Start on a Sunday. An icky, rainy Sunday when you have some time and everyone is inside the house and smelling it up with cooking sounds appealing. If I have nothing better going on, I love to do my big grocery shop on Saturday evening. It's not the zoo that is Sunday at the grocery store and by evening they've put out most of the fresh produce in anticipation of the Sunday shoppers. And by "love" I mean "loathe a whole lot less than spending an hour at the grocery store with the crowds on Sunday or after a long day of work on Monday."
Let's start with the traditional Sunday roast chicken dinner. This sounds ambitious for the novice cook, but seriously roasting a whole chicken is nowhere near as daunting as it sounds. Also, the economic cook should get beyond the lame boneless, skinless chicken breast purchase that has been spoon-fed to us via the billion-dollar diet industry. The price of a whole, "fryer" chicken, bones, giblets and all is about the same as a package of two, butchered boneless, skinless breasts. And a whole chicken can become sandwiches, soups and stews after the original dinner has long been gobbled down. Keep portion sizes down and veggie factor high and try to erase that notion that eating a slice of dark meat will directly increase the size of your thighs by fourteen inches overnight. This will also come in handy when you learn that smearing real butter all over the chicken is involved.
Julia Child provides us with the most no-nonsense, easy recipe for roast chicken I've come across, which is entirely un-shocking. Get some butter, some herbs, some salt, pepper and a lemon and learn how to make your own roast chicken just like you used to have at your Grandmother's. Oh, and be okay with touching the damn thing. I've encountered a few cooks that have a hard time touching the raw stuff. If you're going to eat it, you need to touch it. Don't touch it like its a gross science project, touch it with respect for the animal that donated its life to your stomach. Then wash your hands.
Click on the link below for Julia's recipe on Epicurious.com, for once I didn't alter a damn thing...
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/JULIAS-ROAST-CHICKEN-WITH-LEMON-AND-HERBS-102264
Monday, October 20, 2008
Eating my Words
Saturday my cupboards were bare. I hadn't set foot in a grocery store in two weeks and my supplies were less than minimal. No boxed chicken broth, no chick peas or other canned beans, no diced tomatoes, none of the so-called pantry essentials that allow me to whip up something out of nothing. Then B had to go and ask me what was for lunch. I had exactly four frozen, nitrate free chicken hot dogs left and four, bordering on stale, slices of bread. I also still had ketcup and mustard. And given that I like to take things a little further than most people, I also had a few jars of pickled cabbage and raddishes. So, lo, we had vegetables too! I'll get into pickled veggies in another post and try to pump your enthusiasm into making a few jars. I also hope you realize it's still perfectly okay to eat a hot dog even if you're not kids and aren't feeding any either.
I hit up the grocery store later that day knowing it was going to be a huge haul. I needed to replenish pretty much the whole kitchen. This happens about once a month, maybe less. It costs about $300. I'm at the store again 2-3 more times during the month, just getting the basics, veggies, milk, meat, eggs, stuff that spoils. I try to keep those trips around $150. So all in all our grocery bill hovers around $600 a month. This also includes beer, wine, toilet paper, toiletries and cleaning supplies, the other life essentials. I should also note: We drink cheaply. Sorry Oregon wine makers, I know your product is fabulous, but $25-and-up a bottle is a luxury for people fancier than me.
So, now that my pantry is all filled up again, I plan to follow my own advice here and make sure to make stuff that is a part of my regular pantry line-up. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, with nary a pizza delivery in between (that at least is the easy part, the delivery in my neighborhood blows). From main dish to leftovers, I'll walk you through my weekly kitchen. If it works for you, then maybe I'm onto something for you non-cooks out there. If it doesn't, well, I'll still blog my recipes. They work for all the people I feed at least!
I hit up the grocery store later that day knowing it was going to be a huge haul. I needed to replenish pretty much the whole kitchen. This happens about once a month, maybe less. It costs about $300. I'm at the store again 2-3 more times during the month, just getting the basics, veggies, milk, meat, eggs, stuff that spoils. I try to keep those trips around $150. So all in all our grocery bill hovers around $600 a month. This also includes beer, wine, toilet paper, toiletries and cleaning supplies, the other life essentials. I should also note: We drink cheaply. Sorry Oregon wine makers, I know your product is fabulous, but $25-and-up a bottle is a luxury for people fancier than me.
