Dahi Chicken

I really wanted to recreate the "Monsoon Masala" Dahi Chicken at our favorite Indian restaurant -- while it didn't really come close (at all) it was a very tasty dish!

Trader Joe's was out of white onions, ugh, so we had to use purple. There is also garlic and ginger, red pepper paste (wicked hot) and dried chilies from the farmer's market. Added garam masala too.

Chilies I dried over a few weeks, don't you love the color!!

Cooking the spice paste



Added yogurt -- maybe too much. I was supposed to simmer, I accidently boiled it. It made the mixture separate but it was still tasty.

The nan looks perfect -- thanks Trader Joes!! I didn't make it :)


Finished with cilantro and tomatoes:

Dinner

We had Margot and Joanna over for dinner, and I made chicken adobo, rice, pumpkin fritters, no-need bread, chapatis for the adobo, a cheese plate and lemon mousse pie. We played a lot of Nintendo Wii and watched Curb Your Enthusiasm. Mike and I had a double TKO in Wii boxing, it was amazing. Margot and Joanna each scored a run and tied in Wii Baseball.

Fritters:

Bread:

Ooh gourmet!

English blue cheese, brie, honecomb, quince paste. We also had white truffle porcini mushroom oil and hawaiian black sea salt for the no-knead bread.

New placemats cause the old ones were getting grungy.

Fight!

Swing batta!

Keep your fork, there's pie!

Chole - Chickpea curry

Last night Mike needed some sinus relief, so I made a chickpea curry called chole, with shrimp added. I used ginger, garlic, chilis, red pepper paste, onions, curry poweder, garam masala, chickpeas and water from the can, and shrimp.

It was very spicy!



I had a craving for a sunny side up egg, so I added that on top. The creaminess made such a perfect contrast to the curry. Egg and curry = friends4evar

Tri Tip Roast

Tri tip is not my favorite but I've never made it and it was a good price at Trader Joe's. We also got some wine, this is a bordeaux, which I've never had before. I enjoyed it. We're going to try working on our wine education. I know that I love Nero d'Avola, syrrah and vin santo, but we want to try more. Mike likes Cabs.


Coco wants steak.

Here it is after searing and baking in the oven until 130 degrees. Let stand for 10 minutes until almost 150ish.


Perfect.

Sorry for the flash but it was otherwise too dark. Tri tip, rice noodles with broccoli and sesame oil, and a side of palm hearts. Sauce is oyster sauce, peanut sauce and hoisin mixed.

Negra Modelo Chicken

My current favorite beer is Negra Modelo, and we had one bottle left so I made beer chicken.

I browned the chicken first (only salt and pepper on it) and then poured in the beer and braised for 30 minutes. At the end, I poured off the beer and browned the chicken again.

Served with pasta.

Flat iron Steak

This is my new favorite cut of meat. This cut was only recently "discovered": flat iron cut

It's still nice and cheap, so buy it now! I marinated it in Hot Lime sauce from Jeremy (thanks!!), mango chili vinegar and a bit of soy sauce for about two hours. Melted some butter in my Le Creueset (thanks, Mom!) and seared it for 4-5 minutes a side. Nice and RARE. I think I heard it bleat for momma.


Paired with asparagus risotto:

Roast turkey drumsticks

As the weather is changing, I was really in the mood for a fall dish. Turkey drumsticks were on sale, so here is how I prepared them. Honestly, they were good, but too much work for comparatively little meat.

Browning in olive oil, onions, chicken grill rub, Worcestershire sauce and stock:


Finished in the oven. Took about two hours and I burned myself through the potholder:


Finishing the gravy by whisking in corn starch:


Mmm nice and brown:


Blurry pic of dinner: baked potato, corn and turkey. The potato was rubbed with salt and olive oil and baked straight on the rack for 60-90 minutes.

Polenta pasticciata with anchovies and veal piccatta

My first recipe from The Silver Spoon, a highly-regarded traditional Italian cookbook. I made this minus the cream and all the butter.

Shredded parm, mozz, romano and something else I forgot. Polenta, white wine, garlic and anchovies.

Sauteeing the anchovies with garlic, in some olive oil and butter:

After cooking the polenta in water and wine, whisking in some cheese:


Pan frying the veal, which was just dredged in flour:


The anchovies are soft and browned:

After cooking the veal, tossing together capers, shallots, lemon, white wine and a dab of butter:


Plated the soft, cheesy polenta, a swipe of the anchovies, half a veal cutlet and the piccatta sauce on top, with rough-chopped parsley. This was a quick meal before going out for drinks and a concert last night (The Cinematic Orchestra, in North Beach) so it was a very small meal. This was actually served on a small bread plate.

I took the leftover polenta and mixed in the anchovies and the rest of the parsley, and spread it to solidify in a glass dish. We broiled some later and had it with the stuffed peppers from Friday.

Seafood pancit

Pancit! Here are rice noodles (vermicelli size) soaking in warm water.


Carrots, mushrooms and snap peas in chicken broth:


Baby octopus and shrimp:


Ginger, red chilis, garlic, white onion, green onion:


Sauteed in sesame oil and red pepper paste. Added shrimp and octopus too:


Tossed together noodles (which were also boiled in the chicken broth), soy sauce, fish sauce, and the garlic/ginger/onion/seafood stuff:


Added mung bean sprouts at the last minute, and some peanuts (why not?) and also added a hard cooked egg later. It was perfect!! Mike said not as oily as pancit usually is -- but I didn't want to add all the oil I had seen in most recipes.

Ethiopian Beef Stew, and Injera

I found my Ethiopian food pics on my husband's blog.


This is injera, beef stew, salad and yogurt. It was stellar!

Fried Chicken Baked, and Chayote

Chicken breaded with seasoned flour, dipped in egg + sour cream, and the more seasoned flour:


Pan fried in a little peanut oil, until golden, then finished in the oven for 20 minutes:


Nice and crisp, no greasiness, just perfect! Plated with a side of quickly browned chayote, with olive oil and pepper. This squash is crispy and mild, very good!