Moules!

And now to the main course of the Moules Frites!  I made a version with white wine, garlic, and cream, called Moules Poulette if your French - and the recipe came from Jaques Pepin's cookbook, so I guess that makes sense.  It was going to be hard to beat the french fries, and I think these may have done it.  When I made the decision to take on mussels, I thought it was going to be hard, strenuous and difficult to get anything close to what I ate in France.  But, you know what, they were a thousand times easier than the fries and really took no time at all.  The hardest part for sure was making sure they were all clean and beard-less.  We got ours at Costco and therefore had a gabazillion, I am sure even the cleaning would be easier with fewer mussels.  The cleaning is an important step!  A lot of silt came off.  I just soaked them in cold water a few times until there wasn't anything coming off in the water.

Mussels in a Cream Sauce
5 lbs cleaned mussels (feeds 6)
1 medium chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1/2 t. ground pepper
Dash of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Dash of salt
1 c. dry white wine
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 c. heavy cream

Add all ingredients except the flour, butter and cream to a large pot.  Bring to a boil and cover.  Cook for approximately ten minutes, shaking the pot twice during the cooking process.  After ten minutes, check on the mussels.  If they are all open, you're ready!  What's nice is you can add the butter and eat the mussels as is right now.  Crazy easy right???  But I wanted the french creamy version so I had to complete just a few more steps.  Melt the butter in a small bowl and add the flour and whisk to combine.  Once the mussels are finished, remove from the pot and add in the butter and flour mixture.  Bring to a simmer and let simmer for about two minutes, whisking frequently.  Add in the cup of cream and bring back to a boil.  You can add the mussels back to the pot, or ladle the sauce over the mussels.  And now you can enjoy your creamy mussels!

Stud and I had some friends over to enjoy all of the mussels and this was such a great sit around the dinner table and laugh and drink wine kind of meal.  We sat around the table for a long time, and despite the fact that we only had four, we managed to finish off all of the mussels.  It was so tempting to keep snacking despite the fact that I was stuffed with mussels and french fries.  We served this meal with a big salad, some french bread to sop up all the delicious sauce, and, of course, red wine.  The sauce was so amazingly tasty.  Rich, but paired with seafood it was a great match.  I considered (but I was too lazy), removing all the cooked mussels from their shells and tossing the meat with the cream sauce in a pasta.  That still might happen.  Will happen.  Can't wait.

Pommes Frites

I really wanted to make french fries.  They are one of those foods I can't resist, so I figured it was about time I made them for myself.  They are also the classic French accompaniment to mussels, so I had the perfect start.  I was really worried that my house would smell like fried food for days, but it really wasn't that bad.  These are double fried (YUM), and I covered the pot in between the fry sessions and I think that helped cut down on the odor.  Also, this recipe comes mainly from Cooks Illustrated, that place where they test a thousand recipes until they find the best one.  That was evident in this recipe, especially when I read the first sentence, "For those who like it, flavoring the oil with a few tablespoons of bacon grease adds a subtle, meaty flavor to the fries." YES PLEASE.

Pommes Frites
3 Idaho potatoes (for ample fries, I would do 1 potato per person)
2 Q. vegetable oil
4 T. bacon fat
Salt
Parsley

Using a mandolin, slice the potatoes into french fries.  It makes it so easy to have a mandolin and slice slice slice and you have a ton of fries!  I just left the skins on to make it easier and I like the look.  Soak the potatoes in ice water for at least thirty minutes.  Drain the potatoes and pat dry. Heat the oil and bacon fat until it reaches 350 degrees.  Fry the fries in small batches, for about 6 minutes, until they are light golden.  Remove from the oil and set to drain on a paper bag, I just used one from the grocery.  They fit perfectly in a cookie sheet and absorb all that extra grease.  Make sure to get the oil back up to 350 before you fry the next batch.  They need to sit for at least ten minutes, and up to two hours before their second fry.  Get the oil back up to 350 and fry them again in small batches for just about a minute until they are dark golden.  Remove and place on a new paper bag.  Dust with salt and parsley and toss until coated.

