The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for slow cooker Thai green curry chicken with broccoli and mushrooms

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:56:46 -0500

When I was a little girl, I smeared everything I didn't like (liver, turkey, broccoli) with ketchup to cover up the taste. In my grown-up kitchen Thai curry paste often replaces the ketchup, not for its masking qualities but because I love almost anything cooked with it. Yes, I'll even lap up broccoli when it's cooked in a curry and coconut milk sauce. This Thai green curry chicken adapts to any vegetables you have on hand: asparagus, cauliflower, butternut squash, sweet potato. I'm partial to the Maesri and Mae Ploy brands of store-bought green curry paste, because they don't contain cilantro; both are widely available in Asian markets (they come in identical 14-ounce green tubs). Fresh basil is essential in this dish. Out-of-season Genovese basil from the supermarket tastes fine here, and Thai basil from your summer garden -- or from your local Asian grocery -- would be even better.

Market to Pantry #27: Farmers' market, Kocaeli, Turkey

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:08:00 -0500

From Mrs Ergül (Mrs Ergül's Kitchen Haven), in Singapore:

I would like to share the farmer's market near my in-laws' home in Turkey from our recent trip back in October-November 2011.

Swedish soda bread recipe

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:39:18 -0500

Don't you love a recipe with a pedigree? I do. This Swedish soda bread recipe came to me from my friend Bev, who first tasted a version of it at an opening reception at the Providence Art Club. Bev asked Joan, the artist, for the recipe; Joan had made it as Irish soda bread, with caraway seeds instead of cardamom, and shortening instead of butter. When I sampled Bev's Swedish adaptation, it seemed more like cake, so I baked mine in one of the Bundt pans I collect but seldom use. (I can't explain my fascination with Bundt pans. I just love them.) Bev made hers in a round cake pan. Serve the soda bread warm, with a pat of sweet butter and a cup of tea, when friends stop by for a mid-afternoon visit.

Slow cooker recipe for lemon-garlic chicken and white bean stew

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:33:15 -0500

While it's true that Rival invented the Crock-Pot®, back in 1971, the company didn't invent slow cooking. Clay pots, tagines and Dutch ovens all predate the electric slow cooker. This chicken and white bean stew springs from the French farmhouse tradition of slow cooking in a pot set into the fireplace. Today, thanks to an inexpensive piece of kitchen equipment (the slow cooker I used for this recipe cost less than $20), I can make stew without hauling in wood, building a fire, raking the embers, and lugging a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven from the kitchen to set into the hearth. Lemon and garlic create the flavor base for this healthy, naturally gluten-free stew, which, like most stews, tastes even better the second day.