Cooking with Ina Garten

I was hungry today for curried chicken salad and I looked up Ina Garten's recipe and tried it again. The recipe can be found here and it's very simple (and VERY good!)

 Roast the chicken with salt and pepper.  That's easy, I roasted it at 350 and left it in until my meat thermometer comes out at 150 degrees.  I saw that Emeril Lagasse cooks chicken until 140 and most places say 165 (just a liability issue) but Emeril said he liked his chicken moist.  I can't stand underdone chicken but 150 was perfect for this and the meat really did retain it's moisture.  No more over-cooked chicken for me! 

Then let it cool and chunk it up.  It crumbles some as it gets stirred up so there is no point in going overboard on this step. 

Then ya throw in the good stuff:  Mayo, Major Grey Chutney, curry powder, and celery for crunch.  Oh, and don't forget the salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I had red wine but no white wine, so instead I just included the rest of the broth from the pan I baked the chicken in.  A good vinegar would work here also.  Ina puts this all in the food processor and makes it all smooth before adding it to the chicken.  And that is ideal.... however...  Life is short, and I just threw it all right in and gave it a gedge.  (That's a Rachel Ray term for stirring, can you tell I had Food Network on in the house yesterday?) 

Ina Garten's recipe called for scallion, raisins and cashews... I garnish it with grapes (instead of raisins) and spring onions (close enough.)  I sprinkle those on top mostly because they look lovely, but also because these ingredients don't hold up so well if there is some left for the next day so I prefer to have them separate.  I ate all the cashews in the house, so sadly I could not pile those on top yet.  They really are wonderful in this recipe.  If you want to know how much of something to throw in, consult Ina Garten's recipe.  I tend to dump till it looks right and then make adjustments as needed.  Which reminds me, I should add curry powder and cashews to the grocery list.

This would make a lovely main dish for a picnic, then add veggies, crisps and other fun picnic foods.  This time I just served it as a one dish wonder.  (With iced tea made from garden mint and lily of the valley from the poison ivy patch on the table.)  The only comment from the peanut gallery was that it "needs bread or something."  (G, think he's spoiled?!)  It would be good in a wrap or as a chicken salad sandwich, no doubt about that.  I love the combination of the sweet Major Grey Chutney against the curry flavors... YUM!  And yeah, I meant to make fresh biscuits to go with it and just didn't get it done.  But I have leftovers, so there is still time for that.

Best Dishes, (with a nod to Paula Dean)
-Carmen Rose

A Lovely Day in Birthday World

I had a rocky start to my morning, but finally made it off to work in one piece. The photography studio is looking great, the equipment is in and things are starting to feel as they should in there. I brought in a screen to give the models some privacy when changing and a table for my makeup gear. I wrote a few emails and finished things up and headed home.

All the cabinet doors are back up in my kitchen except one. I had it painted and up, but when I touched up the paint late at night, I didn’t catch the drips. Bummer! So now I need to sand it down and try again which is no big deal. It’s just that I can’t quite say that all my doors are back up yet. Hopefully by tomorrow evening I can say that all the hardware is on. Who knew that it would take me “alllllll year” to paint my kitchen cabinets! LOL! Still toying with changing the wall color now, but I’ll give it some time to sink in a little and decide later on. I suppose the only detail that I will attend to now is getting a range to replace the harvest gold one. (It's time!) Then I will lay aside the updating for a while. (Course that’s only temporary, I’ll get the bug soon enough.)

It started to snow and I had some driving to do, so I set out as soon as I could to start my rounds. First stop was a great old place called “Glen’s Fair Price.” I suppose it’s a bit of an old country store or five and dime, it’s dirty and quirky and you never can tell what’s going to be there. But they have an extensive collection of theater makeup and oddball stuff so I picked up some liquid latex, some eye lashes and some peacock feathers. Very interesting place, I spent quite a bit of time there. That store is a bit of a fixture in the Burg, I remember going there in college to buy fish. I dated a man who had a great salt water tank of fish, and we’d go to Glen’s to pick up fish to feed to the fish. I can’t believe it’s been around that long. They don’t sell fish anymore though there was a squawky bird in there who was very chatty. I doubt the bird was for sale though.

