Pork, Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pie with Gouda Biscuit Topping

Sense of Home Kitchen

Last weekend while grocery shopping we were tempted by the pot pies, making me realize just how long it has been since I made us pot pies.  We have been tempted by them in the past and one brand has satisfied, but mostly we have been disappointed, there just are not enough vegetables in the pies.  So I make our own.  I have a wonderful recipe for a chicken pot pie that I will have to share sometime.  Last weekend we passed up the store-bought pies for homemade and I am so glad we did.  When I got home I began searching for a new recipe to try (I guess making the old standby was just too easy).  This time I had decided to make a pork pie knowing I had both pork stock and shredded pork in the freezer.

I often make a pork roast, shred it and put half in the freezer to be used another time.  I save the stock and if I am not using it immediately I add that to the freezer as well.  I had purchased a large container of mushrooms at the market and when I saw a recipe for mushroom and lentil pot pie, both ingredients I love, I was intrigued.  The addition of sherry to the recipe is a must, and not that salty cooking sherry, buy a bottle of real sherry and use it for cooking, you will not be sorry.  In this recipe the sherry puts the sauce over the top.

Normally I use a pie crust recipe for the topping, even making the pot pie in a pie pan with a top and bottom crust, that is good, but I wanted a different crust this time as well.  This biscuit crust is quick and easy to prepare and popped off it makes a nice biscuit to eat along side the "stew", or dig in with a spoon and eat them together.  Just remember not to over fill the little individual pots or they will run over as mine did, which means you will lose some that wonderful sauce.  However, just in case, that pan under the pots sure saves on the clean up time.

Pork, Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pie with Gouda Biscuit Topping
~Sense of Home Kitchen, adapted, almost beyond recognition, from Bon Appétit, November 2010

This recipe can be made in individual pots or in one dish with the crust over the whole thing.  Chicken chunks and stock would be equally good, as would a variety of vegetables, but I love the mushrooms and sherry and think they are a must, you be the judge.

6 - 8 servings

Filling:
1/2 cup uncooked lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (approximately 2 cups)
1 large carrot, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
1 stalk celery, diced
2 teaspoons dried, rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 1/4 cups pork stock
1/4 cup dry sherry

2 medium Red potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch chunks (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups cooked, shredded pork
Salt and Pepper

Topping:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
6 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup (packed) coarsely grated Smoked Gouda cheese, divided
1 tablespoon dried parsley


For Filling:
Combine 3 cups cold water, lentils, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium saucepan; bring to boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, approximately 25 minutes.  Drain; set lentils aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add diced onion and sauté until it starts to look translucent, add fresh sliced mushrooms and sauté 2 minutes more, add carrot, celery, sage and thyme; sauté for another 3 minutes.  Add garlic and sauté 1 minute, stirring often.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Mix flour into vegetables; cook 1 minute.  Add pork stock, sherry, potatoes, soy sauce, and tomato paste.  Cover; simmer until potatoes are almost tender, stirring occasionally,  approximately 12 minutes.  Add cooked, shredded pork and heat through, about 3 minutes.  Add lentils; season with salt and pepper.  Divide filling among eight 1-cup ovenproof bowls (do not overfill or some of the juices will be lost during cooking).  DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead.  Cover; chill.  Bring to room temperature before continuing.

For Topping:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in processor; blend 5 seconds. Add butter, pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add buttermilk and 1/2 cup of Gouda; pulse until dough forms moist clumps.  Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface.  Divide into 8 equal pieces; shape each into a disk just larger than the top of the baking cup.  Butter the top edge of the baking cups.  Set rounds atop baking cups, letting the dough overlap and pressing down slightly.  Sprinkle each round with a small amount of dried parsley.

Bake pot pies on a baking sheet for 15 minutes.  Divide remaining Gouda cheese between the cups and top biscuit with a small mound of cheese.  Continue baking until tester inserted into biscuit topping comes out clean, about 10 minutes more.


Sense of Home / Recipes / Pork / Main Dishes

The Pleasures of Home Cooking

Sense of Home Kitchen

Home cooking starts with ingredients, and simply put that makes all the difference.  Several years ago our situation was such that I needed to take a full time job, which meant my son would move from home schooling to public school and that my daughter would not have the opportunity to be home schooled.  With that change came the hectic life of a mom working full time, dinners prepared in a rush, and me asking the kids several times if they had their homework done, too distracted while throwing something together for dinner to properly listen to their answer (they still laugh about that).  I felt overwhelmed and even began buying those bags of prepared frozen dinners for to nights when "I was too busy to cook".  After a few months of that (perhaps longer if I am being really honest), I began to realize that reheating factory prepared foods (even if it was only a few nights a week) was no way to feed my children, or my husband and myself.

