Jamaican Curry Chicken

Phew, time sure does fly, doesn't it? I feel like every time I turn around another month has passed. Summer's over and fall is just starting to set in here in London. We've been lucky and had sunny 20˚C weather for the past two weeks, but apparently that's over starting Friday!

In just three and a half months I'll be making the big move across the globe to Sydney, Australia to start medical school. I can tell ya: it's a bit stressful to plan out. I have expressed many times how I wish someone else could plan everything and I just have to okay it. But, life is rarely that simple or convenient, right?

So on days where the breeze is getting a bit cooler (and maybe you're stressing out about moving to the other side of the Earth), comfort food is a must. To me, comfort food encompasses everything from a big casserole filled with pasta and cheese, to a a simple dish of braised chicken. Today, I have a version of the latter. Behold, the Lowe's Jamaican chicken curry. My mom has been making this for my brother and I for forever, and it's never failed to make me feel warm right down to my toes. This is truly a mother-specialty and I'm super excited to share it. Ridiculously simple, enormously delicious, and perfect for those days when you just want to bury yourself in the couch and marathon TV.

Jamaican Curry Chicken
Ingredients
• 8-12 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 package of Grace's Coconut Cream*
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 3 tbsp Jamaican curry powder (or regular curry powder, if you can't find Jamaican)
• 1/3-1/2 cup of water, depending on how thick you like your gravy
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 2 potatoes, cubed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

*if you can't find Grace's Coconut Cream Block, use 1/3 cup of coconut milk and reduce water to 1/4-1/3 cup

Directions
In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, onions, garlic, coconut, thyme, curry, water, and the scotch bonnet pepper.

Heat a large pot over medium heat with just enough oil to cover the bottom. Add chicken thighs in batches and brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. After all the chicken is browned, add the rest of the curry mix to the pot and simmer with a lid for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add potatoes. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the potatoes and the chicken are fully cooked, season with salt and pepper. If you like your gravy thicker, mix together 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 1 tbsp water to make a slurry and add it to the pot. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Daring Cooks: Brined Roast Chicken

Audax of Audax Artifax was our November 2012 Daring Cooks’ host. Audax has brought us into the world of brining and roasting, where we brined meat and vegetables and roasted them afterwards for a delicious meal!

So I've been pretty busy these last few months. I feel guilty. I haven't updated in ages, but in my excuse, I just started my fourth year of university. My undergrad has just flown by. I'm also doing a thesis project at the St. Joseph's Lawson Health Research Institute (what a mouthful). I'm working with Dr. O'Gorman and his two PHD students Christina and Justin. The focus of the lab is Dupuytren's Disease. I won't bore you with the scientific details, just know that it's a lot of work!

Anyway, this month's Daring Cooks challenge was one that was perfect for the cool fall weather. My mom swears by brining her turkey. It makes the meat succulent, moist and tasteful. I did my first solo brine over the summer using Anthony Sedlak's recipe and it was so good my roommate asked me to make it for her this month.

Brining may seem like a lot of work, but it's really simple. You just have to make what is, essentially, salty water and soak the meat in it. Not too hard, right? And the payoff is huge!

As I said before, I used Anthony Sedlak's brined chicken recipe from his book, the Main. I modified it a bit, but it's a great recipe for anyone willing to try this awesome technique out!

Anthony Sedlak's Brined Roast Chicken
Adapted from The Main, by Anthony Sedlak
Ingredients
Brine:
•3 cups water
•3 cups white wine
•1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
•1/2 onion, roughly chopped
•10 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
•2 teaspoons whole peppercorns
•3 bay leaves
•3 springs of rosemary
•2 sprigs of thyme (or 2 tsp dried thyme)
•1/4 cup salt
•1/4 cup sugar
Chicken:
•1 3-3.5 lb chicken
•2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
•2 sprigs rosemary
•4 sprigs thyme
•1/4 cup softened butter
•1 onion sliced into 1/4 in rings
•2 large carrots, chopped into 1" pieces
•2 bulbs garlic, tops cut off lengthways
•3 medium potatoes (white or sweet), chopped into 1" cubes
•1/4 cup olive oil
•salt and pepper

Directions
For the brine: combine all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Let cool to room temperature. Place chicken in a pot or roasting pan big enough to hold the chicken and the brine. Cover the chicken with the brine, weighing it down if you need to. Place in the fridge overnight.

Roast chicken: Preheat oven to 400C. Remove chicken from brine and pat dry. Strain brine, reserving solids. Smear half the butter and the sliced garlic under the breast skin. Tuck fresh herbs and brine solids (onion, celery garlic cloves, etc) inside before trussing chicken.

