Recipe: Chicken, Lentil and Spinach Curry

This recipe is a healthier update on my mom's famous British-Indian curry, which has apricot jam, white rice and peas.

I have to admit that I've only just begun cooking with lentils (it's ridiculous, I don't know what I've been doing all these years), but I am a total convert because they're so easy and quick to prepare – especially in this recipe.

I made this dish for my family over Christmas in Victoria and my dad suggested red lentils instead of green, which I think I actually like better. The green lentils keep their shape, as you can see above, but the red lentils turn to mush so they soak up even more of the delicious sauce. The cooking instructions are the same for both, they'll just look different in the end.

This is such an easy dinner to make – you just throw everything into one roasting pan so it leaves you with very little dishes, yahoo!

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, backbone removed, butterflied
• 2 cups dry lentils (green or red)
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 lb tub spinach, chopped (it looks like way too much but will significantly reduce once it’s cooked)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bulb garlic, whole cloves peeled
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Combine spices, salt and pepper in small bowl.
3. Add half the spice mixture to lentils and stock in large roasting pan and stir to combine.
4. Arrange onion and garlic over lentil mixture and top with chicken.
5. Brush chicken with oil and sprinkle with remaining spice mixture.
6. Bake, uncovered, for about 55 minutes.
7. Remove roasting pan from oven and arrange spinach around chicken, pushing down so it all fits. Baste chicken while it's out.
8. Cook for about another 20 minutes.
9. Remove chicken to serving platter and stir spinach and lentils to combine.
10. Divide chicken and lentils into 6 portions and serve immediately.

Recipes: See Ya Later Hunny Punch and Juicy Soda Can Chicken

Being outside in the sun, celebrating life with good food, good drinks and great company is my version of heaven.

Last weekend we had some wonderful friends over for a BBQ and tried some summery recipes that the amazing folks at YEW Restaurant + Bar shared with me [check out my recent post on this fabulous, sustainable restaurant here].

The food and drinks were a hit, I hope you’ll enjoy them too!

Justin Taylor's See Ya Later Hunny Punch

This cocktail recipe (pictured above) comes from YEW’s super talented bartender Justin Taylor, and features See Ya Later Ranch’s 2011 Hunny Late Harvest Riesling, which was named Best Dessert Wine at last year’s BC Wine Awards.

Add some gin, Campari and ruby red grapefruit juice to the mix and you’ve got yourself a seriously refreshing drink!

Serves 10

Ingredients

• 2 cups See Ya Later Hunny
• 2 cups gin
• 1 cup Campari
• 4 cups freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients together in a pitcher or bowl and serve in your favourite patio glassware over ice.

Ned Bell’s Juicy Soda Can Chicken

I’m terrible at multitasking when it comes to preparing food and chatting with my guests, so I’m usually running around in a panic at the last minute trying to get everything ready before they arrive.

In my haste, I forgot a few key ingredients for the following chicken recipe, which is care of YEW’s brilliant and wonderful executive chef Ned Bell. His juicy soda can chicken calls for a can of soda water to set the upright chicken over top of. I forgot to buy that. His accompanying BBQ vinaigrette calls for molasses and malt vinegar. I forgot to buy those too.

Fortunately there were still plenty of ingredients that I did have on hand, and the chicken still turned out juicy and flavourful, with deliciously crunchy skin.

Instead of sitting the birds on a can and baking them, I split them along the frontal plane (so both breasts and wings were on one piece, and the legs, thighs and backbone were on the other – pictured above) and barbecued them for 80 minutes on low, flipping each piece over every 20 minutes (I’m paranoid about undercooking chicken so I err on the side of overdone, especially when feeding guests).

Ingredients

• 1 whole organic chicken
• 1 lemon, cut in half
• 1 can soda water
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed in the skin
• 3 tbsp molasses
• 3 tbsp malt vinegar
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Stuff the chicken cavity with the cut lemon, herbs and garlic, and then with the open can of soda water.
3. Stand the chicken up in a deep casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.
4. Remove from oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, to prepare the BBQ vinaigrette, remove the soda can from the chicken cavity and combine the contents with the pan juices, molasses, and vinegar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
6. Simmer for 10 minutes until reduced and syrupy.
7. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and squeeze in the lemon halves from the chicken cavity.

Bell suggests serving the chicken with asparagus, golden spuds and yams tossed in olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper, grilled on the BBQ – as well as grilled bread to soak up all the juices.

Yum-o!

*For my panicked version of this recipe, I just smeared the birds with a mixture of thyme, rosemary, minced garlic, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper and lemon juice.

A Few of my Favourite Things: International Chicken Recipes

I get so excited reading about new recipes, shopping for ingredients, and preparing meals for the people I love. I especially enjoy trying new flavour combinations and using herbs and spices to add flavour without adding calories. After learning about the about the inhumane conditions that many poultry products you buy at the grocery store are raised in, I've solely purchased free-range or organic birds.

A local company raising free-range, medication and antibiotic free chickens is Maple Hill Farms in Abbotsford, found at numerous grocery stores and butchers in and around Vancouver. They offer whole birds, a range of cuts, and eggs.

Here are three of my favourite international chicken recipes, which you can see in their entirety, along with dozens of other recipes I've tested at home, at BC Living.

Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

Visit BCLiving.ca for the Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas recipe.

Pineapple Cashew Chicken Fried Rice

Visit BCLiving.ca for the Pineapple Cashew Chicken Fried Rice recipe.

Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans

Visit BCLiving.ca for the Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans recipe.