rootedfood

Curried Chicken, Almond, and Grape Salad

Included in my top 5 reasons for roasting a whole chicken is that you're usually left with delicious leftover-meal fodder in the way of pre-cooked poultry. One of the best ways to use this chicken is in chicken salad and curried chicken salad is hard to beat flavor-wise. This particular curry includes grapes and almonds, which provide satisfying crunch, juicy pops, and more complex flavors. Additionally, a yogurt dressing is used in place of mayonnaise, as I find mayonnaisey salads to be slightly repugnant and since I like to bring chicken salad on picnics, I'd rather avoid the higher bacterial risk that mayonnaise introduces. Grapes are fantastic for the early fall, but chopped pears or apples can also substitute- just use firm, slightly tart ones. Serves 4. 

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (about 8 ounces) 

1 cup seedless green or red grapes, halved or quartered (depending on size of grape)

1/4 cup chopped toasted almonds

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons curry powder*

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 teaspoons water

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional

To Prepare

Toss chicken with grapes and almonds and set aside.

Whisk yogurt with curry powder, salt, olive oil, and water. Fold into chicken mixture.

Serve chicken salad atop lettuce or cabbage, in a whole wheat pita, or on its own. Dust with cayenne pepper if you’d like a spicy kick. 

*Alternatively, use a blend of 2 parts cumin with 1 part turmeric and 1 part coriander and adjust according to taste.

Makings of a Good Picnic

A picnic can take on many forms. It doesn't require anything complex to make a good picnic, but it does necessitate good food. Here are some of my picnic favorites along with a recipe for pistachio pesto - this is something you can make a batch of, take some for a picnic, and freeze the rest for later. It's a very refreshing and light pesto recipe (if that's possible), as there's no cheese or garlic and is great with radishes as pictured, spread on a sandwich or crostini with goat cheese, topping grilled chicken, tossed into pasta or chopped tomato and fresh corn kernels...there are many possibilities to explore (as always when it comes to food). 

Some necessities of a good picnic options (feel free to mix-n-match, throw together into a sandwich, etc.):

Baguette

Cheese(s)

Dried sausage, prosciutto, or smoked salmon

Pickles

Crudité: Radishes, cucumber, carrot, etc.

Dip for crudité such as pistachio pesto or hummus

Deconstructed caprese salad (bring tomato, mozzarella, olive oil/vinegar, basil and put together when you arrive)

Fresh fruit

Potato salad

Curried chicken salad (the curry-ing is not necessary, but it's my favorite way to have it)

Rose wine, white wine, or beer 

Cutting board

Knife

Mason jars for wine

A few napkins or paper towels

Forks if needed

Picnic blanket

A pleasant environment (doesn't have to be perfect, just pleasant)

Pistachio Pesto (unintentionally vegan)

1 cup raw pistachios, chopped

1 bunch basil, chopped (I've also made it with sage and it turned out well)

1/3 cup olive oil

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon salt

To Prepare:

Watermelon with Pepitas, Mint, and Ricotta Salata

I'm not typically a melon person, but if the melon's good (as it is in August) and paired with a touch of savory, some crunch, and bright herbs, I'm all in. This salad is incredibly easy and will make you a bbq or party favorite!

Ingredients

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons olive oil

One medium 4 -pound seedless watermelon (or one half of a larger watermelon), cut into 1/2-inch chunks or triangles (about 6 heaping cups)

3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

2 ounces ricotta salata cheese (can use feta if ricotta salata is difficult to find)

1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

To Prepare

Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil and gently toss with watermelon chunks and mint in a large bowl.

Using a sharp knife or a vegetable peeler, thinly shave ricotta salata on top of watermelon.

Top with toasted pumpkin seeds and refrigerate until served.

Perfecting the French omelet (served with grated carrot-tarragon salad)

I like my omelets on the soft side, which can be hard to find in the U.S., but pretty easy to make if you pay attention to a few key rules:

Get your ingredients ready beforehand

Do not be stingy with butter

Be patient, and then be quick

Keep the fillings simple and minimal

I'm pretty good at numbers 1-3, but tend to have difficulty with number 4 because I get too excited about adding all kinds of ingredients. What happens when you do this is the egg can't fold over the ingredients properly and/or you have to cook the omelet longer to ensure the ingredients on the inside are properly cooked. This leads to a broken and/or overcooked (read spongy/tough/sulfur-smelling) omelet. This is a shame because, if done properly, omelets can be incredibly a delicate, luscious, and silky backdrop for a few flavorful ingredients - in this case, I used very fresh, thinly sliced zucchini, comté, and finished it with a sprinkling of herbs de provence. Makes two small omelets.

Ingredients

3 large very fresh eggs

1 tablespoon milk

Salt and pepper

1-2 tablespoons good quality butter

1 medium zucchini, very thinly sliced

1/2 ounce comté, gruyere, or other cheese, chopped or grated

1/4 teaspoon herbs de provence

To Prepare

Have all of your ingredients out and ready next to the stove. Whisk eggs with milk and a few dashes of salt and pepper.

