Ckicken Curry Crepes

If you are looking for a quick and light recipe for dinner, stop reading now. While this dinner is scrumptious, pretty and fun to make, it is rich and time-consuming. But worth it!  

  

Step 1: Make the crepes 

You can use your favourite crepe recipe but this one is excellent...

Basic Crepes

4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups milk; more as needed
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbs. unsalted butter; more, softened, for the pan

In a blender, combine the eggs and milk. Add the flour and salt and mix on high speed until smooth. Strain the batter (to remove any lumps) into a quart-size measuring cup with a spout or a pitcher. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 30 min.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the 6 Tbs. butter. Continue cooking the butter until it turns golden brown and has the aroma of toasted nuts, 3 to 5 min. Watch carefully and adjust the heat or move the pan around if necessary; the butter can quickly go from lightly browned to burned. Let the butter cool slightly and then stir it into the batter. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream; thin it with a little more milk, if needed.

To cook the crêpes:

 Set the skillet over medium-high heat and add about 1 tsp. butter. Heat the butter, swirling it in the pan, until it stops bubbling. Pour in just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. Quickly tilt the pan in all directions to spread the batter evenly over the bottom and a bit up the sides of the pan.

Cook until the center of the crêpe is set (dry) and the bottom is lightly browned, 1 to 2 min. Turn it over and cook until the center is firm and the edges underneath are lightly browned, about 30 seconds. Transfer the crêpe to a cooling rack. Proceed with the remaining batter, adding more butter to the pan as needed. Once cool, stack the crêpes between the sheets of waxed paper.

Step 2: Cook the chicken

4 chicken breasts, cut into cubes

Fresh ginger

Oil 

Fry chicken and ginger in a skillet until cooked through.

Step 3: Make the curry

8 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, thinly sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup fresh spinach
1 Tbs. curry powder, or to taste
Pinch cayenne, or to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups homemade or low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 Tbs. sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, mushrooms and celery; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the curry powder and cayenne and cook for another 1 minute. Stir in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until the flour has lost its raw taste, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the broth and raisins. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, whisking often, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the cream, season with salt and pepper, increase the heat to high and boil to thicken for about 3 minutes. Strain about 1 cup of the mixture through a fine sieve to use as the sauce.

Combine the remaining cream mixture with the cooked chicken and stir well to blend. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add spinach.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Divide the chicken filling evenly among the crepes  and roll each crêpe into a thick cylinder. Arrange the filled crêpes in a single layer in the baking dish. Pour the reserved sauce over the center of the crêpes. Bake, uncovered, until the sauce is bubbly and the crêpes are lightly browned on the edges, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the toasted almonds and basil and dig in.

I served these with simple roasted bell peppers

Ta ta.

A.  

Meat Balls and Mountain Roads.

Our first blog with a non-food twist will feature the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, the greatest relay on Earth! This race starts in Haines Junction, Yukon, and finishes in Haines, Alaska. In between, riders must cover 238km of mountainous, windy and stunningly beautiful terrain. Teams can consist of up to 8 people, and even a few keeners do it solo. 


Bradele were proud members of 'That's What He Said', the 4-woman team with giant calves and endless jokes, who's enthusiasm and toughness earned them a surprising third place win! 

But at least some credit must be given to the hearty dinner made in the campground the previous night. Spaghetti and meatballs was the perfect combination of simplicity and deliciousness.

Spicy Meatballs with Cumin and Cinnamon

breadcrumbs milk onions cayenne canned diced tomatoes kosher salt black peppercorns ground beef cilantro

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cayenne
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. ground beef or turkey or both

Combine the breadcrumbs and milk in a mixing bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.

  Mash the breadcrumbs and milk with a fork to a smooth paste. Add the beef, cumin, salt, several grinds of pepper, and cayenne to the breadcrumbs. Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined. Wet your hands to keep the mixture from sticking to them and roll a couple of tablespoons into 1-1/2-inch balls; you should have about 30.

Place on baking pan and bake in the oven at 400 C for about 20 min, until the meat is cooked through. 

We made the meat balls the day before so all we needed to do was cook the pasta and heat up the sauce and balls in the campground. 

Is was hard not to eat too many!

Bradele.

Party-Pleasing Dips

These two standard-but-delicious party dips are bound to wow the crowd. I recently test drove them at the little rascal's 4th birthday party and both appeared to be loved by kidlets and grown-ups alike. The recipes came from Fine Cooking, which tends to have finicky but trustfully tasty recipes.