So, now that my pantry is all filled up again, I plan to follow my own advice here and make sure to make stuff that is a part of my regular pantry line-up. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, with nary a pizza delivery in between (that at least is the easy part, the delivery in my neighborhood blows). From main dish to leftovers, I'll walk you through my weekly kitchen. If it works for you, then maybe I'm onto something for you non-cooks out there. If it doesn't, well, I'll still blog my recipes. They work for all the people I feed at least!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sausage, Lentils, Leeks and Rosemary
My mom gave me Cooking with Shelburne Farms for my birthday last year. The author is a parent of one of her students. Shelburne Farms is a specactual public, working farm on the Webb estate right on Lake Champlain, in Shelburne Vermont. The Webb's were rich, probably still are, but at some point, I'm sure taxes were heavy and keeping up the land was tough and so a large portion of the estate has been opened to the public so every Vermont kid in a public school can go there for a field trip three times a year to pick apples, milk cows and watch maple sugar be boiled down into syrup. The main house is now a bed and breakfast and is a true relic of the robber baron era in this country in its opulence, yet it does have a subtle charm that the Vanderbilt mansions at the Breakers in Rhode Island lack. Although immense and no detail overlooked, the house meshes well with the landscape rather than overpower it, a typical Vermont display of wealth. Flashy, but not too flashy. You want to show off your sixteen cars and chandeliers, go to the Hamptons. Vermont is where people have always come to get away from hectic city life, not re-create it with hectic summer party lists and masses of mansions to visit.
The cookbook is what one would expect in a Vermont-themed cookbook. Cheese, butter, cream, cow meat, ham, lamb, apples, standard rural northeastern fare. I was flipping through it yesterday looking for a recipe for apple butter when I inadvertantly opened to a recipe for lamb sausage and lentils. My cupboards were down to the bare bones, almost all my can goods needed replishing, the only veggies I had were a wilted carrot that I could actually bend in half without breaking and half a leftover giant leek. Wondering what in the heck I would do for dinner that didn't involve ordering a pizza here was this recipe with exactly four ingredients, all of which I happened to have. Minus the lamb sausage. I had chicken sausage in th freezer. I do like lamb, but typically only eat it when I'm at a restaurant that specializes in it. It's also wicked expensive. And lamb is a baby sheep. That's also hard on the old conscious.
This nice surprise of a recipe turned out to be a piece of cake. I made it in batches. I finished the lentils and sausage, took a break to play a few games of dominoes with B then we decided to play a few tunes, so I popped it in the oven where it finished to perfection while we rocked out to some Pixies songs.
I didn't switch a thing in this recipe except for the chicken sausage for the lamb sausage. The rest of it is taken right from Cooking with Shelburne Farms p. 88 I'll write the original portions because it serves 4-6, I halved every ingredient successfully, which made about 3 portions.
2 cups small French green lentils
6 cups water
1-2 t kosher salt
2 springs fresh rosemary plus 2 t finely minced
1 pound sausage (the book recommends Merguez lamb sausage, I used hot Italien chicken)
2 medium leeks, white and ligh green parts only, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced and rinsed
2 T olive oil
1 T stone ground mustard
2 T cider vinegar
4 slices bread chopped into coarse crumbs (recommend crusty, country-style bread, I used whole grain, sliced sandwich bread and it still tasted fine)
optional: yogurt to stir into dish just before serving
Place lentils in the water with rosemary springs and salt. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes until tender (they'll cook more in the oven). While lentils are cooking, preheat oven to 400. Split sausages open and remove casings. Pour 1 T oil in a saute pan over medium heat, add sausages and cook until brown. Discard all but 1 T of fat in the pan and add leeks. Continue cooking until sausage is browned and leeks are golden. Add cider and mustard and stir. Remove from heat. Drain the lentils reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Add lentils and sausage mixture to baking dish. Mix bread with remaining T olive oil and minced rosemary. Sprinkle over the top and bake about 20 minutes.
Serve with yogurt or sour cream if you want.