Proper nutrition and good taste do not come from a bag or can, it comes from ingredients prepared lovingly at home. I needed to make a change, I had shifted from a homemade life to a fast-paced, store-bought life, and I didn't like the person I had become.  I could not quit working so I had to adjust my attitude, making dinner for my family should not a burden or chore, it should be a pleasure.  I was nourishing my family, the most important job I had to do in any given day.  Yet, how would I manage both a demanding full time job and a growing family?

I started to plan ahead.  I kept the meals simple, before going to the grocery store I thought about what we would eat in the week ahead, even thinking ahead to what I would make each night, and made a list.  With the ingredients on hand and a plan in mind, dinner was not a rushed, thrown together affair, it was well thought out, nutritious, and we sat and ate together.  Some of the meals were still made in a hurry, but they were homemade.

Gradually I made some other changes, after not planting a garden for a few years the garden was back and I was using vacation time to preserve the produce from our garden.  I found that rather than being just one more item on my long list of "things to do", the garden was a pleasure.  It slowed me down and gave me time to relax and meditate.  I began preparing more dishes with fresh ingredients and learned to cook vegetables I had never cooked before.  I did not want any of the produce to go to waste so I made time to can again, even learned to pressure can.  Once you start on the homemade path there is just no stopping, soon I was butchering chickens and pressure canning my homemade chicken stock.  Next came beef stock and homemade plum and apple juice, and soon I was writing about my kitchen and garden adventures here.

I do not always have the time to make everything from scratch, but once you try making your own pumpkin brioche bread, sprouts, kefir, yogurt, whole-milk ricotta, soups, home canned tomato salsa, and trail mix, to name a few, you begin to realize that it does not take as much time as you once thought.  With the kitchen garden out your back door and your pantry full of foods you have preserved there is always something handy to prepare for dinner and there are fewer trips to the grocery store.  You might even get carried away and start making all your own homemade cleaners, but that is a story for another post.

Sense of Home Kitchen / Homemade Living / Kitchen and Pantry

Wild Rice Porridge

Sense of Home Kitchen

We have been to Hell's Kitchen, in downtown Minneapolis several times for breakfast.  A few of those times we have gone with our family and, of course, we always share bites with each other.  The Lemon Ricotta Hotcakes are so light they really do "melt in your mouth" as the menu says, the Huevos Rancheros have a real kick (especially with a little "bottled hell" on top), the homemade yogurt is both lemon and vanilla at once, and the Bison Sausage Bread with a side of homemade peanut butter is always a must order.  But the one thing I simply cannot resist ordering is the Mahnomin Porridge, it is heavenly, rich in flavor and texture.  I always tried to figure out the recipe so I could make it at home, but without success.  Then one year, at a library conference a book salesman had the book, "The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook" on display, as I paged through the book I came across the restaurant's recipe for Mahnomin Porridge and could not believe I had the key to making this delicious porridge at home.  I asked if I could buy the book and found out it was only for display, I started writing down the ISBN information and title so I could order it when I got back home.  The salesman must have picked up on my excitement, because he then gave me his display copy.  I was thrilled to be able to make this recipe and more from that restaurant right in my home.  Not that we wouldn't stop at the restaurant the next time we were in the cities, mind you, but I would not have to wait so long for the porridge I craved.

Wild rice is not actually rice, but an annual water-grass seed with the scientific name Zizania Aquatica.  It grows in greatest abundance in the shallow, cool lakes of Northern Minnesota and the adjacent area of Canada and was a staple in the diet of the Chippewa and Sioux Indians.  Interestingly wild rice grown on state waters must be harvested in the traditional Indian way, which means canoe, pole, and two rice beater sticks are necessary.  There is an interesting article on wild rice here.  I have always wanted to join in on a traditional wild rice harvest, it is a fascinating process.  There is an article and video on harvesting wild rice by Grist.org here, if you have not seen a wild rice harvest before, check it out.

Wild rice is rich in nutrients and a good source of fiber and Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, while at the same time it is low in calories.  It is a good thing too, because in this recipe you add several calories with the half and half and maple syrup.  The porridge is so filling, though, a half a cup will likely be enough.  My husband was not so sure about wild rice for breakfast and had not tried my porridge at the restaurant.  When he tried it at home, because I set it before him one Sunday morning he said, "this is pretty good", surprising even himself.

