Pineapple Chutney

Delicious on pork, chicken, white fish. What about on a peanut butter sandwich?

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

2 1/2 cups chopped pineapple

2t curry powder

1/2 t dried ginger

1/2 t salt

1/8 t red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook over high heat until boiling, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until pineapple is tender and mixture is thickened, about 20-30 minutes. Cool completely and refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Posted in condiments | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Kashmiri Walnut Chutney

There are as many variations on this as there are days in the year. I suggest you troll about on the Interweb to see what some of the other recipes look like. This stuff is pretty much good on anything.

1 cup shelled walnuts

4 whole dried chiles (or fresh)

1/2 c yogurt

1/4 t garam masala

1/2 t salt

1t powdered sugar

In food processor, grind walnuts and chiles to a paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and process for about a minute. One of those little food processors works best if you are making a single batch.

Posted in condiments, sauce | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

1/4 c rice wine vinegar

1T fish sauce

1/4 c hot water

2T sugar

juice of one lime—maybe some zest too if you feel like it

1t minced garlic

1t red chile paste, such as sambal

Puree all ingredients. Serve with satay sticks or fresh rolls.

Posted in condiments, sauce | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Honey-Lime Salad Dressing

Yummy! Good use of honey if you have too much. Make sure it’s not old and crystallized.

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup honey

1/4 c lime juice

dash salt

dash mace

1 cup sour cream

Combine honey, egg, lime juice, mace, salt , mace. Stir over very low heat until mixture thickens. Cool, strain, stir in sour cream.

Posted in Salad dressing | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chicken Tahitian

Another chestnut from my childhood. I can’t say I’ve made this for a while as it is all basically dumping cans of stuff into a casserole dish, and that’s not really my style these days, but it is truly DELICIOUS!!

350F

1/2 c butter

1T cornstarch

2T lime juice

I envelope onion soup mix

1-20 oz. can pineapple chunks in syrup

chicken chunks—light or dark meat, cubed, or whole breasts

Rinse and dry chicken. Blend melted butter, cornstarch, lime juice, soup mix, and 2/3 c pineapple syrup and pineapple chunks. Glunk over chicken. Bake in wide shallow baking dish for 45 minutes. Serve with rice.

Posted in entrees, faux ethnic food | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I don’t really need a recipe for this, but if you have not made it before, this might help. Easy and elegant.

350F and stovetop

Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

slices of Swiss cheese

Bread crumbs (or panko)

butter and oil

egg

Bearnaise sauce

Pound chicken breasts very thin. Cut each half breast in half again, and put a smaller slice of cheese and ham on top. Roll, secure with toothpick or string. Beat egg. Roll chicken in egg wash and then again in bread crumbs. Let dry 1 hour. Heat oil and butter over medium high heat. Brown. Can freeze at this point. Transfer to baking dish, bake 45-55 minutes. Serve with Bearnaise sauce.

Posted in entrees, faux ethnic food | Leave a comment

Chop Chop Salad

salad

  • 1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
  • 1 cup julienne-sliced fresh basil
  • 1c grated mozzarella
  • 4 oz. garbanzo beans
  • 8 oz. genoa salami or wine salami, shredded
  • 12 oz. diced cooked chicken breast
  • 8 oz. diced plum tomato
  • 1/2 c diced provolone
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • freshly cracked pepper

vinaigrette

  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1T dijon mustard
  • 2T minced garlic
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1t black pepper
  • 1/2 t dry mustard
  • 2t dried oregano
  • 1/2 t sugar
  • 1/3 c red wine vinegar
  • 2T lemon juice
  • 1c olive oil

In food processor, combine egg, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, dry mustard, oregano, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice to blend. Slowly add olive oil to emulsify.

Toss ingredients with dressing. Garnish with half of provolone, plum tomatoes, green onions.

Posted in Salad | Leave a comment

Chicken Walden

When I was three, we lived in a little housing development called Lea Hills up by Green River Community College, where my dad was studying forestry on the GI Bill. Mom had a rather bitchin’ Camaro and dad had a black Corvair. This would have been right before the Volkswagen Period in the family. What does any of this have to do with Chicken Walden? Why everything! The Waldens lived a couple of houses down from us, and they were influential in my parents’ impending VW/hippie period.

350F

1 cut-up fryer

1/3 c flour

1/2 c+ chopped sunflower seeds

bread crumbs

2/3 c melted butter

salt/pepper/seasoning salt

Mix seeds, flour, bread crumbs. Add 5 shakes seasoning salt and salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken in butter and roll in crumb mix. Place on greased jelly roll pan or similar and bake 50-60 minutes, turning once.

Posted in entrees | Tagged | 1 Comment

Lucy’s Sausage Gravy

Lucy Wilma gave me this one. Every recipe box should have at least two recipes for pork gravy, right?

Saute sausage, then deglaze pan with beer. Chill beer, skim fat.

Make your standard bechamel, adding a bit of nutmeg. Add defatted beer, sausage, and a bit of half and half or cream, and sage.

Season with salt and pepper, serve with biscuits.

Posted in Brunch | Tagged | Leave a comment

Spinach and Cheese Strata

I think this was originally in Gourmet. It is my go-to strata recipe, and can be used with any number of variations.

350F

  • 1 (10-oz) package frozen spinach, thawed, or fresh equivalent, or chard, or a whole mess of fresh herbs
  • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion (1 large)
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 8 cups cubed (1 inch) French or Italian bread (1/2 lb)
  • 6 oz coarsely grated Gruyère (2 cups)
  • 2 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)
  • 2 3/4 cups milk
  • 9 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove as much liquid as possible, then finely chop. Cook onion in butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in spinach, then remove from heat. Spread one third of bread cubes in a buttered 3-quart gratin dish or other shallow ceramic baking dish and top evenly with one third of spinach mixture. Sprinkle with one third of each cheese. Repeat layering twice (ending with cheeses). Whisk together milk, eggs, mustard, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl and pour evenly over strata. Chill strata, covered with plastic wrap, at least 8 hours (for bread to absorb custard).  Let strata stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Bake strata, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed, golden brown, and cooked through, 45 to 55 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Posted in Brunch, Potluck | Leave a comment