Captain Morgan's Planter's Punch

Who doesn't love the Captain?



Nobody!

So, during one of our recent football gatherings, we decided the beverage of the day would be Captain Morgan's Planter's Punch.



Captain Morgan's Planter's Punch
1.25 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
2 oz orange juice
2 oz pineapple juice
.25 oz lime juice
.25 oz lemon juice
1 good splash grenadine
1 cherry with stem
1 orange slice

Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled glass.

Garnish with cherry & orange.

Enjoy!!

Curry & Cardamom Cookies

Quite a while back I was looking for a cookie recipe that included curry.

I don't know why. But I had to find one.

Well... a quick Google search quickly pointed me to these Curry & Cardamom Cookies in the recipe section of The Spice House.

It's a recipe from a book called An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries: A Treasury of Stories, Herbal Lore, Recipes and Crafts by Susan Wittig Albert.

I've heard there are lots of great recipes in her novels. I might have to pick one up!

Great! I found a recipe that was exactly what I was looking for.

Fast forward almost a year... and I finally got around to making them!

Ericka and I had a spice cookie baking day a couple weeks ago and this was one of the cookies we made.



Curry & Cardamom Cookies
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sweet curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture, a third at a time. Stir in nuts.

Divide dough into four rolls and wrap each in waxed paper. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (may also be frozen).

Slice into 1/4-inch slices and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 350F oven until golden brown, 12-14 minutes. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a rack to cool thoroughly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream butter, sugar, eggs & vanilla.


Whisk together dry ingredients


Add dry ingredients to wet, a little at a time until well combined.


I totally forgot the nuts.

Divide dough into four even parts.

Form into rolls, wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.


When you're ready to bake... unwrap...


Slice into 1/4 inch slices.


And bake 12 - 14 minutes.

That's 12 minutes in my slightly hot oven.



Jon didn't like these cookies at all. But he Jon doesn't like any kind of spice cookie. I liked them a lot. But they are a crisp cookie and I prefer cookies a little chewier.

I brought them to work and the guys at work liked them. I doubt they ate a whole tray of them just to be nice. (contrary to what Jon thinks)

I also sent some up to Erin and Andrew's house. I 'think' they liked them. Andrew said it tasted like a cookie that fell into Indian food. So I guess that's good if you like Indian food and not so good if you don't!

Ericka and Drew liked them too.



So if you're looking for something a little different, definitely give these cookies a try!

Wine Tasting ~ Gewurztraminer

So finally a wine tasting post! I have a few kinda mostly written... I should try to get them cleared out!

But this is November's Wine for the BakeSpace Wine Tasting Club.

I got to pick the November Wine and hoped that Gewurztraminer would be a wine that I actually liked. I'd heard that it was very similar to a Riesling and to date, that had been the only kind I actually liked.

Yay!! I chose well!!

I didn't really have a party for this wine tasting... just a last minute idea for a few friends to come over.

I planned to serve Spicy Curried Potato Pockets, Tandoori Chicken and Sweet Coconut Curry Rice. No one could make it for dinner... but I still had the Spicy Curried Potato Pockets to go with the wine. Jon and I did try the first wine with the Tandoori...


First up is the wine that I picked up.

Name: Fetzer

Region: Valley Oaks, California

Price: $7.99 (on sale)

Year: 2008

PHOTO of bottle:


Short intro from the wine maker about the wine:
"It’s often called gavurtz because it’s hard to say, and even harder to spell. This wine, though, is a secret weapon, great for taming spicy foods or sipping on its own. Enjoy the honeyed apricot and peach flavors in the glass, and breathe deeply to capture the aromas of rose petals and honeysuckle. Lots of people love this wine, even if they’ll never spell it. Just ask for gavurtz. We’ll know what you mean."

Review:
very clear yellow color
the cork smelled spicy... smells like wine...

Me ~ sweet, no squinchy face... not too sweet... Tandoori Chicken made the wine spicer... and it was sweeter after Sweet Coconut Curry Rice... burps fruity... kinda thick viscosity

Jon ~ sweet... goes well with Tandoori... burped peachy

(yeah... we're wicked classy)

Erin ~ smells winey... pretty good actually... peachy... fizziless champagne

Andrew ~ appley... same after... no aftertaste... would be nice used as liquid for fruit cocktail

Would you buy again?: Yes... I actually liked it one!

