Chicken Curry Salad with Red Cabbage

My new favorite way to use leftover chicken is in a curried chicken salad served over a bed of wilted red cabbage. This recipe is full of flavor and color, making it very satisfying. I got the idea for how to wilt the cabbage from someone who was telling me how they prepare coleslaw. Curried chicken salad has been done before by many, which is why I was inspired to make it. I like the mixture of savory and sweet in this dish.

Chicken Curry Salad with Red Cabbage

1 head of red cabbage, washed and shredded
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
meat of a whole cooked chicken, cooled and chopped
1/3 c raisins
2 ribs celery, finely diced
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and finely diced
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
enough mayonnaise to hold mixture together
1 to 2 tbsp curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In a large bowl, sprinkle the cabbage with sugar and salt.
Allow cabbage to sweat, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.
Mix chicken, raisins, celery, apple, onion, mayonnaise, curry powder, salt and pepper.
Allow chicken salad to chill for at least 1/2 a hour to blend the flavors.
To serve, place at least 1 cup of cabbage in a bowl and spoon chicken curry salad over the top.

Green Salad and Roasted Pears with Warm Apple Bacon Dressing

The other day I had a friend over for dinner. It was a Christmas present wrapping party that lacked in the wrapping department; problems being she only had a few presents to wrap and I ended up too buzzed to wrap adroitly. In my defense, I was using tissue paper, a material that is difficult to maneuver in the best of circumstances.

I was leaving in a few days for the holidays, so dinner was “what’s in the house?” again. Thankfully I had a whole chicken in my freezer, so I thawed that and baked it with just a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper. It would have been perfect had the wine not induced a short bought of forgetfulness. It was just this side of a National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation turkey jerky. Oops. My faithful friend declared it still delicious. What a sweetheart!

I roasted the half of a butternut squash that was sitting in my fridge to go with it and made a green salad with warm apple bacon dressing and roasted pears. While the food was cooking, we snacked on rosemary crackers and habanero cheese... and of course slaked our thirst with wine, yummy, yummy wine.

The next day I found out that I had been secretly sabotaged – since my friend had to drive home, she kept pouring more wine into my glass every time she topped them off. Whether due to the amount of food or the length of time or my voyage into becoming an... well, let’s just hope it was the food and time, because I wasn’t hung over at all the next day.

Green Salad and Roasted Pears with Warm Apple Bacon Dressing (for 2)

1 head of green leaf lettuce, washed and dried
3 pears, peeled, cored, and halved
1 tbsp bacon grease
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp apple cider
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Once the lettuce has been washed and spun dry, place it in a bowl in the refrigerator to crisp.
Place the pear halves in a shallow baking dish, face down, and roast until browned well (1/2 hour to an hour... I can’t remember... and not because of wine, I swear!)
Heat the bacon grease in a small cast iron pan.
Add onion and saute until golden.
Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.
Add olive oil, white wine vinegar, apple cider, salt and pepper and stir well.
To serve, put lettuce in individual serving dishes, top with three pear halves each, give the dressing a stir and pour over the salads.

Good wine to try: 2006 Maipe Malbec (Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina)

After losing my internet at home, I have been strongly neglecting my blog, but last night I devised a plan to finally update you on some of the recipes I’ve been making lately. Type the posts at home and upload them before work.

We begin this long journey into my recent past with a recipe for a Pasty potpie style. Some of my coworkers and I have created a cooking club and I was hosting the first round. We chose to do our club like a potluck, since we would be holding them on work nights. We also felt that a theme would help ensure that the foods would complement one another. The first theme was fall foods, which I was forced to enforce with certain individuals, who shall remain nameless, but had chosen the theme and suggested she bring a spring vegetable. Ahem. My strict enforcement of the theme prompted a rather unflattering association between myself and a certain WWII German political party. I, personally, had no trouble deciding what I was making. I had been craving a good pasty, but I had never made one and wasn’t quite sure what gave it its delicious flavor. Enter the internet and it’s perpetual eagerness to find what I needed in less than 4.832 seconds. I found that a generous helping of pepper and onion was the key, as was rutabaga. Done. Many of the recipes had their own pastry recipe, but our family has a tried and true recipe that I opted to use due to its dependability. I did alter the pastry recipe slightly, since I was out of sugar, but I did have some honey and it worked just as well. The pasty ended up tasting exactly how I wanted it to, thank you mom for teaching me how to smell for flavor, rather than tasting.

Pasty (potpie style)

1 double pie crust
1 lb ground pork
1 ½ onions, diced
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large rutabaga, peeled and cubed a little smaller than the potato, but not as small as the carrots
freshly ground black pepper to taste (somewhere between 2 tsp and 1 tbsp)
salt to taste (about 1 tsp)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place the ground pork and onions in a cast iron skillet and cook over medium heat. You do not want the pork to brown, but you do want it to cook all the way through. Stir it often enough to prevent browning.

