Monthly Archives: February 2014

The original Coronation Chicken was created in celebration of the Coronation of Elizabeth II.  Basically its a chicken salad with poached and shredded chicken, curry powder to taste, a mayo dressing and a bit of mango chutney.  From that basic theme, the recipes run wild with variations—yogurt to replace mayo, celery, raisins, chopped nuts, apples, onion (cooked or raw), pomegranite seeds–the choices seem endless but they are all yummy.  The finished product can be served in tart shells or baked potatos or stuffed in a sandwich.

I made Coronation Chicken for lunches on Tuesday.  I halved the mayo and made up the difference with whole milk yogurt.

Wednesday night was pasta night but everyone ate all the dinner leaving nothing for lunch leftovers.  After poking through the freezer, the fridge and the cupboards I found the remains of a pound of ground lamb; way more frozen apricot halves from summer than I ever remembered; the scant remains of a loaf of bread; a single pound of dry pasta and half an onion.

I came up with Coronation Pasta for lunch.  And you know, it was pretty yummy too.

Coronation Pasta

1 -2 Tablespoons coconut oil

1 T curry powder (or to taste)

1 cup minced onion

1/2 lb ground lamb

12 frozen apricot halves (ah yes, the tricky part)  ( in lieu of frozen apricots, theres always 2 T of mango chutney)

1/2 t ground pepper

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1 lb pasta–shell shapes work well with this dish because the raisins and the meat bits hide in the pasta.

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped almonds

Put on a large pot of water to boil.  When it reaches boiling point, add salt.

While you wait for your water, chop onion to taste.  Heat coconut oil in frying pan, add curry powder, stir a bit and add the onion.  After onion has softened a bit, add the ground lamb, being careful to break-up the chunks.  Add 1/2 cup water and the apricot halves.  As they thaw, the apricots will melt into the ground lamb.

Add remainder of the seasonings, cover and turn heat under lamb to very low.

Cook pasta.  Before pasta reaches al dente, add raisins to the pasta water to soften.  When pasta is al dente–before you drain it–add 2 ladles or 3/4 cup of the pasta water to the lamb mix.  If you are using chutney instead of the apricots, stir the chutney into the lamb mix now.

Combine cooked lamb with drained pasta and raisins.  Add chopped almonds and stir.

Serve warm or cold or room temperature.