This is a reader recipe in the current issue of Everyday Food. I didn’t change that much — I just opted to cook it in a slightly less hot oven (down from the original recipe’s 475 degrees for 60 minutes) and I added an onion in the cavity and broth/carrot/onion half on the bottom of the pan, as I tend to burn roasting pans without some liquid down there. And once you add broth, you might as well add some veggies.

Oh and I doubled the curry paste because, dude, that is good. Extra for dipping seemed like a given. And the best part? With only two if us, there’s roast chicken for lunch the next day!

Remember to check it after the first 20-30 minutes and cover it up as needed. The curry paste/honey will burn. A little is good, smoke billowing from your oven is bad. I covered after the first 25 minutes, then uncovered for the last 10 minutes of oven time. My chicken got a pretty dark but all was completely fine under the skin — moist and tasty! But, if I could back and do it again, I probably would have not uncovered it so long at the end — so, there’s a lesson for you.

Thai Curried Roast Chicken
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp red curry paste
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp roasted chili paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 5-6 pound chicken
1 onion, halved
2-3 carrots, chopped into 2-inch pieces
salt & pepper
1-2 cups chicken broth
limes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add the cilantro through the garlic in a food processor and combine. Divide curry mixture in half and set one of the halves aside, to be used as a dipping sauce. You can also just mix in a bowl if you like.

Rinse and pat dry your chicken (inside and out). Salt and pepper it generously.

Place one onion half inside the cavity and tie the legs together. Loosen the skin over the breast meat and run some of the curry paste under there. Then, slather the rest of the paste over the chicken and put on an oiled rack set in a roasting pan. Add 1 cup of stock to the bottom of the pan to prevent burning. Add veggies if you wish.

Roast for about 30 minutes, then cover with foil so the top doesn’t get too dark. Roast 45 - 60 minutes more, checking a few times to see if you need to add more stock to the bottom of the pan or adjust the foil for optimal browning/non-burning.

When white meat is 165 and dark meat at least 170, remove from the oven and let rest for about 10 - 15 minutes before carving.

Serve with lime wedges and coconut rice. We also had some sauteed green beans on the side which were really, really good. Also, bring out the unused half of the curry past for a dipping sauce. Mmm!

This was the best sandwich. Personally (and I know I am probably crazy) but I’m not a huge fan of corned beef or pastrami. I’m much happier with turkey or in this case, turkey pastrami.

So, this is kind of like a Ruben in that there is tasty bread (pumpernickel instead of rye), the earlier-mentioned turkey pastrami, swiss cheese and instead of sauerkraut, coleslaw. Oh and not just any coleslaw, fennel-herby coleslaw with orange zest.

It’s kind of like a Tyler Florence recipe I recently saw on Tyler’s Ultimate, except different (I went for cilantro and orange while he used lemon and tarragon). But, man, this was good. Throw in a grill pan for tasty grill marks and it’s like heaven on a plate. Oh and I just know I will be making this coleslaw all Summer long, with or without Turkey Rubens in mind.

Fennel-Herb Slaw:
1 large fennel bulb, fronds removed and halved
1/2 orange, juiced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 bag coleslaw mix
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp chopped chives
zest of 1/2 and orange
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Finely slice fennel using a mandoline (again, not the instrument), or the grater attachment on your food processor or just a knife (I went the knife route).

In a food processor, combine the orange juice, mayonnaise, sour cream, herbs and olive oil. Process until combined.

Add the dressing to the fennel and coleslaw mix and add the orange zest. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Make the Sandwiches
Slices of pumpernickel or rye bread
Turkey pastrami (or regular sliced turkey will work)
Dijon Mustard
Swiss Cheese
Tomato slices
Fennel-Herb Coleslaw
Olive oil

Lay the bread out and cover with the cheese and the turkey. Generously apply coleslaw.

Top with tomato slices and spread a little Dijon mustard on the other bread slices before bringing the sandwich together.

Heat a grill pan and add a little olive oil. Cook each side for about 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Covering will help the cheese meltage. You’re not really trying to heat it completely all the way through, just get good grill marks and melt the cheese. That is all.

Let sit about 2 minutes before slicing in half.

Holy crap that was tasty!

***
And now, it’s Wedding Stuff:

Oh look, I figured out the beverage menu stands (for the reception table). Four wine corks, tied together make a great stand for dinner menus or wine menus. I would love to take credit for this idea but I’ve seen it many places online…whoever came up with this? You are a genius!

