Butter Chicken

We love curry in our house, and butter chicken is definitely a favourite, and not at all difficult to whip up for a weeknight dinner. (if you add all the other selections pictured on the plate, you're into a marathon cooking session with masses of dirty dishes, spatters of yellow yumminess all over your kitchen and a very happy belly at the end!) but, I am only sharing the butter chicken recipe at the moment, and it stands alone very well.

I used chicken thighs, as I feel they have more flavour, but breasts could easily be substituted (2 large ones would probably suffice). Just to note, I have also made this with leftover rotisserie or roasted chicken, deboned and chopped up, and added at the simmering stage below. Just start the recipe where you saute the onions, and you're good to go!

With any recipe, a bit of pre-prep is always a good idea, but I find with curries, there are so many spices for the layering of all that yummy flavour, having them measured out and ready to add helps alot! If you like a spicier dish, feel free to increase the cayenne! As it stands this recipe has a nice mild heat with a ton of flavour.

I will include the links at the bottom for the other recipes if you are into marathon- kitchen-destroying-but-oh-so-much-fun cooking sessions , and I promise I will also add a link when I finally get my grain free naan recipe posted as well.

Butter Chicken

8-10 skinless boneless chicken thighs
2 tbsp butter 

4 tbsp of butter, divided into 2 tbsp chunks(yes...MORE butter :) )
4 smallish cooking onions, peeled and chopped (a generous cup ish)
3 tsp of garam masala
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of cumin

½ tsp cinnamon 
½ tsp of cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
1 Tbsp. of grated ginger (use a kitchen rasp or fine grater)
3 garlic cloves, minced
S&p to taste

796 ml canned diced tomatoes
½ small can of tomato paste

1/2 can full fat coconut milk( approx ¾ cup)

Method:

Chop into chunks and then saute chicken thighs in 2 tbsp butter in a large cast iron pan until browned on all sides. I gave a quick grind of sea salt and black pepper while the chicken was browning. 

Remove from pan and set aside. Depending upon the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches. If your pan is crowded they will steam rather than brown. 

In the same pan, Sauté onions in 2 tbsp butter over medium heat until slightly softening and just starting to brown, approx 5 min. 

Add spices, garlic and ginger, sauté for 2-3 more minutes. 

the amount of spices included

in this recipe is CRAZY, but

oh so yummy!!

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, stirring well to combine. 

Add the chicken back to the pan, bring to a quick boil, and then reduce to a simmer for approx 15 minutes. (if you are serving rice, this is a good time to put on a nice pot of basmati rice to accompany your butter chicken!)

Stir in the coconut milk and last 2 Tbsp. of butter and 

additional salt and pepper to taste if needed. 

sorry for the steamy picture but the 

saag paneer was cooking on the 

front burner and tried to take over 

the shot!

Warm thru and serve with hot basmati rice or naan.

Other recipe links:

This recipe includes both a recipe for the paneer, and the recipe for the delicious saag paneer pictured on the plate above. I used fresh spinach instead of the frozen suggested in the recipe, just adding it to the pan in batches and tossing with tongs as it cooks down.
http://selfreliantschool.com/make-worlds-easiest-cheese-plus-delicious-indian-recipe/

These lovely little samosa patties were divine, although we tweaked them as we all felt they needed a deeper flavour. I added a 1/2 tsp each of garam masala and coriander, and 1/4 tsp of cumin to the curry powder, and added an egg as it seemed to need some glue to form the patties.
http://theprettybee.com/2014/03/spiced-samosa-patties.html

This raita is a wonderful palate cleanser and cooler between bites of different curry dishes.
http://www.marthastewart.com/851902/cucumber-raita

prepped ingredients ready to add to the pan!

Quick Tuna and Tomato Sauce

I threw this sauce together one night this week when my pre-planned dinner fell thru due to a lack of kale in the garden. I picked some to go in a big pot of soup  and realized that there was not near as much left as I previously thought, so the creamed kale and eggs plan had to be back-burnered for the time being. A quick inventory of my cupboard revealed these ingredients, and in less than 15 minutes, we were eating this tasty meal. I didn't even take any pictures (gasp!) during the cooking,  not really expecting it to be as tasty as it was. Luckily the leftovers that I packed for lunch willingly posed for a picture J  It is well worth sharing, and much healthier (and cheaper!) than take out. This fed 4 of us for dinner, and there was enough left for 2 lunches. Frugal, healthy and tasty, give it a try!

