Sweet and Sour Tastiness

Been a little slow posting, lately. The winter got busy, and I wasn't juicing as frequently, and then got a cold, and had some travel, and all that stuff threw off the groove. Beware the groove.

So, here's a recipe om dinner tonight. Again, it's the luck of the draw in the bountiful basket delivery.

Juice:
1 pineapple
3/4 pound of carrots
2 bunches of green onions
1 cantaloupe
4 pounds of potatoes--reserve a few cups worth to dice as chunks. Chunks make the sauce.

Other stuff:
2 chicken breasts
1 can of coconut milk
1/4 cup Apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon or so of cummin
Some salt
Maybe some honey
Probably some cayenne pepper
Canola oil or other

Put the juice in a stock pot and warm over medium heat. Add vinegar, honey, cummin, salt, coconut milk, and anything else in that list.

Before you do that, put the chicken breasts in a ziploc bag and add juice to cover the chicken. Add a bunch of salt and a few tablespoons of oil. This is a marinade, so just leave it in the bag for an hour or so. I left in the bag in the fridge while I went to church, then put it out when I started cooking the sauce--marinades need time at room temperature, but meat doesn't do well too long at room temperature.

Now, take the breasts out of the bag and slice them thinly across the grain--I make 1/4 inch slices with a big sharp knife. Dump the marinade into a bowl, and add the sliced chicken to the bowl to soak a moment more. Heat up a frying pan, medium high heat. Add the chicken and the marinade. Maneuver the meat so it's lying flat on the bottom of the pan. Summer the meat and marinade, turning the chicken for a few minutes--maybe five minutes and until cooked. This meat will fall apart in your mouth.

Those potatoes that we set aside should be diced and cooked to softness. I use a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Add to the sauce.

Add the meat to the sauce, and serve it all up hot. Make sure you got at least a little SIMM time on the stock pot so that the potatoe starch will thicken a bit. Serve over all hot rice, we prefer jasmine rice.

Hidden Valley Curry

Did you know that Ranch Dressing was invented by Hidden Valley Ranch? Yeah, me neither. How ever, it wasn't what it is today. It was a real ranch serving this dressing to guests, then they marketed it and then they made a powder packet you could mix back up anytime. Then, Clorox bought the rights in the '70's for $8,0000,000. At least, that's what wikipedia said. Huh.

So, I know this only because my wife juiced a couple of heads of broccoli--one quart of juice worth! I know, I know, you're thinking that broccoli doesn't seem juicy, but just try it. With all this broccoli juice on hand, I had to think of something tasty. See, last time we juiced broccoli, the end product wasn't...tasty.

So, I'm thinking, "What makes broccoli tasty?" Ranch Dressing, duh. That's why I googled it to find out what makes it so tasty. Turns out it's garlic and green onion. Should also be perfect for kicking butt on this cold that's brewing in my head

So, lets get juicing.

Juice:
2 heads of broccoli
2 potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
2 heads of garlic
1 yellow onion

1 can of coconut milk
Sliced up fresh mushrooms
Favorite curry powders
Some more cumin
A little oregano
Some tarragon leaves
A bit of corn starch mixed with water to thicken
A touch of apple cider vinegar
Oh, and a splash of Honey

I like to slice a couple of chicken breasts real thin and fry them with salt. Then, mix everything together in a deep frying pan--I use a ten inch cast iron pan. Simmer for a while, let those starchy potato juices thicken a bit, serve over hot rice.

Green Sauce

Juice:
3 heads of romaine lettuce
1 head of cauliflower
3 bell peppers
4 white potatoes
1 clove of garlic
2 chicken breasts
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
Cumin
Salt
Cinnamon
Curry powder
Rosemary
1 can white beans
1 can corn

Slice the chicken into thin strips across the grain, coat in salt and cinnamon, and fry in a fry pan--minimal oil. Add other ingredients and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Serve over hot white rice.

Sweet and Spicy

Tonight's dinner wass a good mixture of spice and sweet.

First course, of course, was soup.

Spicy Tomato Soup
Tomatoes--I used five average ones, and a handful of baby tomatoes I had handy
One bunch of celery, including greens, but cut it into short pieces
One chili pepper, including stem and seeds
Ten fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Juice it. Juice the celery last,or else it will clog the output. Oh, and if you leave out the chili peppers it makes a tasty drinkable juice. Pour the juice into a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Next, I whipped up a couple of sauces for rice.

Spicy Lettuce Curry
Juice:
One head of green leaf lettuce
One clove of garlic
Half a bunch of spinach
Three chili peppers
Three white potatoes
Half a 12oz. can of coconut milk

1Table spoon Red curry powder
Chicken breast sliced half inch thick
Cinnamon
Corn starch
Salt
Pepper

The white potatoes should be intermixed with the lettuce and spinach to keep things moving through the juicer. You're gonna love the aroma as the garlic goes through!

Coat the chicken in cinnamon, salt and pepper; I cooked it in the same cast iron frying pan I made the rest of the sauce in. I seared it a little--pretty tasty. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Combine juice and coconut milk over medium heat. Add curry powder. I use the corn starch to thicken it a bit-- about four or five table spoons is what I used (don't forget to add a little water to the starch, not the starch to water. It's stiff at first, then dissolves). Add the chicken back in. Salt if necessary.

Sweet Mega Red
Juice:
Three bunches of Spinach
Two sweet potatos, skins on, but scrubbed thoroughly (otherwise it's gritty) sliced
One medium beet, juiced twice to remove pulp
Sweet table grapes
Half an inch of ginger root

Half a 12oz. can of coconut milk
A hot madras curry powder, or other yellow curry powder
Chicken breast
White raisins
Apple cider vinegar
cinnamon
Corn starch
Honey
Salt

The sliced sweet potatoes keep the spinach from gumming up the machine, so feed some spinach, then some potato; the potatoes also give a creamy feel to the sauce. The beet juice I had made previously, but it had too much pulp because my juicer was already clogged by some other stuff. So, I took the pulpy beet juice and ran it back through. It sweetens and gives the mega red color to the sauce. Then I added grapes for a little more mass and sweetness.

This is my special super tender chicken. Lay the chicken on a cutting board and coat copiously with cinnamon and salt. Then lay another cutting board on top and apply pressure. Smash the chicken until it is thin and uniform-- the thinner the more tender. I've also had good luck laying plastic wrap on top of the chicken and using a rolling pin to flatten it. It makes it super tender. Then, add some salt to an oiled frying pan on medium high heat and use a spatula to lay the chicken in the pan in one flat piece. Cook until you can turn it over, and cook both sides until it thoroughly cooked and pleasantly browned. Remove from heat, slice into thin strips and set aside.

Combine juice and coconut milk over medium heat; I like using the same deep frying pan i used for the chicken. Add curry powder. I used at least a quarter cup of corn starch with a little water added for thickening. The cider takes the edge off the pastiness left by the potatoes, and lends a sweet and sour flavor. I only usd a couple of table spoons' worth, but it could certainly stand more if you like the sourness. Add raisins and chicken. Honey and salt to taste, serve hot over Jasmine rice.

These two sauces are great complements, one spicy and one sweet. Plus the ultra green of the lettuce sauce next to the mega red beet sauce over white rice is a pretty stunning presentation.