As this season slowly draws to a close and those last days of outdoor grilling and garden fresh tomatoes go by,  we really savor the last and best of our “salad days”. Store bought tomatoes and baked chicken breast can be used in other seasons but it’s just not quite the same.

I call this a California Chicken Salad because it has ingredients that I associate with several years of growing up in Orange County, California. More often than not, we had a salad topped with chicken for dinner. I love the interplay of flavours with the chicken, avocado and tomato. Black beans and corn add a little Southwest touch as well. Try this with my Creamy Cotija Cilantro Chile Pepita Dressing , a fresh vinaigrette or even some homemade Blue Cheese or Ranch style buttermilk dressing. Making your own dressing is so easy- don’t rely on commercial dressings that may be loaded with ingredients you can’t pronounce and that your body doesn’t need.

California Chicken Salad

• Romaine lettuce, washed dried and chopped
• one green onion, washed and sliced
• a fresh garden tomato, sliced and seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh or frozen steamed and then chilled corn kernels
• 1/4 cup cooked and chilled black beans
• 1/2 Haas avocado, sliced
• one grilled and sliced or cubed  boneless chicken breast
• 2 Tablespoons shredded medium cheddar cheese
• 1 small handful homemade or good quality baked croutons
• 1 Tablespoon slivered blanched almonds

Mix the Romaine and green onion together in a salad bowl. Top with the remaining ingredients grouped together around the top. Dress and enjoy.

Home style Ranch Dressing

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise- Best Foods or homemade
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, plus more to thin if necessary
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh chives, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
• 2 Tablespoons parsley, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh tarragon, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Mix all together in a food processor or blender and blend until well mixed. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill for at least one hour before using. Use within a few days.

Blue Cheese Dressing

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 Tablespoon best quality olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon Sherry vinegar
• 1/2 cup great quality blue  cheese (try Cowgirl Creamery’s Point Reyes  Farmstead Blue if you can)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons, minced parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except blue cheese in a food processor or blender and blend well. Crumble the blue cheese and stir it in well. Chill for at least an hour  before using. Taste and adjust seasoning. Use within a few days.

Vinaigrette

• one shallot minced finely
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• pinch of salt
• a few grindings of black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar of choice- Sherry, Balsamic, Port or a good quality wine vinegar
• 2-4 Tablespoons best quality extra virgin olive oil 

Place the shallots, mustard, salt, pepper and vinegar into a the salad bowl you’ll be using or another small  bowl and whisk well. Let stand 10 minutes and then slowly whisk in the olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings. Dress  salad just before serving. Two to four servings.

xo

Hello there! Sorry I’ve been away so long. I’ve been having some technical difficulties as well as a small case of Winter Doldrums. But – I think I’m on the mend and at least I can post again- thanks to those of you who kept checking in only to find nothing new here. 

I’m feeling more energetic now and eager to get back on the blogging trail.  I am so sad to have missed out on the second round of Festa Italiana hosted by two of my sweetest  friends Marie from Proud Italian Cook and Maryann from Finding La Dolce Vita- so here is what I wished I could have brought- it’s my own variation of Saltimbocca- (which means “jumps in the mouth”.) Usually this dish  is a scallopini of veal, pork or chicken with sage leaves and prosciutto and sometimes an Italian Fontina is added.  I altered it to what I had on hand and used basil pesto, marinated mozzarella and thinly sliced ham.  It was delicious and I’ll definitely be making it again. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and  a spinach salad on the side.  wish I had another go round right now.

Saltimbocca- Gabi’s variation

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to a uniform 1/4″ thickness (scallopini)
• flour
• salt and pepper
• a pinch each of dried oregano, basil and sweet paprika
• 8 Bocconcini of marinated, fresh Mozzarella, cut in half
• 2 teaspoons prepared fresh basil pesto
• 8 very thin slices of ham
• 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
• 6 Tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 cup low sodium chicken stock
• 2 Tablespoons Madeira or Amontillado
• 1 teaspoon sugar if needed

Mix about a quarter cup of flour and herbs together on a plate. Wash the chicken scallopini and pat dry, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Be careful and don’t over salt because the dish can be salty with the chicken broth.  Spread about 1/2 teaspoon of pesto on one side of the scallopini. Place 2 mozzarella balls (4 pieces) on top of the pesto on each breast.  Cover this all with two slices of ham. Press down to seal the ham to the chicken breast around the cheese. Dredge both sides of the scallopini in the flour mixture and tap gently to remove excess flour. Heat two Tablespoons of olive oil and two Tablespoons of the butter in a large, heavy  bottomed skillet (I use 14 inch cast iron skillet) over medium to medium high heat. When foamy, add the scallopini- ham and cheese side down. Brown for about 2 minutes and turn to the other side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and keep warm. Drain the oil from the pan but make sure you leave the browned bits. Add the white wine and boil, scraping the pan to deglaze it, cook until the wine is reduced slightly. Add the four remaining Tablespoons of butter and melt in. Add the chicken stock, Madeira or Amontillado and taste. If needed, add a bit of sugar to round out the flavour. Tuck the scallopini back into the sauce in the pan and cook for about another 4 minutes, until the sauce is thickened slightly and the scallopini are cooked completely through.  Enjoy lapped with the pan sauce over garlic mashed potatoes or even steamed greens.

