soup and cook till they float and puff a bit. Ladle into bowls over spinach then top with shredded mozzarella. Broil till bubbly and a little brown. Serve.