The cookbook is what one would expect in a Vermont-themed cookbook. Cheese, butter, cream, cow meat, ham, lamb, apples, standard rural northeastern fare. I was flipping through it yesterday looking for a recipe for apple butter when I inadvertantly opened to a recipe for lamb sausage and lentils. My cupboards were down to the bare bones, almost all my can goods needed replishing, the only veggies I had were a wilted carrot that I could actually bend in half without breaking and half a leftover giant leek. Wondering what in the heck I would do for dinner that didn't involve ordering a pizza here was this recipe with exactly four ingredients, all of which I happened to have. Minus the lamb sausage. I had chicken sausage in th freezer. I do like lamb, but typically only eat it when I'm at a restaurant that specializes in it. It's also wicked expensive. And lamb is a baby sheep. That's also hard on the old conscious.
This nice surprise of a recipe turned out to be a piece of cake. I made it in batches. I finished the lentils and sausage, took a break to play a few games of dominoes with B then we decided to play a few tunes, so I popped it in the oven where it finished to perfection while we rocked out to some Pixies songs.
I didn't switch a thing in this recipe except for the chicken sausage for the lamb sausage. The rest of it is taken right from Cooking with Shelburne Farms p. 88 I'll write the original portions because it serves 4-6, I halved every ingredient successfully, which made about 3 portions.
2 cups small French green lentils
6 cups water
1-2 t kosher salt
2 springs fresh rosemary plus 2 t finely minced
1 pound sausage (the book recommends Merguez lamb sausage, I used hot Italien chicken)
2 medium leeks, white and ligh green parts only, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced and rinsed
2 T olive oil
1 T stone ground mustard
2 T cider vinegar
4 slices bread chopped into coarse crumbs (recommend crusty, country-style bread, I used whole grain, sliced sandwich bread and it still tasted fine)
optional: yogurt to stir into dish just before serving
Place lentils in the water with rosemary springs and salt. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes until tender (they'll cook more in the oven). While lentils are cooking, preheat oven to 400. Split sausages open and remove casings. Pour 1 T oil in a saute pan over medium heat, add sausages and cook until brown. Discard all but 1 T of fat in the pan and add leeks. Continue cooking until sausage is browned and leeks are golden. Add cider and mustard and stir. Remove from heat. Drain the lentils reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Add lentils and sausage mixture to baking dish. Mix bread with remaining T olive oil and minced rosemary. Sprinkle over the top and bake about 20 minutes.
Serve with yogurt or sour cream if you want.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Hummus
Some friends came over last weekend with their kids aged 3 and 5. We were helpful friends by introducing the kids to the drum set, keyboard and guitars in the basement. Now the 3-year-old girl's favorite phrase is "I want a drums at my house." The 5-year-old boy, a natural front man, noticed the microphone and asserted, "This is where you sing. Turn it on please!" An inspiring songwriter apparently, he shouted, whispered and tried various voice contortions while saying "rock and roll" over and over again.
This type of hard-core rawking certainly works up an appetite. Given that 3- and 5-year-olds shouldn't be suppressing their appetites with Jack Daniels and cigarettes just yet, I prepared kid-friendly and adult pleasing simple finger food, hummus and pita with falafel balls with salami, crackers and chedder cheese and a dish of a mix of kalamata and green olives. We washed this down with cold apple cider, which sounds like a completey weird drink to serve with a mostly Mediterranean meal, but the sweet apple cider nicely rounded out the garlicky hummus and went great with the cheese, crackers and salami.
It was one of those classic fall days where the air felt crisp but warm and the bright sun glowed spectacularly against the golden leaves. We filled up on healthy food then went to Washington Park, which has to be one of the most spectacular city parks in the country. There's a giant kids playground with a rubbery, flexible ground and about 100 kids can easily slide, swing, climb, crawl and sit in a box and pour sand on one another. Above the playgound is a park train which winds though old growth forest, an arboretum, rose garden and ending at the Oregon Zoo. The vegetation is true Oregon, exploding with gigantic flowers, immense trees, vibrant colors and hundreds of different shades of green. It's quite a treasure. It also has ice cream, a fact that did not go unnoticed by our small companions. So we all had chocolate-caramel-vanilla sundae cones and topped them off with a bag of M&M's. Oh well, they're not our kids.
HUMMUS
(recipe is adapted from epicurious.com)
Hummus is definitely something to experiment with. Try different spices, more or less garlic, make it with different beans even. No matter the flavor, hummus is smashed up beans mixed with garlic, lemon juice, sesame paste (tahini) and olive oil. No sugar, no butter, just healthy lean protein, fiber and good fat. And I have yet to encounter a kid that doesn't like it. Hummus is incredibly easy to make and given that a half cup at the grocery store is about four dollars, your dollar goes a lot further when you make your own. This recipe makes about 4 cups.
