salad

Arugula and peach salad with honeyed vinaigrette

by Patricia on September 11, 2009 · 7 comments

Okay, so… I know the summer peaches are almost gone, and that’s really a bummer (I love peaches).  But just in case you still have one or two lying around without a purpose I wanted to share this with you.  This salad was inspired by one I had at the Taste of the Nation in Napa last month.  It was one of the simplest dishes being served but it had the greatest impact on me.  The dressing was light, and the peach delectable… plump and ripe, the juices ran down my chin and fingers. Excuse me, I’m having a moment.

peach-salad

Suffice it to say, it was one of the best bites I had that day.  And before I had finished eating it, I knew I had to try making it at home.  [Continue reading...]

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Garden fresh pasta salad

by Patricia on July 13, 2009 · 4 comments

Pasta salad

I have been craving pasta salad for about a week now. But we were busy last week so I didn’t really have a chance to make any until Saturday. I went out into the garden and found a couple of yellow squash that looked ready to be picked. It turned out they could’ve used a little longer on the vine (the skin was tough and the seeds still had some green around them). But I used it anyway and it was okay… I think we mostly picked around the squash. 

pasta-salad-squash

Some mozzarella in the fridge that needed to be used up and a couple of tomatoes on the counter found their way into the salad. I picked a handful of basil which became a garlicky pesto that was nice on a baguette but really good mixed into the pasta. It was the perfect light dinner after our salami and cheese lunch out on the trail.

We were going to a picnic the next day, but while the batch I made with the garden squash was good enough for me and Dan to eat, I wasn’t comfortable serving the under-ripe squash to others. I wound up making another batch using zucchini and yellow squash from the produce market. It was a great side to hamburgers and hot dogs out in the park.

pasta-salad-pot

This is a good salad for those outdoor summer parties when a mayonnaise based potato or pasta salad might get questionable out in the heat (don’t get me wrong, I like the mayo-based salads too. But warm mayo is icky).

Garden fresh pasta salad
3-4 tablespoons pesto (recipe below… store bought is fine too)
mozzarella (boccocini aka the small balls packed in water or whey or just regular mozzarella cut into chunks)
tomato (grape tomatoes cut in half, or a larger tomato or two, diced)
zucchini and/or yellow squash (about two medium or one large), cut into short strips about the size of your pasta (I used rotini or fusilli)
pasta: fusilli, rotini, or whatever you have on hand… 1 package

1. Cook pasta in salted water for the time on the package (I like to add 2-3 big pinches of salt to the boiling water).
2. About 3 minutes before the pasta is done, add the squash to the pot.
3. Drain and toss with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside to cool (or not… if you don’t let it cool, the mozzarella will melt a little which really isn’t so bad but for taking to a party I like to let it cool so that everything is still recognizable).
4. Toss the tomatoes, mozzarella and pesto into the pasta.
5. Enjoy.

Basil Pesto
about 1 to 1 1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1/2 to 1 clove of garlic (depending on how garlicky you want)
about 1 tablespoon of pistachios
a pinch of salt
about 1/4 cup of olive oil

1. In a blender or food processor (the food processor worked better for me, but the blender worked too with a little coercion), pulse basil, pistachios, garlic, salt and about half of the olive oil.
2. When it is all minced up, add a little more olive oil until it is the consistency you like (more if you like thinner pesto).
3. Use right away or place in a plastic container with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, store in the refrigerator.

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BBQ chicken with corn and avocado salad

by Patricia on July 1, 2009 · 7 comments

When I was a kid, my parents owned a fried chicken restaurant for a couple of years (“TJ’s Fried Chicken”… I don’t know who TJ was, they bought the business with the name).  I ate a little too much chicken during those years.  I would go to the restaurant after school to help out cleaning up and sometimes taking orders. My after school snack was anything we served in the restaurant, most of it was fried (chicken, egg rolls, biscuits, rice…) and as an eleven year old, that was A-Okay with me.  But after a couple of years of after school snacks, I was “over” chicken… or as my friend PJ might say “Chicken and I broke up.”  I do still love fried chicken on occasion, but generally I have a love-hate relationship with chicken. So imagine my surprise when I started craving BBQ chicken. Usually when my stomach wants BBQ, I think of ribs or pulled pork or maybe brisket. But chicken? I don’t crave chicken. (Well, except for an occasional perfect roast chicken).

