Cardamom and Ginger Chicken with Cashews

Here is another Hubby favorite. I have to admit that I haven't made this one in a while. I really love this dish too, but the overnight marinading sometimes puts me off. Plus, as per Mr P, this dish really should be served a day after making it because it tastes much more flavorful once its been sitting a while. When I do make it, I like to make a big batch because it freezes really well, and if I do go through all the trouble of making it, its just as easy to make double. On a day I am doing nothing I could serve this to Hubby (after defrosting) and he will think a big fuss is being made over him. All I have to do is cook the rice. If you haven't figured it out yet my dears, there's nothing Hubby loves more than to be fussed over. It gives him a little glow to his complexion. There's nothing wrong with making your significant other think you worked really hard, even if you didn't, especially if there is something lovely in the shops at the moment.

Serves 4 (2 chicken thighs per serving)

Ingredients:

8 skinless chicken thighs, on the bone

2 tablespoons of garam masala

7 cardamom pods, bruised with a pestle and mortar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of chilli flakes

2 teaspoons of chopped fresh ginger

2 teaspoons of salt

5oz full fat plain yogurt (Greek yogurt is even better though)

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 finely chopped onions

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 oz cashews

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

3 tablespoons of olive oil

First, combine the garam masala, cardamom pods, cinnamon, cilli flakes, ginger, salt, turmeric and yogurt. Mix into a paste. Cover the chicken thighs in the paste and let it sit overnight, covered and refrigerated.

Once marinated, fry onions and garlic in olive oil until softened. Add chicken with any extra marinade, plus add just enough water to cover the chicken. Add tomato paste. Once the chicken is cooked, reduce the liquid to a desired consistency (I like the sauce to be nice and thick, personally). Finally, add cashews.

Hearty Lamb Stew

Why would I be making a heavy stew for the summer? Well, it seems like summer hasn't really even arrived in this part of the UK yet. August has now started, and I think we have only had one week of sunshine. It's a little annoying, especially because Hubby got me the most super fab sunglasses EVER and I can't find the right excuse to show them off. I actually turned the heating on twice this week AND I almost got caught in a mini hail storm one day walking home from an errand (luckily got in the door in the nick of time). So, in honor of this frigid summer, I thought I would make this yummy hearty lamb stew.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may already know that if a dish consists of red meat, and involves me having to cook for hours, you've got yourself a Mr Persnickety winner. It's not actually that its hard to make or anything, its just that it takes a long time to cook. This recipe can take as much as 3 hours to complete, but I'll tell you one thing, its a total man pleaser! If you are stuck home on a rainy day, and lets say you want a fantastic new bag or something, cook this for your man. Good things will ensue.

This is a great recipe to play around with. Anything you put in here is pretty much going to taste good, so feel free to make any kind of changes and make this recipe your own!

Heavenly Housewife's Hearty Lamb Stew (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of lamb (or mutton works great too), cut into cubes

2 cubes beef stock

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 carrots, cut into chunky rounds

250g potatoes

a bouquet garni*

150g shallots (you could also use onions)

1 teaspoon marjoram

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

*If you can not buy a bouquet garni, you will need a couple springs of rosemary, thyme and a bay leaf. Tie these together with food-grade string, or tie them into a small piece of cheesecloth or muslin fabric (this will be fished out at the end of cooking).

Directions:

Cover the meat with water. Bring to a boil and remove any impurities that rise to the top. Simmer on low heat for an hour.

Add stock cubes, herbs and spices, bouquet garni, and tomato paste. Simmer for another hour. Stir the pot occasionally and make sure the water level doesn't get to low (if it does, simply add more water).

Chop carrots, potatoes and shallots into chunky pieces of approximately equal size. Add to the pot and cook until all vegetables are tender.

At this point, pay attention to the consistency of the liquid. You can add more, or if you like your stew thicker, you may reduce it. I recommend reducing it by removing all the pieces of meat and veggies into a separate bowl, and just leave the liquid with the bouquet garni. Increase the heat to reduce to the desired consistency and then add the liquid back to the vegetables. Serve with crusty bread or white rice.

