Country Captain

One 2-3 pound frying chicken
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 Tblspns butter
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup finely diced onion
1/3 cup finely diced green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 Tbspn curry powder
1/2 tspn crumbled dried thyme
One 16 oz can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
3 Tbspn dried currants
Blanched toasted almonds

Cut chicken into small pieces.  Wash and pat dry, coat
with a mixture of the flour, slat, and pepper.  Heat
the butter and oil in a large skillet; brown the
chicken on all sides.  Remove chicken and add the
onion, green pepper, garlic, curry powder, and thyme
to skillet.  Stir over low heat to loosen the browned
particles.  Add the stewed tomatoes.  Return the
chicken to the skillet, skin side up.  Cover and cook
slowly until tender, 20-30 minutes.  Stir the currants
into the sauce.  Serve accompanied by almonds.
Serve over egg noodles or pasta.

Notes - 
When I made it the other night I used two boneless
skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks and then
cooked them as suggested.  I might use three or for
breasts next time.
As per your Mother's wise advice regarding sauce, be
it any kind, make three times as much as it says.  The
recipe is meant to present the chicken as the main
feature of the meal with a bit of sauce over it.  When
Susie made it she thought the "serve leftover sauce
with noodles" advice sounded better, so that's how I
make it too.

Enjoy.


p.s. from Jessica
These instructions are from Susie via email sent to me 23 February 2008, with further notes I added in an email to Maren on 10 March 2008.  That's just two days after little Jonah turned five years old.  He is approaching nine this coming March.  Time rules us all.
The first time I had this dish I was lost in the divine deliciousness of it.  The ingredients are simple and few, but the flavor is unique and powerful.  I have made this several times when we have company and plan to serve this to the lucky missionaries tonight.  
Love and miss you all.

Spring Panzanella

This was heaven.  My pregnant taste buds may not be the most reliable right now, but I'm pretty sure everyone else will find this as delicious as I did.  I may have found myself a new signature salad.  Bonus: it is satisfying enough to serve as a main dish.

Credit: fresh365online.com
(http://www.fresh365online.com/recipes/2009/4/6/spring-panzanella.html)

Spring Panzanella
serves 4

1/2 loaf day-old French bread, cut into 1" cubes*
4 T olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 small bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed
1 medium leek, sliced thin
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 15.5-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed**
1 c wild arugula (or other spring greens)
1 T fresh mint leaves, chopped
2-3 T fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c olive oil
1/4 c white wine vinegar

Arrange bread cubes on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Drizzle with 4 T olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.***  Broil 2 minutes, turn, and broil an additional minute, until golden brown.  Let cool.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil and add asparagus.  Boil one minute, drain and run under cold water to stop cooking.  Chop into 1" pieces and transfer to a large serving bowl.  Add bread cubes, leek, red onion, beans, arugula, mint, basil and garlic.  Toss with olive oil and white wine vinegar.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.****

---

*I used the Rosemary Garlic loaf from Costco.
**I used Garbanzo beans.
***I tossed the bread cubes with not only olive oil and salt and pepper, but Parmesan cheese as well, with satisfying results.
****I also added fresh squeezed lemon juice to the finished salad, which gave it a bit more zing.

Fresh 365

I feel like weeping.  With joy.  Because my life is about to be changed.

I have found www.fresh365online.com.  I hereby pronounce any of you who have known about this blog and not told me: guilty of high treason.

I feel like these recipes were written by my alter ego.  You know, the one with no kids and an east coast designer job and the time and wherewithal to be 100% devoted to CSAs and adapting vegetarian recipes and never letting fresh produce go bad in the fridge.  These recipes contain delightful spins on all of my favorite ingredients, and none of the ones I loathe.  They are simple enough not to take too much time, but gourmet (and meatless.  and local!) enough to satisfy my higher-than-the-average-American's food standards.  And hello, variety!  I have been in such a food rut lately, which is not hard to do as a vegetarian mom with little time to spare exploring the complexities of Meyer lemons and fiddlehead ferns.  Thank you Erin for doing it for me.

Stay tuned for my reviews of some sure-to-be fabulous recipes.