Walking on Sunshine

I had a friend come to town to visit me for the weekend. She was supposed to leave on Sunday, but her car wouldn't start. We had to get it towed to a shop, which left her stranded in Edmonton until it was fixed. I was thrilled, to be honest, I hardly ever get to see her, so to have her here for a whole week was really awesome.

At some point this past week, I had one of my sisters, her friend, and my friend over for dinner. This was crazy for me. I am used to cooking for one, not cooking for four! This particular sister of mine loves a chicken dish that I got from Everyday Food.

Indian Spiced Braised Chicken

1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

1 medium onion,thinly sliced

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes drained

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 Tbsp. ginger, grated from 1″ piece

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup yogurt, plain

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 teaspoons garam masala, optional

Cooked white rice, for serving

In a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker, stir together chicken, onion, tomatoes, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, coriander, and cayenne; season with salt and pepper. Cook on high for 4 hours (or 8 hours on low) until fork tender. Stir in yogurt, cilantro and, if using, garam masala. Serve with rice.
Generally I make this in the oven. I start by browning the chicken in oil, then I remove the chicken from the Dutch oven. Then I saute the onion for a minute or two, add the garlic, ginger and spices, and saute it for a minute longer. Then I add the tomato paste and melt it in, then I add the canned tomatoes, and the chicken. Also add 2 cups of water or chicken stock. Bake @ 350 F for 2 hours. Remove from the oven, stir in the yogurt and garam masala. I omit cilantro because I am not a fan of it.

Note, I have made this in the slow cooker and I do brown the chicken, and saute the onions, garlic, ginger and spices.

I also serve this with na'an bread or pitas.

My stranded friend and I also went for dinner last night. We were trying to pick somewhere in West Edmonton Mall to eat at and we settled on The Cactus Club Cafe. Both of us ordered the Butternut Squash Ravioli. The ravioli filled with a puree of butternut squash, and it's served with seared scallops, crispy sage and pine nuts. The sauce is a truffle beurre blanc.

This was soooo good. We stared at it for five minutes before eating it because it was so beautiful. (Actually it was because they had taken our forks away when clearing the calamari).

Seriously though, who wouldn't want to eat this??