Heat about 1 tablespoon of butter in a small pan (non stick makes it easier) on medium low. Add one half of egg mixture, topping one side with one half of zucchini and cheese. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, until the reverse side begins to become firm.

While top of omelet is still wet, flip side with the toppings over onto 1/2 of of the other piece of omelet and then fold over the remaining third (similar to folding a piece of paper). Cook for another 30 seconds.

Once the bottom is firm enough, flip the entire omelet over and cook for another 20-30 seconds- do not overcook!

Remove from pan when firm, but still wet and slightly soft. Repeat with remaining egg mixture, zucchini, and cheese. Top with herbs de provence and serve with grated carrot salad (see below).

Ingredients for the grated carrot salad

2 medium carrots, grated

1 tablespoon golden raisins, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt

To Prepare

Toss carrot with raisins and tarragon.

Cardamom and Brown Butter Nectarine Tart

Caution: Production of this dessert may lead to a decrease in productivity related to ridiculously delicious kitchen smells as evidenced by inability to focus on anything else.

I'm a sucker for cardamom, browned butter, and stone fruit, so it's no surprise that this dessert really does it for me. Usually I make crusts with cold diced butter for better flakiness, but the melted butter in this tart crust makes for a very crunchy, more caramelized flavor and texture that's great with the fruit filling. Using half almond meal in the crust produces great flavor and texture, but the crust falls apart a bit more easily. Amp up the cardamom amount for more intensely cardamommy flavor if you desire!

Ingredients

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted plus 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced

1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour*

1/8 teaspoon plus one pinch salt

1 large egg

5 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground with mortar and pestle (green pods are the freshest and most flavorful)

3 large nectarines, sliced

*Try making the crust with 1/2 cup almond meal and 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour for a deliciously nutty twist. 

To Prepare

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix melted butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and vanilla. Add 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt and stir until incorporated.

Transfer dough to a 9'' tart pan (preferably with removable bottom). Using fingertips, press dough evenly onto sides and bottom of pan. (I use a 1/3 cup measurer to smooth the crust out)

Bake crust until golden, about 18 minutes (crust will puff slightly while baking). Transfer crust to rack and cool in pan. 

Whisk together remaining 1/4 cup sugar, egg, and pinch of salt. Add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk until smooth. 

Cook remaining 1/4 cup butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until deep nutty brown (do not burn), stirring often, about 6 minutes. 

Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup. 

Gradually whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture, until well blended.

Arrange fruit in concentric circles in bottom of cooled crust. Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over the top and bake until filling is golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes. 

Rainy Day Ratatouille

What do you do with eggplant, tomato, and zucchini on a summer stormy day in France? Make ratatouille of course!

A conversation began over what exactly ratatouille is, my boyfriend and travel companion thinking that it had to be layered into a delicate circle, as is done on Ratatouille the Disney movie. I assured him that this is not the case, as I remembered it as more of a stew from my time as an au pair in France, but figured it would be fun to try.

Unsurprisingly, this has been done - both Smitten Kitchen and The New York Times posted recipes, so I decided to mirror what Smitten Kitchen has done, with a few adjustments considering the limitations of kitchen that I'm currently in and ingredients we had on hand (and the fact that I despise bell pepper). Although it wasn't quite as elegant as the movie, it turned out pretty tasty and as a bonus, was very fast to make. If I were to make it again (which is likely, as we're here another few weeks) I would use more sauce next time and seek out skinny eggplant to have the full effect of the layering with the zucchini. 

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

1/2 onion, chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup sun dried or regular tomato paste plus 1/4 cup water or 1 cup tomato purée

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped plus a few sprigs for serving

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 medium eggplant (skinnier the better, such as "Italian eggplant"), thinly sliced

1-2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 ounces fresh goat cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (my current oven doesn't have a temperature gauge and it worked for us, so I imagine this temp is forgiving!)

Sauté onions and garlic in 2 tsps olive oil on medium in a baking dish until soft, about 5 minutes. 

Add tomato paste and water or purée and 1 teaspoon of olive oil and cook for another 3 minutes then stir in basil and thyme.

Atop the tomato sauce, layer zucchini and eggplant concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, alternating vegetables.

Drizzle the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil over the vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Cover the dish and bake for about 40-45 minutes, until vegetables are clearly cooked. Remove from oven. 

Increase heat to 400 degrees F, top ratatouille with dollops of goat cheese, and place back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes. 

Noix de Saint Jacques = very buttery scallop?

On a trek to Châteauneuf-du-Pape for (what else) wine tasting, we had a conversation with a winemaker (see below for convo transcript) that led to a curiosity about noix de Saint Jacques, which are a shellfish similar in size and color to scallops, but richer, silkier, and more buttery.

We'd never tasted much less heard of them, so imagine our excitement when directly after that conversation, our restaurant choice offered them on the menu. Naturally, we ordered them and the legends are true - they almost literally melt in your mouth. Whether or not I like them better than scallops...that's hard to say, as at the preparation at the restaurant had a lot going on, including this semi-sweet butter on top that didn't do it for me, but they were very decadent and I look forward to being able to try them again - this time maybe with a nice sear on the edges and some lemon to or other acid to compliment the butteriness. 