I made three of these tonight…only 5 more to go.

This is really, really easy and super good. Who doesn’t have a bag or half bag of frozen peas in the house? With that and a few more items you could have an excellent dinner and even a lunch or two for later in the week. What a deal!

Aside from that, we had a great time in Ashland. The leaves were changing — it was very pretty and scenic. We ate at Dragonfly, Morning Glory and the Winchester Inn. More on that later in the week. For now — let’s get to the pasta!

Rustic Green Pea Pesto with Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Adapted from a recipe on the Whole Foods Market Web site
1 pound whole wheat linguine
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup packed basil leaves (you could also use mint — that sounds great for a Spring version of this dish)
1 tbsp capers, drained
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta-cooking water. Drain the pasta, then transfer it to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, combine the peas, parsley, basil, Parmesan, capers, garlic and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the oil in a steady stream while pulsing. Add salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning.

Toss the hot pasta with the reserved pasta-cooking water and pesto. Top with toasted walnuts and serve immediately. Oh fine. Add some more Parmesan cheese to the top as well.

This is another one of those cleaning the cabinets type of projects. This time it was a big can of tuna and a small can of black olives. Oh and I also got to use an avocado that really needed to be used. Not bad — a tasty meal and room in the cabinet for more cans of things I won’t use for six months. Hooray!

Since the sauce is nice, cool and creamy this also makes a great light meal when it’s hot out.

For sauce
Based on a recipe from Gourmet magazine
1 medium avocado, pitted and peeled
1 tbsp low-fat mayonnaise
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 jalapeno chile (including seeds), stemmed and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup fat-free milk

For tuna cakes
Based on eating frugally in grad school and jwa’s love of olives
1 12 oz can tuna in water, drained and flaked into a bowl
1 egg
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (+ 1/3 cup more for coating)
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/4 teaspoon salt

Optional garnish: 1 tomato, sliced

Make sauce:
Pulse avocado with mayonnaise, lime juice, salt, sugar, and one fourth of chile in a food processor until chile is finely chopped. Add milk and purée until smooth. Add more chile if desired, processing until smooth. Transfer sauce to a bowl and chill until ready to eat.

Make tuna cakes:
Stir together tuna, egg, chives, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper, olives, red bell pepper, garlic and 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs in a large bowl until blended well. If needed, add the other 1/4 cup of bread crumbs. You want enough bread crumbs to be able to make cakes that will hold together nicely.

Form into four patties and dredge in the remaining 1/3 cup bread crumbs. I used panko (Japanese bread crumbs) for the coating but normal breadcrumbs will work fine too. I just think the panko crisps up better and I had some on hand, so that’s what I used.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and cook tuna cakes until heated through and nicely browned. About 5-6 minutes per side over medium heat. You can also bake the tuna cakes in the oven on an oiled baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Just flip them over about halfway through cooking time.

To serve, put a couple of tomato slices on a plate, two tuna cakes and then top with the chilled avocado sauce.

I have started a new personal project. That project is to clean out both the cabinet and freezer of stuff that’s been in there quite a while and that I haven’t used yet. Step one, of course, is checking the dates (of the canned items at least). After that? Anything goes. And the first thing to go is the smoked trout.

After ascertaining that my can of smoked trout was still within it’s usable time period, I hunted for a recipe. Most of the interesting ones included some kind of smoked trout/apples/horseradish combination. Sounded good to me. As usual, jwa was skeptical, as he tends to be with meals that involve fish that we normally don’t eat often, but it ended happily.

Now, I will mention that I thought I had two tins of smoked trout, but then I remembered that I gave one away for the Postal Service food drive last weekend, so I only had one tin to work with here. That said, what I
made was enough for two people but I think two tins of trout would have been better. It seemed a little heavy on the apple, if you know what I mean.

So, if you want more substantial wraps, use two tins of fish. Keep in mind that you may need to up the mayo/horseradish. You could also, of course, just use the whole recipe here to make yourself one big, huge tasty wrap.

