Chicken Salad

Lately for some reason, chicken salad appeals to me. I had some leftover chicken breast from earlier in the week that became a curried chicken salad. I just mixed some finely diced celery and onions with the diced chicken breast and some red grapes. I sprinkled it with lemon juice, curry powder and salt and pepper, then just moistened it with some reduced fat Miracle Whip type salad dressing. Very refreshing with some tomato soup and a toasted English muffin.

I get a food newsletter, Second Helpings, from Jane Snow at the Akron Beacon Journal. Very interesting reading most of the time. This week's edition had a recipe for a Vietnamese chicken salad that sounds to die for. I love the flavors of Vietnamese food, and this recipe uses rotisserie chicken (which is really a whole other entry for my blog, but let me just say that I can't buy a whole chicken and roast it up for cheaper than the average rotisserie chicken at my local Kroger store). I'm going to try it very soon. For some reason, this recipe says "spring" to me. Maybe it is the combination of cilantro, mint, basil and lime that I find so refreshing. Anyhow, here is the recipe. I'll probably give it a review once I've tried it. No, I am not intimidated by a seemingly lengthy ingredient list. And, yes, with the exception of the chicken, cabbage, fresh limes and fresh herbs, I have all of the other ingredients in my pantry or my fridge.

VIETNAMESE CHICKEN SALAD
1/2 rotisserie chicken
4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Vietnamese fish sauce
1 tsp. sugar
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small head Napa cabbage, sliced very thin (about 6 cups)
1 Tbsp. minced hot pepper, such as serrano
1/2 cup roughly chopped mint leaves
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup Thai basil leaves, chopped (optional)
1/2 of a medium red onion, sliced very thin
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
2 Tbsp. minced dry roasted peanuts
Pull the chicken meat into shreds, discarding skin and bones. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Toss and set aside.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine remaining lime juice, vinegar and soy sauce with the fish sauce, sugar, pepper flakes and garlic. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, hot pepper, herbs, red onion and carrots. Pour dressing over slaw. Top with shredded chicken and sprinkle with peanuts. Makes 6 servings.

No Green Beer Here

Since I am starting this blog on St. Patrick's Day, I'm going to share a recipe that I think is appropriate for the day. I'm also going to share how to make a cup of tea that doesn't involve a cute little bag from the people at Lipton. The Irish are great tea drinkers, and there is little that is more soothing after a night of drinking green beer than a nice cup of good strong tea.

First, I am sharing a recipe for Potato and Greens Soup. This was a recipe clipped from The Akron Beacon Journal by me sainted mother, Peggy (who was actually a good German girl, FWIW), more years ago than I care to count. It can be made ahead and the recipe easily doubles to feed a crowd, which makes it perfect St. Patrick's Day party food. Irish soda bread would make a great accompaniment. The original recipe calls for browning a pound of hot Italian sausage and adding it to the soup before serving, but it's potatoes and greens and if you want to make it more "Irish", I'd think you could sprinkle the soup with some nice crisped crumbled bacon before serving instead of using Italian sausage. You decide.

Potato and Greens Soup

4 large baking potatoes (about 2 lbs)
8 cups chicken broth
1 lb. fresh spinach, shredded
1 lb. bulk hot Italian sausage
1/2 cup whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and halve the potatoes. Place the potatoes and 4 cups of the chicken broth in a large soup pot, cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Mash the potatoes in the broth. Add the remaining broth and the spinach and simmer until the spinach is wilted and tender. Brown the sausage in a medium skillet, drain it and add it to the soup. Add the whipping cream, heat to a simmer and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

That's the basic recipe, but here are my own notes. First, I prefer using low-sodium, reduced fat chicken broth. It wasn't available when this recipe was first published, but since it is now, I find it helps you control the saltiness of the soup. Secondly, the whipping cream is an optional ingredient, and I seldom add it in. The soup is quite hearty and filling without it. Totally up to you how much you want to gild this particular lily. Third, I think that substituting a sprinkling of crisp, crumbled bacon on the soup before serving instead of stirring in a pound of hot sausage would be perfectly delicious. I might even try some nice browned pancetta. If you choose to eliminate the sausage, you might want to simmer a 1/4 tsp. of fennel seeds with the potatoes and broth for flavor. Or not. Totally up to you. See what you like and make this recipe your own house specialty.