These were so crispy and amazing.  I was worried because when they came out the first time, they were limp and not at all crispy.  I think something about the cooling to room temp and then re-frying makes them crisp up.  And I can see serving these up with some dipping sauces and pretty much making a meal out of it.  There will for sure be more homemade french fries served here - maybe next is some steak frites?  Or one with truffle oil??  Or duck fat instead of bacon fat???  Endless options.

Moules Frites

Want to know what I made over the weekend??? Moules frites (mussels and French fries), the most amazing southern French dish. But for now, all you get is this teaser photo until I can get my act together and type up the recipes!

Daily Fluff

OK so I know, two posts about Beau in one week might be over-doing my obsession, but this picture.  Oh my.  I can't stop laughing.  He was looking all cute so I went to snap a pic and he decided to attack....and this is what I captured.  I feel like this is a much more accurate representation of my life than the little snuggle creature he appears to be in most pics on the blog.

"Special" Pasta

Yet another pasta dish.  I had grand plans for dinner last night.  Then it was a nice night and I sat outside too long and played with Beau, and then it was 8pm, I was starved, and my grand plans flew out the window.  I needed something quick and easy and that involved items I already had on hand - enter pasta, garlic, and pepper flakes.  Notice a trend?  Stud and I both discovered our love for this pasta dish - I think called Aglio e Olio in Italy - as young children.  For Stud, it was called "special" pasta, and for me, it was as fancy as things got.  I think I was like twelve before I considered messing with my classic butter and Parmesan cheese.  And now, it takes as long as your pasta does to cook and you're ready to go, so it's become a quick and delicious staple here.

Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Pepper Flakes

1 lb pasta
1/4 c. olive oil
5 cloves of garlic
1 T. red pepper flakes
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
2 T. pasta sprinkle (dried thyme, rosemary, basil)
2 T. butter

Start the pasta water.  I used angel hair simply because it cooks faster.  I was staaaarving.  Anyways, in a large skillet, warm up your olive oil and dice the garlic.  Add to the oil and cook for a few minutes until fragrant.  Add in the pepper flakes and cook for a few minutes more.  I am terrified of burning garlic, so I always watch it like a hawk and turn off the heat as soon as some of the smaller pieces begin turning golden.  In this case, since this cooks much faster than the pasta, I just turned the heat back on when the pasta was finished.  Add the finished pasta to the oil, garlic, and pepper, along with the butter, herbs, and Parmesan cheese and toss to combine over low heat.  Then enjoy your special pasta! 

This was the perfect solo dinner for me last night and I made a ton to bring into work for the rest of the week because I know I will not get sick of this pasta.  It's got a little bit of everything going for it - cheesy, spicy, garlicy, and it's pasta which is my fav.  And it would be so so so much better with some fresh basil, but alas, it's not that warm here yet.  Soon enough... I have grand plans for my garden this year, hopefully things will fare better than they did last year...which was three dead tomato plants, a handful of grape tomatoes, and a ton of parsley.

Daily Fluff

Things Beau has missed with the warm weather: the sun roof.

Spring!

Spring has arrived in the bluegrass state! This past weekend was beautiful and spent doing yard work...big projects. My daffodils are blooming and it's warming up and I'm so so so so excited for sunshine!

Pecan Streusel Muffins

Ok I already have a recipe for streusel muffins, so why did I make these??  The following were ALL on the ingredient list: sour cream, pecans (not pronounced PE-cans like Paula Dean, more like paaachans with a nice southern drawl), and cocoa powder.  All favorites of mine and left out of the last recipe and they were filled with some sugary nutty goodness so they have a surprise in the middle.  And I got to use my new ice cream scooper to fill the muffin cups. 

  

Pecan Streusel Muffins

For the filling:

1/3 c. brown sugar

½ c. chopped pecans

1 t. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. ground cinnamon

For the topping:

1/3 c. brown sugar

¼ c. flour

1 t. cinnamon

2 T. cold butter, cut into small pieces

For the muffins:

2 c. cake flour

1 t. baking powder

¼ t. baking soda

2 t. ground cinnamon

½ t. salt

1 c. sour cream

½ c. melted butter

½ c. milk

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

Now how I went about this bright and early on a Sunday morning.  First, I made the topping in one bowl and the filling in another since they have of the same ingredients.  For the topping, just use your fingers to incorporate the butter into the sugar until it’s all clumped up.  Then, preheat the oven to 375 and grease a muffin tin (recipe makes 12 muffins).  To make the batter – in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.  In a separate small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, butter, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.  If you can get the milk at room temp, it will help things out.  Mine was cold and kinda re-solidified the melted butter, but everything still tasted amazing.  Add the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir just until well combined making sure you’ve scraped everything off the bottom.  Using a super cool ice cream scooper (or a spoon), fill each muffin cup about ¼ full.  Then add in about 1 T. of the pecan filling and then fill the cups with the remaining batter. Top with the crumbled topping and bake for 20-23 minutes until they are finished!