PART I: SPINACH-ARTICHOKE DIP

Everyone loves Spinach-Artichoke Dip and when you read the recipe you'll find out why! Complete with sour cream, mayonnaise and asiago and/or parmigiano cheese, its not exactly 'light' but tastes SO GOOD. Here it goes.

10-oz. package frozen leaf spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and chopped
6 oz. can artichoke hearts, thinly sliced and patted dry
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago (I used some of both)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 425°F.

In a large bowl, mix the spinach, artichokes, 3/4 cup of the parmigiano/asiago, mayonnaise, sour cream, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 3/4 tsp. pepper. Transfer to a 1-quart (or slightly smaller) baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup parmigiano/asiago.

Bake until the top browns and the inside warms through, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve.

I made it a day ahead and then just saved the baking part for the day of. 

PART II: TZATZIKI

Another classic, but still stellar. When there's tzatziki in the house, I tend to eat it with everything... veggies, leftover meat, as a salad dressing. Not hard to make but sometimes a challenge to find Greek yogurt but high-fat plain works well also.

Kosher or sea salt
2 medium cloves garlic
1-1/2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt, preferably Greek
3/4 cup peeled, seeded, and finely chopped cucumber
1 Tbs. red-wine vinegar
2 tsp. chopped fresh mint
2 tsp. chopped fresh dill
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

---

Spread 3/4 tsp. salt on a cutting board. Peel the garlic and finely chop it on top of the salt. Transfer the garlic and salt to a medium bowl and stir in the yogurt.

Put the cucumber in a colander and squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can. Add the cucumber, vinegar, mint, dill, and olive oil to the yogurt mixture. Stir to blend and season to taste with salt. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Draining the cuc's is tres important or else the tzatziki will be watery and fall off your pita into your lap.

 Happy dippin. 

A.

Fillin Goodie Bags

My task: healthily/ not so healthily create a snack to fill the 5(ish) year old party goers goodie bags. Ingredient I felt it necessary to include: Smarties.  Ingredient that caused said snacks to loose their shape: Smarties. Oh well! Kids (and Brittany... also my friend Hilary from Hilary Makes while we're here) love colours, so Smarties were indubitably kept. 


Without further adieu I give you my granola bars

"Lola Bars" (as Mathias used to call them, far before he was a whopping 4 years old)


1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (Rice Krispies were used)
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (I used chopped prunes.. they were around)
1/4 cup.. (or way more) Smarties (or nuts, chocolate, other mix ins)
1/3 cup Agave Syrup (honey, maple, or brown rice syrup are great too)
1/2 cup nut butter (used a mix of pb and soy nut.. they were around)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Combine Rice Krispies, Oats, Flaxseed Meal, Dried Fruit, and other dry mix-ins in a large Bowl.


Heat butter and syrup until melted together.  I did this with 30 seconds in the microwave, then mixed in the vanilla.

Finally pour the wet over the dry ingredients and mix. That's right with your hands. No pansies in my kitchen. Though, my mother would have you know that pansies are one of the most durable and resilient flowers around. Back on topic. Press the mixture as firmly as possible into a pan of desired size and chill for at least a half hour.

Cut, Wrap, and Spread the Love


Recipe adapted from Enlightened Cooking


The real show stoppers are yet to come, hold onto your pants... actually you may want to preemptively loosen them.


Love from Above


B.

YAMONSTER

So, I have posts upon posts under construction dealing with the fabulous birthday of my fantastic four year old frere. In the meantime, I will share with you the mother of all sweet potatoes. Take a gander.

Behold our Yamassive Yamonster

                                      

Otherwise known as the Bradele lovechild

                    

Over and Out

B.

You'll never buy hummus again...

... when you discover how exceptionally delicious, dirt cheap and dead easy it is to make it yourself! The only strange ingredient that won't already be in your cupboard already is tahini, sesame seed butter, but its worth to buy a jar and store in the fridge because once you make hummus once, you'll turn into a regular. 

Recipe:

To be honest, I never really use a recipe so approach this as more of a guideline. Do plenty of taste-testing along the way until you have our desired consistency and flavour. 

1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas

2 tbsp. tahini

4 tbsp. lemon juice

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

- Rinse chickpeas well

- Blend all ingredients in a food processor until creamy

- That's it!

The ingredients above are just the basics but the possibilities of things to add are endless. I love using roasted garlic because it has a more gentle flavour and you can use more of it with out getting the garlic 'sting'. I also prefer soy sauce over salt and always add cumin and various other spices.

Today I added 1/4 c. sweet roasted red peppers, soy sauce, cumin, and fresh basil and oregano.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

A.