Wine Pairing Ideas/Recipes: It went very well with Spicy Curried Potato Pockets, Tandoori Chicken and Sweet Coconut Curry Rice. This is really the first wine I've had that I could really say, "Wow... this wine really 'goes' with this food!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erin & Andrew brought this wine...

Name: Chateau Ste. Michelle

Region: Columbia Valley, Washington

Price: $10.99

Year: 2008

PHOTO of bottle:


Short intro from the wine maker about the wine:
The magical combination of sun soil and water - the "terroir" of Washington state's world class growing region produces bright spicy Gewurztraminer grapes. A slow, cool fermentation preserves the wine's characteristic spice notes. Grapefruit and citrus flavors are lively on the palate in this refreshing medium-dry wine.

Review:
paler yellow than the Fetzer

Me ~ smells like wine... kinda squinchy face... sour sour apple... sweeter after Spicy Curried Potato Pocket.

Jon ~ smells like outside... sour-er... I don't mind sour... likes this one better... awful wine taste leftover... can taste grapefruit...

Erin ~ definitely wine... peachy... hitting the back of my mouth more... wants to suck on it, like hard candy... def taste grapefruit... loses sour after Spicy Curried Potato Pocket...

Andrew ~ more grape-y... like a snake-bite shooter... after burn like kerosene... 1st one was two sweet... this one is spicy like a peppercorn...

Would you buy again?: Probably not, not being a wine drinker... If I needed a Gewurztraminer... I'd choose the Fetzer.

Wine Pairing Ideas/Recipes: It went very well with Spicy Curried Potato Pockets, Tandoori Chicken and Sweet Coconut Curry Rice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Erin & I liked the Fetzer better and Jon & Andrew liked the Chateau Ste Michelle.

I was totally lame and didn't take any pictures at all this day! Ok... actually I did take pics of making the Tandoori... but totally spaced when we started wine tasting.

So these are our newest friends/wine-tasters... actually... they've been Jon's friends for a very long time... but I just really met them at Ericka & Drew's wedding a couple months ago. They are very cool and you can expect to see more of them!


Aren't they cute??
(I stole that from Erin's facebook... shhh....)

And since I didn't take any pics that day... I just picked a picture of Jon and me that I like!

That was us a few years ago in Amsterdam. =)

Have you joined the BakeSpace Wine Tasting Club yet?



What are you waiting for?

Tandoori Chicken

I needed something Asian or Spicy to go with a couple bottles of Gewurztraminer wine.

My original thought was to make my Spicy Curried Potato Pockets. Then at the last minute I decided I wanted to invite friends over for wine tasting and make an Indian dinner.

That's when I thought of Tandoori Chicken.

Yay! I had a plan! Start with Spicy Curried Potato Pockets... then Tandoori Chicken. I also decided to make a Sweet Coconut Curried Rice to balance out some of the heat.

Until I made it, I'd never actually tried Tandoori Chicken.

I'm not totally sure if this tasted right but it was wicked good!

After looking at a bunch of recipes on line, I put this together based on my spice likes.



Tandoori Chicken
4# chicken breasts & thighs, boneless/skinless cut into serving sized pieces
1.5 C plain yogurt
1 medium onion diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TBLS lemon juice
2 TBLS ginger root, grated
2 tsp garam masala
1 TBLS ground cumin
1 TBLS paprika (I used smoked, since I didn't plan to grill... but ended up grilling anyway)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp corriander
1 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper

Combine all ingredients other than chicken until mixed well... add chicken mix until all pieces are well coated.... refrigerate overnight (or at least several hours)

Grill over medium coals until chicken is cooked through.


Sweet Coconut Curry Rice
2 C jasmine rice
1 can light coconut milk
chicken stock (enough to make 4.5 cups when added to the coconut milk)
1.5 tsp sweet curry powder
a sprinkle of ground cardamom

Combine in rice cooker and cook according to rice cooker directions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night before...

For the Tandoori Chicken, mix together everything except the chicken.


When that's well mixed, add chicken pieces.


Be sure that all pieces are well coated and refrigerate at least several hours, preferably closer to 24 hours.

I just used a plastic storage bag.


Fast forward to the next day... turns out no one could make it for dinner...

It was a last minute invitation, so that's ok. You'll see what I did with the leftovers further down!

I was originally going to do this in the oven, since I don't have a tandoor... but most recipes I looked at advised grilling over roasting.

It was a gorgeous 70 degree November day... so I asked Jon to fire up the grill for me!



