Indian-style Cornish Hen with Honey-Tamarind Glaze

I love Facebook. In addition to giving me something to do with all that time I would normally waste *sarcasm*, I get to catch up with old friends and learn to cook new, waist-expanding recipes. Recently, someone from my high school started a group dedicated to all of our alumni foodies.  We share recipes, post pictures, and drool a lot. To make things more fun, we just started our own version of "Chopped".  Once a month, an alumni gets to pick a main ingredient and add in a few twists for excitement and we all have to go out and make an appetizing dish.  This month, our ingredients were cornish hens, a green vegetable and some other side. I grew up on game birds - guinea hen, quail, pheasant, cornish hens, goose, duck, even the occasional chicken. Usually stuffed and roasted and served with potatoes or some such starch. I really wanted to try something different and so I got pretty excited when I found this recipe by Bobby Flay for an Indian style hen. This is a nice twist on a soy sauce/honey/garlic sauce I often make for chicken. If you use a store-bought chutney, and some chicken breasts or thighs, this is a protein that can be on the table in 30 minutes and will impress guests!  I served this with curried spinach and chickpeas and a side of garlic naan.

Garam Marsala Rubbed Cornish Hen with Honey-Tamarind Glaze

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay

Ingredients

Cornish Hens, washed and patted dry

Salt

Garam Marsala

Honey-Tamarind Glaze

Directions

Preheat oven to 425'

Season the entire hen with salt, including the cavity. Rub the garam marsala over the entire hen. Place the hens, breast side up, on a lightly oiled baking rack set over a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Brush with some of the glaze and reduce the heat to 375' and continue baking until cooked through, 15-20 minutes (160' degrees in the thickest part of the thigh), turning occasionally to baste with the glaze. You can finish the bird off under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to crisp the skin on the breast. Remove the hens from the oven, brush with the remaining glaze, and let rest five minutes before serving.

Honey-Tamarind Glaze

2 tbsp canola oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp minced or grated fresh ginger

1 seeded and chopped jalapeno

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 tbsp white vinegar

¼ cup water

1 cup of honey

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and ginger and cook until soft. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in water and cook until reduced by half. Add vinegar, tamarind paste, and whisk in the honey and cook for about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Alternatively, there are some excellent Tamarind Chutneys available at your local grocery store. Use equal parts chutney and honey to glaze the hens.

40 Minutes (or less) Eggplant Parmigiana

A few months ago I visited Buca di Beppo and was reminded of how much I enjoyed a good Eggplant Parmigiana. I've always been slightly intimidated by the big purple vegetable and have never tried to make the dish myself. After some encouraging words and suggestions from a Sicilian friend, I decided to give it a try. I peeled, sliced, battered, breaded, and fried an enormous eggplant, made my own marinara, and shredded mozarella. The results were divine! At least, food-wise. My kitchen, on the other hand, looked like it had been hit by an Italian tornado. I've retried the recipe several times in the hopes of finding a short-cut to perfection and last night, I think I finally hit it. This involves prepared, store-bought ingredients (hiss hisssss) but makes a great Eggplant Parm, serving four for about $10. The recipe is easily doubled/tripled/etc.

You can, of course, use your favorite brand of jarred marinara in place of the Pomi. But if you have access to a World Market in your area, I would highly recommend trying this one. I haven't had much success getting the flavors I wanted out of a from-scratch marinara (cooked either all day or quickly) and could not find a jarred one that came close to anything good. Until I found the Pomi. It's really really excellent. I swear. I stock up on several boxes and use it with pasta, lasagna, meatballs, parmigiana... anything, really, that requires a marinara sauce.

I was super excited to find the frozen breaded eggplant at Trader Joe's. I've never seen it anywhere else but I haven't been looking, either. I used my deep fryer to thaw and brown the eggplant slices - 4 minutes at 375 was plenty. The directions say they can also be baked or nuked and I'm certain that'd be just fine.

