Chicken-less Salad

This recipe is crazy good.  Period.  The flavors are intense, there's a balance between sweet and tangy, and the texture has a hint of crunch. Imagine it - the pop of juicy red grapes, the power of raw scallions and curry powder, and the crunch of almonds and celery all coated in a tangy yogurt dressing.  Sounds like a delicious chicken salad, right?  Guess again.  This is chick pea salad.  Peppered with hints of curry, lemon, and mustard, it rivals any chicken salad I've ever had. Layered with fresh spinach leaves and snuggled in a sweet Hawaiian roll, it makes quite a substantial sandwich that doesn't require any additional condiments (in my humble opinion).  This is a great way to shake up your normal routine and try something new.  No, it doesn't mean that you're giving up meat. You're simply broadening your horizons. Try it... unless you're just too chicken.

Chick Salad:

2 C chick peas - quickly pulsed in food processor

1 C red grapes - halved

2 scallions - minced

1 stalk celery - minced

1/4 C blanched almonds - chopped

Dressing:

1 C plain greek yogurt

3 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp bavarian mustard

1/4 tsp curry power

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Mix salad ingredients together in a bowl.  In separate bowl, whisk dressing ingredients together.  Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for half an hour to marry all flavors.

Try Something New

If you've never made your own summer rolls, go get rice papers and try it immediately... you'll feel like a culinary rock star. They are easy to make and can be customized to suit any taste buds, a great thing to remember if you have carnivores and vegetarians living under the same roof (or perhaps just a picky eater). My first attempt was a mixture of carrot, cucumber, green apple, and radicchio. I doused the apples in lime juice, giving them a crisp acidic brightness that balanced perfectly with the bitter radicchio. A roasted pepper dipping sauce laced with soy sauce, ginger and lime completed the dish. Since summer rolls are not fried like spring rolls, once they're wrapped - they're ready! While I initially thought the rice papers would be delicate and hard to work with, I quickly realized their resilience. They offered the perfect opportunity to stretch my culinary wings, experiment with different flavor combinations and really let my inner chef out to play. My challenge to you - try something new. Who knows, you may just create something amazing!

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." - Harriet van Horne

Accidentally Eggless

I literally woke up thinking about peanut butter french toast this morning. It's as if it came to me in a dream, and I knew as soon as my eyes popped open that I was making a beeline to the kitchen. I could taste what I was about to create... that crunchy outer layer filled with gooey, delicious peanut butter, dunked in a blueberry sauce. I started the water for my coffee and began gathering the necessary ingredients. I grabbed the bread, the peanut butter, some cinnamon, and a bottle of vanilla. All I needed now was an egg, one little egg... that I didn't have! Oh no, now what?! I pushed the plunger on my french press and poured myself a cup of coffee. I took stock of the items on my counter and began to formulate a plan. I certainly wasn't going to give up just because we were out of eggs. What I managed to come up with was quite scrumptious, if I do say so myself. I started by layering peanut butter between two pieces of whole grain bread. Then I coated each side of the sandwich in a batter made of almond milk, coconut oil, whole wheat flour, chickpea flour, and a little sugar and spice to round it out. I toasted both sides in a skillet and cut the sandwich into sticks. For the sauce, I whipped together a few spoonfuls of blueberry syrup and vanilla yogurt and got to dunking! Mmmm, mmmm. Who needs eggs, anyway?!

Batter for french toast:

1/2 C almond milk

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp chickpea flour

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp ground almonds

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

Mix all ingredients together to form batter, thoroughly coat each piece of bread and cook on medium heat until golden brown on each side

Blueberry Yogurt Sauce:

equal parts blueberry syrup and vanilla yogurt

Salty Sunday

My latest culinary obsession is flavored salts. Simple to make and fun to use, they really pack a tasty punch. The recipe is as easy as pulsing coarse salt in a food processor with anything from szechuan pepper to dried rosemary. Over the past week, I have made several delicious varieties but the flavor du jour was lime salt. After all, it was St. Paddy's Day weekend so something green was in order. Equal parts lime zest and Celtic grey sea salt created the perfect companion to crispy sweet potato chips. Using a peeler, I sliced the potato paper thin. A quick flash in hot canola oil was all they needed to crisp up. Laid out on a paper towel, they received their sparse sprinkling of lime salt (a little bit goes a long way). The crunchy texture and powerful flavor was just enough to drown out my inner voice whispering "time to do your taxes... time to do your taxes".

