Recipe: Curried Cheese Paté

With the Marti Gras season upon us here is an easy recipe to consider for your guests and family to enjoy. This is a popular appetizer at parties and can be made ahead and frozen until your gathering. It looks beautiful on the serving platter.


Curried Cheese Paté

From: Cooking and Gardening with Dianne by Dianne Cage, Monroe, Louisiana



Ingredients:


2 (8 oz.) packages light cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese, room temperature

6 Tablespoons sherry

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoons curry powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon red pepper


Ingredients for Topping:


1 (8 oz.) jar chutney, chopped small if necessary (cranberry chutney or Major Grey’s)

½ cup chopped peanuts

½ cup chopped green onion (tops and all)

½ cup grated coconut


Ginger snaps or assorted crackers


Directions: Cream together the cheeses with sherry, Worcestershire sauce, curry powder, salt and pepper.

Pour and mold on a large plate or cheese board. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 4 hours. This can be made 2 or 3 days ahead or made earlier and frozen. If frozen, defrost at room temperature before garnishing with condiments.

Garnish in layers with chutney, peanuts, onions and coconut. Serve with thin gingersnaps or saltine crackers.

Recipe: Zucchini Flan

Zucchini Flan

Yield: Serves 4

From: LSU Art Professor Michael Crespo who loves to recreate dishes he enjoyed during his travels.


Ingredients:


3 large shallots

1 small to medium zucchini

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Salt

Garam masala or curry powder

6 egg yolks

2 cups half-and-half

6 stems fresh thyme, about 3 inches long

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Halve the shallot bulbs and slice very fine. Halve the zucchini lengthwise and slice into very thin half moons.

Preheat the butter and oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat and add the shallots. Sauté until the shallots begin to brown nicely, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the zucchini and cool until they are cooked through, not soggy. Salt to taste.

Spoon the shallot/zucchini mixture equally into four (6 to 8 oz.) custard cups. Add a TINY pinch of garam masala or curry powder to each (no more than 1/8 teaspoon per cup). Set aside.

Whisk the egg yolks together until well blended. In a saucepan, bring the half-and-half, 1 ½ teaspoons salt and thyme to a boil. Remove from heat immediately. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain the milk into a bowl or measuring cup and slowly dribble into the egg yolks, whisking all the time. Pour the egg and cream mixture equally into the custard cups.

Place the cups in a baking pan. Add enough hot water to the pan to come within an inch of the tops of the cups. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and check to see if the custards have set. If not, cover again and cook a bit longer.

When done, remove from the hot water and cool to room temperature. To serve, run a small knife around the inside of the cup to loosen the sides. Invert over the serving plate, jiggle slightly and the flans will release from the cups. (If you are nervous about removing from the cups, serve in the cups like puddings.) Flans should be eaten at room temperature and may be prepared ahead of time. Serves 4.

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Recipe: Country Captain - chicken

This dish has remained popular in Louisiana since the 1940's when then President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced it was his most favorite dish after having tasted it while traveling in the South, notably Columbus, Georgia. It was developed by the cook, Arie Mullins, for the physician who hosted the President.

FDR often went to The Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia for treatments for his polio and as a general retreat. When we lived in Georgia my husband and I visited this Warm Springs site; the small scale of the place as well as the humble cabins is quite surprising considering the dignataries who joined him.

For those who don't know this dish is basically a very glorified chicken stew with curry seasoning. “Country-captain” is an expression in Bengal, the name of a particular dry kind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish. We might imagine it was a favorite dish at the table of the skippers of ‘country ships,’ and they in turn were called ‘country captains.’ Legend has it that the dish was brought to Georgia by a British sea captain who had once served in the Bengal area of India.

Country Captain

Serves 8 - 10

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons, salt, divided

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 (3-1/2 lbs.) chickens, cut into serving pieces

3 Tablespoons oil (I prefer canola oil)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

2 cups chopped red Bermuda or Vidalia sweet onions

2 cups chopped green/red/yellow bell pepper (all are good!)

1 cup chopped celery

1 bay leaf

1 Tablespoon curry powder (I like Sharwood's brand, the mild curry version)

1/2 teaspoon ground dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes/cayenne pepper powder (we like the cayenne pepper)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic (I usually triple the garlic amount)

6 cups canned, whole, peeled tomatoes, crushed with their juice
(Plunge into a huge bowl of these tomatoes and squeeze and crush with your hands. Keep your hands under the juice level and it won't squirt all over you! Definitely a messy process!)

1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 cup dried currants

Steamed brown or white rice for serving (we like brown rice)

6 ounces toasted slivered almonds for garnish


Combine the flour, paprika, 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper in large, shallow dish and stir to blend. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture, coating evenly. Shake off any excess. Set aside.

Heat the oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in batches until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain. Set aside.

Add the remaining tablespoon butter to the saucepan and add the onions, bell peppers, celery, bay leaf, curry powder, thyme and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the tomatoes, chickenn stock, brown sugar and the remaining teaspoon salt. Stir to blend, then reduce heat to medium. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, but not falling off the bones, about 50 minutes. Add the currants and cook 10 minutes longer. Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with toasted almonds. Yum!

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Photo by Bill Feig