I’ve had 2 requests for the Chicken Country Captain recipe. To be frank, I never got around to making this dish Thursday because Wednesday the trusty husband was out of town and I didn’t want to fix Chicken Piccata for the boy and I (I was lazy) so we had that Thursday. This normally would have moved Thursday’s dish to Friday, but our friends Matt & Heather came for dinner and I didn’t have any defrosted chicken and I had leeks that needed to be used. Therefore Friday we had Poached Beef with Leeks instead of the Cabbage Apple Stew. That’s how it works around here.
So I can’t give you a review on how good the recipe is, but I can direct you to where I got it from. The trusty husband was listening to NPR one day (ok, he listens to it every day) and they had Greg Atkinson on. They had gone to the Bainbridge Island farmers market and charged Greg with making a dish with only what he could buy at the market. The dish he came up with was Tian Provencale. Derek thought it sounded good and asked me to make it. Which, by the way, is excellent, but use fresh breakfast sausage and hubbard squash. Also, make sure you use the arborio rice it suggests. I’m drooling a little just thinking about it.
While at northwestessentials.com I did some browsing and they had a curry section. Now I loves me some curry. Of all the spices I took to Russia, my curries were at the top of the list. Sadly Greg only lists 2 curry dishes. Chicken Country Captain looked the best. I still have some of the perishable ingredients in my fridge so it will likely show up this week.
Tricia also asked about pizza. Handmade pizza is a staple in our house. The stuff I make tastes quite a bit like pizza you would get in Russia. Very simple.
I can’t tell you how many pizza crust recipes I’ve tried over the years. Dozens. But none are as good as plain old Betty Crocker. The recipe makes 2 pizzas. But there are tricks to make it come out just right. First, I use King Arthur brand unbleached white flour (this is my all purpose). Yes, flour does make a difference when making doughs. Next, use a pizza stone. I have a Pampered Chef one and bake my pizza directly on it. I stretch out the dough and put it directly on the stone. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes (and don’t get too many thin spots or else it will be soggy). Then par bake the dough about 7ish minutes before you put your toppings on.
For toppings: my standard sauce is just store brand tomato sauce directly out of the can. Seriously. I don’t add any spices. Not even salt. Ok, I add salt if the trusty husband is dining with us. If it is just the boy and I it is out of the can onto the dough. I also buy fresh mozzarella. The kind in the big ball. But make sure it is the fresh stuff. I still want to make my own cheese, but I haven’t quite gotten there yet. Anyway, I slice the cheese up and put it on the pizza. That’s it. I throw some basil on occasionally.
For a really awesome pizza I’ve thrown on some pepper jack smoked sausage. Now that was good pizza.
Sounds yummy. I do my homemade pizza a little differently. I drizzle extra virgin olive oil on the dough, add some very finely sliced fresh garlic (to taste…I like lots) and toss on a bunch of fresh feta cheese. Oh! Sooo good. I’ve also been know to toss on some roasted sweet peppers when the mood strikes me.
The only caution is to be sure everyone in the house eats it or you will be killing each other with garlic breath.
That does sound tasty! I prefer the Joy of Cooking pizza recipe – I don’t like sugar in my pizza dough. I also put olive oil on my pizza before adding sauce to add a little extra flavor. I haven’t tried recreating the pizza at home, but one of my favorites is roasted garlic, shredded chicken, and goat cheese (but not feta). It’s a special treat from Moose’s Tooth, and so I haven’t wanted to try making it at home.
Those both sound fantastic. I usually use honey in my dough (I sub honey for sugar in most recipes). I also don’t put olive oil on anything since I’m allergic to it. We use grapeseed oil here. My fav pizza is roast chicken and artichoke heart with just grapeseed oil no red sauce.
yum, all of these recipes sound great! i have committed to a lasagna this week, but will definitely give the Tian Provencale and the curry recipe a shot soon. can’t get any good curry around here!
Now if I could just figure out how to have the computer make these for me too, life would be GOOD.
P.S. I don’t add salt either, but my husband cooks with a salt lick.
yum! all these sounds great.
My fav is made without tomato sauce – it’s mozz, parmesan, and fontina cheeses, sage, walnuts and red onions. SCRUMPTIOUS. it’s got olive oil on the crust under all that cheese, but you could easily use grapeseed oil instead.
And, just wanted to give a shout out as a fellow curry fan. Love love love it. Can’t get enough.