Ly's World: Homemade Thoughts and Reviews

Hey Extras!

Are you guys ready for another review?  I hope so!

Our next stop is Chutney Bistro for some Indian Cuisine.  Chutney Bistro is located in the Wallingford Center in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.  Its location is 1815 N 45th St.  It has a very big and open front patio area with a fountain in the middle.  Very inviting if it was summer but since it is fall, not so inviting. The inside is open with booths and tables in the dining area.  They have the usual buffet placed conveniently near the entrance of the restaurant and near the kitchen (it kind of turned me off to the place seeing the buffet line right when I walked in).   The decor of the place is very pleasing.  It had dark table cloth, the chairs were comfy and have booth options plentiful.  The glasses are one of their most unique traits here.  There is a full bar available and they play lovely Indian music at a very low level which is very pleasing and not to overt.  Since they moved into the Wallingford Center, they share the bathroom with the building so you have to go out of the restaurant and punch in code which you have to wrangle in a waiter to get. 

I went there with Lisa and Trevor after hanging out at Kevin’s place for a bit the day after Thanksgiving (I know. I know!  I am really slow at writing these posts).  We were deciding between Chinese and Indian and Kevin suggested we go here, since it’s one of his favorite Indian restaurants to go to.  (I’ll have to get more suggestions from Kevin since most of his suggestions for places to go and eat have not failed me so far… see Green Leaf!)

The menu is pretty extensive and now they have an Organic Menu available along with organic wine and beer to choose from.  As intrigued as I was about the Organic Menu, I had a hankering for lamb which I rarely get unless it’s in an Indian restaurant.  I have no idea why, LOL, I just do.

When we sat down, they gave us a basket of papadum  and two different kinds of chutney (red and green.  I didn’t what they were but if you know! Please tell me .  I didn’t really cared much for the papadum.  It had an interesting and unique flavor that didn’t pair well with me.

       

Papadum and Chutney      Raita and Basket of Naan

On to our food delights.  First we ordered a Basket of Naan ($7.95) that came with regular naan, garlic and basil naan, your choice of stuffed naan (we chose paneer).  I ordered the Lamb Vindaloo ($13.95) 3 stars, Trevor ordered the Lamb Rogan Josh (16.95) 4 stars, and Lisa ordered the Chicken Tandoori ($10.95).

The naan came pretty quickly.  It was all delicious.  It came in a basket… all jumbled up together.  We could not tell left from right, top from bottom.  It was so hard to tell what’s what since it all looked like it was thrown in together so the garlic, basil and parsley was everywhere. 

The Lamb Rogan Josh (cool name huh!) came in a small bronze colored bowl with a big bowl of rice… I mean… BIG!  Way more rice than Rogan Josh.  It came with no veggies and it wasn’t that spicy.  Side note:  I have a problem with Asian restaurants who ask how spicy you want it and then send a dish that has no spice at all OR when people around the table order different spiciness and it all taste the same.  BLAH.  So it was with both Trevor’s and my dishes.  It didn’t taste spicy and his was definitely not spicier than mine.  Besides not being spicy, the dish overall was tasty.  It smelled tangy but slightly sweet and taste as it smelled.  There was also an herby back note in the sauce.  The lamb was tender, over all a good dish.

The Chicken Tandoori came in on a sizzling plate like an Indian fajita!  It looked like one too and Lisa said “It tastes like a fajita, very confusing.”  The chicken cuts were breast and thigh I believe, and sits on top of some saffron veggies (mainly onions).  If you ate the onions and chicken together, it totally taste like a fajita.

My Lamb Vindaloo came with rice and a salad.  The vindaloo wasn’t spicy at all, subtle and tangy.  The lamb was very tender and there were a lot of lamb, two maybe three times as many as the Rogan Josh.  The rice was saffron rice with many threads of saffron in them.  You can literally see each stand in the rice.  I tried some Raita ($1.95), a cucumber yogurt that was fresh and citrusy, with the dish and it really added to the flavor of the dish. It gave it an extra fresh and yet slightly creamy layer of flavors.

The best part of the meal though was the salad that came with the dish.  It at first looks like cooked veggies, but they weren’t cooked. Another surprise, there was young sweet but crunchy mango in the mix along with onions, bell pepper, celery, cilantro, sesame seeds and what I thought was carrots, then decided it was crunchy papaya, then no, it was carrots that tasted really sweet and lovely.  Then I found some apple pieces! It was all enwrapped in a lovely dressing that pulled it all together.  Fruit and onions and all those other veggies… working together… FRUIT and VEGGIES!!!  GAH … *bliss*.  I could just eat that all night.  It was like finding an old trunk in the attic and each time you dig in, another little treasure pops up.  LOVELY!  I want that recipe!

Overall, our experience was good.  The service was quick, the food was tasty and the company was great.  I would defiantly recommend this place to others.  I will be back in the spring and summer to eat out on their patio.

My rating: Ambiance was very nice.  Love the subtle music in the background.  Price was reasonable. Tastes was delicious.  Parking is decent.  Street parking, so head for the side streets.  Recommendation, you should definitely try it.

