Original Food Dude

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Category: Poultry

Roast Grouse in a Wine Sauce

September 21, 2018 / / Comments Off on Roast Grouse in a Wine Sauce

I love fall, it is by far my favorite season.  Spring is great, summer is overrated (to crowded for me) and winter gets blah after New Years. But, fall is awesome.  Corn mazes, pumpkins, changing leaves, crisp air, fresh apples, and one of my favorite things; grouse hunting.

About Grouse

The grouse I love to go after where I live are ruffed grouse, they are often called partridge (which is incorrect but the term is still used a lot).  In the springtime here the ruffies drum a deep almost subsonic noise throughout the maple, aspen, and willow.   Many times while I’m hunting morel mushrooms I hear them calling for a mate.  The drumming is hard to describe and even harder to hear on a computer but it is more of a feeling than a noise.  Its one of the most amazing things to me.

 

 

Honestly, unless you have a really good subwoofer you don’t get the full effect but you can see the little bird and get somewhat of an idea of what they look like.

In Idaho we have 5 types of grouse: ruffed grouse, dusky grouse (I hunt those also way up high like at 8000+ ft), sooty grouse (up by Canada), sage grouse, and sharptail grouse.  Of them all, ruffies are the prize to me.  They are the smallest (a little over a pound) but they are what chicken wishes it tasted like.

So back to fall.  The grouse season here is amazing because it puts me in some of the most beautiful places in the world.

Those aren’t burnt carrots, they are purple carrots and are delicious.

 

Plus I usually get to take my favorite people with me too.

 

Because I love going so much I had to figure out a way to make grouse that would take advantage of the natural flavors they have.  After all their diet consists of currants, juniper berries, huckleberries, snowberries, elderberries, and some bugs and seeds.   Not like our grained and quick grown chicken (although I do eat that too, I just prefer grouse).   I have tried to make them several different ways and this is my very favorite so far.

 

Oh and on a side note, after I took my 4 year old up to the beaver dams, he wanted to know all about beaver.  We watched some documentaries on them, those are some awesome little creatures.

 

Recipe

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Roast Grouse

A savory combination of gamebird, herbs, and wine for a fantastic fall feast. 

Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 4
Author dangenho@gmail.com

Ingredients

  • 4 Breast Grouse (chukar, pheasant, or even chicken)
  • 4 Strips Bacon
  • 1 small Sweet Onion
  • 2 cloves Garlic
  • 4 large Carrots diced
  • 2 cups White Wine
  • 2 cups Chicken Broth
  • 2 sprigs Sage
  • 2 sprigs Rosemary
  • 2 sprigs Thyme
  • 2 tea Kosher Salt
  • 1 tea Black Pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat Oven to 450 F.

  2. In a large skillet cook the bacon strips until they are rendered to a flexible crispy state. They should be cooked but still bendable. 

  3. Remove the bacon and saute the grouse in the bacon grease until they are browned on the outside.  

  4. Wrap each breast with a slice of bacon and place in a roasting pan. 

  5. Add onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and carrots.  

  6. Pour the wine, chicken broth, and bacon grease over top.  

  7. Place the sprigs of herbs on top and roast for 30 min.  

  8. Serve with brown rice, or mashed potatoes for a delicious fall meal. 

Recipe Notes

This recipe can be used with chicken, pheasant, or real partridge. 

Enjoy and then have a nice pumpkin dessert.

Creamy Chicken Coconut Korma

March 18, 2017 / / Comments Off on Creamy Chicken Coconut Korma

What a wonderfully warm and flavorful chicken coconut korma this is!  Brings the taste of your favorite Indian place right in to your own kitchen. 

I have a confession to make, a serious sin I committed for years, I staunchly stated that I hated curry for close to 10 years (I know shame, shame, shame).  It all stemmed from a bad experience eating Thai Curry Duck, so I placed the blame on all curry and avoided the stuff like I avoid the scale (I don’t like talking to him he never says what I want to hear, jerk).

Then a few years ago I started reading about “food aversions” more specifically conditioned taste aversions.  As it turns out my dislike for curry was all in my head….. whaaaaatt?  I had been wrongfully berating a whole type of food (multiple types in fact).  How could I?