Love, Love, Love....

Warning: this post is all about meat, and no small amount of it. Vegetarians, avert your eyes. While my normal diet is about 80 percent vegetarian, I spent the last 5 days on location in Texas where meat is king. During this shoot, I had the pleasure of working with Chef Tim Love, and if you don't know who he is... look him up and go to his restaurants. Bring your sense of adventure because you won't find baked chicken on his menus, but you will find rattlesnake, goat, rabbit, and elk. He has several options for your dining pleasure, but his oldest restaurant is The Lonesome Dove. It's here that you'll find the tastiest 30 ounce ribeye you've ever eaten. The presentation is quite a spectacle. On the other end of the spectrum is his famous burger joint, Love Shack. Burger topped with a quail egg, anyone? His newest restaurant, The Woodshed, offers casual dining with live music, cozy firepits and a morning coffee bar that serves up a damn good cup of joe, with a taco sidecar. Tacos with your coffee?.... only in Texas! Each day brings a new animal to the fire. You can tell what's cooking by the flag that flies on the front of the building. Is it pig? Is it goat? Is it lamb? Whatever it is, try it. Never in a million years would I expect to crave goat, but I am here to tell you it's delicious and I can't stop thinking about it. With another great shoot in the bag, it's now time to catch up on some sleep and remember that I really do love my job.

Cornbread Junkie

I'm pretty sure I have an addiction to cornbread. Sweet versions, savory versions, scratch recipes, boxed mixes... they're all good in my book. With my taste buds teased by my recent Florida vacation, today I was in the mood for a citrus twist. I made a fresh cup of coffee and started my hunt around the kitchen. A pint of blueberries, 2 limes, and a donut pan caught my eye. I added 1/4 cup of sugar, the zest and juice of 1/2 a lime, and about 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries to my standard boxed cornbread mix. I carefully spooned the batter into a greased donut pan and placed it in a 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes. While the donuts were baking to perfection and creating an intoxicating aroma, I whipped up a quick blueberry syrup. The zest and juice of 1 lime, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and a handful of blueberries simmered down in a nonstick skillet until the berries were warm and the sugar was dissolved. Pressed through a sieve, this mixture created a sweet nectar that I added to real maple syrup to yield one delectable dipping sauce for my cornbread donuts. Perhaps one day I'll seek help for this addiction.... on second thought, I'll just wait for the intervention.

The Case of the Incorrect Order

I looked across the table as the waitress gently slid the plate in front of my friend, and I knew immediately that I had ordered incorrectly. While my falafel was quite tasty and beautifully plated, it paled in comparison to the angular authority that was the fried polenta cake, staring at me from across the table. So simple, so elegant, and so not mine. Thanks to the generous nature of my friend, I was able to enjoy a taste of the fluffy fried wonder and bask in it's goat cheese splendor. Lighter than you would imagine, this dish was edible perfection. For a minute, I actually considered stealing her plate by using some sort of Three Stooges-esque diversion tactic. Instead, I ate my falafel, begrudgingly. When we finally had the chance to return to this restaurant, I was ready to order before we sat down. Make no mistake, I was there for the polenta. It was everything I remembered and more, this time it was all mine! Who knew polenta could be so memorable? In a hopeless effort to capture that tasty magic at home, I tried to recreate the meal. Needless to say, it was like taking a picture of a sunset... beautiful, but not quite the same.

Check out the real deal: The Cafe - 509 Southard Street - Key West, FL

My Attempt (as seen above):

4 oz goat cheese

1 C fine corn meal

3 1/2 C water

salt to taste

2 C Italian breadcrumbs

Bring salted water to a boil. Slowly add in the polenta and whisk until fully incorporated. Go slow, you don't want chunks. Once all the polenta is uniform in texture, stir in the goat cheese. Remove from heat and continue stirring until all the cheese has incorporated into the polenta. Pour warm polenta into an 8x8 baking dish, lined with plastic wrap. Top with another sheet of plastic wrap and chill until polenta sets up. (about 1 1/2 hours in fridge) Cut into triangles and toss in Italian breadcrumbs. Pan fry in olive oil until golden brown on each side. Serve with wilted spinach and cold marinara... a few pine nuts don't hurt either!