Cooking for DLS pt 2

As I mentioned in my last “Cooking for DLS” post, one of the ways I show I care is cooking for people. I’d had so much fun last time, that this time I went slightly more involved. Since DLS‘d enjoyed the mushroom crostini a lot, and it was similar to my clams with linguine method, I decided to go and make that for him – which he seemed really excited about. Note: I hate electric stove tops. His decided to shut off multiple times in the middle of cooking this, so I would say that it didn’t cook quite as evenly as I’d like, but it was still enjoyable. And pretty… along with some mini baguettes I picked up from Food Emporium (and fresh clams).

I hadn’t planned on taking photos of this meal a week later (it’s becoming a weekly ritual, so expect more of these posts in the future), but snapped a quick pic on my phone to Tweet… and ate… and then um, someone ‘complained’ about me not taking [real] pictures… so I guess I should share this with you as well.  I didn’t plan on blogging this, since I make this for myself at home quite frequently (and have blogged it in the past), but I have to say that I did a fairly good job that I was impressed (since I occasionally have trouble getting it exactly right).  It’s one of my favorite meals: Japanese curry with chicken and vegetables, served with miso soup to start.  Comforting, delicious, and just totally what I like to eat when I cook dinner for myself… ah.

Linguine with clams

Recipe can be found here. I also added some fresh clams I scrubbed and once those opened, pulled those out. But it’s basically the same recipe.

Japanese curry

I really just buy those bricks of curry (I prefer S&B or House brand… the Vermont apple is nice, and I vary my heat levels).  So I chop up boneless/skinless chicken thighs and brown them in a pan, and add the veggies I want depending on how soft I want the veggies to get.  This time, I used all fresh veggies (I sometimes use frozen): celery, onions, carrots, and green bell peppers.  To achieve the softness of the carrots that I wanted, I put them in some water and microwaved them a few times until they were the softness I wanted – and then used that water in the curry since I had no broth to use.  The green bell peppers were added to the chicken before adding any broth – I like those pretty soft (actually, I don’t like green bell peppers, but he does) – and the celery and onions were added later since I like those a bit crunchy.  Then I added the water and let it all thicken before serving over some white rice.  Awesome and perfect.

Miso soup

I don’t know if I do this right, but it tastes good to me. I heat water and add shiro miso till it looks about the right color, then bonito granules and wakame (dried seaweed).  Sometimes I add green onions and cubed tofu, but I went simple this time since we were eating Japanese curry with rice as well (sometimes I make miso soup as my meal, so I’ll add tofu for protein and to balance the meal a bit more; yes, this is a weight loss trick I employ).

Happy eating!!!