Butter Chicken & Homemade Naan

DJ helped prepare one of his favorite dishes, one that I got hooked on while discovering Indian food when I lived in London. The homemade naan was the best I've tried yet. The recipe calls for placing your dough in a cast iron skillet for 30 seconds then heating the other side of the naan over an open flame to achieve an authentic naan look and taste. I was hesitant at first, but I lit my burner next to my cast iron skillet and got to work.

I absolutely loved this result!

Butter Chicken
---------------------------------
1 ounce clarified butter
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
2 chicken breast halves, cubed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3/4 cup cream
1/4 teaspoon garam masala

Melt clarified butter in saute pan & cook onion & garlic for 2 minutes. Combine seasonings & toss with chicken. Saute in butter & onion until browned.
Add tomato paste, cream & garam masala & simmer for 5 minutes.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cupcakes

I was searching the Ciao Italia website the other day for a soup recipe I wanted to try. I had never seen the show before, and never did find the actual recipe I was looking for. I did, however, come across this recipe for Chocolate Olive Oil Cake. It intrigued me....a cake with olive oil?! No eggs?! I have to say, the cupcakes were a hit! I brought them to line dancing the other night, as we were celebrating a birthday. And, I made the recipe again but made it into a 9x13 cake. Brought that to work for a pot luck. Everybody loved it! And so will you! The frosting is delicious, too! I used the almond flavoring.

French Chocolate Granola

I received a nice e-mail from my parent's e-mail address (I assumed from my father who has always shown an interest in our blogging adventures). All it said was,
"Happy Valentines Day to the O'brien family from mom and pa! What recipe do you use for granola? Orangette's recipe sounds good."

So I reply back, "Happy Valentine's Day to you too! I use Bea's Best Granola recipe (the same one mom has)."

The reply... "what do you mean "the same one mom has?"

I replied with the actual recipe and this was the response... "Thanks for the recipe but I'm still wondering who the "she" is who gave you the recipe."

Then it occurred to me, the original e-mail must have been from my mother, not my dad! Needless to say, this lead me to investigate Orangette's recipe (she has several on her site) and I decided on the French Chocolate Granola. Magnifique!

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

I've been looking for some recipes for soup that my family will love. I came across this soup recipe at SmittenKitchen.com and wowza, was it good! The chorizo that I had on hand was not "sliceable" and cooked up into a sort of mash. It had such great flavor, but little substance. I sliced up a package of beef brats and threw them in and that did the trick! I made a rustic loaf of no-knead bread that went perfectly with the soup. I've learned by trial and error, that the best way to make the bread is to let it do it's second rising in a large bowl, lined with a piece of parchment paper. Then you just lift it into your heated dutch oven and you don't have to fuss with wheat bran or cornmeal. This was a meal that made us all happy. It deserves a smiley face!

Sliders

I've been craving sliders lately, but was unable to find any cute little buns to serve them on. I decided to make my own using Rhodes Frozen Dinner Roll Dough. I baked 12 in a 9x13 pan (vs. the 20 that they recommend on the package) This allowed them to be more "bun" shaped than "pull apart dinner roll-ish". I made 8 patties out of one pound of our lovely grass fed ground beef that we bought this fall from some friends, and lightly salted and peppered the little beauties. I fried them up (would have preferred the grill) and served them with some butternut squash fries that I had roasted in the oven. While we were thoroughly enjoying our meal, we all fantasized about a "Slider Bar" with offerings such as; sauteed mushrooms, bacon, BBQ sauce, fried onion, blue cheese etc. Because of their small size, you can eat 2 or 3 (or 4, in DJ's case). You could create a unique taste for each of them. We were perfectly happy with cheddar, pickles, lettuce and avocado!