I had a nice birthday lunch at the Taste of Thai. It’s one of my very favorite places to eat! The first course was a chicken soup with mushrooms, it was spicy and warm and lovely. Second came garden rolls, which is a roll with lettuce, sprouts, shrimp with a sweet peanut sauce that is delicious. There was a dish of a variety of sea food with a sweet and spicy sauce and vegetables, that was fun! However, Red Curry is still my favorite, no matter how many others I try. I even ate a chocolate pyramid, which was loaded up with a light and rich hazelnut puree, chocolate mousse and cake. It was rich and wonderful! A quick trip up the hill to the Oriental Market and I have some very exciting ingredients to cook with, so let’s just say that I hope to be trying some delicious experiments at my house soon. It’s a little harder to read the labels there, but it was fun to look through and find a few things to try. I wanted to find a decaf jasmine tea, but so far no luck.

Onward to the gallery to check in on displays and do the February change over. I created a featured artist display of jewelry, it’s just in time for February’s ridiculous little fake holiday on the 14th and the Oasis has an excellent selection of artisan jewelry. It was fun and the display came together nicely. By that time the snow was starting to make a difference on the sidewalk but the streets were still fine.

Next I went to this wild and wooly fabric shop in the Burg, they’ve got a lot of stuff crammed in that space! “Ragtime Fabrics.” I found some cool feather and some leather that looked like the animal just discarded it and some other interesting trims. I was able to find some cool stuff and was very pleased. There was a good bit of snow on the ground by the time I finished up there.

I changed into my combat boots for the stop at Sharp Shopper for a few groceries. And by the time I was piling stuff in the van, the snow was laying on the roads. A fairly quick drive home on the interstate and then the drive up the hill to the house. Except that it didn’t work. So… I waited for the 4x4 to come get me but the snow plow came and I was able to get up the hill without too much trouble. It sounded strange and the gadgets on the dashboard were dancing around and it felt a bit weird, but I’m home and settled in.

Lots of friends left messages on my Facebook page wishing me a Happy Birthday today and some emailed blessings. What a treat that has been! I’m grateful that I have so many interesting and thoughtful people in my life as I look forward to my 41st year. I loved being 40 and met some really fascinating people and got to explore new ways to be creative this last year. And here I am encountering a new adventure and seeing my creative juices take me outside of the box farther than ever before. And so I throw myself into my work in this new year knowing there is a place in the creative flow that I love, and that gives my life a sense of purpose. I'll meet you there.

With gratitude,
-Carmen Rose

Curry and Cabinet Knobs

I struggled today to get anything done. I have a food allergy that sometimes takes me down a notch. I didn’t know I was consuming the one thing that always kicks my bum, and I really didn’t think it would be a big deal. The next morning the first round of reactions hit and then I felt ok for a while. In the evening the second round hit and I was still feeling it this morning. Now I’m just really worn out. I feel like I was in a car accident.

I didn’t feel like doing much of anything today, but I was hungry for curry chicken salad. I love everything curry, all the different kinds and colors that I’ve ever tried have turned out to be soul mates to my taste buds. So I picked up some chickens at the store and then went home to make stuff. I roasted the two chickens in the oven, and made some chicken stock. When the chicken cooled, I put some of it aside for meals later this week and cut up the rest for chicken salad. I made curry chicken salad using this recipe from Ina Garten. I had to find “Major Grey’s Chutney” at the store. That was easier than I expected it to be. It’s there with the other dressings, sauces, etc. I saw Ina make this on her Barefoot Contessa show this week and I’ve been craving it ever since. It turned out to be as delicious as I expected it to be. I subbed in seedless grapes instead of raisins and it was wonderful. I may add some heat to the leftovers, this kind of thing is always better with a little kick! I think it would be really wonderful in the summer.

I combined the chicken stock with a pureed butternut squash, loaded in some veggies and chicken and made a soup that turned out to be pretty good. I pushed it too much though, I’m pretty much toast at this point.

Oh, and I covered a few other cabinet knobs with polymers. They’re so fun to do that I end up making more not because I need them in the kitchen, but because I enjoy making them.  And it seems that the more I make, the more they evolve and the designs get more interesting.  I'm not out of old knobs to cover, so I suppose that's it for a while unless I find something else to cover.  

I picked up more paint at the store this morning, thinking that I may need to rattle can my old hinges just to get my kitchen put back together. I sent another email to the company that has screwed up my order of hinges and knobs. Still no reply from them. So far I’m not impressed. I’m still hoping that they’ll make it right. I guess we’ll see. I’ll keep ya posted.

I'm planning to curl up and take it easy for the evening and hope I can get some of the toxins out of my system and get back to normal. 

Health and Wholeness to each of you,

(cause nobody likes feeling bad!)

-Carmen Rose