Wild Rice Porridge
~By Sense of Home Kitchen, adapted from the Hell's Kitchen of downtown Minneapolis recipe as it is printed in "The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook"~
The Hell's Kitchen porridge is called "Mahnomin Porridge" because it uses ingredients native to Northern Minnesota. In my adaptation I replace an ingredient with sliced almonds, which would not be native to that region, so I have renamed the recipe.  I have also lightened the recipe a little.  You can find the original recipe in the cookbook mentioned above, a cookbook full of recipes using foods local to Minnesota, one worth owning if you are from the region, and perhaps even if you are not.  Do not miss eating at their restaurant if you are in the area, and by all means, try the porridge, you will be hooked.

Serves 4 (though I would argue that you could serve 8 as this is very filling porridge)

4 cups cooked wild rice
3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup half and half cream

Topping: (optional)
milk, warmed
fruit, fresh in-season or home-canned

In a heavy saucepan, add the cooked wild rice, toasted sliced almonds, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, and maple syrup and cook over medium-high heat, about 3 minutes.  Add the half and half and stir constantly while heating for approximately 2 minutes more.  Spoon into bowls and top with warmed milk and fruit, as desired.

Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Breakfast

Potato Corn Chowder

Sense of Home Kitchen

Every summer I cream the corn while cutting it off the cob and freeze it for winter.  This year, while cutting corn off the cob, I decided that when winter rolled around I wanted to make a corn chowder with some of the corn.  Well, even though it was a mild winter, I could have done so when temperatures hovered around 20 degrees, but no, I waited until we got up to 60 degrees to make my chowder.  It was just as good.  I like a good soup no matter what the season.  Today, while temperatures threaten to reach 80 degrees (in March! mind you) I have decided to share my soup recipe.

Red skinned potatoes are good in a soup, they hold together well after boiling and they do not have the dry or mealy texture of some other potatoes.  Of course, bacon is yummy, the bell peppers add a sweetness, and the half and half is creamy, but my favorite part of this soup is the heat from the white and red pepper added at the very end.  Oh, when that hits the back of your throat it warms your whole body and makes you smile.

I am sitting outside with the cat as I write this, just can't get over how beautiful the weather is, I am looking at my garden and starting to plan what I should plant this year.  I want to plant more vegetables to eat right away.  I will can tomatoes as usual, but I don't think I will devote much space to green beans, just enough to eat at the table in summer.  I want bell peppers, jalapeños, a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes, lettuces, a variety of colorful carrots and eggplant to name a few.  I have a small garden, just 10 feet by 30 feet, so I can't plant everything we want to eat and preserve for winter so I will plant mostly garden to table vegetables, my parents have more space for canning produce and there is also the farmers market.

Potato Corn Chowder
~Sense of Home Kitchen, adapted from Gourmet, July 2008~
Makes 6 - 8 servings

4 cups corn, cut off the cob, along with the cream of the corn
3 cups of 1/2" cubed red potatoes (approximately 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, drippings reserved
2 tablespoons reserved bacon drippings
2 quarts chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups half and half
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Salt to taste

Cream the corn as you take it off the cob, instructions here, dice potatoes, bell peppers, carrot, and onion.  Cook bacon, reserving 2 tablespoons bacon drippings.  Set bacon aside to cool.

Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large soup pot, add diced potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Turn heat down to low, cover and simmer potatoes, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile place bacon drippings in sauté pan along with onion and saute until the onions are translucent.  Add bell peppers and sauté until tender.

Add to the potatoes and stock the sautéd onions and bell peppers, corn and its "cream", and thyme. Cover and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately ten minutes more.

After potatoes and corn are tender, add half and half, white pepper and cayenne.  Warm over low heat until the soup begins to simmer, do not boil.  Add salt to taste and serve.


Sense of Home / Recipes / Soup 

Homemade Kefir

Sense of Home Kitchen

Kefir, or fermented milk, dates back centuries to the shepherds of the Caucasus Mountains who discovered that fresh milk carried in their leather pouches occasionally fermented.  For years it was not known outside the Caucasus region, however, Marco Polo did mention kefir when recounting his travels.  In time though reports about the health benefits spread.  Today, this mildly self-carbonated dairy beverage continues to be popular in Russia, Eastern Europe, and southwestern Asia and is gaining popularity in Western Europe and the United States.  Kefir can be made with cow, goat, soy, and even pure coconut milk.

We regularly bought kefir at the store for over $4 a quart, enjoying both the taste and health benefits.  Then I decided to try my hand at making kefir, I just needed the kefir grains to get started.  Typing "kefir grains for sale" into Google brings up plenty of sites where grains can be purchased.  Once they are purchased you can continue to use and grow your own for future use.  Instructions on how to make the kefir come with the grains, it is very simple and no special equipment is needed.  If you leave the milk to ferment longer you can even make kefir cheese.  The photo above makes it appear thick, but that is a very soft scoop off the very top, give the kefir a stir and it is liquid.

