tomatoes

Good Enough? Portuguese Chicken Curry Recipe

by Anne Maxfield on April 25, 2013

Accidental Locavore Portuguese Chicken CurryAs the Accidental Locavore, I play around with a lot of recipes, things that catch my interest for a myriad of reasons. This curry has a lot of quirky ingredients that I respond to and it was pretty easy to make. It’s from Tasting Table and I adapted it to feed 3-4 people.

  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 2” chunks
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • pepper
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 small piece of ginger (about ¾”), minced (I’ve stopped peeling ginger, but it’s up to you)
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more, to taste)
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into ½” cubes
  • 6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • Spanish chorizo, about a 2” piece, sliced into ¼” discs
  • 8 pitted black olives (preferably Moroccan oil-cured)
  • Parsley, coarsely chopped for garnish
  • 2 tablespoons coconut flakes, toasted (I use Trader Joe’s Roasted Coconut Chips-delicious!)
  • 1 lemon cut into wedges

Pat dry the chicken thighs with a paper towel. Salt and pepper them. Put the cornstarch on a plate and dredge the chicken in it, patting the cornstarch to coat both sides evenly.

In a Dutch oven or pot, big enough to hold everything easily, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and heat over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the chicken and cook, without moving it, until it’s lightly browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook the other side until browned, about another 3 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

In the same pot, over medium heat, add the remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil, the onion and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft but not browned, about 6 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cayenne and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the coconut milk, potatoes and the partially cooked chicken. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and cook for about 35 minutes until the sauce is thick and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the lid from the pot, add the tomatoes, chorizo and olives. Cook for about 3 minutes until everything is warmed through. Serve over rice, garnished with the parsley and coconut flakes with lemon wedges on the side and enjoy!

My verdict: This was rather disappointing. The idea of the chicken with the chorizo, tomatoes, coconut milk and olives was intriguing, however the end result was a bit ho-hum. It was better a day later when the flavors had time to mellow a bit. While it was cooking, I added more ginger and cayenne in an effort to tweak the flavor of it. Unfortunately, the interesting ingredients got lost in the mix. The original recipe had whole chicken thighs (still boneless and skinless) which were just too unwieldy. If I make this another time, I would definitely add more tomatoes, olives and chorizo (which I might cut into ½” rounds and then quarter). I’d absolutely replace the parsley with cilantro and possibly the Yukon Gold potatoes with something more starchy (they seemed to melt into nothingness). So, why am I writing about an only so-so recipe? Well, for curry lovers, this could be a good starting point and not every meal is a big success – more about that coming soon.

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Top 9 Reasons the Ninth Month is Not My Favorite

by Anne Maxfield on September 16, 2012

Accidental Locavore Gala Apples

Those of you who know the Accidental Locavore, know September is not my favorite month and here’s why:

  1. It’s the end of summer! If it wasn’t apparent enough by the days getting shorter, back-to-school ads (yeah, ok, those start in July) and everything with “end of summer clearance”, the words “Labor Day” seemingly cannot be uttered without adding “the last weekend of the summer”. It’s really like rubbing your nose in it.
  2. Just because it’s September, doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up the grill. Even in New York, we generally grill until the food would get cold coming the short distance from the grill to the house, or we have to dig a path to the grill, (i.e. January).
  3. Therefore, I’m not ready to start braising anything! My theory: it’s not braising weather until there are no tomatoes or corn left at the farmers markets. When butternut squash is all you can find, it’s time for slow-cookers and Dutch ovens. After all, how many recipes for grilled butternut squash do you know?Accidental Locavore Moroccan Squash Soup
  4. Food I haven’t cooked. At the end of every summer, there’s always a huge list of things I wanted to try and didn’t. That’s not to say I wasn’t cooking, the blog (and my waistline) will vouch for that. It’s just that there’s so much you can do with all the great summer foods! And maybe because the gap from the last of the tomatoes to the first of the asparagus is a long one.
  5. I will park the white pants, shoes and bags, but that’s more a matter of upbringing than anything else. Wearing white after Labor Day never feels right to me, and, as we all know, if you don’t feel good, you don’t look good.
  6. When the temperature is above 80 degrees, cashmere, down, knee-high boots and everything else in the stores are nothing I want to come in contact with. Save them for the other ___ber and ___ary months. God knows they last long enough!
  7. I hate fall! There, I’ve said it. To me there is nothing intrinsically good or valuable in days getting shorter and watching things die. To the editor of Hudson Valley Magazine, you are wrong, wrong, wrong about fall being most people’s favorite season. Got it? Wrong!
  8. Even the music is depressing. See You in September, Wake me up When September Ends. September Song, September in the Rain, The September of my Years, not an upbeat tune among them!Accidental Locavore Dog and Football
  9. Football…enough said.