Smoked Trout, Horseradish and Green Apple Wraps
(feeds 1-2 people)
1 can smoked trout (about 1 small fillet)
1 tsp horseradish (or more to taste)
2 green onions, chopped or snipped
1 green apple, diced
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/4 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt & pepper
2 tortilla wraps
1/2 cup sprouts, spinach or the sandwich greens of your choice
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Rinse the trout if it’s packed in oil and flake gently into the bowl. Add the mayonnaise, horseradish, lemon juice, parsley, green onion and apple cubes. Mix to combine and taste, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Lay a tortilla out on a plate and put a healthy layer of sprouts/lettuce down the middle (about 1/4 cup per wrap). Top with the salad and then sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of the Parmesan cheese.

Roll up, slice and enjoy.

Oh, in other news I finally snagged a pint of Americone Dream at the Safeway on Hawthorne. Hooray for truthiness!

Mmmm, I love the asparagus. And this is an excellent asparagus soup recipe, based on one from Sara Moulton. Originally, the creaminess/thickening came from eggs — I used tofu instead. Again, tofu is the best thing ever for making soups creamy.

Huh, I think that’s all I have to say about the soup. Just make some and you too will know how good it is. On an unrelated note, I will add that aside from asparagus, I also love sleep.

Asparagus-Dill-Lemon Soup
1.5 lb asparagus
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, white part coarsely chopped and washed well
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp fresh dill, minced
1/2 cup soft tofu
Optionoal: more fresh dill and some lemon zest for garnish

Trim the ends off the asparagus but reserve the ends. In a saucepan combine the asparagus trimmings with the chicken stock, bring to a boil, remove from heat and allow stock to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain stock and reserve.

Cut the trimmed asparagus into 1-inch pieces.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over moderate heat and cook the leeks, onion and celery, seasoned with salt and pepper, until softened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the 1-inch asparagus pieces and stir to combine. Add the infused stock and bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 8 to 10 minutes until asparagus is tender.

In a blender puree the soup, in batches, until smooth. Add the tofu, lemon and dill into the batches of the soup as you blend.

Return pureed soup to large pot and reheat. Taste and adjust any seasonings. You can actually serve hot, room temperature or cold — so many delicious possibilities. Garnish with a sprig of dill and a strip of lemon zest.

***
I spent a few hours Saturday night perfecting the Save-the-Date card plan. It took a while but I think I finally have a design I really like. Now, we just need to decide on a location after next weekend’s field trip to Astoria and Ilwaco/Seaview. Then I can actually sit down and hammer them all out.

Je Mange la Ville is going on Spring Break. Back in about a week!

This was a recipe I found on Slashfood, which in turn was an overview of the Boston Globe Food Section. They, in turn had adapted it from Jamie Oliver. Hmmm, this dish gets around — it’s kind of a slutty recipe.

Anyway, it was very tasty. It makes the best weeknight dinner — it’s relatively good for you, it’s quick and damn, it’s addictive. I have to admit, I had two bowls. But, but, it’s healthy so that’s okay.

Chicken Stew with Grapes and Tarragon
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder (use good stuff — NOT garlic salt, I get garlic powder from Penzey’s and it’s very good quality and I love using it in coatings)
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 stalks celery, trimmed of leaves and thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup wheat rigatoni
1/2 cup seedless grapes, halved (so, here, I actually ended up using grapes with seeds. They were the best looking grapes, so I got them. I just scooped the seeds out when I halved the grapes. Green or red will work but I think red looks especially pretty)
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
Optional: 5-6 leaves red leaf lettuce, torn into smaller pieces

In a shallow bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the flour with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Toss with the chicken. Discard the leftover seasoned flour.

In a large soup pot on medium heat, heat the oil. Brown half the chicken. Remove the chicken from the pan; set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil if needed to brown the remaining chicken and remove it from the pan too. Cover with foil. Of course, if your pot is big enough, you can do all the chicken at once, just don’t crowd the pan.

Turn the heat to medium-low. Add the butter. Cook the shallot, garlic, and celery over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Stir in the wine, stock, and mustard. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any browned goodies. Next, return the chicken to the pan. Also add the uncooked wheat pasta. Bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan partially, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the pasta is just tender.

Turn off the heat and add the grapes, parsley, and tarragon. Cover and let the mixture sit for 3 minutes. Stir and dish up.

If desired, also add the torn lettuce before you lid the pan or if you just want to try it on a single bowl (and not the whole pot), you can add a few lettuce leaves to your bowl and cover with foil for 3-4 minutes so that the lettuce wilts a bit. I found that I didn’t dislike the lettuce but I think I liked it better without it. It’s worth trying though, because it certainly wasn’t bad.

