Eggless Decorated Sugar Cookies & Weekly Menu Plan

The Christmas issue of Bon Appétit describes Sugar Cookies as Holiday Workhorse. But it takes time and patience to make the traditional sugar cookies.. Mix, chill, bake.. then make the royal icing and like a pro pipe it out make the cookies look like a work of art.. what if I told you that there was an easier way out. one that involves less time and less work. Wouldn't you be elated ? Well I was when I found the recipe to these

decorated cookies at My Diverse Kitchen...

Chocolate and M & M studded Malted Milk Cookies & Weekly Menu Plan

Hi ! How was your weekend ? Mine wasn't very eventful though we did go thrifting and returned back satisfied. I bought a few pieces of kitchenware, little boy got a BIG car carrier and husband a bunch of music cds. Other than that we did very little...just the regular cleaning, grocery shopping and of course..... I baked these malted cookies and a lovely holiday bread. Will tell you more about the bread soon....but right now  its cookie time...

I had bookmarked these malted cookies from Bake for Happy Kids. The recipe there is an adaption of Pioneer Woman's Malted Milk Chocochip Cookies. Like Zoe I used Horlicks in place of malted milk powder and then tweaked the original recipe further by substituting all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and the chocochips with an assortment of M & M's and pieces of dark chocolate. The final cookie was nice, snappy and addictive. They were a hit even with my toddler and our friend's preschooler so can safely be labeled as kid-friendly !

One minute Nutella Cake & Weekly Menu Plan

I have tried making cakes in the microwave before. They are never the same as proper oven baked ones. They are not fluffy and airy... somewhere along the line they stop being cake-y and become more 'halwa-y'. So I usually prefer the 20 minutes baking time over instant microwave-ing... unless there is a terrible time crisis or an exceptional  recipe like this one.... With only 5 plus 1 ingredients in the batter, it gives you a perfectly crumbly chocolate cake. The kind that'll make you happy in a minute...... 

Add another tablespoon of Nutella to the batter and you'll have a delicious fudgy Nuttela brownie in a cup. That one is rich and gorgeous and though we both love it, today I went for the chocolate cake. Light, fluffy and delightful !  

Spiced Persimmon Bread with Bourbon Dates and Walnuts & Weekly Menu Plan

Happy Monday !! How are you ? Around here, its been getting chillier even by the day. So the oven is on full time. well almost. and I have been baking and eating lots of breads, cookies and cakes. Also roasting a lot of root vegetables and loving it all. I am specially in love with this sinfully delicious Persimmon Bread... with Bourbon, walnuts, dates and the chilli flakes.. Yes chilli flakes. Do I see some brows frowning over that ?  Oh please don't. It really is wonderful.

The original recipe is by James Beard. I found it in David Lebovitz blog, made an eggless version of it and spiced it a bit with red chilly flakes.  I borrowed the idea of adding chilli  flakes from a Turkish Persimmon Bread recipe and I am so glad I did. The Bourbon, the dates and the chilli flakes are such a riot of flavors.. and yet so rich and gorgeous. Ever since I made this bread, I have been looking for more sweet bread recipes where I can fit these flavors in. I have found some recipes... will soon let you know how they go. 

This sweet bread is perfect for the season. Its great with tea as well as coffee. also great for pacifying the late afternoon or late night sugar craze (in case you like to give in to that sometimes). So if you are in the mood to indulge yourself bake this delicious Spiced Persimmon Bread with Bourdon Dates and Walnuts  right away.. You'll love it ! 

Spiced Persimmon Bread with Bourbon Dates and Walnuts  Minimally adapted from David Lebovitz
Preparation Time : 15 minutes                    Cooking Time: 60 minutes                      Yields: 1 9x5 inch loaf
Ingredients 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour 3/4 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup unsalted butter(1 stick of unsalted butter) 1/2 cup yogurt (as a substitute for 2 eggs) 1/3 cup Bourbon 1 cup persimmon puree (scooped out from 2 medium sized squishy-soft Hachiya persimmons) 1/3 cut walnuts, chopped 1 cup pitted dates, chopped 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes -  Instructions Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Sift together all the dry ingredients except sugar into a large mixing bowl and keep it aside. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan.  Switching off the heat beat the sugar into the melted butter.  Once the sugar has been well incorporated, beat in the yogurt, Bourbon and persimmon puree and beat till all the ingredients have been well incorporated.  Make a well in the center of the sifted flour mixture. Pour in the liquid bourbon-persimmon puree mixture into the well, then add the chopped walnuts and dates and chilli flakes and using a wooden spoon mix everything well. Now pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheat heated oven. After 25 minutes reduce the heat of the oven to 350 degrees F and continue baking for another 35-40 minutes till a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool the loaf completely before slicing and enjoying.

