Saturday Night After-Theatre Supper

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Usually, we do recipes on Sundays here at JRW, since that's the day where most people a) have the time to dabble in something new or b) need a recipe to get dinner started right now because you have to watch Dr. Who/help the kids complete a project they've just sprung on you/jumpstart that plan for total domination of your office.
 

However, this Saturday, most of the Reds are offline and unavailable, so a recipe that doesn't require much conversation on the back blog is just the ticket. What's going on, you ask?


Well, on the east coast, Lucy, Hallie, Hank and I are attending the 2pm performance of SHERLOCK HOLMES' LAST CASE at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. Afterwards, we're doing a roundtable discussion on mystery writing of yesterday and today. Tickets are still available, and you get $10 off with code JRW, so if you're near Beantown, come by and join us!


On the west coast, Rhys Bowen and Charlaine Harris will be speaking at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego at 3pm, an event sponsored by the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime. The event is free and open to the public AND they're serving nibbles and sweet tea, which is pretty hard to say no to.

If you want to see Ingrid or Jenn, you'll need to travel to Seattle or Phoenix and stalk them. Sorry.


So what are we making today? This is a new dish for me, based on a couple recipes I found Googling chicken + delicata squash, which I had received in my CSA box and had no idea what to do with. I wound up making a delicious curry with one chicken breast, but you could substitute already-cooked meat from a roast bird and it would be just as good. I served it on pearl couscous, but it would work equally as well with rice or quinoa.



Chicken and delicata squash curry - serves 4 or 2 with leftovers

1 chicken breast (or 1 - 2 cups leftover chicken meat) diced
1/2 delicata squash, cut lengthwise and seeds scooped out, then cubed. Leave the skin on! (It freaked me out to do this, but it turns out fine.)
1 onion, diced (I had several stalks of green onion I wanted to use up and put that in, finely chopped, instead )
3 cloves minced garlic or 2 t pre-minced garlic
2 t ginger
2 t curry
1 t cumin
2 - 3 c leafy greens, torn or chopped. I used kale (ubiquitous) but you could add spinach, beet or turnip greens, etc.
1 c chicken broth, enough to cover squash and veggies 
1 can cream of - soup. I used cream of celery to mix it up, but mushroom or chicken would be great as well
oil for sauteeing 

Heat the oil in a skillet on high heat. Add the garlic and the diced chicken breast, stir quickly. Add 1 t ginger and 1 t curry, stirring on high heat until the meat is cooked through.

Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon. Add more oil if needed, then put in diced onions, cubed squash, and the remaining spices. Stir fry until the onion is limp, then add greens and cook for another five minutes. 

Pour in enough chicken broth to just cover the veggies, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the squash is fork-tender. Return the chicken to the skillet and stir in one can cream of something soup. Taste and adjust seasonings - remember, I don't use salt when cooking, so you might miss that.

Serve over the aforementioned rice or couscous. You can fancy it up with pita bread and cucumber-yogurt salad, but it's a meal in and of itself. It holds well in the frig if you're headed out to the show, and it tastes even better the next day.