Hubby's Favorite Chicken Curry

Here's another one of those recipes that I had on my abandoned blog. It was when I wrote this post (I don't know, maybe six months ago?) that Hubby got the name Mr. Persickety. I believed I titled the post something like "Dinner for the Most Pesnickety of Husbands", and ever since, I have been using "Mr. Persnickety" as one of the ways that I refer to my Hubby on this blog.

Hubby can be a terrible little fuss pot. If he doesn't like something that I make, its back to the kitchen. He pushes his plate away and makes a funny little face of disgust. I wish he would do the same to his mother!!! But no, this special treatment is reserved for the wifeykins. I can't say I mind terribly. For one thing, I do ask him to be honest. For another thing, I am usually thinking the same thing. Also, when he gives his approval, I know that he is genuine. This dish has the Mr. Persnickety seal of approval. If you are new to making curries, you might want to try this. Its pretty easy, and the results are really fantastic.

If you are new to Indian cuisine, here are some tips I learned along the way:

1) "Masala" is a very generic word which just means spice blend. This could be a mix of dry spices, as in "garam masala", or it could be like a gravy. Regardless, every masala tastes different.

2) When using a chili powder for the first time, keep in mind that they vary in heat from manufacturer to manufacturer. Err on the side of caution and just use half of what the recipe says, taste, and then add more.

3) Tumeric (also known as "haldi") is commonly used in Indian cuisine. Be very careful when using it, because it stains everything! I have learned this the hard way! Barkeeper's Friend is the only product I know of which gets tumeric stains off of counters.

Okay darlings, lets get to work and make some man pleasing curry!

Gordon Ramsay's Chicken Tikka Masala (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• Groundnut oil
• 1 large onion, peeled
• 2 fresh green chillies
• 1" piece of ginger, peeled
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 4 boneless chicken breasts (approx 150g each), cubed
• 10 dried curry leaves
• 4-6 tbsp natural yoghurt
• Handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped




1. Heat two tablespoons of groundnut oil in a pan. Slice the onion and fry in the oil. Meanwhile, deseed and chop the chilli, chop the ginger and add to the hot pan, crush in the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes to soften.

2. Add the chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and sugar and cook for 1-2 minutes. Next, add the tomato puree and chopped tomatoes to the pan and allow them to cook for a further few minutes.

3. Transfer the sauce to a food processor and blend until smooth.

4. Add a tablespoon of fresh groundnut oil into the pan and fry the chicken pieces until lightly coloured. Pour in the blended sauce and add the curry leaves. Simmer gently for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

5. Stir in the yoghurt to the chicken curry along with half the chopped coriander. Serve with the steamed rice and garnish with the remaining coriander.

I like to serve this with plain white basmati rice.

Creamy Pesto Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

It hasn't been the best week for my diet. Actually, that's putting it a bit mildly. The last couple of days were filled with delicious temptations that I was not able to resist. Food is totally my kryptonite! Being that Hubby and I shared our anniversary this week, surely I had to partake in all the goodies, right? There are times when you can't just not eat or you will stick out like a major party pooper... although, truth be told, I certainly didn't need to eat as much as I did. Well, now that all the anniversary festivities are behind me (or at least until I go to Barcelona... Oh God, how am I supposed to fit myself into a bathing suit???), I have to get my expanding bum in gear. Part of that means no more sweets recipes for now... maybe.

I recently found this great recipe for pesto chicken on the BBC Good Food website and I made a few little alterations so that it would be a bit more figure friendly. You got to try this one, its great! It was awarded the prestigious Mr. Persnickety stamp of approval. He said it was one of the best dinners I made in a long time. Hmmm... does that mean my food normally sucks? Or was this just exceptional? I thought it was pretty freakin good, and it will definitely be a new addition to my dinner repertoire. I think this would also be a nice dish to serve to guests. I thought it looked pretty impressive on the plate. The tomatoes certainly give the dish a nice colour.

Creamy Pesto Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes (serves 4)

For the pesto:

A handful of basil leaves (approximately 15g)

25g pine nuts

25g grated hard cheese, like Parmesan

1 large garlic clove

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Put all of the ingredients in the food processor and whizz them up. Easy! Still, if you want to make this dish even easier, use your favourite shop bought pesto (use about 3 tablespoons worth to mix with the cream cheese).

