alton brown

Cooking With Christie: Chicken Tikka Masala

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Inspiration: Once again, while baking bread, I listened with half an ear to Alton Brown and Simon Majumdar discussing Tikka Masala on Good Eats (the newer seasons). As my household enjoys tomatoes, chicken, spices, and rice, I decided to give this dish a go.

However, due to my stupid, stupid allergies, I couldn’t use Alton Brown’s recipe as it calls for coconut milk. (Though, I’ve gotta say Mr. Brown’s dish does look spectacular.)

Completely forgetting I own a massive British cookbook, I took to the interwebs to find a non-coconut milk based version of this recipe. (As I was unsure if I could swap moo juice for tree juice.) Whereupon I found one by Recipetineats, which looked promising.

Even better? It turned out great the very first time!

(Okay, this recipe is worth trying at least once, for the moment when you add the cream and butter to the tomatoey gravy. The swirls are absolutely magnificent!)

Helpful Hint From Me to You: As this dish calls for you to lightly char the meat before adding it to the sauce — I’d advise you NOT to use your brand new cream-colored castiron pan to complete the deed. Otherwise, you might end up making your pan appear well-loved/distressed long before you’d anticipated.

Christie: As this is now considered a quintessentially British dish….Depending on the circumstances, I think all of Christie’s detectives would have tried Tikka Masala at one point or another! (Well, in the books set after 1960, as that’s about the time when this dish was invented!)

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2023

Cooking With Christie: Sourdough Cheese Crackers

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Inspiration: On a week where the temperatures ventured down into the low 70s for a whole week, I decided to bake….Because, well, frankly, I missed mixing things up! (I also find all the measuring and assembling of ingredients calming.) So whilst baking bread, buns, cookies, and frying tortillas, I had the show Good Eats (the newer episodes) playing in the background. During a lull, my ears perked up when Alton Brown started talking about his take on sourdough cheese crackers.

Now, for whatever reason, I’ve always found sourdough intimidating. You’ve got to start the starter, feed it, and then, after an appropriate amount of time you use it (well, at least the leftover bit). Then there’s the generally slow rise time associated with these breads….And well, the whole sourdough business kinda seemed like a faff.

But I really, really missed baking.

(Summer is not my favorite time of year.)

(Alton Brown’s cookbook which contains the cracker recipe.)

So I decided to give it a go. Whereupon I discovered, much like hummus, constructing a sourdough starter is easier than it looks. You just need a bit of patience because it just takes time.

(How the starter started vs. how the starter looks now.)

So after a week and a day, I was ready to make the sourdough cheddar crackers….Mine aren’t as brightly colored as the one in Alton Brown’s cookbook or show — due mainly to the mild cheddar cheese powder I used rather than the sharp cheesy powder called for in the recipe. (Hey, it’s what I could find at my local grocery store).

Additionally, I didn’t read the recipe as closely as I should have (that’s on me for not wearing my glasses), so I added all the butter listed in the ingredients list rather than only a portion. (As a part is used in the dough while the rest is brushed onto the cracker later.) So, they didn’t rise as well overnight and had an almost greasy feel.

They tasted great. They just looked a bit….special.

In any case, I cannot wait for the mercury to dip back into the low 70s (or, even better, the low 60s) so I can have a do-over on these crackers!

Christie: I can see most of Christie’s main characters eating these at one point or another in their lives and liking them — except perhaps for Hercule Poirot and Mr. Sattersthwaite, who possess far more particular culinary objectives.

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2023

Cooking With Christie: Seaweed

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This Week’s Recipe: Wakame Seaweed Salad

Inspiration: Wakame Seaweed Salad is the second recipe Good Eats, the tv show, inspired me to make after my day of furious lemon themed bakes! Unsure of what exactly I was looking for at my local Asian grocery store, I decided to make my first purchase of dried wakame seaweed over the interwebs.

Watching the seaweed rehydrate is a fun to watch as Alton Brown said!

Here’s the thing: This recipe doesn’t contain many moving parts.

As I’d already planned on replacing the radishes the recipe requested (thanks, stupid, stupid allergies), when I realized we’d used the avocado the night before for our taco Tuesday tacos, it didn’t require much effort to pivot the side dish that much further.

Though happily, out of the eleven ingredients used, I only substituted two. So from a numbers standpoint, that’s not bad. Right?

Hopefully, Alton Brown won’t mind.

