Coriander and Coconut Chicken "Paella"

This is one of Tyler Florence's recipes (from Tyler's Ultimate), so it was basically guaranteed to be good. My officemate made it for me during my general exam, and I recently made it again with a few very minor alterations. As is the recipe makes ~6-ish servings.

1/4 cup coriander seeds
8 chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely minced
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
2 cups basmati rice
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups coconut milk

There is also a mint/watercress/pea salad that I decided not to make. Instead, I plunked ~1 cup of frozen peas in with the dish just before it went in the oven. The peas ended up slightly mushy but still well-formed, and added a nice touch of color to the dish. It also gave me a chance to use my wonderful new red Le Creuset dutch oven!

Carrot-Ginger Soup

Yum! Here is the recipe. I would definitely make this again. I have about 30oz of it frozen for future meals, and I would estimate that this makes about 4 servings.


1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 medium onion, cut into medium dice (to yield about 3/4 cup)
1 large rib celery, cut into medium dice (to yield about 1/2 cup)
1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger (from about 1/2-inch piece, peeled)
2 cups homemade or low-salt chicken broth
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
Chopped fresh chives or chervil for garnish (optional)

I probably used more ginger and I forgot to garnish with chives. Still delicious.

heads up!

this next week's order will have:

- 1 white acorn squash
- 1 bunch orange carrots
- 1.25 lb broccoli
- 1.5 yukon gold potatoes
- 1 napa cabbage
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 garlic bulbs
- 1 bunch romaine lettuce
- 1 green pepper
- 3 granny smith apples
- 3 asian pears
- 3 concorde pears

I'm thinking..
- salad for the lettuce, cucumber, and green pepper. this will need some sort of onion (the red scallions were great in salads!)
- cobbler for the granny smith apples
- asian coleslaw with the cabbage
- mashed yukon gold potatoes with goat cheese (can't go wrong with goat cheese)

moroccan squash and chickpea stew

today's meal of doom is a squash and chickpea stew using csa carrots, kabocha squash, and onions. other non-csa ingredients are the chickpeas, bell pepper, and large pearl cous cous. instead of using all the butternut squash soup, i substituted the (smaller-sized) kabocha squash plus some vegetable broth. i also added some moroccan seasoning mix i got when i was back in wisconsin. personally i would add more salt (and maybe something spicy) to the recipe next time, but overall it's pretty good.



also included is some of the curry-mustard chicken i whipped up, thanks to my officemate's recipe and some frozen chicken legs. unfortunately it makes the meal very yellow, but it's still delicious.

chicken recipe is as follows:
- 4 lb chicken
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup honey
- 6 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 4 teaspoons curry powder

melt last 4 ingredients together, and marinate chicken for as long as you want. bake for ~1 hour at 350 degrees.

stew recipe is here.

wild mushroom risotto

after a very successful office dinner a few weeks ago, i re-created the entree: wild mushroom risotto. my csa box had the necessary shiitake mushrooms and large yellow onion. i purchased additional chantrelles from the nearby co-op (unfortunately they were sad and wilted, but were all that was left that evening) and a dried mushroom "pacific northwest" mix.

on the side there were green beans and bread, as well as a salad (not using csa lettuce yet) with cherry balsamic and rosemary dressing. yum.

this will definitely be in the fall rotation of meals.

the recipe for the wild mushroom risotto is here.

csa box: october 19, 2009

picked up my first csa box on thursday, october 19! it contained the following:

- 1 kabocha squash
- 0.2 lb of shiitake mushrooms
- 1 onion
- 4 bosc pears
- 3 gala apples
- bunched orange carrots
- 2 garnet yams
- red scallions
- green lettuce
- 1 parsnip
- 1 fennel bulb
- 1 mango (not from pnw)
- 3 kiwi (also not form pnw)

specific recipe ideas:
- wild mushroom risotto (already made: recipe)
- wine-braised chicken with shallots and pancetta (recipe)
- chickpea and squash soup with cous cous (recipe)
- maple-glazed parsnips (recipe)

ways to use some of this:
- salad (lettuce and scallions)
- mashed up yams!