Cardamom chicken curry

Sometimes you have most of the ingredients of a recipe, but not all. Depending on how you feel about improvising, you have a few options. You can simply proceed without those ingredients, and see what happens; you can substitute something similar; or you can go out and buy those things. Almost always I'll choose 1 or 2. Occasionally I'll get a final result that's nothing like the original. But that's okay too, because it's usually still pretty good.

As happened with this chicken curry. I wanted something to use up two packages of chicken thighs, and I liked the idea of a curry made with yogurt. This is the original recipe. I had green cardamom and turmeric, but not the other more exotic spices. I decided to make it anyway. I skipped a few ingredients that I didn't have (cilantro, fresh ginger, black cardamom); it ended up more like a spiced yogurt version of chicken cacciatore.

But you know what? Still pretty tasty.

Fettucine with poppy seeds and prosciutto

This is my adaptation of a recipe from Saveur using tagliatelle. I used fettucine instead (linguine would be okay too) and left out the scallions (because I didn't have any).

The poppy seeds are a fun twist on this.

Don't forget: if you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute whole milk with a spoonful of white vinegar added to it. Let it sit for a few minutes before using.

2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
½ cup white wine
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup heavy cream
1 lb. tagliatelle or fettucine
2 oz. prosciutto, thinly sliced
½ cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more to garnish
4 scallions, cut into ½″ slices
Juice of ½ lemon

Heat butter and oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add poppy seeds; cook, stirring, until fragrant and shallots begin to brown lightly, about 3 minutes. Add wine; cook until almost all liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Add buttermilk and cream; cook, stirring, until reduced slightly, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil; add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving a little cooking water, and add to sauce in skillet. Add prosciutto, Parmesan, half the scallions, and lemon juice; toss to combine, adding water if necessary to make a smooth sauce. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer to a serving dish; sprinkle with remaining scallions and more Parmesan.

Spinach dal

This is the perfect way to use up a big plastic box of spinach about to go bad, and half a bag of lentils.

I doubled the recipe, used green lentils, fresh spinach (well, fresh-ish), and no chiles.

From VeggieBelly:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
1-2 green chiles, slit (optional)
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 plum tomato, chopped
1 cup yellow lentils
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon heavy cream
1 cup fresh, washed, baby spinach leaves or red choy leaves, packed tightly

Heat oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the cumin seeds. When they sizzle, add the green chile if using, and stir 30 seconds. Then add onion, garlic, and tomato. Stir on medium heat till they are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the lentils and turmeric and stir 2 more minutes.

Pour 3 cups water and add salt to the lentils. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer. Place a lid on the saucepan and cook till lentils are done, about 15 minutes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, lightly mash the dal, so that the tomatoes and onion pieces are mashed into the lentils. Add the heavy cream and spinach leaves. Stir the spinach leaves into the dal till they wilt, about 1 minutes. Add more water to the dal, if needed.

Serve hot with rice, rotis or bread.

Spice simple syrup

By "spice," I mean a mixture of star anise, green cardamom pods, and a cinnamon stick. The resulting simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, add spices and let sit until cool; remove spices) is warm and fragrant. I haven't decided what to make with it yet, but I bet it will involve whiskey.

Rabbit with mustard sauce

The other day I discovered my local Stop n' Shop now stocks fresh rabbit. Intrigued, I bought one. (Cost: $20.) It was a good-sized whole rabbit, with giblets.

I determined to make rabbit with mustard sauce, or lapin a la moutarde. First I had to make my own mustard. Then I carved the rabbit into its various pieces, and marinated the pieces in the mustard.

Verdict: farmed rabbit isn't nearly as gamy as wild rabbit. Very lean, too. (In fact wild rabbit has no fat at all.) And delicious! Well worth a $20 splurge. My hubby and I cracked a good bottle of wine and had a civilized dinner, with conversation and everything.

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
Fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 chopped shallot
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
Fresh parsley, chives, tarragon, and/or chervil
2 to 3 drops fresh lemon juice

Coat the rabbit pieces with the mustard, and sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven, and brown the rabbit 5 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan, and add the shallot. Cook over medium heat until lightly browned. Add the chicken stock, wine, and cream, and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Return the rabbit to the pan, cover, and cook gently until tender but still moist, 45 minutes.

Remove the rabbit from the sauce, and strain the sauce. Return the sauce to the pan, bring to a boil over high heat, and cook until it's reduced to about 2 cups, about 6 minutes. Add fresh chopped herbs, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Spoon the sauce around the rabbit pieces and serve immediately (maybe with some egg noodles).

Saffron ice cream

I used up the rest of the saffron!

Note: saffron is expensive. For most recipes (maybe not this one), you can usually substitute turmeric.

1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
Scant 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
3 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar and cream in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and add the saffron. Let steep in the fridge for 4 hours. Strain that into a medium saucepan, reserving the saffron. Rewarm the cream mixture. Whisk together the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Slow pour the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until it thickens and coats the spatula. Pour through the strainer and add the saffron threads back in. Chill thoroughly, and make according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Homemade mustard

As I'm working my way through the weird stuff in my pantry (next up: star anise), I'm discovering new and exciting ways to use all of these things. A bag of mustard seeds = homemade Dijon mustard.

While I was grocery-shopping this week, I discovered my local grocery store is now stocking fresh rabbit. Naturally I bought one. I perused a bunch of rabbit recipes, and narrowed it down to recipes involving only things I already have (i.e., I didn't want to have to buy anything else in order to cook the rabbit). The winner: rabbit with mustard sauce, which I will cook tonight.

But I only had regular yellow kiddie mustard, no more Dijon/whole-grain mustard. I did have mustard seeds, white wine vinegar, and white wine. So I've made my own mustard for this rabbit.

No surprise, it tastes better than the store-bought stuff. I may have to start doing this on a regular basis.

Added bonus: it takes almost no effort.

1/4 cup mustard seeds
1/4 dry white wine (I used dry vermouth instead)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
pinch of salt

Combine everything in a non-reactive bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 2 days. Puree (keeping in mind this will never achieve a perfectly smooth consistency). Refrigerate for up to three months.

5-spice pork tenderloin with cabbage

1 pork tenderloin, thawed
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 large cabbage (red or green), cut into wedges
1 cup white wine or apple juice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Spice mix, made by combining:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground cloves, fennel seeds, ginger, and 1-2 broken up star anise
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Place the onion and cabbage in the bottom of a large heavy casserole or Dutch oven. Rub the mustard into the pork, and press the spice mixture into that. Pour the wine over the vegetables, and lay the pork on top. Roast at 500 for 15-20 minutes, and let rest 5 minutes before cutting.

A fun new spice to try: pimenton

The New York Times has a great article on pimenton, a smokier Spanish version of paprika. I remembered I had some in my spice collection, and added it to a potato-and-gruyere soup last night. Yum! If you can find some, I highly recommend picking some up.