BBQ chicken (up close)

Most of the BBQ chicken that I can remember was just grilled chicken with a too-thick layer of Kraft BBQ sauce slapped on top as the chicken was removed from the grill. But my craving was undeterred… I wanted good barbecue chicken. Could I make it?  Was it possible? Then I picked up the July/August issue of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food and in its pages found barbecue chicken complete with a recipe for a classic barbecue sauce. Kismet?

I’ve already made barbecue chicken twice in the last week. At the risk of sounding immodest, I have to say that my barbecue chicken is fantastique.

BBQ chicken

I started with a whole chicken and cut it into 10 pieces (here is a helpful video from Chow on how to cut a chicken into 8 pieces. I cut the breasts in half so I got 10). Yes, it would be easier to buy a chicken already cut up, but it is usually cheaper to buy a whole chicken, plus you get to keep the back and other bits to make stock later, so I like buying whole chickens. (If you choose to buy a chicken already cut up, I would completely understand. I kind of enjoy it… but then I always liked dissecting things in anatomy class. If that makes me weird, I can accept it).

I seasoned all of the pieces (skin side and underneath) with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

I don’t know a ton about grills. I’m not going to enter into an argument over gas vs charcoal. I bought a Weber Baby Q about five years ago.  I bought it because everyone I spoke to about grills raved about Weber and it has a cast iron grill surface… which I love. Anyway, before I gush too much about my grill let’s move on.  I turned the grill on high to get it scorching hot.  Brushed it off to remove any bits from the last round of grilling. Then carefully with a couple of paper towels wadded up, brushed on some canola oil (Dan suggested paper towels instead of a brush because it also cleans it a little while applying the oil).

I left the grill to heat another 2-3 minutes then arranged the chicken on the grill surface skin side down.  I turned the grill down to medium-high, closed the lid, and set my timer for 10-12 minutes.  There was a lot of sizzling and smoke…  a lot of smoke… which was a little worrisome at first but then I realized that it was just a part of the process for creating perfect grilled chicken (I got the general instructions for grilling chicken from Everyday Food July/August 2009 issue under “Direct Grilling”).  When the timer went off, I flipped the chicken and set the timer again for about five minutes. At the end of this timer, I brushed the chicken with about half a cup of barbecue sauce (recipe below) and closed the grill for another minute or so.  At this point the chicken should be cooked through, but cut through the thickest piece to be sure.  The barbecue sauce should look almost like a glaze… not just a glob of sauce on top (in my opinion).  Forks are optional, napkins mandatory.

Corn and avocado salad

As an accompaniment to the BBQ chicken, I made a corn and avocado salad. It is super simple and tastes like summer.

Recipes

Classic Barbecue Sauce

(adapted from Everyday Food, Jul/Aug 2009)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small white onion, diced small
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2 teaspoons ground mustard
2 cups water
1 can (28 ounces) tomato sauce
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground pepper

1. In a medium saucepan over medium, heat oil. Cook onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add tomato paste and mustard. Cook until brick red in color, about 5 minutes.
3. Add 2 cups water, tomato sauce, molasses, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth.
4. Bring to a simmer. Partially cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Season to taste with vinegar, salt and pepper.
* cool completely before using.
* Refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 4 months.
* Makes 5 1/2 cups.

Corn and avocado salad

5 ears sweet white corn (5 because the sale was 5/$2), cleaned of silks and husks removed
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced

1-2 medium jalapeños, chopped into small dice (use less if you don’t like spicy or replace with a small sweet pepper)

small handful of cilantro, chopped (about 2 tablespoons-ish)
juice of 2 limes
2 medium avocados
salt and pepper

1. Using a knife, cut the kernels from the ears of corn.
2. In a medium bowl, mix corn kernels, onion, jalapeño and cilantro.  Squeeze over the juice of upt to 2 limes (I start with 1 then taste it.  Usually end up using between 1 1/2 and 2, but it probably depends on the size and juiciness of your limes).
3. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. You can either lay the avocado on top and give it an additional squirt of lime juice, or mix the chopped avocado into the corn.
5. Enjoy.

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The journey, part 2: Top gun and chicken salad

by Patricia on May 16, 2009 · 3 comments

I woke up in Las Cruces… When I made my way downstairs for breakfast, I thought for a moment I had walked into heaven.  The buffet-breakfast at the hotel was filled to the brim with Air Force pilots in their flight suits.  Hello, Top Gun.  From a quick glance around, I estimated about half were tall and good looking.  Or was it just the uniform?