While we'll enjoying this spiced up sweet bread for breakfast and tea... these are the dishes we have for dinner this week....

This Week's Menu Plan
Sunday	Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup & Apple Pie from the Bakery
Monday	Crepes with and Refried Beans with Pumpkin,
Tuesday	Rice, Dal, Fish,  and Steamed Beans for toddler Masoor Dal, Roasted Roots Vegetables with Sauteed Baby Spinach,  Rice.
Wednesday	Pear and Chestnut Soup, Colcannon, Chicken Breasts with Herbed butter
Thursday	Beet Thoran, Moong dal with Peas and Cauliflower, Egg Curry and Rice
Friday	Magic Chicken Biriyani and Raita
Saturday	Leftovers for lunch, Pasta with Beet Greens and Onions for dinner

Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie 

 and Meal Plan Monday at The Diary of a Real Housewife.

I shall be sharing this at the following parties.

Monday : Mix it up Monday, The Scoop, Made with love Monday, 
Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Monday, Inspiration Monday Party Sharing Monday, 
Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop,Maniac Monday Linky Party, Recipe Sharing Monday @Jam Hands

Meatless Monday:Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory

Tuesday : Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations, 
Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home ,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings
Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles,  Tasty Tuesday @ Anyonita Nibbles,  Hearth and Soul blog Hop, 
In & Out of the Kitchen @ Feeding Big & More, Tuesday's Table @ Love in the Kitchen, 

Wednesday : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain, 
Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wine'd Down Wednesday, 
Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ All She Cooks Wednesday, Whatsit@White Lights on Wednesday, 
Wednesday Extravaganza @ Hunger Little Girl, Create & Share @ The Trendy Tree House,
What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar & Dots Look, What I Made @ Creations by Kara

Thursday: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, 
Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity,  Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage , 
 Freedom Friday @ My Turn,  Thursday's Treasures @ Food Done Light,Pin it Thursday @ Sweet Bella Roos

Friday : Foodie Friday @ Simple Living and Eating,  Friday Linky Party @ The Pin Junkie, 
Get Him Feed @ Anyonita Nibbles, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home,  
Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm, 
Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts, 
Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club, The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog Recipes

Happy Diwali & Weekly Menu Plan

 

Hope you all have a wonderful year filled 

with peace, happiness and prosperity.

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali ! 

Having soaked ourselves in lots of Diwali sweets, I decided on a light menu for this week. Here's what I have in mind....

This Week's Menu Plan
Sunday	Chicken Stew with  Bread, Toddler had stew with rice
Monday	Pasta with Mushroom and Spinach,
Tuesday	Rice, Dal, Fish,  and Steamed Beans for toddler Masoor Dal, Bengali Mixed Vegetable Side,  Rice.
Wednesday	Chickpea Curry, Briami with Roti and Radish Salad,  Rice, Dal, Fish  and Steamed vegetables for toddler
Thursday	Chicken and Noodles with Stir Fried Romaine Lettuce
Friday	Aloo Methi and Gatte ki Kadhi with Roti, Pasta with Spinach and Cheese Omelette and Boiled Carrots for toddler
Saturday	Leftovers

 Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie 

                                       and Meal Plan Monday at The Diary of a Real Housewife.

Spiked Pumpkin Bread & Savory Pumpkin Dip Recipe for Halloween and Weekly Menu Plan

Hi ! How are you ? Is it cold in your corners yet ? Here in LI, it is getting a bit chiller by the evening... but the mornings are gorgeous. Bright and sunny !  Our New Hampshire trip, followed by the trip to my cousin's place and then the preparations for the toddler's  birthday party had thrown me off my routine. but after a lazy week at home, I am back on track. Totally charged up for Halloween and Diwali. 

This will be my first Halloween and Diwali here. Actually my second one.. but the first one doesn't count since it was within weeks of the toddlers birth... and i was still recovering from the C-section. In any case I am excited. We haven't yet zeroed on any costume for the toddler...but with this bandana in mind, we are thinking along the line of pirates... 

that is if he obliges... we'll see....

Now about my Spiked Pumpkin Yeast Bread. In my post on Pumpkin Yeast Bread, I had mentioned that I had been playing around with the recipe. What I actually did was that I spiked it up the dough with Pumpkin Ale. I substituted the milk and water in the recipe with an equal amount of beer and baked my first batch the same way as the Pumpkin Yeast Bread... except that I baked it in the form of a Savory Pull Apart Loaf and 4 buns.

The buns were nice and soft and were perfect for sliders. The Pull Apart Bread was also good..  but I wouldn't really recommend it in the form I made. The bread was good and the pumpkin dip that I had slathered on the rolled out dough was also good and the two tasted good together. but it would have been better if I had baked the loaf by itself and served it with the dip.  the dip somewhat made the moist loaf soggy... and texture-wise less appealing. it was however yummy !

Anyways having learnt my lesson, I ditched the idea of a pull apart bread and decided to try out a beer glazed bread for my second batch. Again I did this in two ways. With the Dutch Crunch topping in mind I prepared a mixture with beer, yeast, rice powder, maple syrup and oil . Then shaping the dough into 6 buns and a 6 inch round loaf, I glazed the spiked loaf and 2 buns lightly with the solution and spooned some of the beer and rice flour mixture over two other buns and left the remaining two un-glazed. I baked the un-glazed buns for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F and the others 425 degrees F.  Initially I was quite excited with how they looked. specially the ones with crunch-topping...

But as they say... All that glitters is not gold. While the un-glazed buns, the loaf and the lightly glazed buns were moist and super-flavorful, the buns with crunch topping were terrible. I could not eat those beyond a bite. it was that BAD. I am not sure what the problem was... but since it looked good I have decided to try it again soon. Will let you know it if and when it works out. For now here are the recipes that worked... the Spiked Pumpkin Yeast Bread and the Savory Pumpkin Dip...

Spiked Pumpkin Yeast Bread (Bread Machine) Adapted from my Pumkin Yeast Bread
Preparation Time : 2 hours                                                                                         Baking Time: 30 mins  Yeild: a 9x5 inch loaf + 4 buns or a 6 inch round loaf and 6 buns
Ingredients    for the dough 1/3 + 1/4 cup Harpoon Brewery's Pumpkin Ale (UFO) 1/4 cup yogurt +1/16 tsp baking soda (as a substitute for 1 egg) 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin, fresh or canned(I used canned) 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/8 cup light brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 1 tbsp bread machine yeast for the glaze 20 ml Harpoon Brewery's Pumpkin Ale (UFO) 2 tbsp rice flour 1 1/2 tsp instant year 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil 1/2 tbsp maple syrup -  Instructions Put all the dough ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order specified by the manufacturer and set it to the dough setting.  When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, turn the dough into a lightly oiled surface. Shape it into a loaf or a loaf and 4-6 buns and place the loaf it in a well greased 9x5 inch  loaf pan or 6 inch round pan and the buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover the loaf with a greased plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled 30 to 45 minutes.  In the meantime preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and mix all the ingredients of the glaze and let it stand for about 15 minutes.  Once the dough doubles, lightly glaze the loaf and the buns with the beer and rice flour mixture and transfer the pan/ baking tray to the preheated oven. Bake the buns for 20 minutes and the loaf for 30 minutes. Immediately afterwards remove the loaf from the pan, cool the buns and the loaf on a wire rack, then slice and enjoy with savory Pumpkin dip or otherwise...

So that was all about my experiments with pumpkin bread recipe.  Do let me know if  you have any pointers about the Dutch crunch topping. I'll be happy to work on your suggestions.

Sending the first photographs "Spirit of Fall"  The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series" ~ Colour Me Orange , a photography event  at Priya's  place The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen.


Now this week's Menu at Ma Niche

	This Week's Menu Plan
Sunday	Chicken Fry,  Leftover Lentil curry with veggies and rice
Monday	Moussaka with Radish Salad,  Pasta with yogurt, Cheese Omlet and boiled carrots for the toddler
Tuesday	Carrot and Pea Stir Fry, Gatte ki Kadhi and Roti, Deconstructed Oliver Salad and Teff Crepes for Toddler
Wednesday	Hurry up and Wait Roast Chicken  and Roasted Potatoes
Thursday	French Onion Soup and Vegetable Sandwiches
Friday	Dinner Rolls with Japanese Cream Stew
Saturday	Masoor Dal and Briami with Steamed Rice

 Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie 

                                       and Meal Plan Monday at The Diary of a Real Housewife.

Yeastspotting the loaf. Also sharing it at the following weekly parties..

Monday Food : Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration Monday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop,  Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes  

Pradyot's Second Birthday & Weekly Menu Plan

Last week our little boy turned two. Since it was in the middle of the week, we had a quite breakfast celebration at home 

and later in the day we took a big cake for his friends and teachers at the daycare. A simple Vanilla cake with Vanilla Frosting.. all from the store, just as they had specified from the daycare.  The kids loved it and we did too... 

