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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Creamy Curry Chicken

This is a very delicious recipe I made tonight; it's an Asian-inspired version of creamy chicken with rice. It has a nice light flavor of curry and ginger, and a slight bite of savory orange-cooked chicken. This is a fairly quick dish to prepare, but it will take dedicated attention in order to keep from burning things. Make sure you use a nice large, deep skillet for the curry sauce.

Chicken and Mushrooms:

3-4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, chopped into small cubes
1 Cup of Canned Mushrooms
2 TBSP Orange Juice
2 TBSP Sesame Oil
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
1 TSP Ground Ginger
1 TSP Garlic Powder

Combine the chicken, orange juice, ginger, and oil, and simmer together until chicken is cooked. Add in the drained mushrooms, soy sauce, and garlic powder, and simmer over a low heat for 10-15 minutes, until most of the liquid vanishes.

Creamy Curry Sauce

1 Cup Butter
2 1/2 TBSP All-Purpose Flour
3 Cups Milk
1 Cup Finely-Diced Yellow Onions
1 Cup Chopped Bell Peppers
1/2 Cup Water
1 TBSP Red Curry Powder
2 TSP Chinese Five Spice Powder
1 TSP Sea Salt

Create a creamy roux by melting the butter over medium heat, then stirring in the flour and cooking for 10-15 minutes. In a bowl, combine the milk, curry powder, spice powder, and sea salt; mixing quickly and thoroughly before pouring into the skillet with the butter and flour. Using a wire whisk, vigorously stir the sauce frequently while adding the onions and peppers, and cook for 20-25 minutes, adding in the water as needed to keep sauce from forming clumps and getting too thick. Keep stirring while cooking, you don't want any clumps to form in the sauce.

Rice:

1 1/2 Cups Long Grain White Rice
3 Cups Water
2 TSP Coarse-Ground Black Pepper
1 TSP Paprika
1 TSP Salt
1 TSP Sesame Oil

In a decent-sized pot, combine everything other than the rice and paprika, and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice and simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until soft.

Once all parts of the meal are created and cooked, combine into one deep skillet (I dumped everything into the skillet I used for the curry sauce) and stir everything together until it is mixed thoroughly. Sprinkle with Soy sauce, paprika, and freshly diced celery before serving to your family and friends.

You could use shrimp, crawdads, lobster meat, chicken, duck, or even pork for this recipe. I'm sure if you wanted, you could even make a vegetarian version of this. Add in cashews, peanuts, pecans, or others 'crunchy' additives to this recipe instead of celery. This recipe will make enough to feed four people easily, or give you leftovers for meals through the week. Do what you want to make this dish your own so you can enjoy it, share it, and feed your friends with it.

~Bon Appétit~

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Decadent French Toast

Looking for a new, tasty, different french toast recipe? Look no further. This takes that delicious weekend breakfast dish and elevates it to a level of class some people wouldn't consider for a simple bread dish. You should definitely give this recipe a try sometime.

1 Loaf of Banana Nut, Cinnamon Raisin, or Pumpkin Spice bread, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
2/3 Cup Irish Cream or Hazelnut flavored Coffee Creamer
1/2 Cup Half and Half
1 Egg
1/2 TBSP Ground Cinnamon
1 TSP Nutmeg
1 TSP Allspice
1 TSP Almond or Vanilla Extract

Combine all the ingredients, excluding the bread, into a large enough bowl and mix thoroughly. Dip the slices of bread into the wet mixture quickly, but making sure to coat the entire surface of the slices. Once coated with the egg and cream mixture, place the slices of dipped bread onto a hot skillet or griddle, preferably set to a medium heat. Cook the french toast and flip, making sure each side is brown and no longer wet before serving.

At this point, you can apply your favorite toppings. I like covering my french toast in a little whipped cream and drizzled with a bit of honey, but you might like the classic of butter spread and maple syrup. You could always slice some strawberries thin, place them on the cooked slices with a little cream cheese and dust it all with a little powdered sugar. Some people might enjoy using the french toast to make a breakfast sandwich using over-medium eggs and sliced ham and melted cheese. You can do whatever you wish to your cooked french toast, just make sure that whatever it is, that you enjoy it and make it your own.

~Bon Appétit~

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