attn: mindspell, chupe, avi, other cookery sorts

[xfer]

(cross post)

soooo my gf is moving back to Boston from LA tonight and on Tuesday night we're having a welcome-home type dinner for her.

I have a general idea of what I'm going to make, but I haven't quite visualized the main dish yet. I want it to be kind of (American) tagine-like, you know, like a pan stew almost.

the appetizer's going to be swordfish kebabs done on the grill, marinated in thyme, parsley, peanut oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper, with a tiny bit of Tabasco.

I have green beans for a side dish--probably steamed with butter, maybe garlic, maybe Old Bay seasoning.

I want a pretty syncretic dinner so don't worry about the main dish agreeing with the other two. but I want to include the following:

chicken (boneless breasts cut into chunks)
dried cherries
chicken or vegetable stock
white wine, if possible
onions, if possible
brown spices, if possible (cinnamon, clove, allspice, cumin, coriander, etc.)
mushrooms, if possible

soooo what should I do? I have potatoes for a starch, but if the main dish wants to incorporate potatoes, I can make basmati rice or couscous. I also have chopped dates and maybe some raisins but I really want to use the dried cherries.

thanks.

 

[avi]

hmm, I'd maybe go for paella. that could be a good way to use a lot of those ingredients. otherwise, maybe try something mediterranean. my wife makes a great dish with potatoes, peas and artichoke hearts that could probably easily incorporate some of that other stuff.

 

[xfer]

well paella is more like biriyani or risotto or couscous or something than a pan stew. that is, it's a pile of rice with shit in it more than chunks of food in a sauce.

what does your wife's dish come out like?

 

[avi]

it's stew-ish. I think it's actually considered a tagine, but I don't remember for sure.

 

[xfer]

can you explain how she makes it? ingredients are less important than, like "brown chicken in olive oil, remove from pan, add butter, cook mushrooms, add wine, add flour, add spices, return chicken to pan" whatever. the method i'm trying to figure out.

(i know her recipe is surely chickenless)

 

[mindspell]

Here is my suggestion:

-Brown seasoned chicken in pan, bit of butter and oil or just oil, and chunks of bacon if you feel real nasty. take it out once browned
-Add thinly sliced onions to the pan pickled small onions (trust me). Add cumin, coriander (preferably whole corander seeds) and a bit of cinnamon as well as a tiny bit of saffron. Take out when softened.
-Deglaze pan with white wine, put a good amount, put chicken cherries and onions back in the pan. Make sure half you chicken is in the wine.
-Throw the whole thing in a preheated 375 oven for 30-45 min.
-Take out the chicken and onions and cherries out. Take the juice and either make a sauce adding two table sppons of butter and whisk it over heat, or the alternative is to add about hallf to three quarter of a cup of heavy cream over the heat and wait for the proper consistency.

If you feel a bit more adventurous, add something spicy (ceranos, habaneros, sambal olek etc..) to the mix.

 

[xfer]

i think i'm going to do something similar to what mindspell suggested, with less in 'n' out.

olive oil, brown the chicken, take it out.

more oil, add onions, brown-fry them (10-12 minutes, constantly stirring).

add spices in order they need to be cooked in. (cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander?)

squirt of white wine, make sure all the gunks is deglazed off the pan, return the chicken to the pan and add cherries.

simmer on top of stove for quite some time, letting sauce thicken.

 

[mindspell]

Well taking out the onions was pretty unecessary in my suggestion anyway... my train of thought took a few left turns and I forgot erase it...

As for the spices, I changed my mind: cumin, tumeric, cinnamon, all-spice.

 

[chupe666]

with those ingredients, i'd lean toward separating them into two dishes- the cherries, onion, spices would make a good stuffing/dressing, and the chicken, mushrooms, white wine, and cumin would make a good simple chicken dish. the flavors would be represented, but in separate dishes to combine at diner's will, and it'd be a holiday-flavored bill as well. i've never made a complex stew/tagine like what ms and avi are talking, so i'm only thinking simplistic.

 

[xfer]

well i've had some suggestions to make the cherries and stuff into a couscous or rice and have them on the side, but i dunno if i want to get into that. every time i've made couscous it's turned out "okay" at best. need to get better at it.

allspice instead of coriander, eh? think i can do both?

 

[mindspell]

You can do both but considering the rest of the dish I don't think it'll be as nice. I don't know if the "lemony" caracter of the coriander will do here...

 

[xfer]

i'm unfamiliar with the degree that allspice needs to be cooked (if at all). is it like turmeric and cumin, where i need to sizzle it for ten seconds or so in oil to remove bitterness?

 

[mindspell]

You don't actually need to get any bitterness but it will take a more interesting flavour if you do it as with the cumin and turmeric. Be very cautious with the quantity of allspice, it is quite pungent, a bit like cloves but a bit less, depending on how fresh it is and if you ground it yourself...

 

[xfer]

i dont grind my own allspice. i love cloves + meat, but i still regularly reduce the amount of cloves i put in a recipe so it doesn't become overpowering. so i'll definitely watch the allspice.