In any case, in addition to called-for carrots, I chopped up a red bell pepper and part of a zucchini….and it turned out pretty tasty. Though next time, I will reduce the amount of seaweed slightly and increase the veggies so they’re roughly equal. (I like veggies.)

Christie: Colonel Race and Mr. Harley Quin are the only eaters who are adventurous enough to try/eat a seaweed salad regularly. I think. Though if Aziraphale, from Good Omens, can enjoy sushi, Poirot might learn to like seaweed salad…..

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2023

Cooking With Christie: Coffee With A Twist

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This Week’s Recipe: Cold Brew With Chicory

Inspiration: Whilst completing all the lemon inspired bakes for my husband’s coworker’s going away party — I had the last two seasons of Good Eats (my favorites) playing in the background. Now I’ve watched all these episodes before. However, this time two very different recipes piqued my interest.

One of which was this coffee and chicory concoction.

Since I’d also purchased the cookbook accompanying these seasons, I located the recipe and got to work…after I bought both chicory and ground coffee. (Neither of which will break the bank, btw.)

It is effortless to make, and if you assemble the main ingredients in the evening, you only need to strain it the following morning….and bam! You’ve got a couple of cups of strong cold-brew coffee!

Seriously, this stuff is as dark as night without being bitter.

This chicory infused cold brew is an excellent morning pick-me-up. Add a dollop of Alton Brown’s homemade sweetener (honey, agave, & blackstrap molasses) and a splash of milk. It’s divine! Especially when paired with kruidnoten. (Last week’s Cooking With Christie recipe.)

Christie: I could honestly see Poirot sipping this on a summer morning when it’s far too warm for sipping piping-hot coffee! Though he might refrain from nibbling a kruidnoten, as they are typically served during the winter holidays.

BTW: I love this cookbook! Not only does Alton Brown’s humor shine through, he also includes all the bit of info he did in the show: tips & tricks, history, trivia, and more. Plus, the recipes themselves are well laid out and easy to follow — an achievement not all cookbooks can claim!

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2023

Cocktails With Christie: Clarified Milk Punch

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Inspiration: One day, whilst wandering down a rabbit hole of tangentially related shows on my cable box’s menu screen, I stumbled upon Alton Brown’s show Good Eats — not the original version but The Return.

And I’m hooked!

His blend of history, skits, culinary hints-tips-& tricks, and very clear recipe walk-thrus made me an instant fan.

Now, while binge-watching Good Eats The Return, our host featured a low-ABV beverage my husband and I found fascinating — A Clarified Milk Punch. (Don’t know what low ABV is? click here to find out.) Generally speaking, neither of us are fond of mixing alcohol with moo-juice. However, we figured if Charles Dickens enjoyed the beverage — we might as well.

At this point, after watching ‘Holiday Spirits’ again and locating the written recipe on Alton Brown’s website, we had a good-ish handle on the process of making this fortified punch.

Now I say process, because one of the key ingredients is an Allspice Dram, which, unless you’ve got the address of one heck of an eclectic liquor store in your hip pocket, you’ll need to make it yourself. But don’t fret. It’s a straightforward recipe but takes ten days to steep properly.

After we finished creating the dram and swearing a bit, plus some spillage, we managed to produce a punch that looked exactly like the one Mr. Brown made!

And it’s delicious!

Helpful hint: In Alton Brown’s demonstration, he’s got a colossal sized sieve, industrial-sized coffee filters, and a large container to strain the milk punch through.

We didn’t have any of those things.

So we came up with a workaround, which calls for two regular-sized metal sieves, several standard coffee filters, and a canning funnel. And set it up like the picture below.

Now here’s the trick, you only pour a potion of the curdled mixture into the sieve at a time — careful not to fill the sieve above either the line of the coffee filter or the edge of the canning funnel. Otherwise, you’ll end up with the unfiltered liquid on your counter or small bits of milk stuff in the punch mixture.

Ask me how I know.

After the first small bit filters through, you top up your contraption again, again, and again until all you’re left with is a clear cranberry-colored liquid!

Learn From My Mistake: This will take some time as the filter grows slower and slower with each pour. However, unless you’ve got another two sieves sitting around, don’t give in to temptation and change out the coffee filters. Inevitably you’ll get a bit of milk stuff into your perfectly clear punch, which will force you through the whole process again!

Christie: I can see the Grande Dame herself enjoying this punch during the festive season! I think even Poirot and Miss Maprle would appreciate a small sip of this low-ABV drink if it appeared on a drinks table!

The finished product is so very lovely!