2 cans organic chick peas, drained and rinsed
3-4 cloves garlic
1-2 t salt, to taste
up to 1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice, more to taste
2/3 cup tahini
Smush the garlic cloves through a press into food processor, add lemon juice, salt, 1/4 cup olive oil, chick peas, tahini and 1/2 cup water and puree until smooth. Add water, salt, lemon juice or more olive oil to taste. There, you're done. And you actually have enough hummus to feed a bunch of people. And maybe even some leftover for tomorrow, because it just gets better with age.
Things to experiment with:
blend it with about 1/4 cup fresh parsley and 2 T pine nuts
add paprika, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, mustard powder
blend in about 1/4 kalamata olives
For the kids I made the simple version and added a few dashes of cumin. I sprinked the top with paprika when I put it in the serving dish. We all lapped it up with warm triangles of pita I had sitting in a low oven wrapped in foil while we were rocking out. Delicious!
There's a mid-eastern, Mediterrenean grocery store near my house so I have the luxury of purchasing frozen, pre-made falafel balls, which are great. Sometimes I make my own from scratch, but I don't like deep frying in my kitchen. It's too pretty for that kind of mess. I have baked them before with relative success. Traditionally the falafels should have been served alongside tzaziki sauce, a yummy cucumber-yougurt dressing that is pretty easy to make, if you want to wash your food processor twice in one day. You can buy it too. Or you can forget it altogether and tell the kids to dip the falafel in the hummus and call it a day. That's what I did.
The crackers were these fancy things called generic Triscuits, the cheese was white sharp cheddar (I am extremely biased toward white cheese. I simply cannot understand orange), the salami was decent quality from New Seasons (pork is a rarity in our house, so if I buy it, I buy quality) and the olives were whatever brand was on sale in the condiments aisle in the regular grocery store. Be sure to get pitted olives if young ones are coming over. Of course, if you didn't know that already maybe you shouldn't be hosting kids.
I prepared this feast in about 30 minutes, and had the kitchen cleaned up in about 15 minutes, this is a very low-mess meal. I did it all right before they showed up. Which I wouldn't advice, but that's just how things go sometimes. Hummus is one of those easy snacks to make if you kid surprises you with three hungry friends after school or you find yourself hosting an impromptu get together. Chick peas, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and tahini are all part of my pantry staple list.
Have fun and share your hummus experiments!
This type of hard-core rawking certainly works up an appetite. Given that 3- and 5-year-olds shouldn't be suppressing their appetites with Jack Daniels and cigarettes just yet, I prepared kid-friendly and adult pleasing simple finger food, hummus and pita with falafel balls with salami, crackers and chedder cheese and a dish of a mix of kalamata and green olives. We washed this down with cold apple cider, which sounds like a completey weird drink to serve with a mostly Mediterranean meal, but the sweet apple cider nicely rounded out the garlicky hummus and went great with the cheese, crackers and salami.
It was one of those classic fall days where the air felt crisp but warm and the bright sun glowed spectacularly against the golden leaves. We filled up on healthy food then went to Washington Park, which has to be one of the most spectacular city parks in the country. There's a giant kids playground with a rubbery, flexible ground and about 100 kids can easily slide, swing, climb, crawl and sit in a box and pour sand on one another. Above the playgound is a park train which winds though old growth forest, an arboretum, rose garden and ending at the Oregon Zoo. The vegetation is true Oregon, exploding with gigantic flowers, immense trees, vibrant colors and hundreds of different shades of green. It's quite a treasure. It also has ice cream, a fact that did not go unnoticed by our small companions. So we all had chocolate-caramel-vanilla sundae cones and topped them off with a bag of M&M's. Oh well, they're not our kids.
HUMMUS
(recipe is adapted from epicurious.com)
Hummus is definitely something to experiment with. Try different spices, more or less garlic, make it with different beans even. No matter the flavor, hummus is smashed up beans mixed with garlic, lemon juice, sesame paste (tahini) and olive oil. No sugar, no butter, just healthy lean protein, fiber and good fat. And I have yet to encounter a kid that doesn't like it. Hummus is incredibly easy to make and given that a half cup at the grocery store is about four dollars, your dollar goes a lot further when you make your own. This recipe makes about 4 cups.