So my obsession with sour cream continues.  It adds so much moisture to these muffins and along with the hidden treat of pecans and goodness, these muffins are vastly different from my previous streusel muffins.  The cinnamon flavor is strong in these, so if you don’t like it, then I would steer clear.  But for me, I love any excuse to basically be eating dessert for breakfast.  Since I am all alone now and as much as I can eat, I can’t tuck away a dozen muffins all on my own, I also have a nice freezer bag full of these tasty treats to be enjoyed whenever!

Shrimp "Scampi"

Before Stud left to abandon me for a month, we played old married couple and stayed in last Saturday and enjoyed a nice home cooked meal, some wine, and a movie. I was really looking for something light and spring-like since the weather is finally warming up around here. And I still had that clam spaghetti in my head courtesy of my mom a few weeks back. With that in mind, I set out to make shrimp scampi, which I had never had before, but it sounded good! Seafood, garlic, freshness, pasta…how could I go wrong??? Well, I ended up making some variety of shrimp scampi. Most of the recipes I read had you bake the shrimp in the oven, but since I am lazy and was tossing it was pasta, I made it in a large skillet so I could toss the shrimp with the spaghetti to absorb all the good flavors. So this is my rendition.

Shrimp Scampi
1 lb shrimp (I think we used 15-30 which was perfect for little bite size shrimpies)
5 cloves of garlic
2 shallots
4 T. olive oil
2 t. red pepper flakes
½ c. white wine
Juice from ½ lemon
½ c. parsley
Leaves from 6-8 sprigs of thyme
¼ t. dried rosemary (my plant bit the dust over the winter, use 1/2 T. fresh chopped leaves if you have it)
1 lb. linguine
2 T. butter

If not already done, remove the shells and de-vein the shrimp. Start the pasta water and once boiling, add the linguine. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, add the olive oil and garlic and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add in the shallots and cook for a few minutes more. Add in the pepper flakes, 2 T. of the parsley, thyme, and rosemary and sauté for just a minute or two. Add in the white wine and cook until most of the wine has cooked off. Do the same with the lemon juice. Once most of the lemon juice has cooked off (it will smell so good), add in the shrimp and cook just until they are finished. The way I can tell is when they have curled up and are opaque. If the linguine isn’t finished yet, turn off the heat. If it is, drain and add to the shrimp along with the rest of the parsley and keep over low heat. Toss the linguine with the shrimp until the liquid has been absorbed into the noodles. Finish with the butter and toss until it’s melted.

So flavorful and PERECT for the rising temperatures outside. And it the dish was so pretty overall – pink shrimp, green parsley. I love it when a meal looks and tastes good. The lemon juice added a nice brightness to the meal (I am trying to get better at describing dishes so I have been paying more attention to Food Network!) and the subtle heat from the pepper flakes was a nice touch. But can be omitted if you don’t like spicy. And I also really liked the thyme in here. I thought it was a weird addition, but it was a really nice flavor. Overall, could become a summer time staple over here especially if we can keep the freezer stocked with frozen shrimp!

Puddin Cakes

These are really called “tea cakes” in the recipe, but I find that to be probably the least descriptive title in the world. It tells you nothing about the intense fudginess and chocolate goodness these cakes have to offer. All I have been able to gather about tea cakes is that in the olden days they were served at tea time – not applicable to my life. So I will call them chocolate puddin cakes from here on out. They remind me of these delicious snacks from Market Day that I ate right out of the freezer for most of my youth. They were so good and now I can make them for myself.