In a large pot, put the potatoes, carrots and rutabaga, covering with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat a bit so that it does not boil over, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water to stop cooking.

Once the pork is cooked through, mix in the cooked vegetables and add the black pepper and salt. Smell the mixture, you should smell a good amount of pepper. If you don’t, add more. Then add about ¼ c water to moisten the mixture a bit.

Roll out one half of the pie crust and place in a 9x9 baking dish. Pour in the filling (I ended up with a little extra. My dog loved that!). Roll out the second crust for the top. Before laying the second crust on top of the mixture, use some cool water and moisten the edges of the bottom crust, along the rim of the baking dish. Gently roll the second crust onto your rolling pin and lay over the pie. Gently press down when you moistened the bottom crust. Trim both crusts so that you have just over 1 inch of crust over hanging. Roll under and crimp the edges. Use a sharp knife to slice a couple slits in the top of the crust.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden.

One of my coworkers is engages to the son of cranberry grower, which means that at harvest time she kindly brought many of use a bag of fresh cranberries. Yum! I used them to make Cranberry Walnut Pancakes, a fruit cobbler and a filling for crepes. The cobbler came of another day where I was trying to make something from what I had in the house while also attempting to sate a sweets craving. I’ve been making crepes on the weekends recently. They are just so delicious. I’m going to share the fruit cobbler recipe I made and how I’m going to make my next batch of crepes.

Fall Fruit Cobbler

2 soft apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
1 ripe pear, peeled, cored and sliced thin
½ c cranberries, washed and halved
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c flour
dash of salt
4 tbsp butter, softened
¼ c honey
½ c walnuts
½ to 1 c rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place apples, pear, and cranberries in a bowl. Sprinkle with brown sugar, flour, and salt and coat well. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Pour the fruit into a bread dish.
With your hands, mix together the butter, honey, walnuts and oats. Spread over the top of the fruit.
Bake until a fork meets no resistance when inserted into the cobbler.

Orange Crepes with Cranberries

Crepes (make approximately 6):
¾ c flour
2 tsp sugar
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 c milk
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp vanilla
1 tbsp melted butter
zest of ½ an orange

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add all remaining ingredients and whisk until completely smooth.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Using a stick of butter with the paper turned back, quickly grease the pan. Pour in ¼ c of the batter and quickly tilt pan in a circular motion to spread the mixture thinly over the bottom of the pan. Cook until slightly brown on one side, flip and brown other side. To keep the crepes warm, place in a covered dish in an oven set to warm.

Cranberries:
¼ lb cranberries
6 tbsp sugar
½ c water
zest of ½ an orange

Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thick.

To serve:
Place a crepe on a large plate, put a line of filling along the middle 1/3 of the crepe. Fold over one side, then the other. Slide aside and repeat until the desired number of crepes are on the plate. If desired, you can sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of the cranberry sauce before folding the crepes.


The past few days I’ve been craving Indian food, but I’ve also been watching my budget. This means using up what I have in the house. I discovered that I have three half-full bags of lentils in my cupboard, one of regular lentils, one of red lentils, and the last of Moroccan lentils. I used two with the following soup that was inspired by dal.

Indian-spiced Lentil Soup

1 tbsp oil
½ an onion, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp Indian curry powder (the kind that is not spicy)
½ lb of red lentils
½ lb of Moroccan lentils
Enough water to cover, plus more to maintain soup consistency while cooking
1 tsp chicken boullion
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a soup pan over medium-high heat.
Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft.
Add cumin seeds and curry powder and cook until fragrant.
Pour in lentils, stir to coat, the add water to cover.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Stir in the chicken boullion.
Add water as the soup cooks. You want to maintain a slightly thick consistancy.
Once red lentils have cooked away and Moroccan lentils are tender, add the salt.
Heat a bit more, then serve.
I let this soup simmer for a few hours before eating it.

Tonight I had a craving for Indian, but also for cream of potato soup. This was the result (though, I did have to run to the store for a couple of things). Warning, this is a bit spicy!

Creamy and Spicy Potato Soup

4 red potatoes (big enough that you can’t quite fit your hand around them), washed and cubed
2 ½ tbsp butter
1 tsp mustard seeds
½ a medium onion, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp flour
2 ½ c milk
salt to taste

Place potatoes in a soup pan, cover with water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender. Drain the potatoes and set aside.
Heat the butter in the same pan over medium heat.
Once the butter has melted, add the mustard seeds and cook for a couple minutes.
Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes.
Add ground ginger, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and cumin seeds and cook until fragrant.
Add the flour and cook for about 1 minute.
Slowly add the milk, then heat over medium-high heat until thick.
Once the sauce is thick, add the salt and potatoes and stir. Bring to desired serving temperature and serve.

Now that I’ve devised my system of continuing my blog, you’ll be hearing from me more often!

