Country Captain

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Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Threads
88
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4,482
Location
Maryland
Please post up your Country Captain recipes! After having seen the Lee Bros. cook this on the Bobby Flay Throwdown show I am intrigued by this SC regional dish and am going to cook it this weekend.

This is the Lee Bros. recipe from the Food Network Web site but it is not the same as what they prepared on the show. :rolleyes:

Lee Bros. Country Captain Recipe : : Food Network

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
* 1 tablespoon curry powder
* 1 tablespoon garam masala
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
* 1/4 pound slab bacon or fatty country ham, chopped
* 12 chicken thighs, skin on, trimmed of excess skin and fat
* 1 large flavorful dried chile, such as guajillo or pasilla, split, seeds removed
* 2 1/3 cups peeled and sliced carrots (1/4-inch thick rounds), about 1 1/4 pound bunch weighed with tops
* 2 cups diced yellow bell peppers, about 2 peppers
* 2 cups diced yellow onions, about 2 medium onions
* 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
* 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with juice
* 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
* 4 cups cooked white rice
* 2/3 cup slivered toasted almonds, chopped
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pour the broth into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Put the currants in a small bowl and pour enough broth over them to cover. Set aside. In another small bowl, combine the curry powder, garam masala, salt, and black pepper and reserve.

Scatter the bacon in a 4 to 6 quart enameled cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir the pieces around occasionally until the bacon is firm and just golden brown, about 5 minutes. With the slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a small bowl and reserve.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pot, reserving the excess fat in a small bowl. Brown the chicken thighs in batches over medium-high heat, taking care not to crowd them in the pot, until they are golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Add the reserved bacon fat, 1 teaspoon at a time, if the pot becomes too dry. Remove the chicken and reserve in a medium bowl.

Add 2 teaspoons reserved bacon fat to the pot (if there is none left, use 2 teaspoons canola or vegetable oil). Add the chile and toast the chile in the fat, about 30 seconds per side, until very fragrant.

Add the carrots, bell peppers, onions, and garlic and cook until slightly softened, about 6 minutes. Add the tomatoes, spice mixture, ginger, and the currants and their broth. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatoes have cooked down to a puree and the sauce has thickened around the vegetables, about 8 minutes.

Nest the chicken thighs gently in the vegetable sauce so that the skin side faces up and is above the surface of the gravy. Tent the pot loosely with foil and transfer to the middle rack of the oven. Bake until the country captain resembles a roiling stew around the chicken thighs, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the sauce has thickened further and the chicken skin is just beginning to crisp, about 15 minutes more.

Remove from the oven, skim any excess fat from the surface, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the chile. With tongs, transfer 3 thighs to each of 4 wide, deep bowls filled with 1 cup hot white rice. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and the rice and garnish with the reserved bacon, almonds, and parsley.

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The FN chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.
 
never heard of it either


too many fancy shmancy ingredients and spices to come from around here.

wtf is "garam masala" anyways? and curry? - definitely not from my South
 
never heard of it either


too many fancy shmancy ingredients and spices to come from around here.

wtf is "garam masala" anyways? and curry? - definitely not from my South

It's a mixture of Indian spices used in curry dishes. You know, the stuff that Jefferson Davis use to put on his ham and biscuits.
 
My wife makes a version of the Country Captain without the ham. It's quite good, quick and easy to make, tasty too.

I know her recipe came from our local Boston newspaper. I never even thought about regions, but I can't see how the dish is particularly southern.
 
supposedly a "low country" dish.

I saw the same "throwdown" episode a couple weeks ago and thought it looked pretty tasty...
 
That's the worst MRE ever.
 
speaking of low country, where's the low country boil recipes?



old bay seasoning (or zattaran's if you're a yankee)
corn
skrimps
sausage


Put a s***load of old bay in a big ol' pot and get it boiling
cut up sausage, put in boiling water for fifteen minutes
put corn in with the sausage for ten minutes
cut the water off of the heat, dump the skrimps in for a minute or so

take the basket out and dump it all on the table
enjoy
 
old bay seasoning (or zattaran's if you're a yankee)
corn
skrimps
sausage


Put a s***load of old bay in a big ol' pot and get it boiling
cut up sausage, put in boiling water for fifteen minutes
put corn in with the sausage for ten minutes
cut the water off of the heat, dump the skrimps in for a minute or so

take the basket out and dump it all on the table
enjoy


no red potatoes? what a sham.

i've had it with crawfish too.
 
I've used red potatoes before, but sometimes they break apart and make a mess. I usually don't bother with them.

throwing crawfish in there means it's not beaufort stew any more


local restaurant here had it on the menu for a while.

sausage
shrimp
crab legs
corn
potatoes

sweet cornbread

they'd bring it out in a plastic bucket and give you large bowl. dump it all in the bowl and use the pale for garbage.


dammit i'm hungry now.
 
Did that at a bachelor party a couple of weekends back. Couldn't catch any damn crawfish tho..
 
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