Curry and Potatoes

This week I am apparently having a major potato craving, I think they are in every recipe for the week!  It does seem that I focus on one thing, luckily I like lots of things and will move on. 

The chicken curry we had on Sunday was wonderful.  I made half the amount so I have enough spice left for another meal.  It was very good.  As I said, I met the owner of the company at the Metro Cooking Show and she was very nice.  The company is Modern Day Masala, we tried the butter chicken.  I used canned tomatoes when I made it and it was very easy to make following the directions on the package of spices.

I haven't made much Indian food or used curry spices much but made a new recipe on Monday using the slow cooker and Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker cookbook.  The meal was good as with all of the other recipes I've made from this book, but was a little more work than I like when using a slow cooker.  The dish was a beef and potato curry so first I had to brown the meat and place it over the carrots and potatoes in the slow cooker where it cooked for 7 hours.  That's nice, letting it go on it's own, but at the end I needed to make a roux, in another pan with flour, oil and the curry spice and then add that to the slow cooker. I had to use too many pots and pans even though I don't clean up after dinner, that's my husband's job.   I used Penzey's Hot Curry Spice and it was good, not overly spicy. 

I like coming home from Jazzercise and having dinner ready.  Tonight in keeping with the potato theme I'm making Potato, Leek and Spinach soup in the slow cooker.  Another new recipe so we'll see how good it is.  We also have leftover beef curry. 

I cooked for a customer yesterday, one of my favorite customers although all of my customers are very nice.  I've been cooking for them for about 3 years now and have been with them with the death of their first cat, the new kitten and the new baby who is now almost 18 months old.  Yesterday was a fairly quick cooking day,  I made some greens, some chicken, a southwestern pork dish with sweet potatoes, some soup, a chicken and pasta dish and left a salad for a treat.

My exciting news for this week is that I was on the radio!  I was asked by Chef Jae Gruber who is Executive Sous Chef/Evening Dean/Chef Instructor at Le Cordon Bleu.  I met Jae through Women Chefs and Restauratuers a few years ago and she hosts a weekly radio show about cooking, restaurants and more.  She asked me to talk about personal cheffing for the show so I did that on Tuesday.  If you'd like to listen to my show or any of the other topics, it was Radio Sandy Springs.  It was a lot of fun and very relaxing, just sitting around the table chatting with friends. 

Today I have designated as "Finish the Kid's Cooking Series Course Work" day.  The first session is the first week of June and I need to get the materials to Cook's Warehouse for copying and making into books.  I have secured my judges for the first week so that's all set.  I just need class materials and we're set.  I have been working on things, I just need to make sure I'm done.  

The class will be lots of fun I'm sure.  We'll be cooking a menu from different star chefs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids will be using those recipes for a starting point for Thursday and adapting them as they like for the judges and Friday we'll be cooking for friends and family. 

I know, I know, I have to get the course materials done!  Now.  Well maybe after I have some cereal.