Chicken dish:

4 Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

Pesto (recipe above)

85g cream cheese

100g bread crumbs

175g cherry tomatoes on the vine

Olive oil spray (or you can use regular olive oil)

Heat the oven to 200C.

Using a very sharp knife, cut the chicken breasts on the horizontal, almost all the way through, but not completely. Basically you want it to be able to open like a book.

Mix together the cream cheese and pesto. Spoon a quarter of the mixture onto each of the chicken breasts, and spread it out. Spray each chicken breast with a little olive oil and then dip both sides of the chicken breast in the bread crumbs until it is coated. Place the chicken breasts in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. About 15 minutes into the cooking, spray the cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil and put those in to cook with the chicken breasts.

This is great served with roasted or mashed potatoes.

Chili Mac for Grownups

Chili Mac is an American classic. Its usually geared toward children. But why should the kiddies have all the fun? Here is a grown up version for those of us masquerading as adults... you know who you are (yes, you!).

This happens to be a great make ahead meal and can easily be frozen, then thawed and microwaved for days that you aren't in a cooking mood. Instant comfort food!

This is based on a recipe on BBC Good Food for Chilli Con Carne

Ingredients:

500g ground beef

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 pound ground beef

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of oil

1 teaspoon paprika

1 beef stock cube

1 teaspoon sugar

1 400g can of chopped tomatoes

1 400g can of red kidney beans

1-2 teaspoons of chilli powder (to taste)

1 tablespoon of dried marjoram

2 tablespoons of tomatoe puree

500g elbow macaroni

Fry the onion and red pepper in the oil until it begins to brown. Once coloured, add garlic. Stir for 1-2 minutes, then add ground beef. Crumble beef with the back of the spoon until it is all separate and browned. Next add chilli, paprika, and cumin. Continue to stir for a couple of minutes.

For the sauce, crumble the stock cube in 300mL (half a pint) of hot water. Pour this mixture into the browned meat. Next add your canned tomatoes, tomato puree, marjoram and sugar. Let this simmer gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain and rinse kidney beans before adding. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. At this point you may either want to reduce your mixture or add water, depending on your desired consistency. Let the chilli stand about 10 minutes before serving to allow the flavours to mingle.

While the chilli is standing, cook elbow macaroni to package instructions. Add the cooked macaroni to the chilli mixture and thoroughly combine.

Pan Fried Bream with Pesto and Garlic Mash

This recipe is a Heavenly Housewife creation... sort of. It all started when the lovely Mr Persnickety (Hubby) and I were having dinner at Loch Fyne. Hubby ordered a dish of sea bream on garlic mash which he thoroughly enjoyed, and that dish inspired my copy cat. True, I do love to toot my own horn, but I am being 100% frank when I say that my version is totally better! Mr Persnickety says he gives this one 6 out of 5. He doesn't lie when it comes to my cooking. In fact, just the other day he sent his breakfast back to the Heavenly Kitchen, ever so disdainfully I might add. No manners!

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Serves 2

4 fillets of sea bream (which is 2 whole fish, about 350g)*

500g potatoes, ones that are good for boiling

5 cloves of garlic, minced

4 tablespoons of milk

20 grams of butter

4 tablespoons of oil

about a tablespoon of fresh, finely chopped basil

sea salt and black pepper to taste

20g pine nuts (10g for pesto, 10g for garnish)

*If you can't find sea bream, try another firm fleshed (not flaky--it will fall apart) white fish, I am sure it will be good!

Start by toasting the pine nuts. Set aside, as this will be a garnish for the dish and an ingredient in the pesto.

For the basil pesto:

Chop the basil as fine as possible. Then, with a mortar and pestle, mash the basil into two tablespoons of olive oil with half of the pine nuts. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.

For the garlic mash:

Peel potatoes and boil until tender. Let potatoes dry out by putting them back into the pan after draining. Mash the potatoes together with the garlic, milk, butter and season with salt and pepper.

For the Sea Bream:

Season each side of the fish with sea salt and black pepper. Put two tablespoons of olive oil into a hot pan. Place the season fillets into the oil, once hot. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side until slightly crispy.

To assemble, place the mash potatoes as a mound on the center of each plate. Now, on top of the mash, balance two fillets of bream. Use the basil infused oil to create a circle around the fish and mashed potatoes, and garnish with toasted pine nuts.