A healthy digestive tract is key to a healthy body.  We cannot get rid of all harmful bacteria, but the secret is to balance the sides so you have more healthy, beneficial bacteria than harmful toxic bacteria.  A probiotic is a microorganism that contributes positively to the body's health.  They are considered friendly bacteria, also called flora.  Friendly bacteria make up 70% of our immune system and are critical to our body's ability to fight infection. These friendly bacteria can be found naturally in foods such as yogurt and kefir.  Approximately one pint of yogurt contains close to 1.5 trillion organisms, while kefir has a whopping 5 trillion organisms.  Making kefir a super food, providing a real boost for our immune system and digestion.

After chilling the kefir, I simply blended it with some cherries I had frozen last summer.  Then I opened this jar of cherries I preserved back to 2010 to eat with our frosty breakfast drink, they were still good, but it was time they were eaten.  I have been going through the freezer to make sure we are eating up all the fruits and vegetables that I froze in 2011 and I have been sorting through the pantry, rotating canned goods, making sure nothing has been hiding and that the oldest is used first.  We can make our own kefir for the price of a quart of milk (I use cow's milk), saving us about $2.50 on each quart of kefir, well worth the small amount of effort I have to put forth.

For a green smoothie try this recipe, or perhaps you are in the mood for a Salted Mint Lassi, just substitute kefir for the Greek yogurt in the recipe. 


Sense of Home / Homemade Living / A Homemade Life / Kitchen and Pantry

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sense of Home Kitchen

I love muffins, these last two posts are evidence of that fact.  Muffins are the perfect 'breakfast on the go' food and these muffins could also be dessert.  The pumpkin contributes to the moist texture of these muffins and the chocolate satisfies those cravings we get from time to time.  Perhaps it's my inner nerd self, but I find food history facts fascinating.  For instance did you know that the word muffin first appeared in print in the early 18th century and that muffin recipes began to be published in the middle of the 18th century?  No?  Well , now you do.  I learned that little tidbit and more over at foodtimeline.org.  American muffin recipes printed in the 19th and 20th century cookbooks were more like what we know as English muffins, and these cake-like muffins I made today appeared in those early cookbooks as "tea cakes".  I believe that is probably a better description because they do contain a fair amount of sugar.

These muffins can be mounded above the top of the muffin tin line, they will not overflow.  So go ahead and fill or overfill your muffin cup and get a large rounded muffin-top, the best part of the muffin.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
~Sense of Home Kitchen, inspired by a Gourmet 2008 recipe and a desire for chocolate~

Makes 1 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plain yogurt, whole milk or low fat
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. with the rack in the middle.  Prepare muffin tin with muffin papers or by greasing the tin.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium-size bowl.

In a large bowl mix together butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla.  Gradually mix in flour mixture stirring until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.


Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Muffins

Graham Flour Date Muffins

Sense of Home Kitchen

Graham flour is not the same thing as graham crackers, at least not anymore.  At one time graham flour was the main ingredient in those crackers most of us have eaten as a child, my mother has this wonderful picture of me with my face covered in graham cracker.  In fact, using graham flour is how the cracker got it's name, now the majority of graham crackers are not made with graham flour.  Graham flour is really just the process used when grinding the whole grain.  Wisegeek has a nice explanation of this process.  In 1829 Sylvester Graham invented the flour that was given his name.  He had some radical health ideas, including taking cold baths or showers, but he had many followers of his lifestyle and we now have this healthy, slightly sweet, flour.

With the addition of dates only a little honey is needed to sweeten these muffins, making these a very healthy breakfast muffin.  I also like using coconut oil as the fat in these muffins because it adds a slightly sweet, coconut flavor.  Each ingredient adds another layer of flavor, making the whole greater than the sum of it's parts.

By mixing the dates in with the flour mixture they remain separated in the muffin, otherwise dates tend to stick in one clump, preferring to land in the muffin paper as a chunk, making the time you spent chopping an exercise in futility.

Graham Flour Date Muffins
~Sense of Home Kitchen~
Makes 1 dozen muffins

2 cups graham flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup honey
1 cup plain yogurt, whole milk or low-fat
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease muffin tins or prepare with muffin papers.  Mix the first six dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.  Pit and chop dates and add to the flour mixture.  Stir.

