Mimi’s Chicken Salad

42 Comments

Posted on August 17, 2017

Years ago, I visited a girlfriend in Texas to help with her daughter’s baby shower. She lives just outside of Austin, so it’s always fun to visit. (Think Texas Hill/Wine Country!)

One of the dishes planned for the shower luncheon was “Mimi’s Chicken Salad.” I had no idea what that was, but she told me that it was my recipe, thus the name!

Recently I was reflecting on my “namesake” chicken salad, but couldn’t remember what the heck was in it. I emailed my friend, and she sent me back a photograph of my recipe. In a cookbook.

The cookbook is “Cooking by the Bootstraps: A Taste of Oklahoma Heaven Cooked Up by the Junior Welfare League of Enid, Oklahoma, published in 2002.

So not only did I forget how to make my own chicken salad, I didn’t remember it was a recipe I created, nor did I remember that it is in this cookbook – which I own!

I’ll just chalk this up to (older) age.

Here’s the recipe, although somewhat adapted, because I can’t even leave my own recipes alone!

Mimi’s Chicken Salad, or Mango Chutney Chicken Salad

Chicken tenders, about 1.2 pounds
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped nuts, I used pistachios
1/2 cup chopped mangoes
1/3 cup mango chutney
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon curry powder, I recommend Penzey’s sweet curry powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Grill the chicken tenders in a skillet, with a little oil, seasoned first with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken just till barely pink so as to keep them tender. Set them aside to cool slightly.

Cut the chicken into small pieces and place in a medium bowl. Add the sour cream and mayonnaise and stir until the chicken is well incorporated.

You can adjust the volume of sour cream and mayo mixture to suit your taste. I prefer chicken salad just creamy enough, but not drowning in the mayo.

Add the remaining ingredients together in a bowl and stir gently.

Add the mixture to the chicken and combine them well.

Refrigerate the chicken salad if not serving immediately. Serve chilled or at room temperature on a platter of lettuce leaves; I prefer this salad at room temperature.

Alternatively, make chicken salad sandwiches with sliced croissants or your favorite soft bread.

I actually prefer making roll-ups with tender butter lettuce instead of sandwiches.

What’s fun about this recipe is that you can mix up the nuts and add fruits – even dried fruits. Think about chopped macadamias and dried cherries!

I’m really appreciative of the local Junior Welfare League of Enid, Oklahoma for including some of my recipes in this cookbook. It was an honor.

A Delightfully Decadent Potato Salad

55 Comments

Posted on July 17, 2017

For Father’s Day this year I made a deliciously decadent potato and corn salad, as a side dish to barbecue pulled pork.

Typically when I make a potato salad, I use a vinaigrette as a light, zingy binder; I grew up on this more “German” version of potato salads.

But this time I wanted a creamy potato salad, more like the American version, but with delightful goodies added – hence, the name.

This potato-corn salad was so good, it was barely 2 weeks before I made it again, serving it alongside grilled flank steak.

Here’s what I did.

A Delightfully Decadent Potato Salad
serves about 12

1 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
8 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
12 ounces diced, cooked bacon
10 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon chili powder*
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper, or to taste
6 cobs of corn, cooked
3 pounds baby potatoes
1 Vidalia onion
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

In a medium-sized bowl, add the mayonnaise, the eggs, the bacon, the feta cheese, and the seasoning.

Stir well and set aside.

Slice the corn off of the cooled cobs. Gently break into smaller pieces and set aside.

Using the bacon grease from cooking the bacon, roast the potatoes. Let cool.

Place the potatoes and corn in a large bowl. Finely chop the onion and combine.

Then gently stir the mayo-egg-bacon mixture in until it’s evenly distributed.

Now you might have noticed that this isn’t the prettiest salad. I typically never ever serve or eat anything that looks like it could have been regurgitated. But this salad, as messy as it is, is my one exception.

To serve, sprinkle a generous amount of chopped cilantro over the salad.

The saltiness from the feta and bacon is wonderful with the creamy eggs and potatoes.

I served the salad with a flank steak, medium rare, and sliced. With just a minimal of seasoning.

The potato salad is spicy. If you don’t want to use the seasoning, put that on your flank steak instead!

* If you don’t own chili powder, use 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 1/1 teaspoons paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander.

Green Goddess Green Beans

53 Comments

Posted on March 3, 2017

Because a girlfriend of mine loves green beans, I’m always on the lookout for interesting green bean recipes.

Like all food lovers, I like to please the folks for whom I’m cooking, so finding special recipes is mandatory!

So I was on Epicurious searching something, and came across a unique green bean recipe – Green Goddess Green Beans – and the reviews were pretty good.

Of course, there were a few heated ~~arguments~~ comments about the term “green goddess” in the review section, (these are always fun to read), but overall it seemed like a good, unique recipe.

Turns out, the recipe is definitely worth sharing!

Oh, and the great thing with good friends right next door? I can share with them all of the dishes that my husband won’t eat, so none of my blogging food goes to waste!

A perfect example is this recipe. Out of all of the ingredients, my husband would only eat the green beans, salt, and pepper. Thank goodness for good friends, especially good foodie friends!

Green Goddess Green Beans
slightly adapted from Epicurious

1 lb green beans, trimmed
1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 small clove garlic, peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cook the beans in a steamer over a pot of boiling water until just tender, about 6-7 minutes.