That’s from the journal I kept when I drove cross-country over six years ago.  It’s too bad there isn’t more to the story than that, but I’m a wallflower… more Walter Mitty than Mae West.  But it’s moments like that that made the trip more than getting from point A to point B.  I stopped to notice things.  I looked around.  I finally had the blinders off.  The ingredients of my trip were simple: me, my car, and music with a sprinkling of thoughts and sunsets.  I drove off into the sunset everyday for over a week.  And it felt right.

chicken, the day after

Chicken salad is kind of like that.  It’s ingredients are simple, but if you pay attention it can be more than a sandwich. It has subtle textures and flavors that come together in a quiet song.  And it feels right.  Roast chicken is pretty and dressed for company.  But chicken salad is that quiet, perfect moment alone.

celery

The chicken salad I make is pretty basic: chicken, celery, onion, salt, pepper, mayonnaise. If I have an apple around, I may dice up half of it and add it as well.  Walnuts or pecans certainly don’t hurt either.  I’ve even been known to add grapes. But most of the time the basic chicken salad is all I need.

onion

I had this chicken salad for lunch the other day, and I was surprised by how much more pronounced the rosemary was in it than the roast the night before.  If you are more patient than I am, you might have this on toasted wheat bread perhaps, or maybe with crackers, or some other way that requires more than a fork.  If you are not more patient than I am, you will probably eat it straight from the bowl. 

chicken salad

I never measure when I make this, but this time, just so I could be more specific than “take some chicken and add a little onion and some celery… and a glop or two of mayonnaise”, I measured.  You’re welcome. I know how frustrating it can be to be given a “recipe” like tht (my mom is the queen of not measuring).  But even though I’m giving you measurements, keep in mind it really is just a formula.  Tinker with the ratios until you find your happy place… and throw in half an apple once in a while.

Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cups chicken, chopped into bite-size chunks
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/3 cup celery, diced
about 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix chicken, onion, celery and mayonnaise.

2. Taste it.  Adjust the salt and pepper to your liking.  

3. Taste it some more.  Make a sandwich.  Or just eat it from the bowl… but most of all, enjoy.

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Everything’s better with bacon!

by Patricia on February 18, 2009 · 1 comment

My stomach finally reached its capacity for cake consumption last night (it also helped that I ran out of birthday cake). And so, in an effort to bring some balance back to my diet, I decided to eat a little lighter today.

D. and I had intended on trying to recreate the warm garlic and pancetta dressing we had the other day on Valentine’s Day but in the end had a quiet no-cooking V-day instead. So I had some pancetta and spinach in need of use in my fridge. Yay, bacon!

dinner: warm garlic and pancetta dressing over baby spinach

That was my dinner tonight. Baby spinach with a warm vinagrette with pancetta and garlic, tomato slices and an egg just for a little protein. I wasn’t completely sure about making the vinagrette since I’ve only made my own salad dressings from scratch a couple of times. But I have watched Barefoot Contessa and Alton Brown and numerous other TV chefs make vinagrettes many many times so I figured I didn’t need a recipe. I was pleasantly surprised that my brazen experiment turned out pretty well. It was not completely the same as what we had at the restaurant, but it was close enough that I think I can figure it out in another try or 2. And even if I don’t, this was good enough as is.

Warm pancetta and garlic dressing
1/8 lb. pancetta, diced
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. dijon mustard
about 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
about 1/4 cup (maybe less) of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a small pan, cook pancetta until it starts to brown. Add garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes, just to cook the garlic but don’t brown it.
2. In a bowl, whisk mustard and vinegar together. Slowly add olive oil, but don’t stop whisking! We’re creating an emulsion (I have Alton Brown‘s voice in my head as I say that).
3. Combine the pancetta-garlic with the vinagrette in the bowl.
4. Toss you spinach in the vinagrette or drizzle over the top (like I did), whichever you prefer. Serve with sliced tomato.
This makes enough dressing for 2 medium-sized salads. (It was only me for dinner tonight, so after I finished my salad, I picked the rest of the pancetta out of the leftover dressing… I mean, I just stood there in the kitchen eating the vinagrette-drenched bacony morsels. Is that bad?)

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