January Roundup

So here's my report on my food/meal making project for the month of January. Sorry there are no pictures.


Basil Chicken in a Coconut Curry Sauce
Ok so this one I technically made before I decided to do this project thingy, but it was completely new and fantastically delicious, so I'm including it. Spiced up chicken stir fried with onions, jalapenos and garlic, served in a coconut milk based sauce over hot rice... yeah that's what I'm talking about. We both really enjoyed it and I'll definitely be making it again.
Source of recipe: Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook


Caramelized Shallots
In reading different food blogs written by people who know what they're talking about, shallots has come up several times as succulent and delicious. If you're like me and hadn't heard of them until recently, they're basically small onion-ish thingys. This dish was pretty straightforward: saute shallots in oil and butter, add some vinegar and sugar and let it go. Here's the thing. It wasn't bad, but there was still enough of an onion-y sort of taste to it, even when caramelized in butter and some sugar, that you didn't want to eat too many of them. Maybe its just that we don't have refined enough tastes. I think they would be great combined with something else instead being meant to stand completely on its own. That said, I would be up to experimenting with them some more in the future.
Source of recipe: Barefoot in Paris Cookbook

Craisin and White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Ok, so this wasn't really on my list, it just kind of happened one day, but again, it was something new that I've never made before. There wasn't anything particularly special about the recipe, but I still thought they were delicious, as did Matthew. I actually made part of them without white chocolate chips for Matthew (he's not a white chocolate guy, poor thing), and I also decided to roll the balls of dough in sugar before putting them on the baking sheet, which I think was a worthy decision.
Source of recipe: The back of a Craisins bag from Costco

Real Hot Chocolate
Lately I've really enjoyed drinking a cup of hot chocolate in the evenings, so when I realized  that I could make hot cocoa from scratch, I obviously made it the next day. It was everything I could have hoped and dreamed of and more: rich and creamy and chocolately. Loved it. Matthew thought it was a little too dark, but still fine. He's not as much of a hot cocoa person as I am anyway. I put in a little more sugar than what the recipe says, so I already had made it less dark than intended, but oh well. I certainly don't mind making it just for myself.
Source of recipe: The Food Network's Barefoot Contessa  
 Note: Don't worry, I didn't put in coffee like it says in the recipe. I also just used 2% milk.

Risotto
Again, this is something I've only been made aware of recently (thanks mostly to the TV show Hell's Kitchen), but was intrigued with it and decided to make it when I found a nice tutorial for it online. Apparently the trick is to stand and stir in small amounts of liquid into the rice for 20-30 minutes, then you add in cream and cheese (at least that's what we did). Our opinions on the end result varied: Matthew thought that the rice tasted fantastic when it was just chicken broth soaked rice, but did not like the strong cheese flavor of the finished product. I thought it was pretty good, although I will agree that the romano cheese did end up being a little overpowering. I think in the future I will only put in 1/2 or even 1/3 as much cheese so the cheese flavor doesn't overwhelm so much. It will be something I make again though, and I think that changing the amount of cheese will make it just about perfect.
Source of recipe: The Pioneer Woman cooking blog

Outback Restaurant Style Rye Bread
This was a good loaf of bread, although not exactly like Outback Steakhouse bread. It was a little more dense, perhaps, than their bread, although not too dense. The recipe I was following called for 4 cups of flour, 2 of rye and 2 of white. But after putting that in, the dough was still suuuuuuupper runny, so I added more flour (somewhere between 2 and 3 cups is my guess) until the dough looked more like dough and less like batter. Obviously this made it denser, but it would definitely not have made good bread if I had just left it at 4 cups. Anyway, it turned out good, and we've used the bread to make toasted rye turkey sandwiches a couple of nights, which has been super fantastic. I'm sure there are some other fun sandwiches or other things I could make with the rye bread as well.
Source of recipe: Grains Galore, a stake cookbook from my sister-in-law
 
Ok, well that's all for January. I put in the links for where I found the recipes for the risotto and hot chocolate above, if you're interested. I think I will also include the recipe for the basil/coconut/curry chicken below, if anyone is interested.

Basil Chicken in a Coconut Curry Sauce
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 of a large red onion, cut into thin wedges
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 13.5 or 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
3 Tbsp snipped fresh basil (I just used dried)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

In a medium bowl, combine curry powder, black pepper, 1/4 tsp salt and chili powder. Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces or so. Add spice mixture, toss to coat. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours to allow spices to penetrate meat.
Pour oil into a large skillet, heat over medium-high heat. Add onion, jalapeno and garlic, cook and stir about 8 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from skillet. Add half the chicken to skillet. Cook and stir for 4 to 6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Repeat with remaining chicken, then remove from skillet as well.
Stir together coconut milk, cornstarch and 1/4 tsp salt until smooth. Carefully add to skillet. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Return chicken and the onion mixture to skillet. Stir in basil and ginger. Cook and stir about 2 minutes or until heated through. Serve over hot rice.