Kale Chicken Salad

If you are reading this, it means that you survived the cruel heatwave that swept over our now withering nation. Over the 4th of July holiday our family huddled under the refuge of our air conditioned home, a comfortable bubble where we were privileged to front row seats to our neighbor's spectacular fireworks show. While Alex and I were ooohing and ahhhing over the blooming firecrackers, my husband was stomping up and down the house, "Our roof is going to catch fire!" Well we survived that too.

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Sirloin Flap Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

 

One of the my favorite experiences of buying from local farmers is the experience of discovering new goodies that are sometimes not easily found in the supermarket. It's how I found the delicate oniony ramps, discovered that fava bean greens are edible and how I found out about an obscure cut of meat called the sirloin flap. Sirloin flap is very similar to skirt steak except it's leaner and from our experience more tender and flavorful. After years of sirloin flap absence because we moved far away from our favorite meat vendor, we happened across it again this weekend at a local market and we brought home the entire supply with no regrets. 

Although this steak is very good by itself we made a chimicurri sauce that stood well against the grilled meat and served as a bright and bold contrast.  A heady California cabernet could accomplish the same but the chimicurri offers another dimension of exciting flavors for the summer. 

Mark Bittman's Chimichurri Sauce
From Food and Wine | September 2004
Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped parsley
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 pounds sirloin flap or skirt steak

Method

1. Light a grill. In a bowl, mix the parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and crushed red pepper; season with salt and pepper.
2. Season the steak with salt and pepper and grill over a hot fire until the meat is charred on the outside and rare within, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the steak across the grain. Serve right away, passing the chimichurri sauce at the table.

Curried Chicken Salad

This curried chicken salad sandwich isn't going to win beauty contests, but it has elicited comments such as 'awesome' and 'perfect' amongst a couple of friends. Chunks of chicken breasts, celery, green onions and raisins are bound together with a honey-curry mayonnaise bringing a hint of sweetness, spice and mild herbs. I imagine this salad would also go well in a tortilla wrap. 

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Picadillo: A Classic Cuban Dish

I've been in a bit of cooking rut as of late, but driven by my hunger for more flavorful and vivid dishes I've looked outside the border for new ideas. Picadillo is a classic Cuban dish that integrates ground beef with well-seasoned tomato sauce, fried potatoes, olives and raisins. Considered a comfort dish it is prepared frequently and typically served with rice and beans or stuffed in tacos or a chili pepper.  I imagine it would also be delicious with fried plantains. Packed with a broad range of spices, flavors and goody nibs, I can see why this dish is a staple across dinner tables in Cuba.

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Filipino Chicken Adobo

Tangy and saucy with an intense fusion of coconut and delicate green onion flavors, this meaty chicken dish an updated version of a favorite Filipino dish, chicken adobo.  Bone-in chicken thighs are marinated in soy sauce, browned in a skillet and then simmered in a coconut milk, vinegar and herbed sauce with whole garlic cloves. The result is quick well-seasoned chicken dish that produces a flavorful brown sauce that hugs and clings to the chicken.

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Salmon Baked in Paper (Salmone in Cartoccio)

After all of these years I am still trying to understand the meaning of life. I've spent the past few months preoccupied with much of my past and wondering how I would redo things if I had the chance. There are ample improvements to be made if I could just rewind the clock. I have been trying to pin point and map out the decisions I made that had the biggest impact on my life, and to my dismay some of them were made spontaneously while others taken too lightly. You know you can worry yourself sick over things that you can't change. Although this exercise of looking in the rear view mirror has taught me how to better focus on the future.

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Snap Pea Shiitake Mushroom Tofu Stir Fry

When I threw together this snap pea, mushroom and tofu stir fry, I had in mind that warmer and lighter days were around the corner. I had visions of taking long walks through Central Park wearing light sweaters and my favorite pair of ballerina Crocs. But alas, we are expecting snow tomorrow. It's a bit of a cruel April Fool's Day joke that Mother Nature is playing on us, but hopefully it will be the last one for a while.

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Tom Kha Gai Chicken Coconut Soup with Lemongrass

I've been monitoring the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, and my heart weighs heavily for those enduring tragedy and uncertainty from that disaster. I've only been in one major earthquake in my life, Loma Prieta in 1989, which registered 6.9 on the Richter Scale. And while that was considered a big one for California, it is in orders of magnitude smaller than the one in Japan. In fact, because of the logarithmic measurement of the Richter Scale - meaning that the magnitude goes up exponentially - the 9.0 Japanese earthquake was roughly 900 times stronger than Loma Prieta. That's astounding considering that Loma Prieta was able to topple the upper deck of the Bay Bridge and ignite several fires throughout San Francisco. I can't imagine the damage nor the human tragedy that Japan must be sustaining at this time and my heart goes out to them. 

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Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Mushroom Sauce

This wonderful pan-seared duck breast recipe is a follow-up to the duck confit recipe that I posted last June on using all parts of a duck. Shame on me for taking 8 months to complete the second half of the post. Discipline has been my strong suit, and gets harder these days as I am more tired than a Whole Foods paper bag reused 10 times over.  I have only 9 more weeks until my due date, and lethargy has set in early.

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Curry Quinoa with Cabbage, Carrots and Green Beans

The recipe for this curry quinoa salad came about from a conversation struck with a stranger on the bus. Intrigued by the two bunches of kale popping out of my grocery bag, a woman asked me how I prepared kale. We ran through the gamut of how to prepare this nutrient dense vegetable before she turned the conversation to quinoa. "Did you know that quinoa is the perfect food?"

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FALLING IN LOVE WITH ROSEMARY CHICKEN AND WHITE WINE SAUCE

Have you ever had a dish at a restaurant that was so good and so simple that you couldn't wait to go home to try to replicate it? Perhaps a scrumptious farmer's market salad? Seafood pasta? Creamy, savory, bacon-y mac and cheese? Or if you're really ambitious, cracking the code to a restaurant's secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies? I've encountered many meals that have inspired crazy adventures in the kitchen where I tenaciously guess, test and tweak recipes over and over again until I achieve the same inspiring results. Many end in utter failure and a handful so close, it makes all the trials that much more worthwhile. It's kind of like falling in love, and trying to replicate everything that brought you to such a heavenly state. I know, the recipe may not love you back, but you've simply got to try.

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ROASTED LEMON THYME CHICKEN

This is an oldie but goodie, chicken rubbed with garlic, lemon and thyme and then roasted in the oven until the meat becomes splendidly tender and moist, and the skin is perfectly crisped. It's a dish that warmly welcomes distant friends and family members back to familiarity, and lovingly conveys, 'it's been too long.

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