Here's more or less the conversation - just imagine him speaking eloquent French and our trying to understand and respond in a way so that we didn't say anything too ridiculous. 

(sips white wine) "I like. It is good." - us

"Yes, this white is from a very particular region with excellent terroir. It's robust delicacy is perfectly balanced by the sharp undertones." - him

(laughter) "Yes, good." - us

"The very best way to consume this particular wine is paired with noix de Saint Jacques while watching a sunset - it's superb." - him

"Ah, yes! The wine is good." - us

"Are you familiar with noix de Saint Jacques?" - him

(hesitant laughter) "What?" - us

"It's a scalloped shell with a delicate luscious round shellfish inside that has a spot of orange on the side." - him

"Shellfish? Scallop? Yes, good with wine." - us (food words are easier)

(shakes head, then hand gestures to describe what he's talking about, points to orange thing) "No, better. Like a silky piece of fish in a big shell with orange on the side. You must try them, especially with this wine." - him

"Ahhh! Abalone maybe? Pretty outside? Where you should...?" (hand gestures to demonstrate pounding) - me

(aghast and horrified look) "Don't ever do that". - him

(uncomfortable laughter) - us

Cornmeal Almond Gâteau with Raspberries and Whipped Crème Fraîche

I made this cake one week (for the fourth of July to be more specific, as I thought that the stripe down the middle was a nice festive touch) and immediately made it again the week following. It was that good. I'm the first to admit that it's easy to please the crowd with dessert, but this is one of those desserts that people talk about. The almond and cornmeal combination make for a deliciously most, yet delicately grainy texture that is complemented by the tart berries and crème fraîche whipped creme. The result is something luscious, yet bright and unique. The fact that the berries were of great quality from my parents' garden also helped, but they were frozen and then thawed, so this can be made out of season as well!

Ingredients

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal, medium grind

2/3 cup almond meal of almond flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

3/4 cup berries, such as raspberries (can be fresh or frozen that have been thawed)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 vanilla bean pod scrapings or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup crème fraîche

To Prepare

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter, then layer with parchment paper that is buttered and lightly dusted with flour, an 8.5'' x 4.5'' loaf pan, an 8'' cake pan, or an 8'' springform pan. 

Whisk together cornmeal, almond meal, flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar.

Beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar until well combined. Beat in eggs 1 at a time until just blended, then beat in almond extract. (Mixture will look curdled.) Add cornmeal mixture and stir until just combined.

Transfer about one half of batter to pan, smooth top, and sprinkle with raspberries as evenly as possible. Cover with remaining batter, smooth once again, and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean.

Whip cream with electric beaters or a whisk until soft peaks form. Add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla, beat until combined, then gently fold in crème fraîche.

Serve slices of cake with a spoonful of whipped crème fraîche. 

Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup

In my opinion, the world would be a better place with more cold soup,especially summer cold soups that don't require cooking when the last thing you want to do is add heat to the house. This cucumber soup is incredibly simple and the grape salsa garnish ads a nice brightness to the silky richness of the soup itself.

Ingredients

3 medium cucumbers, peeled

1 cup seedless grapes, halved

1 small yellow onion, finely diced

1/4 cup diced parsley

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 medium avocado, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 jalapeño chili, seeded and diced

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons olive oil

To Prepare

Remove seeds and pulp from one cucumber. Dice all three cucumbers and set aside.

Toss grapes with onion, parsley, black pepper, and vinegar and refrigerate.

Blend cucumbers, avocado, garlic, yogurt, jalapeño, and salt in food processor or blender until smooth. Chill for at least 20 minutes before serving in chilled bowls topped with a spoonful of grape mixture and drizzle of olive oil.

Blended celery lemonade - a little savory, a little sweet, very refreshing and unique.

Ingredients

6 large celery stalks

3 lemons, juiced

2 teaspoons honey

8 ice cubes

18 oz sparkling water

4 small celery stalks, with leaves (for garnish)

To Prepare

Remove any large strings from large celery stalks and dice.

Place celery, lemon juice, honey, and ice cubes in blender and pulse until smooth.

Divide celery mixture into 4 glasses, top with equal parts sparkling water and garnish with small celery stalks.

Nopales can be sticky

It's true. But, when your front yard hands them to you, what choice do you have but to work with them?

The same succulent plant in my yard provides a plethora of prickly pear (tuna) that I have experimented with many times, but this was my first foray into the flat leaved nopales. The processing was leagues easier than their prickly fruit counterpart, which was refreshing and less painful, but they did have a pretty distinct sliminess that you have to get used to. We also tried pickling them, which helped with the sliminess a bit and both the grilled or pickled nopales were great in tacos and on chili. I think they definitely need to be eaten with something else to help mask their mucilaginous nature. Great flavor though!

To Process:

Find the youngest, most soft and plump nopale, as it will make your life easier and be much tastier.

Remove spines with a knife.

Grill on high heat until blistering on both sides.