2 cans organic chick peas, drained and rinsed
3-4 cloves garlic
1-2 t salt, to taste
up to 1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice, more to taste
2/3 cup tahini
Smush the garlic cloves through a press into food processor, add lemon juice, salt, 1/4 cup olive oil, chick peas, tahini and 1/2 cup water and puree until smooth. Add water, salt, lemon juice or more olive oil to taste. There, you're done. And you actually have enough hummus to feed a bunch of people. And maybe even some leftover for tomorrow, because it just gets better with age.
Things to experiment with:
blend it with about 1/4 cup fresh parsley and 2 T pine nuts
add paprika, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, mustard powder
blend in about 1/4 kalamata olives
For the kids I made the simple version and added a few dashes of cumin. I sprinked the top with paprika when I put it in the serving dish. We all lapped it up with warm triangles of pita I had sitting in a low oven wrapped in foil while we were rocking out. Delicious!
There's a mid-eastern, Mediterrenean grocery store near my house so I have the luxury of purchasing frozen, pre-made falafel balls, which are great. Sometimes I make my own from scratch, but I don't like deep frying in my kitchen. It's too pretty for that kind of mess. I have baked them before with relative success. Traditionally the falafels should have been served alongside tzaziki sauce, a yummy cucumber-yougurt dressing that is pretty easy to make, if you want to wash your food processor twice in one day. You can buy it too. Or you can forget it altogether and tell the kids to dip the falafel in the hummus and call it a day. That's what I did.
The crackers were these fancy things called generic Triscuits, the cheese was white sharp cheddar (I am extremely biased toward white cheese. I simply cannot understand orange), the salami was decent quality from New Seasons (pork is a rarity in our house, so if I buy it, I buy quality) and the olives were whatever brand was on sale in the condiments aisle in the regular grocery store. Be sure to get pitted olives if young ones are coming over. Of course, if you didn't know that already maybe you shouldn't be hosting kids.
I prepared this feast in about 30 minutes, and had the kitchen cleaned up in about 15 minutes, this is a very low-mess meal. I did it all right before they showed up. Which I wouldn't advice, but that's just how things go sometimes. Hummus is one of those easy snacks to make if you kid surprises you with three hungry friends after school or you find yourself hosting an impromptu get together. Chick peas, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and tahini are all part of my pantry staple list.
Have fun and share your hummus experiments!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Chicken Stovetop - with Tomato and Fennel
serves four (I halved every ingredient successfully to make a dish for two)
2 T unslated butter
3 T vegetable/olive oil (if using olive oil, do not use extra virgin, burns too quickly)
kosher salt
3 med-large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 medium-large fennel bulb, stalks removed, some fronds reserved, cored and sliced
3 lb. skin-on, bone-in chicken legs and thighs
black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatos in their juice
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves + 2 T reserved fennel fronds
1/3 cup heavy cream
In a 12-inch frying pan melt butter and stir in 2 T oil over med-low heat. Add garlic and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer garlic w/ slotted spoon to plate and reserve.
Increase heat to med-high and arrange fennel in single layer. Season w/ salt and cook until well browned on each side (about 4 minutes per side). Transfer to plate and reserve.
Season chicken w/ salt and pepper. Add remaining 1 T oil to pan. When hot, put chicken in pan, skin side down. Brown on both sides, 12-15 minutes total. Transfer to plate.
Pour out all fat from pan into (this is where chicken fat tin can comes in handy) and set it over high heat. Pour in broth and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon scraping up the browned bits. Simmer until the broth reduces to about 1/4 cup (1-2 minutes). Add tomatoes wiht their juices and return chicken and reserved garlic to pan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to med-low and cover pan. Cook for 15 minutes, turning chicken once. Add reserved fennel and sprinkle basil and fronds. Cover and cook another 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning once during that time.
Transfer chicken to plate. Increase heat to high and stir thecream into the sauce. Boil until slightly thickened, 3-4 minutes. Season to taste w/ salt and pepper, adding crushed red pepper if desired.
Here you may either pour sauce into a serving dish and nestle chiken in it, or as I prefer it, remove chicken from bone, shredding into bit-sized pieces and mixing chicken into tomatoes, fennel and cream like a stew. This is just me, but I believe it results in more servings. People are more inclined to eat a whole piece of chicken if it's on their plate. This way, serve up however much you want and there is plenty leftover for lunch th next day.