Quick Tuna and Tomato Sauce

1 cup thinly sliced onions

2 tbsp butter

1 796ml can diced tomatoes (look for BPA free cans, like Eden)

1 184g can flaked tuna (ethically caught)

2 tsp dried basil

Salt and pepper to taste

---------

“noodles” of choice ( We had ours over spiraled zucchini noodles, the boys had their favourite gluten free pasta.)

Heat butter in a large cast iron pan over medium high heat. When it starts to bubble, add the onions and sauté until they start to soften, and almost start to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add the basil, tuna and tomatoes, stir to combine. Bring to a boil and let simmer until your noodles of choice are ready.  Season with salt and pepper and serve with your “noodles”.   Top with grated cheese if desired.

Oven Roasted Tomato, Onion and Garlic Sauce

This post  is pretty typical of how I create a lot of my recipes. If I have a plethora of something to use up, I usually throw something together to use up whatever that plethora may be. This time of year there is always an excess in the garden just begging to be used. Tomatoes were the needy ingredient of the day, and with the fruit fly invasion that has been plaguing my kitchen, time was of the essence! The ingredients won’t have exact measurements, but I will try and give a general idea of how much to use. The tomatoes were not any specific kind, I used some of every type in our garden, from the “tiny tim” cherries to the larger red ones that have no name, (I think there was even one green zebra!) So, not your typical sauce tomatoes, but any should work just fine!

This sauce is pretty fuss free, no peeling/blanching/straining required, just some time to roast in the oven, a perfect way to warm up the kitchen on a cool fall morning. The roasted onions add a nice body to the sauce, no need to boil it down for thickness. This is an awesome technique for peeling garlic that you have to try. I will warn you it is loud, but when you are peeling multiple cloves, it is a real time saver! All in all, an easy sauce with great roasted flavour.

Served over zucchini noodles, with
meatballs and a grain free biscuit.

Oven Roasted Tomato, Onion and Garlic Sauce

Tomatoes, (when chopped up, mine made a nice single layer on two cookie sheets)

Garlic (approx 8-9 cloves)

Onions (12 smallish onions, or 3-4 regular sized yellow cooking onions)

Coconut oil, melted (enough to give a drizzle to both pans)

Salt to taste

1 tsp Coconut sugar (optional, but rounds out the flavour)

Preheat oven to 425F, and line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

these are what I consider a "smallish" onion

Chop your tomatoes (the tiny cherry tomatoes I left whole) into smaller chunks (see picture below for clarification).

Peel and chop your onions into similar sized chunks, add to the pans.

Peel your garlic (awesome way to peel a whole head of garlic here! It really works!!), cut cloves in half and add to the pans.

Drizzle each pan with some melted coconut oil, if I had to guess I would say there was about 1 ½ tbsp used on each pan.

Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, and roast for about 1 ½ hrs in preheated oven. Check every so often, you want to remove them when the veggies are starting to brown and release their juices.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before proceeding.

Lifting the parchment carefully, transfer the contents of both pans into a large mixing bowl. Using an immersion blender puree the sauce until it is nice and smooth.  (if you don’t like the seeds, you can strain it at this point, I generally don’t) Add the coconut sugar if desired, and re-season with salt to taste.

Serve immediately or store in mason jars in the fridge for 3-4 days, or in the freezer for 6-8 months, (just remember to leave room for expansion if freezing)

Mine made approx 7 cups of sauce.

Roasted Tomato Confit with Thyme

 A few weeks back, I wrote a note about the grain free zucchini pancakes that I made for a quick lunch one day, and waxed a little poetic on what else they would be good topped with. Well, I came up with a beautiful tomato confit, roasted with sprigs of thyme, that was AMAZING on the pancakes. So good that I am making another batch tonight, because I think it will be just as amazing with our with our bbq’d chicken thighs tonight!

The recipe is a bit shy on measurements, it is one of what I call my scoop and dump recipes, but it is pretty easy, and this gives you a general idea.

Fill your pan (whatever size you wish) with halved or quartered tomatoes in a single layer. Quarter a few cloves of garlic, and add them to the pan. Take some fresh thyme sprigs and nestle them in among the tomatoes, and give a few grinds of sea salt and black pepper. Follow this with a healthy drizzle of olive oil (I usually do not cook with olive oil, but the heat for these tomatoes is not crazy high, and the flavour really marries well with the tomatoes)

Place in a preheated 300 F oven, for about an hour. You will know they are done when the tomatoes have released a lot of their juices, and they are just starting to brown on the edges. 

Remove the thyme sprigs before serving, as the stems are woody.

Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!!