The Chicken Curry Affair

Rachel here.

I wrote about "The Family Dinner" a few weeks back and, no joke, have not stopped thumbing through its pages while I stand at the kitchen counter since. I mean, really--I'm kind of going through the equivalent of a junior high crush on this cookbook. I glance at it sideways from across the room, I feel a little jumpy and eager when I open it, I think about it when we're apart...you know the feeling, I know you do.



So anyway, this weekend I finally found myself with a bit of free time (a rare commodity in these parts). Wanting to expand our chicken repertoire (you know how I feel about a good, whole bird), I turned the ever-pleasing pages until I found a recipe for Curry. It calls for a whole chicken and, after a few weeks of crushing from afar, "The Family Dinner" and I finally rendezvoused at the stove.



Here is what I'll say about this recipe before I share it with you below. Ok, I'm going to make a list because, well, I feel like it and it seems like an appropriate medium for conveying my post-cooking sentiments.

1. Make this meal.
2. Extra make it if you have kids.
3. If you don't have kids, you can definitely kick up the heat.
4. If you do have kids, they just might blow your mind like M blew mine and eat the entire plate of food before them, grinning the entire time and happily staying in their seats until mealtime is over.
5. The 8 parts of the chicken are: 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 2 breasts. Not, as John delighted in informing me after I refused his assistance butchering our dear bird, 2 wings, 2 legs, and 2 breasts that you then turn into 4 so that you can tell yourself you know how to butcher your own bird, thankyouverymuch.



Sloooooow Cooker Curry
Or, you know, not, if you're like me and don't have a slow cooker

serves 6

ingredients
1 T. vegetable oil
1 red onion, cut into wedges
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. very finely minced fresh ginger
2 T. curry powder, hot or mild
1/2 cinnamon sticks (don't have one? 1 stick=1 tspn. ground cinnamon, so use 1/4 tspn. here)
3 whole cardamom pods or 1/4 tspn. ground cardamom (optional) (using cardamom makes me feel fancy)
1 14-ounce can good-quality crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. small red potatoes, unpeeled, cut bite-size
1 whole organic chicken, 4-5 pounds, cut into 8 pieces, skin removed
1 c. Greek yogurt, whole or 2 percent
1 c. fresh or defrosted frozen peas

method
If using a slow cooker, heat up a large nonstick pan and drizzle in the oil. If not using a slow cooker, use a big, heavy-bottomed pot. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and saute until soft and golden. Add the garlic and spices, stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant, then stir in the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. (This can be done the night before: Chill the sauce, add the potatoes and chicken, and store in the fridge until you're ready to cook). If using a slow cooker, put the potatoes on the bottom, then the chicken, and top off with the tomato sauce. If not using a slow cooker, just add the potatoes and chicken to the sauce pot. For cooking with a slow cooker, set cooker to low for 6 to 8 hours. If using a pot, simmer for 40 minutes. In a slow cooker, fold in yogurt and peas 30 minutes before serving. In a pot, simmer for another 10 minutes before serving. Check flavors, ladle over rice and enjoy.

A Good Way To Spend A Sick Day

Rachel here.

For quite a while now we've been buying our chickens whole. John deftly dismembers the birds for us (learning how to butcher a chicken is definitely on my to-do list and I seriously admire his prowess). Sometimes we grind some of the meat and turn it into chicken burgers; others we try to one-up each other with homemade barbecue sauces. Always, though, we set the bones aside.



Regular readers know that we don't do store-bought chicken stock in this house. Homemade stock is so unfalteringly superior and so easy to make that we just refuse. Home sick on Monday, and with M off with one of our dear friends, I decided to tackle the serious pile of chicken bones that we'd accumulated in our freezer over the past few months. Though it's the middle of summer, it was nice to spend the day making something cozy and warm, something that fit with my ill demeanor.



I sliced a large white onion in half and then cut each half into wedges. I halved the wedges and threw them in the stockpot with all of the chicken bones. I hacked up a couple of carrots and half a bunch of celery or so and tossed these in, too, before covering the ingredients with water and adding a few bay leaves. I let it simmer for hours and hours.



When the stock was done and our house smelled amazing, I put a ladle in the freezer to chill while the stock cooled down a bit. I strained the stock, saving the insides, and then pulled the ladle from the freezer. Icy cold, the fat from the stock easily clung to the ladle and was removed in no time. I carefully sorted through the insides from the stock, removing all of the bones and cartilage bits and fat nubs. While doing so, everything became a hearty mash for M to eat (she loves this stuff for some reason, though it's really not flavorful at all).



I portioned the stock into containers, leaving room for it to expand, and then put it into our freezer. When the day was over, we had a few nights of hearty food for M and several servings of chicken stock in our freezer. Though I still felt sick, it felt good to have so much homemade goodness for my family.