Chocolate Puddin Cake
For the Cake:
1 ¾ c. flour
½ c. cocoa
1 ½ t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 stick butter at room temperature
1 ½ c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 t. vanilla
½ boiling water
For the Sauce aka gooey goodness:
2/3 c. chocolate chips
4 T. butter
2 c. confectioners sugar
¾ c. evaporated milk (one of those little jars)
1 t. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 10” loaf pan. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking pwder, baking soda, and salt. In an electric mixer, bear the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time being sure to beat well in between each addition. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. And as much of a pain as that is, it makes cakes fluffier and more tender. Weird baking science stuff. Add in the vanilla and boiling water and stir until just combined. Poor into the loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until done. Remove from the loaf pan and allow it to cool on a wire rack set inside a cookie sheet.

While the cake is baking, make the sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a large saucepan and stir over medium heat. Once the mixture has come to a boil, continue to cook it for five minutes. Add vanilla at the end. Once the cake is finished and on the cooling rack, pierce the top with a fork and slightly pull the cake apart to make lots of cavities for the gooiness to fill. Pour the sauce over the cake slowly, spreading it into the holes with the fork. All the excess can drip down onto the cookie sheet and make clean up much easier. Refrigerate overnight to allow the cake to soak up the sauce. The cake will be best if removed from the fridge about an hour before serving, but needs to be kept in the fridge until demolished.

This cake is so tasty. I love it. Stud took one to his host family for the next month because he enjoyed it so much when my mom sent us home with one a while ago. Yes. Stud the so-called chocolate hater loved this cake. I think the whole him hating chocolate thing is more of him hating something chocolate once upon a time. I have no idea what that was. Or I have converted him to the chocolate lovers team where all the cool kids hangout. Anyways, make this cake. A great dessert for company that you have to make a day ahead of time and therefore have to do nothing the day-of and if you’re really wild and crazy, serve it with some tea. I guess that’s what it’s designed for after all.

REAL food

Stud has abandoned me for the next month while he learns how to be a rural doctor, so it's just me for dinner.  I thought I would share a meal with you that I made for because it was crazy easy for one person and I happened to have everything in the fridge.  And I was starving and this took like ten minutes total.  Some nights, this is the best I can do. And if you're reading this on a phone, I'm sorry the picture is upside down, I have no idea why it's doing that. It's right-side up on my computer! Crazy technology.

Mexican Pizza
1 flour tortilla
1 1/2 c. cheese
1 egg
Any other Mexican toppings you want - I used salsa, hot sauce and sour cream

OK get ready.  Turn the broiler on in the oven.  In a large oven proof skillet, lay down your flour tortilla then layer on the cheese, salsa, and hot sauce and then crack an egg in the middle.  Stick under the broiler until the cheese is starting to brown and the egg is cooked.  Remove, add some sour cream and enjoy!  This was shocking good, so much so that I would make it again even if Stud was home.  And please ignore the fact that my tortilla looks maimed, not sure what happened to it while it was living in the fridge.

crunchychickenriceandpeas

Yet another childhood classic.  Who knows where my parents found these recipes.  Someone out there thought to cover chicken breasts in stuffing mix and they were brilliant.  And crunchy chicken is clearly what my five year old self named this dish eons ago.

Crunchy Chicken
2 chicken breasts
2 c. Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned Stuffing
4 T. melted butter

So few ingredients! I love it!  First, pulse the stuffing in a food processor until it's pretty fine.  Then dredge each chicken breast in the crumbs, then butter, then the crumbs again.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until finished.  I really have no idea how to tell if chicken is finished unless I cut into one, so that's my method of choice.

I have been eating this meal, at one point I'm pretty sure it was a weekly menu item, for as long as I can remember.  Always served with rice pilaf and peas.  It was always crunchychickenriceandpeas.  It was one of the few meals I would eat as a super picky child and I still love it.  It's a great quick weeknight dinner for those nights like last night where it's rainy cold and just plain gross outside when all you really want to do is sit on the couch and watch your DVR'd Glee (such a good one!!!).

Daily Fluff

Beau loves watching Life.  Especially when the lions fight the hyenas.

Beef Stroganoff

This is pretty much live blogging happening here.  Since I was out of recipes, I made this last night and here it is, already up on the blog.  And this is no average recipe.  This is my mom's beef stroganoff.  There is nothing else like it.  I have eaten this meal for years, it was the only other birthday dinner option besides chicken casserole.  It was one of the first things I tried to cook for Stud, and didn't go too well.  It tasted just like it should, but it was an absolute timing disaster.  I have gotten a much better handle on things now, and I can successfully say I can make it on a Monday night without wondering why I'm insane and it's on the table in an hour.