When cooked, remove the steamer from the boiling water; set aside.

If the beans are cooked a bit too much, drop the beans in ice water for a few seconds, then place them on paper towels to remove excess moisture.

Using a small blender, purée the parsley, mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, lemon juice, anchovy paste, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth.

I also added a small clove of garlic after the fact, and I’m glad I did.

Transfer the green goddess sauce to a bowl and toss with the beans.

I added more salt and pepper to the green beans, as you can tell.

The beans were served slightly warm, with a simply grilled filet mignon. A lovely combination.

The green goddess sauce is superb. It would also be lovely on grilled potatoes and tomatoes!

Embracing the 21st Century

48 Comments

Posted on February 17, 2017

It might seem odd to admit this, being that I’ve been cooking for about 40 years, but I’ve never owned a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

Why? Well for one thing, I’m more a cook than a baker. For another reason, I have a really old house. My countertop surface area is limited, as well as the vertical space from countertop to the above cupboards. So I haven’t been interested in a giant appliance that would monopolize my kitchen work space.

Well, here we are in 2017. I just received my first Kitchen Aid stand mixer, Artisanal Series. I purchased it at an incredible post-Christmas sale price of $278.00.

What prompted me to finally give in was that my sister-in-law sent me a Kitchen Aid spiralizer attachment for Christmas. She, of course, assumed I already owned a stand mixer, like most people do.

I called her to say “thank you” but “no thank you.” But that’s when I got chided into embracing the 21st Century kitchen. I thought long and hard, but finally gave in. So now I own a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and a spiralizer attachment.

When considering how to christen my spiralizer, I immediately thought of zoodles, which are zucchini noodles. And then I saw this photo online.

I’d love to give somebody credit, but the photo was on Pinterest with no information associated with it. I just knew I had to test out my new spiralizer in order to make these burgers!

I opened the spiralizer box and it looked like something that an assassin would have. I took a big breath and read the directions.

Here’s how I created my electric-powered zoodles, in order to make turkey zoodle burgers.

Turkey Zoodle Burgers

1 pound lean ground turkey
2 eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped orange bell pepper
Garlic pepper
Salt
Bread crumbs, about 1/2 cup
Zoodles, made from 1 medium zucchini
Olive oil

Place the turkey, eggs, onion, bell pepper, and seasonings in a medium bowl. Stir until combined.

Stir in the bread crumbs. Use enough to stiffen the burger mixture but not so much as to dry it up.

Chill the burger mixture in the refrigerator and proceed with the zoodles.

To make the raw zoodles for these burgers I used the extra-fine spiralizer blade. The spiralizer plus the two other parts were easy to put together. Relief!

Simply turn on the mixer and watch the noodles form!

I placed the zoodles on paper towels to release some of their water for about 45 minutes.

When you’re ready to make the burgers, remove the burger mixture from the refrigerator.

Place the zoodles on a jelly-roll pan drizzled with olive oil.

Using some of the oil on your hands, form four even-sized burgers. Then press them gently into the zoodles on both sides.

Pour some olive oil in a flat skillet over high heat. Add the burgers and cook them for about 4-5 minutes.

Turn them over gently and reduce the heat to medium. Continue to lower the heat as you cook the burgers through, without having to flip them over any more. Total time varies on the burger thickness; you can always use a meat thermometer to check the doneness.

I served these burgers with a mayonnaise mixed with some paprika creme. It was a wonderful combination.

You could also make a Sriracha mayonnaise, or use Dijonnaise as a condiment.

I wasn’t tempted in the least to wrap burger buns around these burgers. They are just too tender, delicious, and pretty as is!

So, first off, I learned that with half a brain one can easily use the spiralizer attachment on a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. And now I’m intrigued and excited about other attachments….

The burgers came out great, by the way.

Late Summer Potato Salad

33 Comments

Posted on September 24, 2014

I grew up with what’s typically referred to here in the states as “German” potato salad. Instead of mayonnaise as the binder with the cooked potatoes, I was only familiar with an oil and vinegar dressing instead. I’m a huge fan of mayonnaise, and “traditional” potato salads, but I still prefer my potato salads with a vinaigrette.

Over the years I’ve made all kinds of potato salads, as you can imagine. If you cook like I do, you have as well, being creative with ingredients. I’ve added tomatoes, olives, roasted red bell peppers, capers, chile peppers – you name it. But I saw a recipe in this cookbook that really caught my attention for its simplicity.

The cookbook is called The Farm. The recipes are just what you’d expect with a name like the farm. Fresh ingredients and simple cooking.

I’ve often mentioned how sometimes simple is best when it comes to cooking, and that’s exactly why I decided to make Ian Knauer’s recipe. Although being the type of cook that I am, I did change it up a bit. But only slightly. His recipe called for both basil and cilantro. I used only cilantro, and added cumin to the vinaigrette.

But the potato and corn salad was delicious, and perfect to celebrate the summer coming to an end.

Potato Corn Salad

Salad:
Cooked red potatoes, peels on

Cooked corn on the cob

Purple onion, diced

Olive oil
Chopped cilantro

Drain the cooked potatoes so they’re not water-logged, and then place them in a large bowl. Add the corn and onion. Add a little olive oil and toss the ingredients gently. The olive oil will keep the potatoes moist. Then add the cilantro.