Check out the website here!  http://www.chutneysbistro.com/index.html

Hello my Extras!

Today, I will be telling you all about my lovely contribution to my work’s Thanksgiving Day potluck!  As I gave you a hint a while back, I did a Thanksgiving Day staple and which staple was that?  The turkey of course!  On with the show!

So a little story of how it came to be (would it be one of my reviews if it didn’t have a story?).  At work, during the Holidays, we have a ton of potlucks and usually on Thanksgiving, everyone that volunteered to work that day would bring something in for a Thanksgiving Day potluck since either we will miss the festivities altogether or we will be arriving late.  This year, I was the organizer of the potluck and decided that I will make the turkey since it takes a lot of time to prep and cook and I had the day off before Thanksgiving.  Also, I wanted to try something new and really treat my co-workers.

I decided, this year, I will try and brine my turkey.  (My co-workers are usually my guinea pigs when it comes to new recipes along with Trevor.)  I’ve never brined before in my life.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  So I was super excited and started my research into the world of brining a week before the big day.  Did you know there are a ton of recipes out there for all different kinds of brine?  Ones that use cranberries, juices, stocks… sweet brines, savory brines… all whatsit and whosits brines!  LOL its was crazy and wonderful.  I decided on just doing a simple holiday brine provided by the lovely (and super cute) Tyler Florence.  (see below for recipe)                                               Holiday Brine 

I brined mine for about 16 – 18 hours in the refrigerator in one of those oven bags you can put a turkey in to roast them in.  It took me 3 bags to make it work because it was leaking with 2.  I also put it in a small flexible cooler to keep the brine all around the turkey.  (I have to say, I kinda failed at it because I didn’t have the right container but in the end, the brine did make it through the turkey so it wasn’t a total fail.)

The next day, at 4 am, I woke up to roast the turkey and to make the glaze. First, I took the turkey out of the brine and give it a good rinse.  We want to get ride of all that excess brine.  Once it is well rinsed, we (wait what happened here… we?  Who’s we?  LOL … um go with it) want to dry the bird inside and out.  I mean real dry if you want the skin to crisp.  Next, I (oh I caught myself!  Good grief! LOL) part the skin from the breast making sure not to break the skin.  I then placed about four 1/2 tablespoons of butter on each side of the breast, making sure to get as far up towards the neck as I can (8 total).  I then brushed the skin with olive oil and liberally seasoned the turkey with salt and pepper.  Placed the bird on a bed of carrots, celery and onions, stuffed the inside of the bird with some rosemary, sage, thyme, carrots, celery and onion. Then I tent the bird with foil and roast in the oven at 325 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours.

This is the perfect time to make the glaze which I paired with the brine.  The glaze was a Cranberry Balsamic Glaze (see below for recipe).  The glaze is a little tart and the balsamic really comes through and pairs well with the holiday flavor of the bird.  I also sliced up some Habaneras and placed them in the glaze for a little heat.

Take of the tent and allow to roast untented for another 30 mins at 425 degree.  Start glazing the turkey.  Roast for another 30 mins all the while glazing every 10 – 15 mins.  Check with a thermometer in the thickest area of the turkey (breast or thigh) and make sure temp reaches about 165 degrees (make sure the thermometer doesn’t touch the bone).

Here’s the final product! 

Overall, my co-workers seemed very happy with how it turned out and some even said “I don’t like to eat the skin of the turkey, but I went back and looked for more!”  Which I took as a complement.  I will defiantly make this again.  Anyways, try it for yourself and see how it goes!  Oh!  Happy Belated Thanksgiving and here’s to a festive Holiday!

Recipes:

Tyler Florence’s Holiday Brine:

1 Gallon of cold water

2 cups of Kosher Salt

1 cup of Sugar

2 tablespoons each of Juniper Berries, Allspice and Black Pepper Corns

4 sprigs each of Thyme and Rosemary

Pour the salt and sugar in with the water first.  Make sure it is all incorporated before adding the rest of the herbs and spices.  Give it a little stir and place the turkey in the pot/bag/container (fits at least 10 gallons).  Make sure all of the turkey is covered.  Put in refrigerator for at least 12 hours to over night.

Cranberry Balsamic Glaze:

2 tablespoons of Butter

1 cup of diced Shallots

1/2 cup of Cranberry Nectar

1/2 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup of Cranberry Sauce

2 Habaneras Peppers sliced

pinch of Salt and Pepper

Sauté diced shallots in the butter until brown.  Add in cranberry nectar, balsamic vinegar and cranberry sauce.  Make sure all of the cranberry sauce is melted into the mixture.  Reduce down to half, add in habaneras.  If you want it really spicy, leave the habaneras in the glaze, if you want it milder, place habaneras in cheese clothe or tea bags and allow to steep until sauce is reduced to 1/3.  Then you can start glazing!  (A quick and easy test to tell when its ready for use is dipping in a spoon and see if it coats the spoon rather than slide right off.)