And what I like about September? Oh, just give me a while, I’m sure I can come up with something…

 

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The Accidental Locavore: August Charcutepalooza Challenge, Binding

by Anne Maxfield on August 12, 2011

Accidental Locavore Vegetable Terrine

This month the Accidental Locavore and other Charcutepalooza participants gave up the sausage stuffing for a more refined pastime, making terrines. Our mission was to make them beautiful as well as delicious. Since I had a houseful of vegetarians coming for the weekend, as well as a box full of gorgeous vegetables, I decided to give Michael Ruhlman’s grilled vegetable terrine a shot.Accidental Locavore Eggplants and Squash

In return for some recipes for cherry tomatoes, my farmer was cool enough to let me pick up my farm box early in the morning, after I had asked for an “advance” of a couple of zucchini and a squash. Someone who knows me well had given me the perfect Le Creuset terrine a while ago so I was set.

It’s a pretty easy recipe and great for this time of year when everything is at its peak. There’s a lot of prep work, but it’s mostly slicing and grilling and then assembly. The hint about wetting the terrine before you line it with Saran wrap is almost worth the cost of the book and thank you Mrs. Wheelbarrow for pointing that out.Accidental Locavore Veggies for Terrine

With any terrine, a little pre-planning is important, especially in this case when style points count. Since I had both green and purple basil, an alternating leaf pattern on the top (or the bottom as you’re layering) would be a good jumping-off point. There were no red Roma tomatoes at the Greenmarket, nor red peppers, so it turned out to be a medley of greens, purples and yellows. I added some chopped thyme to the goat cheese layer but otherwise played it pretty straight.Accidental Locavore Grilled Vegetables

The final result? A lovely if a bit monochromatic terrine. The verdict? Delicious! Everyone had seconds and there was barely anything leftover. The leftovers were the filling of choice for omelets the next morning (and highly praised). My thoughts? For the next one, longer eggplants and I would divide up the goat cheese instead of having one thick layer. The oven roasted/dried tomatoes seemed a little tough, I might just grill them with everything else. And for some crazy reason, I kept expecting artichoke hearts to show up, so in the future they will. The thyme and basil were good, but there could have been more of it and maybe a little garlic?Accidental Locavore Terrine Cross Section

 

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Recipe: Veal Meatballs With Baby Artichokes

by Anne Maxfield on October 15, 2010

Accidental Locavore Veal MeatballsWhen the cool weather comes, the Accidental Locavore always wants to make these meatballs, but baby artichokes aren’t always around. This week, we hit the jackpot and found them in two colors! At the new (and pretty amazing) Eataly, they were there in both green and purple, so of course we had to have them in both colors. It’s a lot of prep work, but nothing difficult, and the results are worth it.  I serve them over egg noodles, but feel free to improvise, and let me know what you like to serve them over.

Adapted from Chez Panisse Cooking, serves 8

  • 5 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 medium yellow onions, finely diced
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 pounds ground veal (ground turkey would work fine)
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley (I use flat leaf Italian)
  • 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
  • 3 large eggs (or 2 jumbos)
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  • 15 baby artichokes (if you can’t find fresh, you can use frozen artichoke hearts, but it’s really worth it to find fresh)
  • 1 box cherry tomatoes, peeled (to peel the tomatoes, put them in a pan of boiling water for a minute, drain and they’ll peel really easily)
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2/3 cup green olives (I use olive salad for muffalettas) coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus additional lemon juice for the artichokes
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth

Make the meatballs: In a large saute pan, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, add the onions, salt and pepper them lightly, and cook over moderate heat until soft, about 8 minutes. Do not brown the onions. While the onions are cooking, put the veal, parsley, eggs, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl. Add 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/3 cup of the cooked onions. Mix well. Form into meatballs about 2″ in diameter. You should have about 16. Put the remaining onionsin a large gratin pan or casserole and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Wipe out the saute pan, and add the rest of the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs and brown them on all sides (about 2 minutes a side). While the meatballs are browning, prepare the artichokes. Snap the outer leaves off until you reach the pale green center. Cut off the stems, and trim the bottoms. Cut off about 1/2 inch of the tops, quarter them the long way, and put them in a bowl of water with the juice of 1/2 lemon as you work.

When the meatballs are browned, add them to the baking dish with the onions. Drain the artichokes, and add them along with the tomatoes, garlic, olives, and sage. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice, and the chicken broth. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Serve and enjoy.

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