Archive for the ‘Veg’ Category
A Top Chef Curry by a Mediocre Cook
I swear to god that was a gorgeous plate of food. Maybe if I had a decent camera you could tell that last night I cooked a delicious chicken and eggplant curry. But that is not currently the case. Actually, it kinda looks like I made vomit treebark stew (maybe next post). Not that I have any professional photography experience, but I can usually salvage the footage and make it look decent. Last night though the pics just weren’t coming out and there wasn’t really anything I could do to change that. Meh, the day I can finally invest in a quality camera will come and that day my friends will be a joyous one.
So last night’s Thai curry was inspired by the Blaze & Dale Top Chef team-up back in Season 4. At the time of the show’s airing I was really curious about learning how to make complex, creamy curry so I made the dish for some friends for our regular Top Chef gathering the following week. What I love about this dish is the process of making the curry. The melting of the sugar, the sweating of the veg, the simmering of the coconut milk, are all really satisfying for me to put together. And if you do the curry right, then you can really do anything else you want with the dish.
I hate tofu so I’ve always used chicken, and the veg is really up to you depending on how much time and energy you can devote to the dish. Last night I did just the eggplant and skipped the green beans. Honestly, next time I do the dish, I’ll probably skip the eggplant. Unless you’re really craving a tempura-ish fried veg it’s a lot more work than I think is worth. The curry is going to make everything taste amazing so use whatever veg you prefer. Top Chef curry from last night follows..
Butternut Squash Soup with an Apple Twist
Ever since I got a pressure cooker for Christmas I’ve been making soups on the regular. Nothing fancy. Honestly, I’ve only really put together butternut squash soup (and pumpkin soup one time when I stole a whole pumpkin from my neighbor’s yard that had been sitting out since Halloween.. it was still good and Giant was out). But so far my favorite recipe has been one my mom recommended to me that included an apple. Crazy right? Or brilliant?! It’s not fall anymore but it turns out squash and apple are pretty good friends. This recipe is one of the better ones I’ve tried, but all you really need is the veg and some stock.