Baked Pasta Casserole

When one is on the edge of finishing a major project at work, everything else seems to fall to the side.  Drying your hair before you go to work?  Nah, I'll save twenty minutes if I just rock a ponytail.  Plus, my hair dryer is broken.  Go to the gym after getting home from the lab?  At nine o'clock at night, nah, I'd rather have some dinner and go to sleep.  Make and eat dinner?  That too sounds like a lot of work, I'll have cereal.

In the weeks leading up to Tuesdays post, I was insanely busy.  I would spend most of my waking hours in the lab, trying to finish my molecule.  After a week of eating cereal for dinner I decided that had to stop.  First, my pants were starting to fall off from lack of food.  Second, you wake up ravenous in the middle of the night when you only eat cereal!

I actually made this dish one saturday morning while I got ready to go to the lab.  It was quick and easy and made a ton of food.  Plus, it was kinda healthy.  Or at least it was, until I added in all that cheese.  Feel free to cut down on the mozzarella cheese, I was being a little crazy.

Apple Ginger Chicken & Curried Rice

Living in a university town, you get used to the ebb and flow of population. You brace yourself for the influx of bright-eyed students in September. You get used to standing in line for your burrito at Chipotle. You drive your car cautiously to avoid running over the absentminded undergrads. And you wait for this time of year. You revel in this time of year.

Having lived in university towns for the past eight years I have gotten used to all of the intricacies of the situation. It was most prevalent when I lived in Madison. Being a graduate student is totally different from being an undergrad, especially those in the hard sciences. You live and breathe your degree. There are no spring breaks or summer vacations, it’s five years of working and you don’t want to wait in line to get your lunch.

Madison, Wisconsin has a population of two hundred thousand people. The University of Wisconsin has a student enrollment of forty thousand. The population of Madison jumps by 15-20% every September when the students move into their dorms and off-campus apartments. Now, I’m sure that when I was an undergrad I was really smart. I looked both ways before crossing the street. I didn’t ask crazy questions during o chem recitation. I didn’t wear Uggs and sweatpants to school (this is true, Uggs look like potatoes and sweatpants are for bedtime). And I’m sure that you all were/are wonderful undergrads as well.

When you are a grad student, beaten down by your classes and research, the energy and enthusiasm of an undergrad is wearing. You stand there, looking at your class, thinking “how many more classes until I’m finished?” Luckily I taught organic chemistry lab, so I’m pretty sure everyone sitting there was thinking the exact same thing.

Then, at last, that day rolls around. The last day of exams, followed by graduation and then… Move out day! And they’re gone! The graduate students can finally go outside and enjoy lunch once again. Free from the danger of falling in stride with a group of bubbly undergrads on their way to play Frisbee at noon on Tuesday. No more standing on the bus, waiting in line at Hawks or worrying about taking out a group of girls standing in the middle of the street. The terrace grill opens and those brats smell like freedom! Well, at least for those twenty minutes before you have to head back to the lab.

Oh, and if you live in Wisconsin and have to cross University Avenue… Please do not hit the crosswalk button. It won’t make the light change faster. It’s only for the blind people, hence the sign that says “Press button for audible walk.” Thanks!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Sunday night is Amazing Race night. In the ten years that it has been on the air, I have watched just about every season. In the early years I was obsessed. I watched religiously and planned my Wednesday nights around primetime. Boyfriend and I were still in college and he didn’t even have the title ‘boyfriend’ yet. We would watch the show while chatting on AIM and argue about who was the better team. After watching 17 seasons we’ve gotten pretty good about picking the winners. (I’ve actually picked the winning team for the past five seasons.)

Boyfriend and I have this grand idea that we would kick butt at the Amazing Race, as long as boyfriend doesn’t give directions. As I’ve discussed before, when presented with two options, boyfriend will inevitably choose the wrong direct 100% of the time. He does however have real world experience, or as he says “he knows the harsh realities of the world.” I apparently “have lived in a safety bubble.” (This is true) There are some things that would prevent us from doing well on the race. To give you a complete picture, let me walk you through our adventure of trying out for the Amazing Race.

