green curry chicken

On Saturday Brad and I had a date day. We slept in late, lounged around then headed to the West Side Market. The few times a year we make it there we always remark on how we wished we went more often - it's only about a 15 minute drive away and we just don't go as much as we'd like to! We had a wonderful time wandering around, looking for the ingredients for Brad's dish he would make that night. We bought a few burritos from the Mexican place and ate lunch as we strolled around. We bought cheese for the chickpea dish I want to make this week while sampling a few that caught our attention -peccorino pepato -(sheep's cheese with black pepper). We stocked up on a few spices & pure almond extract from the spice shop - good, fresh spices and so inexpensive! We sampled a curry pie from the chinese stand & bought some pork & veggie dumplings to make as an appetizer that night. As instructed Brad heated peanut oil in a pan and threw the dumplings in...they tasted almost as good as the many we tried while in China!

We ended our day by Brad cooking dinner for me. Although I love to cook (& bake) Brad is the gourmet cook in the family. We've been obsessed with all things curry lately and Brad was excited to try this dish with his new green curry paste. Although he was somewhat disappointed in the results (thought it wasn't spicy enough), I thought it was delicious. It was the perfect ending to our perfect date day.

Green Curry Chicken

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 medium onion, cut in 8 wedges
1 green bell pepper, cut in 8 wedges
1 stalk lemongrass, white bulb only
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh ginger
3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups unsweetened coconut milk, 2 (13.5 ounce) cans (we used lowfat)
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1-inch strips
3 whole red chillies
Sea salt
1 Lime, juiced
Fresh basil
Fresh cilantro

Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. Saute the onion and green peppers for 3 minutes to soften. Split the piece of lemongrass down the middle and whack it with the flat side of a knife to open the flavor. Add the lemongrass, ginger and curry paste to the skillet and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk, water & chillies. Lay the chicken pieces in the mixture to poach; add a pinch of salt. Stir together and simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze in the lime juice and shower with basil and cilantro; serve in dinner bowls with lime wedges. We served over brown rice, but it's not needed as we at the leftovers on their own.

reciped adapted from Tyler Florence's green curry chicken