Mushroom Dip and Fall Vegetable Stew

I adore my Fanny Farmer cookbook. It's a vintage edition, the same edition that my mother has. I love that it has great recipes and that it's not of the same strain of many newer cookbooks that feel the need to reduce the fat and sugar in everything. I'm all for taking care of yourself, but for me that means eating less of what I love rather than eating more of something that's just mediocre. When I needed an appetizer for a party this weekend, I turned to Fanny Farmer and found a gem of a recipe for mushroom dip. It's simple, very few ingredients, and it was delicious.

I also made a fall vegetable stew.

2 tbsp oil
1/4 c onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 turnips, peeled and diced
2 medium red potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 a butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 1/2 apples, peeled and diced
4 c water
3 springs fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
1/4 lb of mushrooms, scrubbed and diced
1/4 tsp kosher salt
generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium high heat.
Add onion and cook until browned.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
Stir in the turnips, potatoes, squash and apples.
Add water, chicken bouillon and rosemary.
Simmer for at least an hour (some vegetables will keep their shape, others will not).
Remove the rosemary and add mushrooms, salt and pepper.
Cook for 15 more minutes, then serve.

And now some pictures, just because I like being random like that.

Irish Soda Bread

I love (and I don't use that term lightly... at least here) the New York Times food section. They have provided me with some absolutely delicious recipes, and the Irish Soda Bread that was featured recently is no exception. It's a basic, slightly sweet buttermilk quick bread flavored with a healthy dose of currants and some caraway seeds. It's no longer on their website, but I don't feel comfortable copying it here. (But if you asked me, I would be okay sharing via email.) Instead, I'll give you the recipe for a light cream of potato soup which we ate with the soda bread, sharp cheddar cheese and thinly sliced tart apples. By light, I do not mean light on calories (though it may be, I haven't checked), but less dense, through the use of more chicken broth than milk and less flour in the roux.

Potato Soup

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp flour
salt and pepper, to taste
2 c chicken broth
1 c milk (I used 1%)
3/4 c diced ham

Place potatoes in a soup pan, cover with water, and boil until tender.
Drain potatoes in the sink while preparing the sauce.
Melt butter in the pan.
Add the onion and cook until starting to brown (better flavor).
Stir in the flour, making sure to get rid of lumps, and allow to bubble for one minute.
Add salt and pepper. (I did not add salt to mine because I thought the ham and chicken broth would lend enough. They did.)
Slowly add the chicken broth, stirring or whisking to prevent lumps.
Add the milk.
Heat this mixture to boiling.
Add ham and potatoes and heat through.

Never tease a starving person

The other night I went to the gym for an intense aerobic workout (heavy bag, 3 1/5 mile run and 20 minutes on the stationary bike). I would have done some stair climber as well, but my ride had arrived. On the the way home, hunger pangs stabbing, I inquired as to what we were having for dinner. The response? "Leftover pea soup." I love pea soup, but like anything, I don't like eating it repeatedly within a short period of time. The excuse was that mom didn't feel like cooking and he was "lazy." I was angry. I admit it. The result was a less than enthusiastic response when I found out he HAD cooked. I snapped. I'm ashamed. I blame hunger and a not-so-hot day. A sorry excuse I guess.
Now, the family joke is, when dad cooks dinner is one of the following:
Frozen pizza
Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
Chicken cacciatore
(and more recently:)
meatloaf
spaghetti

That evening, though, dad had gotten creative. A pork dish reminiscent of Caribbean dishes, asparagus, and (sweet) cornbread. It was delicious. I ate a bit before taking a picture. *sheepish grin* This is how he described making this dish.
He found a recipe for stuffed pork and sort of followed it, but not really. He chopped half of a large onion, an apple and some walnuts. He cooked the pork loin, which he had sliced, in a pan with water. He sauteed the onion, apple and walnuts together and added undefined amounts of sage, marjoram, cinnamon, salt, pepper and honey. The result was a slightly sweet pork dish. It was so good. The asparagus was boiled. The cornbread (from a Land o' Lakes cookbook) was baked. My angry stomach monster was assuaged. Thanks Dad!

Apple Walnut Muffins

I made these this morning. They were very good, though I may add a bit more liquid to them next time, or make sure to remember that the new oven takes less time than the old one to bake most things. Except cornbread. That still takes more time than the cookbook allots. Who knows why. Anyways, here is the recipe, adapted from a sweet muffin recipe in an old cookbook.

Apple Walnut Muffins

1 egg
1/2 c buttermilk
1/4 c oil
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
just shy of 1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 c walnuts, chopped

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 to 15 muffin cups. Beat the egg with a whisk until foamy, then slowly beat in the buttermilk and oil. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in the bowl, and fold until mostly moist. Add apple and walnuts, and fold into the batter. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for 18 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove (this prevents completely mashing the muffins, which inevitably happens when you try to take them out while hot).