Winter Fruit Chutney Bites

For a recent slumber party with my foodie club, I was looking for a snack that was wintery, tasty (obviously), could be prepared ahead of time, and could play nicely with a cheese board. Enter fruit chutney. This appetizer met all those criteria. I made the chutney two days before the party, used storebought baguette crisps, did the onions the day of, then transported everything to my friend's house in jars, set the various elements on a tray, and invited my friends to assemble their own bites.

Most of the chutney recipes I looked at included onion in the chutney, but I decided to keep it separate, which frees me up to use the leftover chutney in a variety of ways. I imagine it'd be great served with ham or pork, dolloped atop french toast, stirred into pancake batter, mixed with butter and spread on toast, maybe even added to a citrusy smoothie or mixed into a drink.

Feel free to mix and match ingredients. Add some fresh orange juice or orange zest, use nutmeg or cloves instead of or in addition to the spices here, use thyme instead of rosemary, add a few cracks of black pepper to contrast the sweetness of the fruit, use different kinds of cheese ... basically, be creative and have fun with it!

Winter Fruit Chutney Bites
Yield: About 2 cups chutney and 3/4 to 1 cup caramelized onion
Adapted from Reluctant Entertainer; caramelized onion method from The Kitchn

Ingredients
1 Tbsp. butter
1 medium-large red onion, vertically sliced
Splash of wine, water, or balsamic vinegar (I used cheap chardonnay)

6 oz. fresh cranberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 allspice berries, ground
1 cup peeled and chopped pear
1/2 cup peeled and chopped Granny Smith apple
1/8 cup crystallized ginger, diced
Juice from 1/2 of one lemon
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Blue cheese crumbles
Bread slices, crackers, or toasted baguette slices
Fresh rosemary, minced

Directions
To caramelize the onions: In a medium to large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onions and stir well to get them nicely coated. Saute them for a couple of minutes, then reduce heat to low or medium-low, and let them hang out for a good 30 minutes or more, stirring every so often, until they're super soft and caramelized. Do keep an eye on them, because you don't want them to burn, but you do want them to caramelize. When they're looking good, increase the heat, add a splash of wine, water, or balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan, and let it cook until the liquid has mostly evaporated. Remove from heat.

To make the chutney: Pour cranberries into a colander, rinse and drain, and pick out any that look suspicious. If your cranberries are frozen, no need to thaw them. In a large saucepan (tall sides are your friend; this will splatter), combine brown sugar, water, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and cranberries. Bring to a boil, ensuring the sugar dissolves. Then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Many of the berries will burst while simmering, so use a splatter screen if if you have one; otherwise, loosely cover the pot with a lid that's tilted to let steam out.

Add the pear, apple, and crystallized ginger, and continue simmering for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and cider vinegar. Taste, and if it's too puckery sweet, add just a bit more cider vinegar.

To serve: Spread some of the cranberry mixture on a your bread or carb of choice, top with some caramelized onion, sprinkle with blue cheese, and finish with a sprinkle of fresh rosemary.

Notes
You can assemble a whole bunch of these and arrange them on a tray, or you can set out the elements and let guests assemble their own. Personally, I like the latter approach because it leaves me available to interact with people instead of fussing over food, and leftovers are easier to pack up and reuse (i.e., no soggy pre-assembled bites that sit out for two hours and get gross).

Bangladeshi Chicken and Potato Curry

Whelp, my year started with a Bangladeshi meal, so I'd say I'm a fan of 2018 thus far. This meal comes from the Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisinal Baking from Around the World, one of the newest arrivals to my cookbook library. It was through this episode of the A Couple Cooks podcast that I first learned of Hot Bread Kitchen, a bakery and training program in NYC that employs and trains immigrant and minority women to succeed in the professional food business. Through the program, these women gain marketable, employable skills and experience, in addition to training in English, kitchen math, and science. Everything on their menu comes from the home countries of the employees and graduates of Hot Bread Kitchen.

This cookbook features many of the breads of Hot Bread Kitchen, as well as things to eat or drink with said breads. Most recipes include a story behind the dish or the culture from which it comes, and sprinkled throughout the cookbook are spotlights of several Hot Bread Kitchen women. And these recipes come from all over the world, so in the span of a few pages you go from Ethiopia to Iran to India to Italy--and that's just in the leavened flatbreads chapter!

Hailing from the kitchen of a woman named Lutfunnessa, who taught political science in Bangladesh before moving to New York in the 90s, this curry recipe lands in the first chapter of the book, so it caught my attention early. Even after reading most of the rest of the book, when I thought about what I wanted to make first from the HBK Cookbook, my mind kept drifting back to the Bangladeshi curry and Bangladeshi flatbread (whole wheat chapatis). Besides, the paragraph at the top of the recipe says it's "perfect on a cold night"--and since it seems the entire U.S. is frozen right now, this curry was the perfect way to ring in the new year.

I served mine with the aforementioned whole wheat chapatis, which are also included in the cookbook, but you can definitely serve it with rice instead. The recipe is written with beef instead of chicken but, with the blessing of the paragraph at the top of the recipe, I used chicken thighs instead. This is a fairly simple dish to make, but it does require some time to simmer.

Bangladeshi Chicken and Potato Curry
Adapted slightly from Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook (p. 38)
Yield: 3 servings

Ingredients
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
1 small yellow onion (or half of 1 large), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/8 tsp. cayenne (1/4 tsp. for more heat)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1-1/2 cups water
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed (approx 1-inch cubes)
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Cooked basmati rice or whole wheat chapatis (flatbread), for serving

Directions
In a medium to large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then add to the pot. Cook until the chicken is browned, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken to a plate.

Turn your burner down to medium and add the onion, garlic, ginger, and cayenne to the pot. If needed, add a splash of water to loosen any browned bits left behind by the chicken--there's great flavor there! Cook for another 10 minutes or so, until the onions are softened and starting to brown, stirring occasionally. Stir in a bit more salt while the onions cook. Add the remaining spices--cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and cardamom--and stir for just a minute, to release the spices' fragrance.

Pour the water into the pot and add the chicken back in. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about an hour. Check it every so often to give it a stir and add more water if it's getting dry (I checked every 20 minutes and never needed more water).

Now add the potatoes to the pot and keep on simmering (covered) for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are nice and tender. Mine were very soft after 30 minutes. Again, stir every so often, and add water if needed. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Sprinkle with cilantro, and serve with rice or chapatis.