Spinach Salad for two

• 2 Tablespoons Port Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and dried well
• 1 medium shallot, finely slivered
• 1/2 cup chilled mandarin orange segments
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 4 Tablespoons crumbled Feta cheese

Place the vinegar and Dijon mustard in the bottom of a chilled salad bowl, whisk well. Add a pinch of salt and a few grindings of black pepper. Whisk in the olive oil slowly. Add the Spinach and shallot and toss well.  Place on chilled salad plated and top with the orange segments, almonds and Feta.  Grind a bit of pepper on each and serve.

I hope you enjoy and I want you to know I’ve missed you all and I am so glad to be back!

xoxoxo

Gabi

 We had a little get together while my son, Ryan, was home on leave from the Army. My Mum brought this family favourite.

In our family cook book she wrote of this salad:

” When I was in high school,  I would sometimes have lunch at the Elite Cafe. They always had a lunch special which included a hamburger with your choice of macaroni salad, potatoes and gravy or french fries. I loved the macaroni salad. When Mom went to work as a cook for the Elite Cafe she taught me how to make the macaroni salad the way they made it there. It is my favourite salad. The secret and key ingredient is the the green peppers; you can vary the other ingredients, but don’t ever leave out the green peppers!”  …  ” This salad without the shrimp, radishes and black olives is the approximate salad that the Elite Cafe used for their salad when I was in high school. It was so good that we would eat it every day!”

 She always makes such a lovely presentation. I think it is a gorgeous salad – simple and very delicious too!

Here’s the recipe as given by my Mum- Sherrill:

Macaroni Salad

• 4-6 cups cooked macaroni, drained well
• Best Foods/Hellmann’s mayonnaise- enough to moisten all other ingredients
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 head iceberg or other crisp lettuce, chopped
• 1 large tomato, diced
• fresh radishes, sliced (optional)
• ripe black pitted olives, drained (optional)
• small shrimp, cooked and drained (optional)
• cucumber slices (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika, sweet to taste

Place macaroni in a large bowl, add the onion, green pepper, celery, lettuce and tomato. Stir in enough mayonnaise to make salad fairly moist.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the top with paprika and garnish with the radishes, black olives, shrimp and cucumber if desired.  Make it pretty- like Mum!

Thanks to my Mum- for letting me show her salad and give you her recipe. I hope you all enjoy!

xo

WHAT GETS YOU COOKING? 

Macy’s 12 episode podcast series starring Tyler Florence will inspire you with delicious recipes and you have a chance to win a trip for two to San Francisco for a $2500 kitchen shopping spree with Tyler Florence in the Macy’s Keeps America Cooking Video Contest!

This contest sponsored by Macy’s to win a trip to San Francisco to shop with Tyler Florence on a $2,500 shopping spree and a hosted podcast linked to his series.  Nicole from M80 productions contacted me to let me know and asked me to share this with you all too. All you have to do is make a video cooking one of your favourite recipes and share it on the site to be entered to win. The deadline is  April 3, 2009.

Details here at the M80 newsroom or here at  www.macys.com/keepitcooking

Contest overview:
The “Macy’s Keeps America Cooking” contest will be based completely off of user-generated video submissions and viewer-rating of their favorite video or recipe. Entrants are asked to create a video based on an original recipe that demonstrates “What gets you cooking? Is it the magical people in your life? Or the fresh ingredients at your local market?” Each video should be 2 minutes or less, and, similar to how Tyler ends his podcasts with “From my Mill Valley kitchen to yours, Macy’s keeps it cooking,” submitted videos should also end with the line “From my (location) kitchen to yours, Macy’s keeps it cooking!”

Prizes
- The Grand Prize Winner of the contest will receive:
o a trip for two to San Francisco to cook with Tyler
o shopping spree with Tyler for new kitchen products using Macy’s gift of a $2,500 gift card
o a feature spot on their own Macy’s Keeps It Cooking podcast that will show them cooking with their new Macy’s kitchen products
- Nine runner-up winners will also be selected and will each be awarded with a $1,000 gift card from Macy’s
- If winners include mention of what they like about their local Macy’s or macys.com in their videos, they will also receive an additional $500. Winners will be selected on or around April 30, 2009.

Now for this week’s Tyler Florence Fridays:

This is a busy week for me- my son, Ryan, is coming home on leave tomorrow and things are a bit stressful and hectic at work so I went the easy route with Tyler this week.  If you look through his book “Dinner at My Place” you’ll find lots of little helpful recipes for sauces, seasonings and dressings- bits and bobs, odds and sods. This Creamy Pesto Dressing is what I made using his Creamy Dressing Base on page #244. 

For most salads our standard dressing in house is very similar to the French Vinaigrette he gives on the same page -except I add more shallots and usually use Sherry vinegar. I rarely buy bottled salad dressings- they are just so easy to make at home and so much better than a stale sauce in a bottle. Tyler’s base is a great jumping off point for any number of variations when you are craving that type of dressing.  add roasted garlic, salsa, fresh or dried herbs, pesto, roasted peppers, pureed roasted veg, fresh veg, or any other flavour your little heart desires.

The base is basically equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream with a little fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to brighten and round out the flavour. If you have time make your mayo (I think there is a good recipe in “Stirring the Pot”) homemade- if not Best foods/Hellman’s would be my choice.  When you’re in a time crunch adding 3 Tablespoons (or to taste) from a bottle of prepared Basil pesto makes a quick dressing. It’s not a bad dipping sauce for artichoke leaves or roasted asparagus either.

Let’s check out the other TFF offerings here!

xo