Beef Stroganoff
1.5 lbs of beef tenderloin or stew meat in bite size pieces
4 T. butter
4 T. flour
2 c. water
2 T. Goulden's mustard, or other spicy mustard
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. Bovril
1/3 c. sour cream
1 bag egg noodles

I am pretty sure that if you start the water for the noodles at the same time as the gravy, then things will finish pretty closely together.  So start the water for the noodles and melt the 4 T. of butter in a medium saucepan.  Once the butter is melted, add the flour and using a whisk, stir until combined.  Then add in the water, Bovril and bay leaf and bring to a simmer.  Once it reaches a simmer, remove from the heat and add the mustard and sour cream and stir to combine.  Add the noodles once the water is boiling.  Once the gravy is finished, start browning the meat in a large nonstick skillet.  I like to keep it pretty rare so the little bites of meat are nice and tender.  Once the meat is brown, add it to the gravy.  When the egg noodles are finished, you are ready to dig in!  If you want to serve this to company, it does great covered in a warm oven. 

OK so the tenderloin vs. stew meat thing.  My mom uses and has always used tenderloin for this and it makes the best, most tender bites of beef.  But I wanted this ASAP and thought I might as well give stew meat a try.  And there were some tougher pieces.  If I had spent the time to trim some of the pieces, I bet the difference would have been hard to notice.  My conclusion is that tenderloin is always better, but the stew meat will do in a pinch. 

Also, Bovril.  Where to start.  OK.  So it's an English meat concentrate that they use to make some weird meaty drink which is essentially Bovril with hot water.  But you can no longer get the real beef Bovril in the US due to Mad Cow.  They do sell the veggie version and I can't really tell the difference, but I am assured it's there.  My little jar was snuck in across the Canadian border.  But if you don't have a Bovril fairy and can't find the veggie version, any sort of beef concentrate will work.  And you guys.  This is the ultimate comfort food.  If I ever get the chance to request a last meal, this would be it.  This specific recipe.  I would probably even make my mom make it.

Mooching

So for a while there I was doing a great job cooking and trying new things.  But this past weekend, I did not make a single thing...the closest I came was toasting a bagel.  Stud and I have managed to mooch all meals this weekend off other people.  My parents made linguine with clams (I wanted to post that one for you and pretend I made it....I did stir....but Stud said that would be lying.  It was delicious, it will be up here soon.  As soon as Costco has clams) and then Stud's parents had us over for soup and grilled sandwiches - reubens and brie with cherry jam.  I had some of both, duh.  Stud and I have been feeling lazy so it was perfect.  BUT this week I have some good things planned!  Some new things as well as some family classics.  SO get ready people.

And since I like all my posts to have pictures and you all have to be getting tired of Beau, here is Chuckles.  We chilled last night...I am already making sure he knows I am the coolest aunt and if he wants to come hang out with me, we can eat ice cream and watch Disney movies all night.  I have no problem buying his love with ice cream and I am secretly obsessed with Disney movies.

Three Cheese Orzo and Spinach

I have this thing.  I absolutely love to eat pastas with a spoon. When I was little, my favorite was pastina (little stars) with tons of butter and parmersean cheese.  So in the name of our fridge needed to be cleaned out and my discovery of the perfect recipe, I made orzo with some delicious fridge items to jazz it up above the normal butter and cheese.

Cheesy Orzo with Spinach
1 lb. orzo
1 c. diced yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
3 c. packed fresh spinach (or more, or less)
3/4 c. grated parmersean cheese
1/4 c. goat cheese
1/4 c. cream cheese
Olive oil
Salt
Pinch of nutmeg

Cook the orzo according to the package instructions.  While the pasta is cooking, sautee the onions and garlic with a pinch of salt in about 2T olive oil in a large skillet until translucent.  Add in the spinach in handfuls until it is all wilted.  Add in the cheese and and stir until it's melted.  Once the orzo is finished, add it to the skillet with the spinach and cheese with about 1/2c. of the pasta water to make more of a sauce out of the cheese. Add a pinch of nutmeg, stir over low heat until everything is well combined.  And enojy your pasta with a spoon!

