Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I lost track of everything

Update: Images inserted, finally...


I can't... oh, I won't... no, no, I don't want to remember this day. I don't know how I will ever forget it though. You know, on this day when Congressional leadership questioned the CEO's of various banks which received 165 BILLION duckets about what became of the money we gave them. It seems the American dream took a hard left at prosperity and dropped off an ugly cliff of greed leaving behind all notion of Doing The Right Thing and We're All On The Same Team. Bonuses for throwing businesses down the toilet. While I hear people saying how sweet a deal that is, in my corporate life I would never have wanted that check: I would not have been able to live with myself. I worked for shareholders who believed in us and a family which built a 4 billion dollar concern from the ground up with their own hands, hearts, and minds. You know, much the same way all the tax dollars these banks stole was amassed in Washington to begin with.

Here at The Hostess, I generally stay out of things, it helps to know ones place. But I acquiesce this once and tell you the above because it is the reason I got a bit befuddled, even discombobulated, and cannot find certain things I need to download photos of this "delightful" - my Mom's word, not mine, so you know I'm not selling you some bridge at Merrill Lynch's corporate headquarters - Country Captain recipe as published recently by the New York Times. They also published photos, gratefully.

I love this recipe for a handful of reasons: Because I lived in Charleston and miss it terribly. Because it is rich, bouncy, and unexpected at the same time it manages not to put you off with unusual ingredients. And it was ready in a flash. Which was great because it gave me time to chase the resident Akita who found yet another way to free himself from the "dog containment system" which is more like an "Akita amusement device." Ah. How do I love this precious rescue dog I found as a baby with his feral pack under the porch of a historic site? How do I adore the way he thanks me for... okay, I digress. He's a good dog but for the running, bounding, and leaping off the property, and he too loved this groovy chicken one dish meal, Country Captain.

In case you are wondering where the saintly Corgi was while all this was happening: Right by the stove, watching the food intently as always...

Country Captain
adapted from this New York Times recipe
Serves 4



Some souls here in Blushingdom do not eat chicken on the bone. I substituted cutlets and, while the thighs the recipe called for would have been more juicy and moist, the cutlets did just fine.

Serve with rice as is the Low Country tradition: I use brown but it's a free country.

Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons butter
4 chicken cutlets, 1/2 pound each at least
4 slices bacon
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 tablespoons currants
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes and their juices
3 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and the thyme in a bowl. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat until it foams. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off excess, and fry, in batches if needed, until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat in the skillet.

Return the skillet to medium heat, add the bacon and fry until crispy. Transfer to a plate. Once cool, crumble and set aside.

Add the onion, pepper, garlic, curry powder and 1 tablespoon of the currants to the skillet and sauté over medium-high heat until soft and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, bring to a boil and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof casserole large enough to hold the chicken snugly in one layer. Arrange the chicken on top. Pour the remaining sauce over and around the chicken. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for 5 minutes more.

Top with the crumbled bacon, remaining currants and slivered almonds ( I threw this under the broiler for 5 minutes then as I forgot to toast the almonds to begin with, it worked perfectly). Serve with rice.


1 comment:

Martha said...

Love all your blogs . . . and you have a corgi! One resides at Linderhof as well -- or should I say Linderhof is owned by one as well?