The Goddess In You

Inspired by the cover of a Food and Wine issue from last year, today I made my version of a Green Goddess Chicken Salad. I took quite a few liberties with the ingredients, but tried to keep the integrity of the recipe -a creamy, herby, lemony dressing. Ordinarily, the creamy dressing is typically tossed with a green salad, but here it is added it to a chicken salad.

Interesting factoid: The coined "Green Goddess" dressing - a mix of mayonnaise, sour cream, herbs, anchovies and lemon— was created at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the 1920s, as a tribute to an actor starring in a play called The Green Goddess. (This, according to Food and Wine.)

Salad Ingredients:
- two poached chicken breasts, pull meat apart into large pieces (the F&W recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, skin and bones discarded)
- 5 celery stalks, with leaves (the light-colored ones near the core of the bunch), thinly sliced
- 1/2 red onion, chopped

Dressing:
In food processor, pulse together the following: 1 cup chopped cilantro, 1 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 cup chopped mint, 1 clove garlic, lemon juice of one small lemon. In bowl, mix together 1 cup plain yogurt, 3 tbs mayonnaise*, and the lemon-herb mixture. Set aside in refrigerator to chill.

In separate bowl, toss together chicken, celery, and onions. Fold in half of the dressing, adding more until you have your desired amount. Salt and cracked pepper to taste.

*I'm not a big mayo fan, so I used a small amount and substituted the rest with yogurt. You could also use sour cream instead.

Spicy Indian Meatloaf

For Mother's Day this year, I wanted to make a multi-course dinner for the family. Our mom likes to eat different types of food, things she would never make herself, where our dad is more of a traditionalist -preferring his homecooked indian food to most other cuisines. I decided on a few dishes that were new to them, yet that would have a traditional flavor that he would enjoy. This was our main course, and I'm glad to say it was a hit with the "kids" - that would be us - and the parents alike.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1 1/2 lb 15% ground beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
about 1 inch of ginger root, finely chopped
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
one roma tomato, diced
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbs garam masala
1 tbs turmeric
1 tbs ground coriander
1 tbs "curry powder" (the one I used is called Raja Masala)
1 cerrano chili, diced
2 eggs
1 cup plain bread crumbs

In small bowl, combine all ingredients except for ground beef and eggs. In a larger bowl, mix ground beef and eggs, folding the eggs into the beef with a fork. Then add ingredients from small ingredients until evenly mixed. Place in loaf pan, glaze top with the cumin ketchup*. Bake for 45 min to an hour.

Cumin Ketchup
1 cup ketchup with 1 tbs ground roasted cumin (the roasting really brings out the flavor of the cumin, but if you don't have roasted cumin powder, use regular ground cumin). Use as much as needed for the glaze, serve remainding ketchup on the side.

Pan-Seared Polenta w/Asparagus-Chutney Puree

pan-seared polenta w/roasted red peppers and asparagus-chutney puree

A friend of mine asked, "asparagus and chutney?" when he saw the caption. I could almost hear the "tsk, tsk" in his question. My response was that in my fusion-mind, you will find the most unexpected of flavor combinations, and hopefully they come together to create something new and delicious. The sauce for this particular dish came about when I found myself with some very-overcooked asparagus. The flavor was still there, but the texture was so beyond mushy that I couldn't get myself to eat it. I thought about throwing the batch out, but I've been trying really hard not to waste food. With a few ideas, some ingredients in my refrigerator, and my food processor, I ended up with the asparagus-chutney puree.

7-8 cooked (in this case, overcooked) asparagus stalks
1/2 cup fresh cilantro chutney (cilantro, lemon juice, salt, cerrano peppers, blended in a food processor)
1/2 cup plain yogurt

combine above in food processor and pulse till you get a smooth puree

Mushroom-Arugula Omelette

Omelette stuffed with sauteed chopped arugula, green onions, and mushrooms.

Slow Cookin'

On the urging of several friends and my sister who've jumped onto the slow cooker bandwagon, I finally caved and bought a crockpot a couple of months ago. I took it out of the box, washed it, and it's been sitting on my counter since. I had a friend coming over for dinner tonight so I decided it was time.

I wasn't really sure what type of cut to buy but I was lucky enough to encounter one of the butchers while he was stocking the meats. He suggested I stay away from the leaner cuts if I was slow cooking, and suggested a cut called blade shoulder.


Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2 lb. piece of blade shoulder beef
I cut it into three portions, where it was easy to cut, removing some of the fat. Made a rub with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and applied to all surfaces of meat. Heated olive oil in skillet and seared meat on each side for about two minutes. Added it to crockpot.

Add the following to the pot:

three small brown onions, sliced
10 carrots, peeled, cut into thirds
4 small red potatoes, whole, peeled
one cerrano, whole, sliced down the middle
several green onions, sliced
ginger paste
garlic paste
few tbs crushed tomatoes
rub -paprika, black pepper, salt, cumin
pinch cardamom powder
piece of cinnamon bark
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
couple tbs white vinegar

I threw all of it into the pot before going to bed, and voila! -it was all ready by the time I woke up in the morning. Okay, it was almost that simple. I did do a tasting and added a bit more salt and pepper to my liking.

Grapefruit and blackberry salad w/agave balsamic dressing

I (finally) found a way to eat grapefruit and enjoy it!



mixed greens, sectioned grapefruit, blackberries

Dressing:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

Combine all ingredients and shake well.
(Optional: emulsify ingredients in blender.)

Mom's Gobhi Paranthas

Okay, so technically I didn't make these. I did, however, stand over my mom's shoulder the entire time watching her prepare them. I had unexpectedly gone to my parents' home last weekend and my mother asked what I felt like eating. "Whatever is fine with me. Eggs?" She asked again, what I really wanted to eat. I normally don't ask her to make these because I feel like it's too much trouble, saving the request for special occasions... but she was insisting, so with a huge grin on my face, I asked, "do we have cauliflower?" She knew what I wanted. Gobhi paranthas -a type of stuffed, pan-fried flatbreads - are probably my favorite breakfast item.



Unlike the kinds you get at restaurants, mom hand cuts the cauliflower and other ingredients so you get big bites of flavor.

cauliflower, cilantro, ginger, cerranno peppers


A little patience is necessary for best results: