Day 11: Chicken Makhani

If an ice and snow storm descended on Atlanta, freezing its streets, closing many of its restaurants and supermarkets, even the usually stalwart Dekalb Farmers Market, would we know? "Hardly," we told ourselves last night while we were waiting for Chelsea's dish of chicken thighs, coconut milk, tomato paste, and and a blend of curry spices to finish its slow and tantalizingly aromatic cooking in our crock pot. Hardly, indeed.

Then I discovered we were out of vodka and all hell broke loose. Well, not really. It was around seven or so, and we had just finished a long day of working from home and we both agreed that we deserved a cocktail. So we got in the Honda and started navigating the un-plowed roads. I felt like I was back in my college town, Meadville, Pennsylvania, which is covered in snow from October until April. Sure, they have plenty of salt and snowplows up there, but those things are slow and you can't exactly wait for them to clear the roads when you have an 11 pm hockey practice (or beer special) to get to. And though the roads were anything but impassable, our journey ended in disappointment when we pulled up to an empty parking lot and closed store. Waiting at the traffic light to turn back home, we saw at least three other people pull their cars into the parking lot, all for naught. Alas!

Oh, but how quickly our troubles left us when we got back home. The chicken was delicious. Chelsea makes this dish every few weeks or so, and I'm always amazed with how it's both spicy and mellow, how it's filling but also light. The cooking process itself is incredibly easy since all the chef has to do is dump the ingredients in the crock and wait. And Wait. And wait. Here's the recipe: Butter Chicken.