With that in mind I had prepared a simple Vanilla cake with Cool Whip frosting for the party that we had arranged on Saturday. 

The cake did not look brilliant but it tasted good... the M&M and gum balls did a good job of hiding all the icing imperfections.. so it wasn't all that bad :) but what turned out really good were these Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies...

these Whole Wheat Star Cheese Crackers...  

and the Mashed Potato Croquettes which I forgot to photograph... They looked attractive and tasted really good. However there weren't many littles to enjoy them :(  We had invited Pradyot's classmates from the daycare for a play-date... Had hung a few balloons and a birthday banner on the wall to get them a little excited. But unfortunately none of his friends could make it. So it was just us, our family friend, the Nayaks and a table of little treats. I won't lie, at first I was disappointed by the fact that no one turned up.. but looking back i think it wasn't so bad. The Nayaks have two sons and the boys did enjoy themselves choo-chooing the trains, rolling down the bean bag, playing with the balloons and grabbing a snack from the table every now and then. Since all three were constantly on the move, we couldn't take any photographs containing the three in a single frame. Also after a while we stopped bothering about photographs. Everyone simply felt at home and it was nice to spend an afternoon with friends and toddler-approved snacks :)  

All in all we had a nice time and I guess the little one enjoyed the party too...
I intend to update you with all the recipes over the week... for now here is this week's menu at Ma Niche...

	This Week's Menu Plan
Sunday	Moong Dal with Spinach, Carrot Coconut Subzi
Monday	Gozleme with Black Masoor Dal and Briami
Tuesday	Oats Khichudi and Steamed Broccoli and Carrots for toddler's lunch  Moong Dal, Potato-Green Beans Stir Fry and Steamed Rice
Wednesday	Savory Pumpkin Souffle, Apple Escarole Salad and Pumpkin Bread
Thursday	Sabudana Khichudi & Baked Sweet Potato fries for toddler's lunch Leftover Black Masoor Dal, Phulkopir Dalna(Bengali Cauliflower Curry) and Steamed Rice
Friday	Dinner Rolls with Minestrone
Saturday	Leftovers

Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie

and Meal Plan Monday at The Diary of a Real Housewife.

p.s : For those interested we printed the letters for the birthday banner from here... and bought the subway t-shirts for Pradyot and his Dad's tshirt  from the New York Transit Museum  Store. 

Subho Bijaya & Weekly Menu Plan

Subho Bijaya to all ! 

 

Today is Bijaya Dashami, the day when the festivities for this years puja ends and the wait for next years Durga Puja begins...Right now most Indians are probably returning back from the ghats(river banks) closest to their localities after immersing Ma Durga's idol in the waters.... Cries of  "Aschi Bochor Abar Hobe" and "Durga Mai ki Jai"(Glory to the goddess) still resounding in the air....

Sitting here in our apartment in NY, I am feeling nostalgic and dearly missing my family and friends... as i shuffle through the photographs from previous pujas and recount all the good times we have had...

 

We did go to Washington for the pujas. though the chantings happened and the little one enjoyed drumming "the dhak", nothing felt the same. It wasn't the Puja of my childhood. it wasn't the puja of my memories.. 

Hopefully next year around this time ... we'll be at home and gleefully   exchanging Bijaya greetings, hugging our friends, touching the feet of the elders for blessings and blessing the young ones with all our hearts...Really puja or for that matter life in general life does not feel quite the same unless you are with your family and loved ones....

Hope you all had a wonderful time with your family and friends... Once again my heartiest Bijaya greetings to all and lots of love and blessings to the young ones....

Now returning to my life here... a quick glimpse at this week's menu. Its a simple menu this week since i'll be busy preparing my toddler's birthday party. He turns two on Wednesday !!

	This Week's Menu Plan
Sunday	Holiday
Monday	Pumpkin Souffle and Persimmon Salad
Tuesday	Moong Dhal, Beans Paruppu Usili, Carrot Pacchadi, Steamed Rice
Wednesday	Spanish Baked Chicken with Arroz Mexicano
Thursday	Beetroot Burgers Sliders with Greens, Breaded Baked Tilapia for toddler, Colcannon
Friday	Mediterranean Pasta with Chicken Meatballs
Saturday	Birthday Party for Pradyot !

Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie

Poulet à la mode aka Chicken Pot Roast in Port # French Fridays with Dorie & Our Week's Menu

Its been weeks since I have done a French Fridays with Dorie post. The thing is the recipes that the Doristas chose for September were mostly fishy or sweet. so i decided to skip them all together. I was about to skip this weeks recipe too but then changed my mind and adapted it cook Chicken Pot Roast in Port ..

this is not quite what the Doristas had scheduled for this week. The French recipe they chose is Boeuf à la mode. but since we do not eat beef, i adapted it to cook Poulet  à la mode. I followed the recipe in spirit simplifying it a bit was convenience. also i added some veggies just to make it more colorful and visually appealing. the result was a great pot roast. husband, toddler and i loved it.  the toddler usually does eat too much chicken but even he finished his portion of this great roast. We enjoyed it with noodles for dinner and the following day toddler and I had the leftovers for lunch along with mashed potatoes. it tasted good either way.

now my adaption of Dorie's  Boeuf à la mode...  

Chicken Pot Roast in Port  Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Boeuf à la mode recipe in Around the French Table

Preparation Time : 15 minutes                                                                                             Serves : 2-3   Marination Time :  Overnight   Cooking Time : 15-20 min on stovetop + 50 min in the oven                       ingredient to be marinated 1 1/2 pound chicken, cleaned and cut into 4 big pieces 1 onion halved and thinly sliced 1 carrot, trimmed, peeled and cut into chunks 1 celery stalk, trimmed and cut into chunks, the leaves separated and chopped finely the marinade  1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp dried rosemary 1 bay leaf 10-15 stalks of coriander, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, grated 7/8 cup of Ruby Port 1 tbsp olive oil salt and pepper  for cooking and baking 2 cups chicken broth 3 tbsp canola oil 3 tbsp Cognac or brandy (I used brandy) 3 anchovies 1 tbsp tomato paste 1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed 1/3 cup french fried potatoes (I used frozen) -  instructions Give the chicken pieces a salt and pepper massage and put it in a casserole, or bowl or sturdy  zipper-lock plastic bag, big enough to hold the vegetables and the marinade. Put all the ingredients of the marinade in a bottle, shake it well. Toss the onion, carrots, celery in the marinade and add the veggies and the marinade into the container containing the pieces of chicken. Mix everything as best as you can, cover the container or seal the bag and put it in the refrigerator to marinate overnight. Next day, an hour before you start cooking, take the container out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Once you are ready to cook, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Strain the marinade. Reserving the chicken pieces and vegetables, pour the liquid into a medium saucepan. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced to half. Now add the chicken broth. When the liquid begins to boil remove the pan from heat. Meanwhile heat 2 tbsps of canola oil in a iron skillet. When the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces to the skillet and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Transfer the pieces to a plate and keep it covered with a foil while you cook the vegetables on stove top. To cook the vegetables, add the remaining tbsp of oil and all the vegetables except the potatoes to the skillet. Cook them until the vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, pour in the brandy, stir and scrape to loosen any bits that might be sticking to the pan. Add 1/2 cup of the port-broth mixture to the skillet, stir in the anchovies and tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes until the anchovy melts.  Now, switching off the heat, add the chicken pieces and the remaining port-broth mixture to the skillet, cover it  with a foil and transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. 30 minutes later, take the skillet out of the oven, add the fried potatoes, cover the skillet with the foil again and bake it for another 15 minutes. Then pulling off the foil cover, bake for another 5-7 minutes. Taste the sauce, adjust the salt and pepper and serve with noodles or mashed potatoes or steamed rice and enjoy.

Though the recipe is a bit long, this dish is actually pretty simple to prepare and can be easily pulled off on a weeknight. And once you've tasted it you'll probably keep coming back to it over and over again.

Visit here to know what the other members of french fridays with Dorie have to say. For many more delicious recipes such as this one order your copies of Around the French Table from Amazon or from The Book Depository and join us as we cook our way through the book

So much for today. Since i could not post my weekly meal plan earlier this week, thought I'll include it here.

	Our Menu this Week
Sunday	Escarole and White Beans with Bread
Monday	Butternut squash pudding Souffle, Chickpea Panzanella
Tuesday	Moong Dhal, Baked Potato Fries sauteed with steamed Green Beans, Beet Root Khichadi, Steamed Rice
Wednesday	Poulet à la mode and Noodles with Broccoli sauce, Steamed carrots
Thursday	Breaded Baked Tilapia, Colcannon, Steamed Green Beans
Friday	Pasta with Butternut squash Parmesan Sauce and scrambled eggs
Saturday	Holiday

Take Care and have a good weekend !

Sharing this with Meal Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie

I shall be sharing the Pot Roast Recipe at the following parties...

Monday Food : Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration MOnday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes