Chicken Salad Craze

Note: This is an old post I finally got around to putting up. I started it months ago!

Will and I both tend toward food crazes, so sometimes meals around here might come off as a tad repetitive. Not to us! I am currently in a chicken salad craze. I have a favorite chicken salad, with grapes and walnuts, but that is for another day. Today I want to share my recipe re-creation success. Union Market (aka Union Mark-up) sells a delicious curried chicken salad that I have recently been obsessed with. I took some notes last time I bought some and successfully recreated it two nights ago. Here is a picture, although it doesn't do it justice:
Will is demonstrating how to fill a pita; Mona is wondering how she can get involved.

CURRY CHICKEN SALAD (a la Union Market)

• 2 large whole chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 1/4 cup or more raisins, soaked in warm water for at least an hour
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots (I buy the bagged kind b/c I don't have a food processor)
• 2 whole green onions
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup red onions (to taste)
  
• 1 stalk celery
• parsley to taste
  

Chop and combine the above in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together:

• a scant 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• a generous 1/4 cup yogurt (you can vary the ratio; the point is to have a half cup total)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
  
• 1/2 tsp sugar (I think I used brown)
• 1.5 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• a dash turmeric (to make it yellower!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Taste the dressing for seasoning and adjust. I bet it would be great with a dash of cayenne! Gradually mix the dressing into the chicken mixture until it reaches the desired level of "dressed-ness." Great served with pitas and lettuce.

Our Family's Oldest Known Tomato Salad

When Dad & I were dating, I learned about this salad from the Italian Mama of his friend Dave. It was a salad to make on a hot summer day when the tomato plants are burdened with fruit. It tastes best when made with warm tomatoes right off the vine; tomatoes so very very ripe they can be peeled without scalding.

But that is unrealistic most of the time. So start by scalding (for just 10 seconds in boiling water) a pound or two of summer tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into large bite-sized pieces. Add vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, a lot of crushed fresh garlic and a lot of chopped fresh basil. I'm not exact in my amounts, because it doesn’t matter. The salad is delicious freshly made or chilled. It reminds me of hot summer days, a bountiful garden and picnic dinners eaten on the grass.

Jicama and Orange Salad

We have been enjoying lunch in the back portion of our yard. It is shadier at lunch time than the patio. A sunflower grew up and provided us with a floral arrangement.

Aunt Catherine made a delicious jicama & orange salad at the annual Jed Smith camping trip. She found the recipe on line when she looked for a Mexican salad to accompany her tacos. Thanks to Catherine and Gourmet Sleuth:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Salads-242/Jicama-and-Blood-Orange-Salad-621.aspx

Even though I had no mangos or jicama I decided to make the salad. What the heck, I had everything else. I used two green apples instead of the jicama and two peaches instead of the mango called for in the recipe. I also used regular oranges, as did Catherine. It came out good, but with the jicama it was delicious. The lime, fresh hot pepper & cilantro add a zing!

I'm still working on the old counter tops. But not for long. We are hanging our IKEA cabinets, with excellent results. So far it isn't too difficult (at least for me). Dad does the hard parts, as usual. My role is as grunt & consultant.

Summer Slacker Salad

Well, well, well, the challenger has become the challenged. I have not posted a salad a week this summer, despite front loading some salads.

Here are two "salads" for quick and easy meals.

Italian Brie Pasta Salad
(Adapted from The Six O'Clock Scramble Cookbook)
1/2 lb of Brie
6 really ripe tomatoes
1 C fresh basil
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil - optional

Cook pasta. While pasta is cooking, take off rind and break into tiny pieces. Cut up tomatoes and basil and put cheese, tomatoes and basil in a bowl. When pasta is cooked, drain it and immediately toss with the cheese and tomatoes and basil. Add salt and pepper and toss with olive oil if desired.

The real beauty of this salad is that you can do anything with it. You could use fresh mozzarella or other cheeses and mix in all kinds of different veggies or even fruit with the brie (strawberry, arugula, brie and tangerines?!?!)

Chicken Cesear Salad Wraps
(Adapted from somewhere...this salad entered my life somehow about a month after Isla was born. I'm not sure where it is from, but it is a great emergency meal and a wonderful no-brainer new mommy meal.)

Tortillas
Chicken Breasts
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Sweet Bell Pepper
Italian or Caesar Dressing
Parmesan Cheese

Cook a chicken breast - if frozen, boil it and then slice it (and saute in olive oil and Italian seasoning if you have time), if thawed, bake or saute in olive oil and Italian seasoning.
Heat a tortilla and spread with dressing.
Sprinkle with cheese
Slice tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and chicken into long strips
Place on tortilla, wrap and eat!!!
(Dip in extra dressing as needed.)

Urban Composting

Now for something related to food disposal...

I am so excited by my recent foray into NYC composting. We live in an apartment. We don't have a yard. I thought we couldn't compost...until I discovered that many community gardens in the city accept kitchen scraps for composting. To my delight, the garden a block from our place is one of those gardens. After I learned this, I started saving compostables in a plastic container in the fridge. And then another....and another... To my amazement, the two of us produced FOUR large containers of compost in a single week!
Astonishing, I know, but that is the result of one week around here. And we ate out several times! The garden was open today, so somewhat nervously, I headed over to do the actual drop-off. I was greeted with this encouraging sign:
The garden was also very lovely. I found the compost bins toward the back. It was simple as it could be! Open the latched screen on the bin:
Then cover the food scraps with a layer of leaves from this handy container:
Nifty! I am so glad I discovered that urban composting is not only possible, it is easy! I plan to buy a larger tub for the fridge to collect food scraps so I can take them over once a week and don't have to use up all the plastic containers. One bonus of the fridge storage method is that the scraps don't get stinky. Also, I just put the containers on the counter while making dinner and had a handy place to toss scraps right at my finger tips. Rachael Ray would be so proud!

Like Potatos and Salt?!?

I do!
So I'm planning to make this...

Jammin'

I haven't been making salads lately because until yesterday it was cool and even rainy. Also because I've been making Jam!!!
I started with my favorite - plum jam. Other than scorching the bottom of the pan (thus making it into "Carmel Plum Jam") it went well. I've never canned solo and it was intense.
Next was tomato jam. Andrew was standing by, but this came off without a hitch. It is has a unique taste and may be coming to a Christmas stocking near you...you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout...
I made Serrano jelly next using the Red Plaid's recipe for jalapeno jelly. It came out tasty but not spicy enough for my taste. It was fun to try liquid pectin. I also planned to distribute these during the holiday season, but my second batch tastes odd. I used more serranos, but I think the real culprit is using apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. It is more vinegary and less tasty. I also 1 1/2 the recipe and didn't have a big enough pot. Now I am trying to figure out how to get blackened char off the burner. At least the jelly didn't burn!
Next came Apricot Conserves. I made them today too. I got the recipe from Jeffery Steingarten's book, It must have been something I ate. The day after reading his story about the conserves, I came across a bounty of perfectly ripe apricots for 79 cents a lb. at a local produce store. This was a great experience because the recipe doesn't call for pectin. Let me just say that the result was extraordinary and delicious. I don't like apricots, but I love apricot jam. The conserves were the very best of the best apricot jam I've ever had. Imagine a mix of jam like hunks, whole softened halves and golden liquid apricot syrup.
This is definitely Christmas gift worthy, but we only have 5 jars - probably won't last a month! Tonight after yoga, I went back to the store to get some more apricots, but there wasn't an apricot in the place! Was it just a mirage...
Next up - more tomato jam...and if I can get my hands on some apricots, more conserve!