So I decided, I would conquer this aversion, I would eat some Indian curry to overcome my psychological block.  Mind over matter.  But I needed to start simple, Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Coconut Korma, easy enough.  

I bought it at our local Indian restaurant, in a gas station.  Bite number one was mind blowing, I mean I was floored.  The warmth, the sweet and nutty flavors all popped at once, my taste buds where in Shangri-La.  Bite number two I was hooked, by the end of the meal I was addicted and by the umpteenth time eating it I was just a curry tweeker.

Seriously, how did I screw this one up so bad, 10 years wasted….

So I set about to make my own (because that’s the kind of guy I am) and after failing multiple times, yes I admit it, I think I finally found the chicken coconut korma for me.

Garam Masala

Spice is the key to good Indian curries, and critical to getting the curry mixture right is garam masala.  Garam means “hot” or something like that, and masala is a “mixture of spices”, so garam masala is part of the warming attribute of curry.

A couple of years ago I was on a plane coming home from a work trip.  I was sat next to a Filipino woman and began talking to her.  Her husband is from India, and we got talking about curry (for some reason all my conversations end up about food, my poor wife).

She told me her Indian mother in law always roasts the spices she uses to make her food with.  A light went off for me, if fresh ground spices are better, would roasted ones be better?  The answer is….. YES.  Especially for curries.

So to make my garam masala for my chicken coconut korma (because why would you buy it) I started with whole spices and roasted them by putting them all in a frying pan together and tossing them over medium heat until they smelled nutty and spicy.  The spicy smell obviously comes first.

Then I ground the whole spices in my spice grinder (actually it’s a coffee grinder, but I use it for spices).    Again use whole spices not powdered stuff.

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Garam Masala

Quick and delicious garam masala. 

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp coriander
  • 2 tsp cinnmon
  • 1 tsp fennel
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 1 tsp clove
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  1. Roast all the spices for about 10 min over medium heat, until they begin to smell nutty and very spicy.  Then grind them in a coffee grinder or small food processor.

Recipe Notes

Where ever possible use whole spices and grind them yourself. 

Jicama Rice

A little twist on the classic here is to use jicama rice in place of regular or brown rice.

If you’ve never had jicama it is like a mild radish crossed with a potato.  It is a great substitute for rice in this recipe.

All you have to do is peel your jicama and dice it.  Then process it in your food processor until it is the right texture.  Use your pulse to prevent pureeing.

I like to add blanched almonds to it for a little crunch, yum.

 

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Creamy Chicken Coconut Korma

What a wonderfully warm and flavorful chicken coconut korma this is! Brings the taste of your favorite Indian place right in to your own kitchen.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade

  • 2 whole chicken breasts
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 2 tbsp cumin
  • 2 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tbsp coriander
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper or cayenne 1 tsp for hot

Korma Sauce

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tbsp garam masala
  • 2 tbsp coriander
  • 2 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ginger fresh grated
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 2 medium tomatoes dicedd
  • 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup cashews

Instructions

Chicken Marinade

  1. Dice the chicken breast in to 1 inch cubes.

  2. Place the chicken, yogurt and spices in a zip lock bag together and work them around to mix. 

  3. Let marinade in the fridge at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours. 

Korma Sauce

  1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic.  Sweat them in the butter (that is start cooking them until they become slightly see through)

  2. Add all the spices and cook for 5 min over medium heat.

  3. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the chicken. Cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through, about 10 min. Toss in the tomatoes and cook about 5 more minutes

  4. Next mix in the coconut milk and cream. Cover and simmer for 25 to 30 min, minimum. It seems to me to longer I let it simmer the more the flavors meld together.

  5. Finally throw in some cashews and give it a couple minutes with them.

  6. Then spoon it (not that kind of spooning) over a mound of jicima rice and I toss just a sprinkle of garam masala on it.

Recipe Notes

Try and use homemade yogurt, click here to learn how to make it. 

Enjoy this amazing chicken coconut korma, better yet serve it to friends and tell them it’s a secret family recipe.  Chicken coconut korma is sure to be a big hit, and really not all that hard.

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