Ingredients
1 pkg Trader Joe's Eggplant Cutlets
1 pkg Pomi Tomato Marinara
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese
optional - red pepper flakes for a little heat, fresh basil

Preheat oven to 375'. Prepare the eggplant slices per package directions.  In a 2 - 2 1/2 qt casserole dish, put a thin layer of marinara at the bottom, add a layer of eggplant slices, more marinara, and a hefty layer of mozzarella. You should have enough ingredients to add two more layers of eggplant, marinara, and mozzarella. Top it off with some parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden. Served with a green salad and some garlic bread, this will make a thoroughly filling meal with little effort and little mess!

No pictures of the finished product... we ate it before I thought to get the camera!!

Crab Rangoon Dip

Every once in awhile I get a huge craving for Chinese food. Not grocery store LaChoy or some healthy vegetables stir-fried at home, but real 7,000 calorie, MSG-laden, Chinese take-out. One of my very favorite things to order is Crab Rangoon, crunchy fried wontons filled with a crabby cream cheese wonder. Forget eggrolls; these little babies will make your tastebuds do somersaults and beg for more.

I found this simple recipe and now I can have as much crab rangoon as my congested heart desires. You can stuff the mixture inside of little wonton pouches to make "real" crab rangoon but I find it a lot easier to just fry the wontons and serve the mixure as a dip. Super easy, super yummy!

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese

6 oz canned crab meat

1/2 tsp Worchesterhire Sauce

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp minced onion

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp chopped green onions

square wonton wrappers

Cube the cream cheese into a microwaveable container and nuke it for 30 seconds to soften it up. Add the crab, Worshestershire, soy sauce, onions, and garlic, and stir to combine.

In the meantime, heat up a deep fryer to 375. Drop in the wonton wrappers for about a minute until the edges begin to brown and then pull out to drain on some paper towels. Make as many as you'd like... then dive in and devour.

The crab dip can be served cold, room-temperature, baked, or micro-waved and refrigerates well.

Masher Cakes

If you should, by some miracle, find yourself with left-over mashed potatoes, this is a crunchy delicious way to finish them off. I'll bet you could also make them with store-bought mashers like Yoder's or Bob Evans.  I've made a similar dish frequently with Market Day's frozen Mashed Potato Patties but this is the first time I've tried making my own. The crunchy breadcrumbs add a great touch; I much prefer these!

This recipe is from Alton Brown's "Good Eats", a great cookbook if you appreciate the science behind cooking. Alton calls for parsley, thyme, or green onions to season the mashers but you can put in any combination of spices you'd prefer (indian style with ginger, tumeric, and coriander?). I added garlic (of course) and some italian seasoning. No salt or pepper as they were already seasoned for their previous incarnation of mashers. I also had enough potatoes to at least double the recipe.

I often top the patties with Boursin soft cheese and some crumbled bacon. *drooling* Today, I changed it up with some sour cream, smoked salmon, and capers. Also delicious!

Ingredients

10 oz mashed potatoes (about 2 servings)

1 tbsp herbs (parsley, thyme, Italian herbs, garlic and/or green onions)

1 large egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Directions

Combine the potatoes, herbs, and egg in a bowl. Divide the mixture evenly. Flatten these gently into rounds approximately 3 inches in diameter. Set aside on parchment paper.

Scatter the breadcrumbs in a shallow dish and coat the cakes one at a time. You don't want to handle the fragile cakes more than necessary so it was easier to scatter more breadcrumbs on top of the cake rather than risk flipping them. Return each coated cake to the parchment (cakes can be refrigerated for several hours at this point).

Fry the cakes for 2-3 minutes per side (if frying in a pan with oil) or total if using a deep fryer. Remove carefully with large slotted spoon or flat spatula when they are golden brown.

Drain and let cool for 2-3 minutes before serving.

Photography or "Jeez, another pic of Carter?"

Hi. I'm an amateur photographer - "a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons." That's me. I'm not half-bad; I've got a good eye. People have even given me awards for some of my photographs. I'm OK with saying that with a straight face - I'm proud of my work.

