Yes, no blanching @Saregama.
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that looks delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe. I’ve never cooked okra. ok to use frozen, if i can’t find fresh, i assume, yes?
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I don’t know how DTF cooks their green beans but in some recipes for dry fried green beans the beans are deep fried until wrinkled before being sautéed with the seasonings and other ingredients.
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Thanks! It’s possible these are deep fried first, but they are served soft in a garlic white sauce.
The blanching step definitely helped, now it’s just getting the flavor tweaked. Bouillon worked, but I used a tad extra garlic and pepper. Also I’m sure I should’ve used white pepper, which I have at home but not here.
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Great story and that looks delicious!
I’m not an okra-in-gravy person but lamb and okra curry is a family favorite. There’s a similar turkish dish called Bamiya - ours is very similar but more heavily spiced.
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First Red Gravy of the season. My Muse hovered ever close, so the dish was very close to spectacular.
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Lamb meatballs with spinach and feta, roasted acorn squash and orzo with herbs (cooked with sautéed onions in stock).
For lunch I made a huge batch of red lentil soup, adding in all of the leftover roasted cauliflower, carrots, and new potatoes I had in the fridge. also sauteed a bunch of leeks that need to be used. After simmering for a good long time I mostly pureed it with an immersion blender. Served with piping hot corn muffins.
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Mango salsa chicken, rice pilaf and asparagus.
A big BS chicken breast was cut in half lengthwise, seasoned with s/p, and pan-seared in butter and olive oil. It was topped with the mango salsa sauce and baked in the convection oven on regular heat at 350° until done…maybe 25 minutes.
The “sauce” was made with Newman’s Own Mango Salsa, some frozen mango whirled in a food processor, and a smidge of white wine.to thin it out a bit.
Not half bad and easy-peasy. I decided there was wine tonight.
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We had a small Shepherd’s pie from Friend’s Market in Orleans - PSTO ketchup and a big ass bottle of Malbec. The wine cost more than the pie…
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I borrowed a tagine from a friend a while ago and finally used it tonight. Honestly, it was incredibe. I’m very self-critical but this came out perfect. The house smells amazing. Cooking with a tagine is quite simple, just lots of steps and constant monitoring to spoon out the accumulating liquid so it doesn’t boil over. There are multiple layers: 1) Onion, garlic, carrots, tomato. 2) Chicken which I marinated and an additional sprinkling of spices and fresh parsley. Drizzle olive oil and add a cup of chicken stock. 3) Cover and cook for an hour. 4) Add sliced potatoes. 5) Cook another half hour. 6) Add peas and cook 5 minutes. Done. The chicken was fall apart tender and bursting with flavor. Served with rice and naan.
Moroccan Chicken Tagine. The finished product. I wasn’t sure if it should have been stirred or not, but I did before serving.
The steps:
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I used the spices from this recipe, but placed 8 browned chicken thighs on top of 1 cup of brown basmati rice, and baked it together at 300 F. Sort of a hybrid of tagine and pilaf/plov.
Winged some rolls with honey, flax, pecans, pistachios, oatmeal , white flour and wheat flour.
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That looks incredible. Nice combo of flavors.
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Thank you! It hit the spot.
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I have never tried this method of cooking but the layering looks straight forward. Can this be recreated without a tagine pot? Does the clay impart flavor? Looks great, @gcaggiano.
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I went with a very basic recipe that my friend provided. I did look at many others online, just to see the similarities and differences. I’m glad I started with the recipe he gave me. It was simple but proved worthy. My only alterations were marinating the chicken beforehand and adding more salt.
What I learned tonight: I need to buy my own tagine so I can make other variations. There are some with dried fruits and nuts like you shared that seem like they would be delicious.
I also must say that this meal tonight would have been wonderful for a small dinner party (4-5 people; we had plenty of leftovers). Its not exactly “fix it and forget it” because of the attention needed to make sure it does not boil over and a couple other steps, but it is far from labor intensive. Plus the reveal when the top comes off and steam and scent fills the air is actually kind of grand.
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I would like to think the tagine imparts flavor on the dish, especially since this one is well-seasoned and decades old. However, I saw some recipes online that use a Dutch Oven and looked just as good if not better than mine. The only difference, it seems, is that Dutch Oven versions call for a browning of the chicken before adding the other ingredients. However, it does not appear that authentic chicken tagine calls for that. To each their own–whatever tastes good. I wouldn’t change a thing, personally.
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Good to know.
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It’s Tuesday, so it must be… Indian.
Fish curry was my main.
I also made cabbage and potatoes for all the adults and the usual dal for the kids.
Rest of meal cooked by others was sautéed spiced zucchini and paneer in a bottle of tikka sauce.
I also made a last-minute light potato in gravy for an upset-tummy adult.
And then I decided I wanted to eat Pav/Pao - ubiquitous-in-Bombay yeasty buns that are sold at bakeries and by “bread men” who come around twice a day with freshly-baked rolls and Pullman loaves.
So at 4:30 I started some dough, cranked up the oven to 120F to prove it quickly, and ended up with pretty decent pao for my curry. Another time I’ll start them earlier in the afternoon so they’re a bit lighter.
Cabbage was in honor of my grandmother, whom we lost today a few years ago - it was her favorite vegetable dish. She would only want us to remember her with happiness and laughter and food, so that’s what we do. I get teary from the memories and missing her, but then I make myself remember something funny and smile through it. 
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I so want to try that.
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