Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken

 Use a fairly good sized chicken - like around 3 pounds or over

The easy way: sprinkle the chicken all over with garlic salt and lemon pepper. Roast in a pan or baking sheet with sides at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour and 30 minutes.

The just a little bit harder way: Mix together 2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon oregano,1 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. and 1 garlic clove put through press. Rub all over the chicken. Place in a pan or baking sheet with sides and roast at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

Old Classic: Louie Salad and Its Scrumptious Dressing

When we visited San Francisco this past September, one of the places several people recommended as a "must see" was the Cliff House. It's been a part of local history since 1858 and is located on Point Lobos Avenue near the Ocean Beach neighborhood. The building has been rebuilt at least five times due to fires and renovations. It was once a destination for movie stars and the rich but is now owned by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The two restaurants inside are managed by a private contractor and the menus are old school traditional.
I ordered the Louie Salad and was blown away by how delicious the accompanying dressing was - and I usually don't even like thousand island! Of course I had to try to duplicate it and what I came up is not only good on this salad, but also as a different take on shrimp cocktail or even mixed into to chopped seafood as a sandwich filling. 

Ingredients and Directions

Yields four servings:

1 pound medium cooked shrimp or 1 pound cooked lump crab meat
 1 head of lettuce, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
1 cucumber, washed and cut into slices
1 bunch asparagus
2 or 3 tomatoes, cut into slices
4 eggs

Hard boil the eggs. (Here's the way I do it: place the eggs in a pan filled with enough cold water to cover them. Place the pan on the stove and turn the heat to high. Set the timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, take the pan off the heat, drain the water, and run cold water over the eggs until they are cool enough to handle.) Peel and slice in half.

Wash asparagus and cut the woody ends off. Cook by placing the asparagus spears in a skillet with enough water to barely cover them. Turn heat to high and allow to come up to a boil. Then, turn heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes or until spears are tender and easily pierced with a fork.

If using shrimp, rinse and remove the tails.

Place lettuce on four serving plates or one large platter. Arrange the cucumber slices, asparagus spears, tomato slices, and halved hard boiled eggs on each plate or platter. Top with the shrimp or crab meat.

Serve with the dressing below:

Yields about one cup of salad dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, put through a press or finely minced
2 tablespoons Heinz chili sauce
1 tablespoon chopped bread & butter pickles
1 teaspoon country style Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Franks hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Whisk all ingredients together in small bowl until well blended. Serve along side salad.

Thai Green Curry and a Fabulous Salad Dressing

     This little Thai dish has been a family favorite for about a year now.  It was inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe but morphed into a yummy curry that could be completely vegetarian - or not.  Allison's very good friend, Ashik, is a total vegetarian and every time he came over for dinner I'd serve him the same chickpea korma over and over again.  I knew I could step it up with something different and I remembered a green curry Allison and I had enjoyed at a nearby restaurant that had beans, asparagus, and sweet red peppers.  I tried it out and we all loved it.  This salad dressing came about due to my upbringing; we always had a salad on the table at dinner time.  But how can you serve ranch dressing with Thai food?  On a lark I whipped up the salad dressing ingredients below in my mini food processor and a hit was born!  Jenn even loves the stuff over veggies!  Enjoy - it's yummy!

Thai Green Curry

 

Ingredients for four servings:

 

 

Optional: 2 chicken breasts

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound fresh green beans

1 large bunch of asparagus

1 large sweet red pepper

1 large bunch of cilantro

1 bunch of green onions

1 small jalapeno or serrano pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon dried lemongrass

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 cup light soy sauce (sub out 1 tablespoon for fish sauce if desired)

1 (15 oz.) can of coconut milk

2 Limes, sliced

Directions

 

 

 

Roughly chop the cilantro, green onions, pepper, chili pepper, garlic, ginger and put them in a food processor or blender.  Add the lemongrass, coriander, soy, and fish sauce (if using fish sauce).  Whirl it into a smooth sauce.  Set aside.

If using, rinse and cut the chicken breasts into pieces, Wash and cut the asparagus into pieces, and throw away the woody ends.  Wash and snap the ends off the beans.  Rinse off the red bell pepper, core and cut it into place.  Place all three veggies and chicken in a good sized skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Let them "stir fry" for a 2 or 3 minutes.

Pour in the cilantro mixture and the can of coconut milk.  Mix together and simmer until the vegetables are done.  Serve with rice and lime slices.

 

Fabulous Salad Dressing

 

For about 1 cup of dressing

 

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup light soy sauce

2 tablespoons diced purple onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Whirl it in a blender or food processor until smooth. Serve over salad or vegetables.

Salad Dressings 101


       It was so hot and humid Saturday that when Vanilla and I stepped out for a walk, I felt like I was moving through cotton. Afterwards I was starving, but only for a cool, crisp, crunchy salad.  Luckily, homemade salad dressings are so easy to make and so tasty that eating a salad is a yummy option and not a sacrifice!



The Acids: Vinegar and Citrus

Basic Salad Dressing
-1/2 cup of an oil (olive, canola, or mayonnaise)
-1/4 cup of an acid (vinegar or citrus juice)
-Seasoning (1/2 teaspoon salt,1/4 teaspoon pepper,1/8 teaspoon garlic powder)









    For salad dressings I usually use light olive oil so the other flavors come through - unless you have a wonderful bottle of imported extra virgin olive oil from Spain, and you want it to be "The Star of the Show"!  Apple cider vinegar is a good pick if the salad includes fruit or the main dish is pork.  Rice wine vinegar works well with Asian flavors.  Likewise, balsamic vinegar is very Italian.  On a regular day, I just follow the above recipe using red wine vinegar - however, there are endless variations on this basic recipe.  Here are three that are Yates favorites.

Jenn's Favorite Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons country Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

This is a sunny little dressing that is great on a package of baby spinach leaves with some thin sliced red onions, 2 sliced avocados sprinkled with lemon juice, 3 clementines peeled and separated, 1/2 cup of toasted pecan pieces.

Allison's Favorite Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
a handful of fresh basil, washed and chopped (stems removed)
1/2 diced yellow onion

Delicious poured over cooked new red potatoes! It makes a great summer potato salad.

Caroline's Quick and Easy Raspberry Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup raspberry jam ( I like to use Smucker's no sugar added or Simply Fruit)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
several green onions, sliced thin

This makes a  yummy raspberry chicken salad.  I double the recipe and put half aside for dressing the completed salad.  I brush the rest on chicken breasts and grill or bake them.  To mixed greens I add fresh raspberries, walnuts, thin slices of purple onion, and either blue or goat cheese.  I slice the cooked chicken breasts and put them on top of the salad.  Then sprinkle a few green onion slices on top and pass the raspberry vinegrette dressing.  You can make individual salads or one large one on a huge platter - very impressive!