Rub remaining butter into skin and season generously all over with salt and pepper. Arrange onion slices, carrots, garlic and potatoes on a lightly oiled roasting pan. Place chicken on top. Roast in the oven for about 1 hour or until juices run clear. Rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Daring Cooks: Braised Chicken in Tomato Sauce

The March, 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Carol, a/k/a Poisonive – and she challenged us all to learn the art of Braising! Carol focused on Michael Ruhlman’s technique and shared with us some of his expertise from his book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”. 

This is my first post as a Daring Cook! I was so excited to finally be able to join the Daring Kitchen now that I have a blog. Hilariously enough, I'd never done a braise before this, so it was educational and delicious! I wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but in the end Loblaws decided for me. Chicken thighs were on sale at the same time as Ragu tomato sauce. How could I resist? 

This recipe is probably as simple as a braise can get. The braise itself only takes about 45 minutes, but man does it taste good. The chicken just oozes its goodness into the sauce and the sauce evolves into something epic. Man I'm being poetic, but as you can see, it surprised me how good it tasted! And, sure enough, it got better with age.

This recipe is perfect for those who don't like fussy recipes with a lot of ingredients or steps involved. The recipe I'm giving you is a great starting point for epic personalization. Potatoes would be a great addition to this and can be cut into cubes and added with the tomato sauce. Carrots would be great too, but go even further with the root vegetables! Add parsnips or rutabaga. I used BBQ spice, but really any set of spices and herbs would work great. Also, feel free to make your own tomato sauce, but as I said above, if you don't have the time nor energy, a good store-bought tomato sauce can be just as good. 

I served it with brown rice one day, then ladled it onto pasta another. Any starch would work great. Foccacia (or any bread) would be the best, I think, because you'll want to sop up all that awesome sauce!
Enjoy~

Braised Chicken in Tomato Sauce
Serves 4-6
Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 chicken thighs, bone in (skin-on is optional)
• Kosher salt
• 1 can (16 oz) of good tomato sauce (or homemade)
• 1 tbsp your favourite BBQ seasoning
• 1 chili pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 cup of your favourite root vegetables (potato, carrot, parsnip, etc), chopped into cubes

Directions

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. When the pan is hot, add the chicken skin side down. Work in batches if they don't all fit and make sure not to overcrowd the pan. 

Sear the chicken on both sides until a nice golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. When all the chicken is browned, set them aside on a tray.

In the same skillet, add the onions, chili pepper, ginger and garlic. Saute until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add BBQ seasoning and season with salt, to taste.

Return the chicken to the pan. Add tomato sauce and potatoes and stir. Turn down the heat low, cover (leaving a bit of room to let steam out) and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 30 to 45 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked through, taste for seasoning and serve over pasta or rice, or with bread or foccacia. 

Fricassee Chicken

When I say that I grew up on this, I'm not kidding. My mom used to make fricassee chicken at least every other week. The smell of it takes me straight back to my childhood, even now. The recipe comes from my Jah-Po (grandmother), but, naturally, throughout both her and my mom's lifetimes, it went through some changes along the way.

It's one of those recipes that never touched paper, but was passed on simply by through lessons in the kitchen. When I asked my mom for the recipe, she warned me that there are no real measurements, no 'cups' or 'tablespoons'. Those are the kind of recipes I love, but I wanted to share it, so I've done my best to put it in terms that are a bit more specific than 'a bit of this and a bit of that'.

The habanero (scotch bonnet, according to my family) adds a Jamaican flavour to the dish. If you don't want it too spicy, don't pop the pepper! Or, to be safe, feel free to leave it out altogether.

Fricassee Chicken

serves 8

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• Pinch of ginger
• Pinch of all spice
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
• 3 medium potatoes, cut into 1" squares
• 1 large carrot (or a handful of baby carrots), chopped into 1" cubes
• 1 tablespoon corn starch + 1 tablespoon water
• 1 scotch bonnet

Directions

Place thighs in a large bowl. Mix with soy sauce, onion, garlic, thyme, ginger, all spice, salt and pepper until coated.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add chicken thighs, skin side down, working in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan. Sear on both sides, about 3 minutes each side.

Remove chicken from pan. Deglaze with 1/2 cup water. Return chicken to the pan along with the cherry tomatoes, onions and any sauce leftover. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

After 20 minutes, add potatoes, carrots and scotch bonnet. Cook for another 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is completely cooked and the potatoes are soft.

Make a slurry by mixing 1 tbsp each of water and corn starch in a small bowl or cup. Add to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, or until thickened.

If you want more gravy, add more water (any type of stock would work here too).

Serve over rice (Jasmine is my favourite).