The Adventures of Calcutta Yardbird

or Variation # 157 on ways to prepare simple & tasty chicken dishes that your spouse will love.

We don't keep a fully stocked refrigerator at our house. Maybe you don't either. We tend to go on a mini shopping run every other day to buy just enough to get us through the next 36 hours. Perhaps you do this as well. When I was growing up, this practice was unheard of, and I think my mother would have been distressed by such a routine. At least every Saturday we went out to the local grocery store and bought enough food to cover us for three daily meals through the week, and then some. It was our one unyielding family ritual which, while we kids didn't care much for, it was far better than the alternative of doing a thorough house cleaning or yard work. When my mother remarried, adding a fifth head and stomach to the equation, our new step father took on the task of preparing and cooking all of the weekly family meals and introduced us to the concept of nightly menu planning, something that, while it was convenient, economical, efficient and highly organized, it also quickly became extremely routine, something that we kids were resistant to. Our step father had a set menu for each day of the week: on Sundays it was corned beef, cabbage and potatoes, spaghetti on Monday, taco Tuesday and so forth. There was rarely ever a brain lapse while trying to remember what you had for dinner the other night or in trying to prepare a meal later in the week. It was pre-ordained, predictable and boring, and we've all spent thousands of dollars in therapy because of it. Contrary to what child rearing manuals may insist, routine is not always what a child wants or needs. But I'm digressing.

Often the challenge around the evening dinner topic is whether to go to the store and buy all of the components for the dinner meal or to use what we have on hand, which is often a haphazard merging of scant left overs and small portions of miscellaneous food stuffs that won't make up an entire meal course. Fortunately I'm pretty adept at winging it when it comes to cooking and am able to wring out a meal from what we have available. It's a fun and rewarding challenge. Last night was just such an evening. Although it really wasn't too difficult to produce a nice meal with what we had in the refrigerator - chicken thighs and spinach - I was less in the mood to go to the store than I was to improvise. Here is the end result of what I'm calling Calcutta Yardbird, simply because we went to India for dinner last night & any meat entrée that has it's own nickname deserves to have it featured in a special title.

I baked the chicken thighs in a covered Pyrex dish with Tandoori Spice Blend, curry powder and salt. 420 degree heat for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. That's it. Pretty simple, eh? While it baked I cooked 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of vegetable stock, salt, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 quarter diced onion, saffron and a small piece of lemon grass. As I got closer to both the chicken and rice being fully cooked I steamed some spinach and, at serving, grated fresh parmisan cheese and squeezed fresh lemon juice over it.

I served it with this amazing condiment that I love and will use any excuse I can to serve it with a meal - Patak's Original Brinjal Eggplant Relish! Hold on tight & get your pencils and pads ready 'cause we're going to repeat that for you once more - Patak's Original Brinjal Eggplant Relish! It's indescribable. Sweet and spicy eggplant cooked in oil with Indian spices, it has a wonderful flavor that I've tried to replicate in various other ways, from spice blends to sauces, with limited success. You'll love it, too, and you'll devise your own reasons to use it in everything, scaring your family and friends into an uneasy dilemma of how to enjoy your wonderful cooking without enduring your fanatic zeal. Should you be so adventurous once you've been won over by this amazing yet humble relish, try it as a BBQ sauce for grilling. You should be able to find this item in any good supermarket with a varied ethnic section. If not, then head out to your nearest local Indian store and ask for - no, demand! - Patak's Original Brinjal Eggplant Relish!

Give it a try and let me know how you like it. Who knows - maybe it will become our - and your - regular Wednesday evening dinner.