Way back in 2006, boyfriend came to Madison for a visit. It just so happened that he came to town the same weekend there was an Amazing Race tryout. Tryouts were happening in Indiana at some beachside casino, three hours away from Madison, from 10-4. We figured if we left by nine am that we could be there by noon, perfect. Driving on the I-90, somewhere around Chicago, we hit massive traffic. Who knew that Chicago would be so busy on a beautiful Saturday afternoon?

Phew, made it through traffic, just thirty minutes behind schedule. But wait, is Indiana in the central time zone or the eastern time zone? Ummm, does it make a difference if it’s during daylight savings time? Oh boy, we might have one less hour! Speed boyfriend, speed!

When we finally made it to the casino we were confronted with a massive line of people. There were easily five hundred people waiting to have their turn in front of the camera. We got our number and stood in line, filling out our application as we waited. Hmmm, they need a photocopy of our passports? Uh oh, mine is in Wisconsin and boyfriends is in New York. Talk about being unprepared.

After thirty minutes of waiting in line and slowly inching forward, the head of the tryouts called numbers 450-500. Oh, we were number 498! The four hundred people in front of us had numbers in the thousands. Boyfriend and I considered our options. A. Wait in line for several more hours, abiding by proper line protocol. Or B. Do it Amazing Race style and cut everyone. We went with option B, what? We had the right number, they called us!

Needless to say we didn’t end up getting on the Amazing Race, I don’t know why, we’re pretty awesome. Boyfriend yells at people and I cry. We’d be good television.

Balsamic BBQ Chicken

Sometimes you need a quick dinner and this week it was extremely important. Several thirteen hour workdays this week have lead to dinners of lettuce, a bagel and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (three different nights). I partially blame daylight savings time for my longer work days and I also blame my project deadline of April 7th.

Maybe you’ve been having the same issue as I have. I’ve gotten so used to the sun going down at 4 o’clock that I think it’s so much earlier than it actually is. It was six thirty before I realized how late it was, and then it was quarter to nine before I headed out the door. It’s been going on like this all week, I get distracted by the loads of work I have to do and all of the sudden it’s dark out. By the time I get home I’m all glassy-eyed and hungry, with no energy left.

Last night I decided, no more! I need some real food! Then twenty minutes later I had this sitting on my plate. I’m in love with these new Steamfresh pasta meals. In four minutes I had a side dish that worked well with my balsamic BBQ chicken, which was pretty delicious on it’s own. Try it out the next time you’ve got no time!

Buffalo Mac’n’Cheese

I’m downright excited! You know why? This week is my mom’s birthday week (Happy Birthday Mom!!!) and for her birthday we are headed to New York City. A girls weekend to be filled with shopping, Mary Poppins and cupcakes! I’ve been to New York a many number of times, but this will only be Mom’s second trip to the big city. Second trip in the winter, maybe the third time we should shoot for the summer?

Say hello to delicious

There are many things that I love doing while in New York. In general I’ll be there with boyfriend and we love to wander the streets, popping into cute shops we find along the way. Every time we go, we find ourselves in someplace we’ve never been before. The first few times we visited the city (back in the summer of 2003) we were without our handy iPhones. We relied on guidebooks and maps to help us find our way through the streets. When it was time for a meal we would wander aimlessly, somehow missing all of the restaurants along the way. How? I have no idea.

These days we have GPS, Open Table and a better sense of direction. The last few trips to the city we went with more of a plan, places we wanted to visit and reservations. We’ve dined at Asian fusion joints, American bistros and English pubs, but my favorite place is just a hole in the wall. Located on 12th St near 1st Ave is S’mac. What do they serve? Macaroni and cheese. And it’s delicious.

Sadly S’mac is in New York and I am not. So, I decided that it was necessary to replicate my favorite dish, the Buffalo Mac’n’Cheese. And maybe to drag my mom to S’mac next weekend…

Mustard-Glazed Chicken

Sometimes a girl gets a little busy. So busy that she hasn’t had a haircut since July. So busy that her car registration has been expired for a week and she hasn’t been able to go to the DMV and get new plates. So busy that she has to go to the dollar store and buy milk (yes, they sell milk! And boxed brownie mix…). Yes, life tends to pile up around here. Although I consider today a big win, because I put the dishes in the dishwasher, then I turned it on. Boo-yeah, clean dishes.

And even the haircut isn’t that bad. When I moved from Colorado to Connecticut, I spent two fabulous weeks visiting friends, family and boyfriend in Buffalo. I like going to Buffalo in the summer, it’s so nice out. I spent time in the garden with my mom, well, she gardened, I rolled around the lawn with the dog. I went for a long bike ride along the Niagara river with my dad, then we ate our weight in ice cream. I went to my brothers new house and saw all of the work that he’s put into it. Dude knows how to handle a table saw, I was very impressed. I know how to put together Ikea furniture.

The most hilarious time was going to the salon with my mom. When I first got home she mentioned that she had a hair appointment and perhaps I would like to get my hair done too? But why? You don’t like my hair? It’s so pretty. When was my last haircut? Ummm, right before my thesis defense… in August… of 2008. That’s right, two whole years since my last haircut! When I arrived at the salon the stylist asked what I wanted to do with it. I suggested that we cut off enough so that my mom didn’t think I looked like a homeless person anymore. Stylist laughed, but she thought I looked like a homeless person too. At least she complimented my jeans.

So I figure I have at least another year and a half before I really have to get another haircut. In the meantime I’ll try to head to the grocery store. This dinner, while delicious, was made out of necessity. I had a half bag of carrots in my fridge, leftover from making chili. I had some chicken quarters, purchased and frozen three weeks ago while on sale. Everything else you need to make this meal will most likely be located in your pantry. Feel free to use dried herbs, I know I did!

Thai Chicken Curry

It’s been a little chilly up here in the Northeast! So cold, that I decided it was unnecessary to leave the house yesterday. I checked the weather channel and found that it was only 18 degrees out, with a wind chill making it feel like 2 degrees. I left Wisconsin to get away from those temperatures, right? Why are these chilly temps following me around the country? Maybe I should move to Florida next time.


I can’t complain too loudly though, because I was invited to go down to Florida this weekend. Boyfriends parents recently moved down south, escaping the cold Buffalo winters once and for all. They are very smart people. A quick check of the temperature in Florida? 74. Curses, why didn’t I take boyfriend up on that offer? Oh right, I have a bunch of stuff to get done at work this week. Double curses. Cold weather and work.

I guess that since I can’t escape the cold weather, then I might as well make something hot. Spicy hot! Curry spicy hot! Nice. This recipe is light, delicious and it’s chicken! I also added zucchini to the curry. The strange thing about zucchini is this. I hate raw zucchini. I will always pick up a piece of zucchini thinking that it is a cucumber. I will bite into the slice of veg and then spit it right out. I think zucchinis have a very bitter flavor when raw. When you cook zucchinis, this raw flavor is cooked out and they are delicious. Plus, I had leftover zucchini from baking the bread last week.



Sorry for the lame-o pic.  Cooking took place pretty late!

Pineapple Chutney and Chicken

Sometimes, simple can be beautiful. How many times do you find yourself staring at a bright blue sky? Free of clouds, birds and planes, a blue sky is something beautiful in its simplicity. Today I found myself standing at my lab window, staring out to the sky. Maybe this is because I was a little bored with what was going on inside of the lab, maybe.

So, simple things. You don’t have to get fancy to have something fantastic. The perfect chocolate chip cookie will bring anyone to the table. A steak, grilled to perfection, will be excellent without any sauces. And a grilled chicken breast will be amazing with addition of a three-ingredient chutney.

This is the kind of meal that comes together out of necessity. Two factors lead me to make this dinner. Number one – I was very hungry. Number two – I had almost no food in my house. I tend to buy things at the grocery store according to the recipes I want to make for the week. Sometimes I think that I have more time on my hands than I actually do. My original plan was to make a slow cooker recipe, unfortunately the recipe only called for 7 hours of cooking time. I generally work ten hours a day. This just wouldn’t work, and I was hungry! Now, if you’re hungry, read on.

Pineapple Chutney and Chicken

3 Chicken breasts (cut into ½-inch strips)

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1 cup crushed pineapple

½ yellow onion (diced)

2 tbsp cilantro

Toss together pineapple, onion and cilantro. Allow chutney to sit for ten minutes so flavors mingle.

Toss chicken strips with 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a grill or grill pan until juices run clear, about 6 minutes per side. Plate three strips of chicken with ¼ cup of chutney.

Tahini Chicken

Today we’re cooking with weird foods! So chicken isn’t so weird, but everything else is a little unusual. Growing up we didn’t eat strange foods. Common dinners included tuna noodle casserole, Stouffers lasagnas, spaghetti with red sauce. Very traditional American dinners. I can’t complain, it tasted good, I was well fed, happy childhood dinners.

Looks like a tree branch

It wasn’t until later moving to the Midwest, that I discovered the world of cooking. It sounds strange to say that it took moving to the middle of America to broaden my flavor horizons. Walking down State Street in Madison, you have so many choices for pleasing your palette. In the mood for spice? Try Indian or Mexican. How about a trip to the Mediterranean? Greek gyros or Italian pastas to satisfy. Why not try something totally different? Stop at the Ethiopian or Laotian restaurant.

Tahi-what now?

It took a few years, but my cooking eventually changed into a more international smorgasbord. Starting slowly by dabbling in Mexican dishes, making tacos and chilis. Eventually I bought curry powders and coconut milk. Then it came to the most unusual ingredients. You know what I’m talking about. Those items you see on the grocery store shelf and wonder what they are for. Strange and weird looking produce, canned goods with crazy names and spices with overpowering smells.

So today we tackle some of those weird items. Fresh Ginger and tahini. I was always apprehensive to buy fresh ginger, because I assumed it was expensive. In reality, for the amount that you need, it will probably cost you fifty cents. It is also a little crazy looking. Fear not! All you need to do to use ginger is peel it. Using a soup spoon, peel off the top layer of the ginger, exposing the white root. For the recipe today, simply grate the ginger with a box grater.


Ignore the fact that there are no vegetables, I forgot to buy them...


Tahini is also a little unusual. It is most often used in hummus. Quite simply, tahini is to sesame seeds as peanut butter is to peanuts. A nutty, rich paste that gives this dish excellent flavor. If you have leftover chicken, this dish will take you minutes to put together. Boil up some rice (in your new rice cooker, if you live at my house!) and feed those hungry people asking you “what’s for dinner?” Introduce your kids to these weird ingredients now, and they’ll be cooking you dinner in no time at all.

Meet the new member of the family.  I love it unconditionally.

Fusilli with Walnut Pesto

I don’t know about where you are, but here on the East Coast it’s been hot. Equatorial hot. I’m talking ninety-five degree, two thousand percent humidity hot. My one mile walk to work in the morning (and I leave the house at 7am) leaves me a sweaty mess by the time I get to work. Luckily my workplace is over air-conditioned and pleasant.

When it comes to making dinner in this type of oppressive heat I like to do as little as possible. Since I never turn on the air conditioning (because I like it hot) I try not to turn on the oven that much during the summer (because I don’t like it that hot). What I cook this time of the year leans toward easy, quick and with as little preparation as possible.

Pesto is a great choice for those hot summer nights. All you have to do is boil up some pasta and grind together some other ingredients in the food processor. This meal can be thrown together in fifteen minutes, which is a good thing after you’ve walked the mile home and are now really tired and sweaty.

Or maybe you can find someone nice to make this for you? Print out the recipe and leave it in a conspicuous place. Perhaps someone will feel bad for you when you melt into the floor.

Don't you wish you had a salt pig as cute as this!??!!

Chicken Piccata

Nothing says summer to me more than lemonade. If you were to offer me a glass of lemonade in the winter I would scoff at you. Lemonade? In the winter? Why would I possibly want that? Winter is a time for hot drinks and stews, although I could go for a Starbucks apple cider anytime of the year (the baristas think I’m weird for wanting hot apple cider in July). Summertime is time to drink lemonade and limeade. All those tart fruits speak summer to me, although I’m not quite sure why.


Lemonade is one of the least thirst-quenching drinks around. This is not the beverage you should reach for after a long run or while moving your friends couch up three flights of stairs. You should also not have it with salt and vinegar potato chips while sitting in the sun, then go to the gym and teach a class, bad idea.

It is a drink that you must enjoy while doing absolutely nothing. Sitting by a pool and enjoying lemonade is even better. This way, you can have a sip of lemonade, and then jump in the pool to refresh yourself. Summers of my childhood were filled with tall glasses of lemonade, condensation pooling around the base of the glass, letting you know that it was cool and delicious.

Now, in the last hot days of the summer, I find myself wanting citrus. Drinking pitchers of lemonade aside, there are other options for enjoying a refreshing meal. Namely, Chicken Piccata. This dish is lemony and buttery. It can be salty too, if you remember to add the capers, which I did not… The first time I made this dish I fell in love. It’s unbelievably simple to put together (it takes about 15-20 minutes to complete) and is best served simple, alongside a fresh salad.

Enjoy the last warm breaths of summer. Go to the store and get yourself some lemons, get yourself a whole bag. Then make some lemonade, and chicken piccata. Just don’t have them together, or you’ll be drinking glasses and glasses of water for the remainder of the day.

Chicken Piccata

Adapted from: Everyday Italian by Giada DiLaurentis

1 lb chicken breast – either butterflied, or pounded to ½ inch thickness

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

All-purpose flour

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

½ cup chicken broth

1/3 cup lemon juice

¼ cup capers



1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper

2. Dredge chicken in flour, shake off excess

3. In sauté pan, melt 2 tbsp butter with olive oil over medium-high heat

4. Add chicken and cook just until browned, about 3 minutes per side

5. Add broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil

6. Return chicken to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes, until completely cooked

7. Transfer chicken to a platter and add remaining butter to sauté pan (add capers, if you remembered to buy them)

8. Pour sauce over the chicken and enjoy!

Spanish Chicken with Mustard-Green Onion Sauce

As a child, I thought that raw chicken looked like so much fun. It was all slimy and wiggly. It also looked pretty tasty in my younger self’s opinion. I imagine that it would have a similar texture to chewing gum, which, as a child, sounded pretty interesting. Chicken chewing gum. Perhaps I’ll work on that idea for another post. Luckily for me I never decided to taste test the raw chicken and have thus lived to adulthood.



Over the years I have discovered many better ways for eating chicken. I am a huge fan of coating it is Buffalo sauce and eating it in many forms (as I exemplified in my recent two week visit home). It is also quite excellent right from Wegmans. Buying one of those whole roasted chickens from the grocery store is a fantastic plan when you have no plan. However, after eating a lot of chicken, I have discovered my favorite recipe. It’s quick and easy, the only thing holding you back from making it now is probably a lack of one of the spices.

This dish consists of a spice rub, a mustard-green onion sauce and chicken. The sauce is a simple vinaigrette which is also wonderful on salads. Sometimes I make it just to pour over lettuce. The spice rub is a combination of six spices, three of which you probably already own. Since this is such a simple dish, this post will also be a simple one. So here it is, my go to meal, Spanish Chicken.

Spanish Chicken with Mustard-Green Onion Sauce
From Bobby Flays Restaurant – Bolo

Mustard-Green Onion Sauce
½ cup white wine vinegar
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
½ thinly sliced scallions
3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Spice Rub
1 ½ tbsp Paprika (Spanish if you have it)
½ tbsp cumin
½ tbsp ground mustard seeds
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

4 Chicken breasts

To make the sauce, whisk together the vinegar and mustard, slowly add in oil until emulsified (combined). I used my fancy salad dressing blender, but you can do this by hand. Season with salt and pepper then add scallions.

To make the rub, combine all the spices and mix thoroughly. You can use the seeds; just grind in a coffee grinder!

Heat your grill to medium (I used a grill pan since I live in an apartment; I imagine that using an outdoor grill would only produce even better results!).

Brush a little olive oil on both sides of the chicken and rub each side with the spice rub. (You should use all of your rub) Place on the grill and cook for 5-6 minutes before flipping. Cook for another 7 minutes or until cooked through.

Spoon some of your sauce onto a plate (and on your salad!), then place the chicken on top. Enjoy!

Buffalo Wing Sauce

Being a born and bred western New Yorker is a huge responsibility. When you tell the world that you are from Buffalo, they assume you are guru of all things food, sports and weather. Perhaps you have moved away from the WNY and are enduring a tough winter in your new home state. While trapped at work, the roads impassable, your coworkers simply say “Well, you’re from Buffalo, this is nothing for you.” Because we all know, Buffalo is covered in at least six feet of snow for the entirety of winter. Our Buffalo cars laugh at six feet of snow and ask for more. Buffalo plows are magical and snow flees from their paths as they careen down the highway.

Western New Yorkers are also HUGE sports fans. Home to the world famous Buffalo Bills, we know the glory of victory, and the disappointment of defeat. Let’s not forget our beloved Buffalo Sabres. They are also aware of difficult glory/disappointment cycle. You mention “Wide Right” or “No Goal” to any WNYer and they know, they have a story, they were there.

Buffalo is also world famous for its food. Well, perhaps not world famous, but you can’t go to any Americana restaurant without seeing “Buffalo wings” on the menu. Buffalo loves food. If you love food you should head to Buffalo in the summer, where you can find a food festival every single weekend. Italian, Hellenic, Allentown, German, Scottish, Polish and Canal fests are just the start to the summer festival season. The main event is always the Taste of Buffalo. Touted as the largest two-day food festival in the United States, the Taste of Buffalo is a great place to find your new favorite restaurant.

Now, I’m not sure if I can call myself a true western New Yorker. I can muster very little enthusiasm for the Bills or Sabres, even when the tickets are free, and there is free food. While I can handle a 2WD car in a snowstorm, I would be much happier on a beach. However, I do love to eat. I figure I don’t need to watch sports or live in a snowglobe, but I do need to eat. And why not eat good food?

As a kid, my dad would make the best wing sauce. It could be a hot, humid summer day or a cold blustery winter night. The chicken made with this sauce was perfect. It was never the same, but had the same notes of flavor every time. The sauce came together so quickly, and it was always a mystery. My dad is not a chef, he’s an engineer. He is very good with cooking fish, making a mean PB&J and this sauce. My brother and I would constantly ask for chicken and wing sauce, fortunately my dad wouldn’t always make it, otherwise we’d likely be 400 lbs.

While visiting home I decided that I must know how to make this sauce. If I can’t make a good Buffalo wing sauce, then I might as well renounce my WNYer card, without the love of football and snow I really would have nothing else. We decided to balance out the heavy sauce with healthy chicken tenders, which my mom breaded and baked. The sauce was a little harder to nail down. Other than the very specific one stick of butter, everything else was a squirt of this a dash of that. I’ve done my best to eyeball measurements to help you get the desired result. The quantities of every ingredient can be changed to suit your particular tastes. Play around and enjoy a little bit of Buffalo flavor!

Buffalo Wing Sauce

1 stick butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup ketchup
2-3 tbsp hot sauce
Dash of chili powder
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp BBQ sauce or Mustard (for a sweet, or tangy sauce)
Dash garlic powder
Dash onion powder
Salt to taste

- Slowly melt 1 stick of butter in a pan over low heat. Add lemon juice. Whisk until butter is no longer transparent and slightly thickened.
- Add ketchup and stir until the sauce changes to a bright orange color.
- Add hot sauce to your desired heat level. This is best tested by smelling the sauce. Determine how much you would like your mouth to burn by how much it burns your nose!
- Add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Continue to whisk for an additional 2 minutes over low heat.

This sauce will break after a few minutes, so be sure to stir often to maintain a smooth sauce.