Grill until chicken is cooked through.






Before I started grilling, I started the rice in the kitchen. I love using a rice cooker. Set it and you're done!



Add a nice scoop of rice and it's dinner time!!


This was perfect with the Gewurztraminer I picked for this month's wine tasting!

I'll be posting about the wine tasting tomorrow!

Dinner really was awesome. But we did have a lot of leftovers.

What to do with leftover chicken & rice?

Wraps of course!!

I mixed up a Spicy Curry Mayo...

Mix light mayo w/hot curry powder to taste (better if it can sit for 15 minutes for flavors to blend)



Nuke a flour tortilla for a few seconds to make it nice an pliable...


A good schmear of Curry Mayo...


Some shredded lettuce...


Some reheated Sweet Coconut Curry Rice...


Some reheated, sliced grilled Tandoori Chicken...


Then just roll it up and eat it!!


As awesome as this was for dinner the first night... as a leftover wrap it was totally AMAZING!!

I really LOVED it and would happily have spent $6 - $8 bucks on it from a Sandwich Shop.

So that's it!

Stay tuned for Wine Tasting!

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Chicken Salad Sandwich. Sounds pretty plain right?

Hmmm... now that I think of it, I do like it pretty plain!

You will never find fruit or nuts in my chicken salad... YUCK!!

Anyway... mine is very simple!



But before I start, I must warn you that more often than not, I use canned chicken for chicken salad.

I was watching 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray one time and she was talking about canned chicken. She said someone mentioned it to her and she couldn't believe it even existed! Then started with, "Come on now! How hard is it to poach a chicken breast?! It doesn't take any time at all!"

Now most people either Love or Hate Rachael. I love her. But I have to say, canned chicken has it's place in a kitchen.

I mostly just use it for chicken salad. But it has found its way into a casserole or dip or two along the way.

So when I need breakfast and want half a chicken salad sandwich, unless I thought of it the night before, it wouldn't happen without canned chicken.

Who has time to poach a chicken breast before work? I roll outta bed... put out some breakfast for Bob, grab breakfast for myself, jump into the shower, throw on some clothes and run out the door. This takes about 40 minutes, tops.

If I had to poach a chicken breast to have chicken salad, that breakfast idea would get scrapped and I'd end up with a McSkillet burrito from the drivethru on my way to work!

So anyway...

Canned chicken does have its place in the kitchen.

Well hey... I bake desserts Rachael... so let's call it a wash! I still love you!

Alrighty then... now that I've gotten that off my chest....

Back to my Basic Chicken Salad.

No real recipe and it changes a little based on which herbs I can actually put my hands on.

So I start with, yes, canned chicken (or leftover chicken)


I'm not a slave to any brand. I just buy whichever is on sale, all breast meat, packed in water.

Drain off water and put the chicken in a bowl.


Flake it apart with a fork.


Then add a dollop of light (NOT fat free) mayo.


I like just enough to hold it all together and not too squishy.


Ok... lately I've been on a dill kick.... but where's the dill????


Yeah... there's another pantry with more herbs & spices... and a section of my counter with my 'most used' herbs & spices that look similar to that mess.

But I couldn't find the dill.

Almost a sad face... until I remembered that even though we've had at least two hard frosts... I still have crack dill!!!



SCORE!





Plus some celery salt and celery seed... and more dill... I found it when I was looking for the celery seed!



But totally forgot the poultry seasoning and onion powder! D'oh!

Anyway... mix that all up.


Now for some nice seedy 12 grain.


Add chicken salad and a side of chips!


Yeah... that's not very pretty is it?


It would be much prettier with some lettuce, tomato and red onion.

Sometimes I put the chips inside the sandwich.




Mmmmm.... Crunchy!

If I was making Chicken Salad to be consumed when it was made, all of it... I'd add diced onion and diced celery (but still celery salt & seed... I LOVE celery flavors). But most times when I make Chicken Salad, it's so that I can have half sandwiches for breakfast for a few days. When I put the diced onion in the salad... the flavor gets a little overwhelming the longer it's in the fridge.

1/4 cup of Chicken Salad is a perfect serving for half a sandwich. Nice when you're paying attention to what you're eating. (which since I crammed my sammie full of chips, obviously I'm NOT!)

So when I put it in the fridge... I scoop all of the Chicken Salad into 1/4 cup sized balls.



Breafast, lunch or dinner... I love Chicken Salad!!