guest chef series #11: being taken care of

I know I post about my mom a lot, but that's because she's such a good cook. And even more awesomely, she prepared a hot meal for us after picking us from the airport.

chicken curry
My mom gets her curry powder from a secret Malaysian source. It's apparently a friend's favorite blend. It's pretty spicy, so I have a hard time balancing the flavors when I cook it, but she always seems to get it perfect.
[chicken, onions, carrots, potatoes, curry powder, soy sauce, water, salt]

pantry burn

Ok, so there's really no such thing. But in my ongoing battle against a ridiculously stuffed pantry, I dug up some mixed dried mushrooms and some arborio rice.

pan-roasted chicken and mushroom risotto
The mushrooms made a really nice, rich risotto, and the crisp-skinned chicken was really nice against the creamy risotto. I picked up some asparagus from the market, and all was good.
[risotto: arborio rice, mushrooms, chicken stock, white wine, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper; chicken: chicken, salt, pepper; asparagus: asparagus, salt, pepper]

chicken adobo

I was browsing through my copy of How to Cook Everything, and this sounded really good.

chicken adobo
I guess this is a Filipino dish, and it's really good. It's a two-step cooking process, with a vinegar-soy braise followed by a quick turn on the grill. It's really good and pretty easy, so it will probably become a part of our regular eating.
[chicken thighs, soy sauce, vinegar, water, sugar, ginger, garlic]

taste testing

We have an inordinate fondness for taste tests. So, L + E invited us over for a fried chicken taste test. The contenders: Popeyes, Ralphs, and Pollo Campero. The overall winner was Popeyes, with Pollo Campero coming in second. There were tons of leftovers, so this is where they ended up.

fried chicken salad
We put the fried chicken on romaine to offset the fact that we were eating fried chicken two days in a row. As you can see, the top contender didn't last to make it into leftovers - we ate all of it the first night.

international spice exchange

In exchange for my chipotle spice rub, my friend's sister sent me a tin of her tandoori chicken rub. Here are the results.

tandoori chicken grill
This is a great recipe for a big group. I marinated the chicken parts in yogurt, onion, garlic, ginger and the spice rub overnight, and then grilled it up. Needless to say, it was great.
[chicken thighs and legs, yogurt, onions, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, tandoori spice rub

ultimate antioxidant food

We had this dish at a restaurant on the westside, and it was so great, I wanted to try making it at home. Unfortunately, mine looks nothing at all like theirs, nor does it really taste the same, but it was an interesting experiment with tasty, if not exactly the desired, results.

chicken fesenjan
The combination of pomegranate and walnuts is really good. And to put it into a savory dish brings a whole new dimension of flavors. All in all, the dish looks kind of nondescript, if not gross, but it really did taste good. I also probably messed with it by eating it with short-grain rice (it was all we had in the house). Traditionally it would be served with some sort of long-grain pilaf.
[chicken, stock, walnuts, pomegranate molasses, onions, garlic

curry house at home

Some friends gave us a gift card to Curry House, and for some reason, the gift card also came with a bunch of prepackaged House brand food items. Not one to waste things, I tried out the curry sauce.

chicken katsu with curry & roasted pumpkin
D's mom gave us a home-grown pumpkin, so I roasted that up with olive oil and salt and pepper. The katsu is a pounded chicken thigh, dredged in flour, egg, and panko and then pan-fried. Add the heated curry sauce, and there you have it, curry house at home! I'll have to say, the prepackaged curry sauce is not as good the curry they serve in the restaurant.
[pumpkin, olive, oil, salt, pepper; chicken thigh, flour, egg, panko, salt, pepper, oil]

quick and easy

We've been unusually busy, so here are a few of the simple meals we've been having.

chicken quesadilla

poached egg on greens

chile tacos

I've been mildly obsessed with grilling chiles. They come up with such a roasty, meaty flavor, it's really a great, simple addition to the meal.

chile chicken tacos
I put a spice rub on the chicken, and grilled it, along with the poblano chiles. I guess grilling the chiles is slightly labor-intensive, but I think the reward is worth it. You have to blacken the skin, and then, once the chiles are soft and have collapsed, put them into a paper or plastic bag. Once they've steamed a bit, rub off the burnt skin, and remove the seeds and ribs. Slice up and enjoy! I usually do a bunch at a time, and keep the rest in the fridge for snacking on.
[chicken, spice rub, poblano chiles, tortillas, yogurt]

dining al fresco

I love our new terrace/patio. V came over with a tasty treat and we grilled up some artichokes and chicken for a nice meal outdoors by the fireplace.

lemon chicken with fresh herbs, grilled artichokes,
fig-proscuitto-burrata salad
I decided to do a simple lemon and garlic marinated chicken and grilled artichokes. I made an aioli, but somehow managed to confuse the process of whizzing it all in the food processor and mixing it by hand. Basically, I drizzled the olive oil into the egg yolk instead of pouring it all in, and when you're using a food processor, the whole thing seizes up and it becomes over-emulsified. The texture was kind of "bouncy" for lack of a better word.
[chicken, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, cilantro; artichokes, olive oil; aioli: olive oil, egg yolks, lemon juice, garlic, salt, white pepper]

chipotle chicken

We didn't have too much in our fridge, and I didn't feel like working too hard, so this is my default meal.

chipotle chicken salad
I'm starting to run low on my chili rub, so I better make a new batch soon. It's such a staple in my kitchen and makes everything so tasty with minimal effort.
[mixed greens, chicken, spice rub, tomatoes, lime juice]

another trip to morocco

I know this is a repeat, but I liked the pictures of the lavash so much I couldn't resist.

lavash and olives
This is lavash from Trader Joes, toasted in the oven until crispy and then broken up. I bought the olives from the Santa Monica (Pico) farmer's market.
[lavash, olives]

chicken with olives and preserved lemons
The chicken was fall-off-the-bone tender, and the olives added a nice brininess and the lemons added brightness. This batch of lemons was mellower than my first.
[chicken, olives, preserved lemons, water, onions, garlic, paprika, cumin, saffron]