The cream cheese was a last minute addition here and it was perfect.  It added a nice creamy-ness to offset the parmersean and goat cheese.  And I cleaned out my fridge!  Which I consider a great success since we were buying the veggies at Costco and managed to eat them all!  It was a great quick weeknight dinner that successfully convinced Stud that spoon pasta was just as good, if not better than spaghetti.

Daily Fluff

Since Beau is now bald, he is freezing all the time.  He also thinks our bed is his bed.  So this is what I find.

I Scream (hahaha)

When Stud and I were registering for wedding presents, the one thing I really wanted was an ice cream maker so I could make awesome weird flavors for myself, like lavender, which is awesome.  This is another make-your-own recipes from Fine Cooking, so you can really add whatever you want to your ice cream.  When Stud and I started dating, he "hated" ice cream.  So when he mentioned that he wanted to make a batch, I let him take the reigns and I just hovered per usual.  He wanted to make a spicy rich chocolate ice cream (also weird because he "hates" chocolate), so off we went to make some Mexican Chocolate ice cream.

Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
2 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
3/4 c. sugar
5 egg yolks
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 c. cocoa powder
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. vanilla extract
2 T. brandy
Salt
Espresso powder

In a medium saucepan, mix 1 c. of the cream with the milk and a pinch of salt and warm the mixture over meduim high heat.  Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves and tiny bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan.  Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice cubes and water and setting a smaller bowl inside with the remaining 1c. of cream.  Once the milk mixture is forming small bubbles, pour about half over the egg yolks in a steady stream, mixing constantly to prevent curdles.  This is where I became Stud's sous chef.  I was a great whisker.  Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly and add the chocolate, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, and a pinch of espresso powder.  Once the custard reaches 175 degrees, strain the now chocolate custard into the bowl in the ice bath with the cream.  Cool the custard in the ice bath until it reaches about 70 degrees, and then stick it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.  Before you add it into the ice cream maker, add in the vanilla and brandy and let the machine do the rest of the work!

This ice cream is so rich and creamy (hello cream and egg yolks....yum), and the chocolate flavor is amazing.  I could have this just with the chocolate and espresso powder and be content, but Stud likes spicy foods!  And I enjoyed the spicy/cinnamon flavor more than I thought I would.  It is the perfect little treat at the end of a long day, and I can't wait for summer when we have an excuse to make ice cream all the time!

Mo' Masman

Oh loyal readers, I am sorry for my lack of posting/prolific shots of Beau over the past week.  Being back on just weekends to get stuff accomplished has really thrown me for a loop!  I did manage to make some gumbo yesterday since Stud and I finished off the first batch, so I not all has been lost, I am still semi productive.

BUT I HAVE SOME AMAZING NEWS (in case you didn't guess from the title of this post).  My mom called me the other day and guess what she found?!?!?!?

MASMAN CURRY PASTE!!!  And yes, that is a 2lb. tub.  To make things even better, the tub comes with a recipe on the back!  So the other night, Stud and I set out to make some Massman curry and it's amazing.  It's the real deal.

Masman Curry
2 chicken breasts
1 yukon gold potato
1/2 yellow onion
2 T. vegetable oil
3 oz. masman curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 c. water
3 t. sugar
1 t. tamarind paste
1/2 t. cayenne
Pinch red pepper flakes
Salt

In a medium saucepan, cook the chicken in the vegetable oil about halfway.  Remove the chicken and add the diced yellow onion.  Once the onion is translucent, add in the masman curry paste, coconut milk, water, potaotes and add back in the chicken.  Bring to a boil and add in the cayenne, salt, and red pepper flakes.  Cover and let it cook for fifteen minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.  Then add in the sugar and tamarind paste and serve over white rice.

This recipe also took about thirty minutes from start to finish, which is probably less time than we would have spent if we had ordered it to-go.  Amazing.  It's spicy and creamy and tasty and even Stud-ethnic-food-snobby-pants said there was nothing he would change.  Except maybe a little more spice.  High praise.  But beware!  The potatoes adsorb all the delicious flavor and then become little fire (temperature hot) balls in the curry.  They take forever to cool!  I would chop them pretty small, the roof of Stud's mouth is scarred from a potato bomb, but he still says it was worth it.