Cornish Hen Stew

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Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's March 2010 Issue - 'Cornish Hen Stew w/ Lemongrass & Chiles'

2 Cornish hens
salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
8-10 dried red chiles
2 shallots, smashed and peeled
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 lemongrass stalks, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
4 cups water
2 turnips, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 scallions, sliced
juice from 1 lime

You want to start by breaking down both of the hens. Remove the wing tips and backbone. Separate the legs into drumsticks and thighs. Then remove the rib bones from the breasts.

Season the hen pieces with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a dutch oven under medium high heat. Add the cornish hen pieces (I did 2 batches) and brown on both sides, about 4-6 minutes. Once browned, transfer the pieces to a plate.

Add the dried chiles, shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and tumeric to the pot and stir until fragrant. This will be a whole lot of aromatics that will just smell AWESOME!

Add in the water and turnips. Return the hen pieces to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes, until breasts are cooked through. Remove the breasts and cover with foil. Cook the remaining hen pieces for another 10 minutes.

Return the breasts pieces and stir in fish sauce, scallions, and lime juice. Adjust seasoning to taste and then ladle into soup bowls!

I served this with some basmati rice and mixed it into the stew and it was marvelous. You can decrease the amount of chili peppers if you want it less spicy, but I thought this was a great balance of spice. Enjoy!

Curried Flounder & Rice

I'm not gonna lie, this was just okay. Kind of looks like a bunch of mush. Haven't really had anything good come about lately. Kind of depressing, but I guess I'll get back in the game soon... hopefully.


Ingredients:
Adapted from The Taste of Oregon's blog

1 cup spinach, washed and drained
1 egg
1 15 oz can coconut milk
2 flounder fillets, cut up into 1 inch cubes/slices
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 teaspoon fish sauce
3 dried red chiles
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce, and egg. Beat the mixture until the curry paste is dissolved and well incorporated.

Add flounder pieces and let marinate in fridge for about an hour.

In a large skillet, heat up oil under medium to high heat. Add the dried chiles and cook until browned, about 1-2 minutes. Add the bell pepper and saute until soft, about 4-5 minutes.

Add fish/coconut milk mixture to pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, when fish is white and mixture is heated through. Add in spinach and stir until wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.

I don't really know how to describe this dish. It had flavors of a thai style curry, yes, but it just didn't have enough punch. The original dish was meant to be a custard-type deal steamed in a banana leaf boat, but I didn't feel like buying any banana leaves so I just heated the mixture up. I should have probably removed the egg since I wasn't planning on doing a custard. That was mistake number one. The curry may have been less chunky and more smooth that way. The rice I made was a little mushy too. Kind of made it runny. It was just sort of a plain jane dish and didn't get much depth of flavor. Oh well, try and try again I suppose.