For dinner I served this with mashed potatos and a kale and grapefruit salad. For lunch the next day, I made half a cup of couscous and mixed it into individual tupperware containers with the stew.
Kale and Grapefruit Salad
Kale is an excellent, overlooked salad green, probably because it's kind of intimidating and most of us are used to seeing it holding an orange slice as a garnish we're not supposed to eat. You can eat raw kale within one-two days of purchasing it and if you let it marinate in a dressing for awhiel, you not only have a great dinner salad, you also have salad for lunch the next day that isn't wilted, gloppy and gross. Whatever you don't eat in one-two days, chop up and throw into a stew.
serves four
1/2 bunch supermarket kale, stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 grapefruit, peeled, and chopped into 1-inch pieces (the white pith is high in fiber, eat it)
2 T sliced, toasted almonds (optional)
Dressing:
Juice from 1/2 orange
2 cloves garlic, smashed through a press
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T honey
1/2 T sesame oil
Mix everything together, shake, and pour over kale, grapefruit and almonds. Pour to desired kale/dressing consistency. This will last a day, dressing and all, unlike lettuce-based salads.
Enjoy!
2 T unslated butter
3 T vegetable/olive oil (if using olive oil, do not use extra virgin, burns too quickly)
kosher salt
3 med-large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 medium-large fennel bulb, stalks removed, some fronds reserved, cored and sliced
3 lb. skin-on, bone-in chicken legs and thighs
black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatos in their juice
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves + 2 T reserved fennel fronds
1/3 cup heavy cream
In a 12-inch frying pan melt butter and stir in 2 T oil over med-low heat. Add garlic and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer garlic w/ slotted spoon to plate and reserve.
Increase heat to med-high and arrange fennel in single layer. Season w/ salt and cook until well browned on each side (about 4 minutes per side). Transfer to plate and reserve.
Season chicken w/ salt and pepper. Add remaining 1 T oil to pan. When hot, put chicken in pan, skin side down. Brown on both sides, 12-15 minutes total. Transfer to plate.
Pour out all fat from pan into (this is where chicken fat tin can comes in handy) and set it over high heat. Pour in broth and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon scraping up the browned bits. Simmer until the broth reduces to about 1/4 cup (1-2 minutes). Add tomatoes wiht their juices and return chicken and reserved garlic to pan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to med-low and cover pan. Cook for 15 minutes, turning chicken once. Add reserved fennel and sprinkle basil and fronds. Cover and cook another 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning once during that time.
Transfer chicken to plate. Increase heat to high and stir thecream into the sauce. Boil until slightly thickened, 3-4 minutes. Season to taste w/ salt and pepper, adding crushed red pepper if desired.
Here you may either pour sauce into a serving dish and nestle chiken in it, or as I prefer it, remove chicken from bone, shredding into bit-sized pieces and mixing chicken into tomatoes, fennel and cream like a stew. This is just me, but I believe it results in more servings. People are more inclined to eat a whole piece of chicken if it's on their plate. This way, serve up however much you want and there is plenty leftover for lunch th next day.
For dinner I served this with mashed potatos and a kale and grapefruit salad. For lunch the next day, I made half a cup of couscous and mixed it into individual tupperware containers with the stew.
Kale and Grapefruit Salad
Kale is an excellent, overlooked salad green, probably because it's kind of intimidating and most of us are used to seeing it holding an orange slice as a garnish we're not supposed to eat. You can eat raw kale within one-two days of purchasing it and if you let it marinate in a dressing for awhiel, you not only have a great dinner salad, you also have salad for lunch the next day that isn't wilted, gloppy and gross. Whatever you don't eat in one-two days, chop up and throw into a stew.
serves four
1/2 bunch supermarket kale, stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 grapefruit, peeled, and chopped into 1-inch pieces (the white pith is high in fiber, eat it)
2 T sliced, toasted almonds (optional)
Dressing:
Juice from 1/2 orange
2 cloves garlic, smashed through a press
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T honey
1/2 T sesame oil
Mix everything together, shake, and pour over kale, grapefruit and almonds. Pour to desired kale/dressing consistency. This will last a day, dressing and all, unlike lettuce-based salads.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