But I get teased a lot. "Really, Danica? More Carter?" I take a lot of photographs of my English Setter, Carter. He's gorgeous, he's always available, and he doesn't care if his hair's out of place, or he blinked, or his muffin-top is showing. Did I mention he was gorgeous?

I love my dog and he's pretty good looking so I take a lot of pictures of him. (I feel like I'm at an AA meeting announcing my addiction...)

Pets are easier to photograph than people in many ways.  In other ways, in a "could you please sit here calmly while I try to find the right light" ways, they're a nightmare. Don't think I'm copping out by photographing animals; it's its own kind of challenge.

My sister took this photo and I love it, if only because I rarely get to see myself interacting with Carter. In hindsight, I think this photo's pretty funny. Here we are, at Acadia National Park in Maine, arguably one of the most beautiful vistas in the country. We drove for 18 hours to get here, climbed out onto dangerous slippery rocks to get a better view, and what am I photographing? Yeah. My dog.

Here's my argument. Although I enjoy a good landscape photo just as much as anyone, it's static. To make that photo come alive, you need something that brings in another dimension - time. In the face of landscape that's been the same for centuries, the small blink of fragile life makes the image that much more powerful. Whether it's a crab scuttling across a beach or an English Setter running through a field at dawn.  Plus, it anchors the image to a particular period of time. This isn't just any photo of Acadia. This is the photo I was taking when I twisted my ankle sliding down the slick seaweed covered rocks the morning after we decided to take the dogs camping at Acadia. The trick is to make it look good and not like something your Uncle Bert's showing in that endless "Summer Vacation" slide show.

Here's another good example.  I took this photo on a cold winter morning. I think the drab chilly mood comes through in the minimal colors of the landscape. But what's this? A flash of gold. A small warm ember that brings life to that cold panorama.  This is the photo I took the day after my Flatcoat died and I was depressed as all get-out. But my Golden wandered into the frame and reminded me that there were others who needed and loved me.  That photograph suddenly becomes about hope to me. All because there's a dog in it.

In the end, it doesn't matter what others like. Photography is art; it's subjective. This is what I love to photograph.

So I do.

Fostering

Ealier today I recieved photographs of a former foster from their adopter. In the five years that I've been fostering, there's nothing else in the world that gives me a burst of pride and happiness like getting updates on former fosters. It's a small reminder that I've done something good in this world and that I helped make the right choice when finding a new family for my foster child.

Am I talking about a human? Nope, it's a dog. But the principal is exactly the same.

As a foster home I open my doors and my heart to someone who has no place to go, who has given up hope, and who isn't certain who to trust. Dogs seem to be very resilient and there is (seriously, I know you hear this all the time but it's true) nothing more touching than seeing a dog come out of it's shell and wag it's tail again. Mind you, I've fostered quite a few dogs who were just as happy coming in as they were going out! It's not all doom and gloom!

"I can't foster; I'd never be able to let them go."  Yes, you can. I'm not saying it's easy. But in the end, if you find the perfect fit, you'll be able to let them go with a smile.  I don't have kids to entertain a dog, I've got a well-established pack that's pretty prickly about new-comers, I don't go to dog parks every day... if there's another family out there who can provide something that I can't to a dog who needs something, then it's a better family than me. I will let that dog go, and gladly.

Of course, there are the puppies... those are probably the toughest. Oh, yes. We get puppies in rescue. Whether it's a pregnant female, or a younger pup whose new owners don't understand why he isn't house-broken, or a deaf pup that a breeder or new owner doesn't know what to do with. Since I foster English Setters, that last is a relatively common thing. I've fostered six puppies and cried when every one of them left. But they've all gone on to wonderful homes and I love seeing them grow up, even if it is only through email.