Warm coconut oil over low heat until it just dissolves and cool slightly.  Combine the honey, yogurt, coconut oil and eggs, mix well.  Gradually add the flour and date mixture and stir until just combined.  Spoon into prepared muffin tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes.  These are excellent served alone or with a dollop of mascarpone.

Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Muffins  

Summer Fruit Crisp

Sense of Home Kitchen

I wash a canning jar or freezer container nearly every day, today I washed four of them.  The summer and autumn seasons are busy with canning, freezing and dehydrating.  By the time winter comes around my pantry is full of both the foods I have preserved and those I have stocked up on.  I have only needed to buy fresh produce, milk, and very few other items at the store this winter.  I have gone weeks without going to the store, saving us money and time. Our plan to keep the grocery bill low has been working so far.

To make sure that plan continues to work I have been consistently using food stored in the pantry and freezer, if I don't have an ingredient there I have changed the recipe or the menu.  Out of that plan came this recipe.  What is better than a taste of summer in the winter.  These fruits were stored away last summer for use this winter and I am so glad I put forth the effort.  Strawberries, rhubarb, and peaches make a very good combination for a crisp and one that has the taste of summer.

Summer Fruit Crisp
~Sense of Home Kitchen~
Although fresh fruit is often best, this crisp works equally well with frozen or canned fruit.

2 cups diced rhubarb
2 cups strawberries, cut in half
2 cups sliced peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup regular oatmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
6 tablespoons butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a deep dish baking pan, my 7 x 10 x 2 dish worked perfect.  Place rhubarb, strawberries, and peaches in the dish.  Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly and crumble on top of the fruit.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is cooked and bubbling.  Serve with a scoop of whipped cream or ice cream if you wish, but plain will give the full summer fruit flavor.

Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Desserts

Chicken Masala

Sense of Home Kitchen

Well, we didn't get the forecast blizzard or the promised 8 - 12 inches of snow, but the 5 inches I began shoveling off our extra-wide driveway after work sure felt like nearly a foot.  I swear snow doubles when it hits our driveway, the wind must swirl in that area or something.  I spent an hour and a half shoveling (or exercising, as I like to think of it) and the minute I went inside it started snowing big, beautiful flakes of snow again, another inch worth, though I failed to see the beauty this time.  My muscles in my shoulders and arms always tighten up and cause my hand to go to sleep when I shovel, so I tried rubbing on the magnesium oil we sell in our health food store, it is supposed to relax and loosen muscles.  I must say I am impressed, no sore muscles, even a day later.  But more importantly, what are we eating?

This quick and easy chicken recipe I found in an old Bon Appétit was tender, juicy, and full of Indian spice flavor.  It reminds me a little of Murgh Dahi, except this dish has lots of onions roasting with the chicken, the ones on top are crispy and smell wonderful.  I also love the Garam Marsala spices, if you can't find the premixed spice, here is an easy recipe and there is another one here.   While cooking I turned on some music and relaxed.  My taste in music is very eclectic.  While making this juicy chicken I listened to Gotye, Of Monsters and Men, Adele, Broken Bells and Taken By Trees.  That last one, the East of Eden album, seemed particulary appropriate for the East Indian dinner I was making.

I love these one pot meals, less clean up and everything is ready to eat at the same time.  Just add some fresh vegetables and serve.  Two weeks ago I had a craving for fresh greens, an unbelievably strong craving, like no other food craving I have ever had before.  I figured with winter in full swing and my garden a distant memory my body was trying to tell me I haven't had enough fresh vegetables lately.  So off to the store and home with greens.  I starting eating broccoli and alfalfa sprouts immediately and then moved on to a spinach and blueberry smoothie.  My cravings were finally satisfied, but I have made more of a point of including fresh greens in my diet.  Broccoli with this chicken, and I am sprouting a variety of seeds to add to salads and sandwiches.

Chicken Masala
~Sense of Home Kitchen adapted from Bon Appétit, February 2010~
Serves 4

1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon garam masala (an East Indian spice, buy premixed or make your own here or here.)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 3- to 3 1/2-pound roasting chicken, quartered, backbone removed
freshly ground pepper
2 small onions, sliced
3 medium carrots, each cut in two pieces

Place quartered chicken in a baking dish and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.  Mix yogurt, cilantro, olive oil, garam masala, salt and garlic in a small dish and pour over the pieces of chicken.  Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  Can be made one day ahead.  Keep refrigerated.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare onions and carrots and place them in the baking dish, some on top of the chicken, some under and around the chicken. Place the baking dish in a preheated oven, uncovered, and bake until cooked through and juices run clear when thickest portion of thigh is pierced, about 1 hour.  Serve with onion slices and carrots, spoon pan juices over the chicken.


Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Poultry