Healthy Chicken tenders

1 lb chicken tenders
2 cups bread crumbs (we went with a mixture of crushed whole grain crackers, wheat crackers and panko breadcrumbs)

Dash of onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, salt and pepper
Egg Beaters (or buttermilk for a slightly tangier tender)

- Mix breadcrumbs with spices in a shallow dish or pie pan

- Soak chicken tenders in egg beaters for a minute (30 minutes if using buttermilk)
- Coat tenders with bread crumbs and line on a cooking-sprayed foil-lined cookie sheet.
- Lightly spray tenders with cooking spray and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes.

Enjoy your chicken with some carrots, celery and blue cheese!

Indian Chicken Curry

I know you wait patiently for those cupcakes to be covered in frosting, but I think you should eat some dinner first. Enjoy a trip into my not-so-distant past.

My fourth year in grad school, my roommate K and I moved across town to the west side. Close to K’s new job, right on the bus line and minutes from the gym. The most important thing about our new place turned out to be its proximity to Swagat. Unknown to us, we had moved across the street from one of the best Indian restaurants in Madison. Day after day, I would ride the bus home from the lab and be greeted with amazing smells, floating on the wind, emanating from the restaurant.


For weeks I allowed Swagat to sit quietly on the corner, until one evening we got together with some friends for dinner. The décor was understated, to say the least. Small tables covered in white linens with a single candle in the center. An unused buffet sat in the corner of the space and paper hearts hung from the ceiling (which seemed unusual since it was October). The menu was expansive, featuring choices from both the North and South of India. The only problem was; I had never eaten at an Indian restaurant. Here I am, twenty-three years old, and a curry virgin!

Browsing through the menu I settled on their chicken curry. Start simple, that was the plan. My friends also decided to get an order of cheese naan. Our quiet and polite waiter took our order and brought back these wafer thin crackers with a trio of sauces; sweet, mint and mango (I quickly became a big fan of the mystery purple sauce). The freshly baked cheese naan also went well with the sauces. The cheese naan is quite simply cheese-filled flatbread baked in a tandoori oven. Oh yeah, and it’s fantastic. Stop reading now, go find yourself an Indian restaurant, and order yourself some. I’ll wait.

Okay, now that you’ve got some cheese naan we can continue. Onto the main course, my chicken curry. Our waiter brought out heaping bowls of rice and our dinners. Each bowl of curry, masala and vindaloo came in a little golden bowl, placed atop a flame. Adorable. And fantastic. I couldn’t believe that it took me so long to try Swagat. The curry was sweet and spicy, bright and delicious.

Over the next two years I frequented Swagat more often than I can remember. I’m fairly certain I tried everything in their chicken section of the menu. In fact, if it had not been for Swagat, I would have starved while writing my thesis. During the middle of a particularly fierce snowstorm I actually walked there for dinner (I could see the OPEN sign from my bedroom window). I still dream about their vegetable pakoras and cheese naan.

After leaving Madison I was left in a curry slump, until I discovered Pensey’s Maharaja curry powder. Now my curry powder and I can live happily ever after. Just a word of warning, proper ventilation in necessary when cooking curry in an apartment, I recommend cooking curry in the summer months.

Chicken Curry

1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Fresh ginger, 2 inch segment, cut into matchsticks
1.25 lbs chicken breast, cut into cubes
2 tsp Curry powder of your choice (Pensey’s has several good ones to choose from)
3 peppers, chopped (I like to use a variety of colors, because it’s pretty)
1 tsp salt
¾ cup coconut milk
2 roma tomatoes, cored and diced

- Heat a pan to medium-high heat and cook onion and garlic in a little bit of oil until lightly browned (3-5 minutes)
- Add chicken and curry powder and allow chicken to brown on all sides (5 minutes)
- Add peppers and cover with lid for 3-5 minutes
- Add salt and coconut milk and allow to come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked thru (5-7 minutes)
- Remove chicken pieces into another bowl and add tomatoes. Allow to bubble for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- The sauce will be slightly thicker and you should add the chicken back to the pan
- Serve over rice and enjoy!

And be sure to go get yourself some cheese naan, because unless you have a tandoori oven, it’s not the same. (Although I’ve found some at Wegmans that is pretty darned close)