This is Pogue. Pogue was a teeny tiny puppy turned over to Ohio English Setter Rescue because he was deaf. Pogue is the youngest pup I've ever fostered or owned. He turned 8 weeks the day after I picked him up in Cincinnati. He was also the most challenging; a go-go-gadget puppy who managed to be in five places at once and doing things he wasn't supposed to in every one of them! I fostered him for three months and taught him sign-language. I remember the first few days he was with me I was practically in tears because I couldn't get him to even look up at me. I despaired, crawling around on the floor so that I'd be at eye-level to get his attention and sign. Then, on day four, The Lightbulb went off and he looked up!  By the time Pogue was adopted, he knew about fifteen signs (including high-five), how to swim, and how to run like the wind!  Pogue was adopted by the perfect family in Chicago and he has positively flourished with them. He's still a little hellion and he's still the cutest thing EVER.  Look...

Did you just say "awwww"? You did, didn't you. I've got a big lump in my throat. Do I miss him? Nah. Well, maybe just an iota. I have a lump in my throat because that little itty bitty puppy is big and happy and has a family who adores him and I have chance to foster another dog and find him just the right home. That's what fostering's all about.

OK. Here it is. The sales pitch.

Rescues and shelters all over the world are filled to bursting with animals who are homeless. And just like children, these animals need temporary homes to keep them safe until a permanent family can be found for them. Unlike human children though, many of these animals are killed to make room for the millions (MILLIONS!) who continue to flood the system. According to The Humane Society of the United States approximately 6-8 million (yes, MILLION) dogs and cats are cared for in shelters every year in the United States, of whom approximately 3-4 million are euthanized. Those numbers are beyond comprehension.

How can you help? Well, first and foremost, if you're thinking of adding a dog or a cat to your family, check out your local shelters or look at rescues in your areas. If you really want a pure-bred animal, trust me, there are plenty there. Rescues with foster homes are a great place from which to adopt an animal! Most rescues have a holding period so that an animal living in a foster home can be temperment tested so that they can be matched perfectly to their new family. And there are rescues for dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, birds, guinea pigs, hamsters, and even rats!

Not looking to adopt? FOSTER! Seriously. It's a great thing. Foster homes are the number one need for rescues everywhere. They can't save animals if there's no place for them to go. I take on a foster dog once or twice a year, if I can, and I take long breaks between fosters to give my own dogs a rest. Even if you only foster one animal, you've saved that one. As my friend Crystal from Starfish to the Sea Animal Rescue says, "it made a difference for that one."

To end on a high note, here's another picture of Pogue. Come on, you can say it... awwwwwwww!

photo courtesy of Stephanie Moon Photography

Flammkuchen (Bacon and Onion Pizza)

One of the many (many many) things I enjoyed eating in Europe was Flammkuchen. Known by several names in different countries, it's primarily a thin pizza, slathered in crème fraîche with crispy bacon and caramelized onions. Given that crème fraîche is a little tough to come by, I've experimented with a couple different dairy products, usually with disasterous results. A few months ago, I came across a promising Flammkuchen recipe on Smitten Kitchen. She offered some substitutions that I was bound and determined to try. I used a mixture of easily found ricotta and sour cream, crisped up some smoky thick-cut bacon, and caramelized a red onion. Toss it all on premade pizza dough (Trader Joe's) and you've got yourself a pretty good imitation of Flammkuchen.

In twelve minutes, I was in heaven. Crispy, sweet, salty heaven. Served with a salad drizzled in red-wine vinaigrette, it was perfect. The vinegar from the salad cut through the richness of the cream topping and perfectly complemented the bacon and onions. This recipe's a keeper. I used the sour cream and ricotta alternatives and yes, putting it in a small food processor makes for a great consistency. Here it is, reproduced and slightly altered from the Smitten Kitchen website:

Serves 4 for a light dinner with a salad; can be divided to 8 appetizer portions or 16 tiny party portions

1/2 pound pizza dough
Olive oil, for oiling baking sheets
1/2 cup fromage blanc or ricotta
1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound thickly sliced smoky bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 450°F. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon crisps up. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add onion to skillet and cook until softened and beginning to caramelize, 7 to 10 minutes.

Whisk together (or blend together in a food processor, if you want it silky-smooth) fromage blanc and crème fraîche with flour, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Roll out dough and place on an oiled baking sheet or a heated pizza stone. Spread the fromage blanc mixture over the dough to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Sprinkle with the bacon and onion. Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve.