I know, I know, another cooking thread…my best guy buddy tells me I’m sublimating my unquenched desire for other sensory pleasures lately by cooking, but oh well, what’s a girl to do…
The deal: I’m going to a New Year’s party, and want to cook something that will knock everyone’s socks off, but will require a minimum of last-minute prep (since I wasn’t foresighted enough to take tomorrow off). Something a little different, but not so weird that nobody will eat it; preferably something that can simmer away in my Crock-Pot while I’m at work. I was thinking along the lines of a nice Moroccan lamb tagine with apricots, but I think that not everyone likes the combination of meat and fruit, so I’ve been busting my head (and my cookbook collection) trying to come up with something less sweet and more savory, yet somewhat festive, with a bit of a kick, and general audience appeal.
Ideas, anyone? I’m stumped. General recipes will be helpful, but I can improvise to a certain extent.
Chicken curry! This stuff is so delicious, I’d eat it every day if I could.
This is straight out of the Crock Pot Slow Cooker Cuisine book that came with our Crock Pot.
2 whole chicken breasts, boned
1 can (10 and 3/4 ounces) cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 green onions with tops, finely chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
a dash of pepper
fluffy rice or saffron rice
Cut chicken into small pieces; place in Crock Pot. Add all remaining ingrediants except rice. Cover and cook on High 2 and 1/2 to 4 hours or on Low 6 to 8 hours. Serve over hot rice. Double recipe for 5 quart Crock Pot.
You can substitute regular onions for the green onions, but I like the green onions much better. And I don’t have a damn clue what fluffy rice is.
How about curried fruit? My brother-in-law made some for Christmas last week and it was great.
He used canned fruit, but you could probably use fresh if you wanted to impress everyone. I’m trying to remember, but I think he used peaches, cherries, pears, mangos, and bananas; added a healthy amount of melted butter, curry and brown sugar. I’m sure you could find a recipe online. His had to bake for a while but you could just as easily (more easily, even) do it in your Crock-pot.
Curried fruit sounds like such a good idea that I searched out a recipe for it. This isn’t a crock pot recipe, but you could certainly use one and put it on low for a while instead of the given cooking method:
CURRIED FRUIT
Yield: 8 servings
5 lb Fruit (pears, peaches, pineapple, apricot, etc.)
12 Cherries
3/4 c Light brown sugar
3 t Curry powder
1/3 c Butter, melted
3/4 c Almonds (blanched), slivered
Add sugar and curry powder to melted butter and mix well. Drain all fruit well. Arrange fruit and nuts in layers in casserole dish. There should be enough fruit to fill the dish about three-quarters full. Pour butter mixture over fruit.
Bake at 325 degrees F. for one hour. Refrigerate overnight. Reheat at 350 degrees F. until hot before serving (about 10-15 minutes).