Now for that cup of tea. First, dust off your teapot and rinse it out well. Fill the teapot with hot water to warm the pot while you are boiling the water for the actual tea. Start with cold water and boil enough to fill your teapot. Once the water is boiling, empty the hot water that's been warming the pot out of your teapot. Put in approximately one teaspoon of loose black tea of a variety of your choice for every 6-8 oz. cup of tea you plan to make and then throw in an extra teaspoon of loose tea for the pot. Gently pour the boiling water over the tea leaves, put the lid on the pot and wait about 5 minutes. Swaddle your teapot with a nice clean tea towel if you don't have an actual tea cozy for the pot. I know. What about those *#@! bloody tea leaves floating around in the pot, right? Well, that thing that looks like a teeny little colander with a handle that you've had in the back of a drawer in your kitchen all these years? Now you'll know why it is called a "tea strainer". Rinse it off and put it over your tea cup and then pour the tea through. Voila. No tea leaves in your tea. Serve it straight up (my preferred way) or with sugar (my second favorite way), cream or lemon, or whatever combination you prefer. You probably don't want to make more tea than you'll drink, because tea that steeps more than 5 minutes is going to get bitter. Of course, you could use one of those tea ball contraptions to hold the loose tea, but I find them more trouble than they are worth to fill and fiddle around with (they are great, however, for holding peppercorns, cloves and other whole spices in soups, stews and compotes). I do like the teapot I got many moons ago from some now defunct kitchen shop chain whose name eludes me. It's got a removable porcelain strainer that I can take out once the tea is brewed. The porcelain strainer holds most of the tea leaves, and I can catch any it misses with my tea strainer.

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

An Introduction of Sorts

I suppose I should first clarify that age is a relative thing. If you are 30 or under, I could technically be your mama and you probably do think I am old at nearly 48, hence the "old dog" reference. If you are older than 30, and certainly if you are older than 48, you will either think I am not so darned old or that I am, in fact, a young whippersnapper of a dog.

Second, I like old dogs. They have their priorities straight. They like to sleep, eat and take the occasional stroll outside. Readers of A Retail Life (my other blog) will know of my enduring fondness for an old beagle, Dogzilla (real name Costello, although it's still undecided whether his original owner or the people at the Humane Society were thinking of Lou or Elvis). Dogzilla's palate is not so discriminating, but he is certainly always on the hunt for something good to eat, and while my father is his favorite person in the whole world (in part because he is easier to trick and steal food from), I think he's taken a good look at me and decided that I must know what is really good to eat. He trusts my judgment implicitly on that score, with the possible exception of grape tomatoes, which still rank as overly squishy, teensy, and ultimately unsatisfying chew toys.

I created this blog because I like to cook and I just plain like food. I want to write about cooking and recipes and my ideas on food. A blog is a perfect spot to do that without much organization. I think I know a lot about cooking and food. I have a reputation as a good cook. I collect recipes and cookbooks. I read food magazines and almost never leave my local library without a cookbook of some kind. I enjoy finding out about food traditions, and ethnic and regional cuisines. Sometimes, you gotta use real butter, heavy cream and whole milk, but I find it is just as enjoyable to cook healthy, using lowfat and non-fat ingredients as long as you aren't sitting there trying real hard to convince yourself that "Uh huh. This tastes JUST as good as the real thing. Sure it does." I'll admit that I am not much on various organ meats, but pretty much anything else goes, including tofu. I think you should at least try the local cuisine whenever you visit somewhere. Almost everywhere on the planet has something that is quintessential to that place and the people that live there, so be adventurous and give it a whack. Step away from the Starbucks and the Hard Rock Cafe and live just a little when you travel.

I'm putting together a family cookbook that I hope to have ready for Christmas 2006. I'll probably share some of those recipes here from time to time and the stories and memories that go with them. The most complicated thing I ever made was a Torta di Tagliarini Ferrarese from "The Splendid Table". It turned out well, but it is also the thing that made me realize that I am not ever destined to excel at pastries and confections, in spite of having mastered a darned fine brownie recipe and a chocolate chip cookie variation that has won rave reviews.

This isn't terribly serious and it's meant to be fun because I don't think food should be terribly serious and I do think that food and cooking should be fun. I like to watch people that demystify cooking and who have fun doing so. I'm not much on complicated and pretentious presentation in any form, either in the recipe, the preparation or the presentation. Give me rustic any day of the week. I don't entertain often, but when I do, it's quite casual. Don't be afraid of food or of making mistakes. I've learned some of my best stuff through experimentation and the stuff that didn't turn out.

Now, let's get in the kitchen and have some fun. Turn on the music, open some wine and let's have a good laugh.