Yeah, I know, I typically have a title picture of the finished meal but I couldn’t resist this one — my little lamb meatballs. They were so photogenic and pretty. The recipe is from Mediterranean The Beautiful Cookbook. You know, one of those huge, over-sized books with all the pictures that make you want to take a vacation to all the locales photographed within the pages. I came across it at the Borders in Beaverton on clearance for…I think it was under $10. I couldn’t pass that up.

While paging through the book, this recipe was one of the first that really caught my eye. This soup combines the meatballs, yogurt, egg yolk, mint, onion, garlic and noodles — some of my favorite things. In addition, I added some spinach to the meatballs and some bell pepper and tomato to the soup. I also used more noodle-product than the original recipe called for because, well, I like the noodle-product (gemelli, to be exact).

The soup goes great with some grilled flat bread or toasted baguette slices and a nice side of mixed olives.

Tutmac Corbasi: Yogurt Soup with Lamb Meatballs & Noodles
Meatballs:
1/2 lb ground lamb
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup defrosted spinach, drained of excess water and chopped (after you drain it, you’ll have less — probably more like a 1/4 cup — trying to remember this morning exactly how much spinach I used and I believe this was more like it)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp paprika (I used smoked paprika)
2 tbsp olive oil

Soup:
3 cups plain yogurt (I used 1 cup regular yogurt and 2 cups low fat yogurt)
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp AP flour
2 cups lamb or chicken stock or water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried egg noodles or ziti, casarecci, or gemelli pasta
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small tomato, diced
2 tbsp dried mint, crumbled

Start by making the meatballs. In a bowl, combine the meat, salt, pepper, paprika and drained spinach. Mix well. Form into tiny meatballs, about 1/2 inch in diameter.

In a frying pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the meatballs and fry, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate when done cooking. These will smell really good. Do your best to only try two to three meatballs while they are sitting to the side. They will call to you but be strong — remember, you need them for the soup.

In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg yolks and flour until well blended. Place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring slowly to a simmer. Add the stock or water and the garlic and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and reduce the heat. Simmer 10-12 minutes, until noodles are tender. Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

While the soup is simmering, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to a small pan. Add the onion, bell pepper and dried mint. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add the diced tomato to the pan, as well as the meatballs. Toss to combine.

Add the vegetables and meatballs to the sauce. Stir and let everything combine and come to temperature. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve right away with the bread of your choice.

Whatever happened to IMBB? The last one I saw was the soy one (which kind of fizzled out during the recap). Does IMBB go on Summer vacation or is it broken? Anyone know?

Midnight Fig
Here, finally is my Sugar High Friday#22 entry — only two days late. Not too bad. This month, the theme was — Can you can? Well, no, probably not. But, I can throw a bunch of ingredients into a pot, bring to a boil and store them in my refrigerator for a month. Does that count? I hope so!*

This recipe is based on one from Gourmet magazine. I found it at epicurious.com. One of the things I really like about that site is that the comments have all kinds of helpful hints and ideas. There it was suggested to use orange instead of lemon and to add some cinnamon to the mix. These were excellent suggestions!

My title image are the labels that I made for this SHF. That was the issue that made my entry late. I did the jam last week but procrastinated on painting, scanning and texting the labels until Saturday night — I was working on this until about midnight. And there you go.

Midnight Fig: Fig-Orange Jam with Cinnamon & Sesame Seeds
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 orange — zest it first though)
1/4 cup water
1 lb firm-ripe fresh figs, trimmed and quartered (about 2 pint-sized containers)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
zest of 1 orange
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Simmer the sugar and orange juice, plus the water in a large heavy saucepan, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Next, gently stir in figs, cinnamon and zest, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick and syrupy, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

I think mine took about an hour and 15 minutes. When it’s done, stir in sesame seeds.

The original directions stated that this would keep about a month in the refrigerator. This is also excellent on crackers or slices of baguette, along with some creamy goat cheese.

Also, I’ve discovered that if you slather about two tablespoons of the jam on a pork tenderloin, along with some salt, pepper and fresh thyme leaves and then pan sear it in some olive oil, it is very good.

Finish it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the temperature is about 140-145. Mmmm!

Check out all the SHF entries here. Thanks to Delicious Days for hosting the event!

* Standard Disclaimer: I’d like to state that this is in no way “real” canning or preserving. I didn’t sterlize anything and this went right in the refrigerator like any leftover or homemade sauce.