I'm About to Get Uppity Again

About ten years ago, Tom and I decided to go out to dinner for Valentine's Day. We selected a fancy-schmancy restaurant located in what has in recent years become The Peabody Hotel.

I first learned about the Peabody in Memphis. That's where the first Peabody Hotel originated and it's located near Beale Street. However, it seems the Peabody's claim to fame amongst tourists and guests alike is the ducks. Every day, twice a day, they let the Peabody ducks out of their Peabody Palace Cages and march them from their domicile down a red carpet to a large fountain in the lobby where they frolic for several hours until they are herded back up the red carpet to their "home." People come from far and wide to watch these ducks make the trip twice daily.

I mention this extravaganza for two reasons. One, because we lived on a farm and raised a few ducks and two geese. Have you heard the euphemism, "loose as a goose"? It also applies to ducks, but apparently there isn't a similarly descriptive word that rhymes with duck. Without getting too graphic, let me just say that ducks and geese are not the least bit embarrassed or reserved when it comes to eliminating their own excrement. They are happy to waddle up and down that red carpet, swim in the ornate fountain or walk across a driveway from their pond on our property and let loose a very loose one, if you know what I mean. They don't stop. They don't hesitate. They just keep on walking. Second, I'm glad the hotel we chose for our Valentine's Day dinner was not the Peabody at the time, since I was already subjected to goose and duck behavior on a daily basis.

The point of all this is not ducks or duck excrement. The point is Caesar Salad. I know, it's a bit much to put both of those subjects in the same sentence.

So, we made our reservations at this fancy-schmancy restaurant in the fancy-schmancy hotel where we also spent the night because we knew we'd be drinking champagne and we didn't want to drive home after drinking. And, when the time came, we dressed up in our finest. We left our jeans, boots and sweatshirts home. We made our way to the lobby and headed down a dimly lit, plushly carpeted hallway passed an ornate but empty bar to the restaurant. We were greeted at the entryway of the restaurant by a nicely suited Maitre'D and seated at a small table surrounded by other small tables.

Tom had called the restaurant over a week in advance to be certain they stocked a specific champagne, but after being seated we were informed that they had never stocked that specific champagne. One demerit.

We ordered an alternative, but inferior, champagne which was served with unnecessary but extensive pomp and circumstance, and after a few sips our server approached to take our order for dinner. We would, of course, start with a Caesar Salad. I don't even remember what we ordered for our main course.

You see, now I'm starting to get uppity. I love Caesar Salad. I've eaten Caesar Salad at the restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico where the Caesar Salad was created. And I've enjoyed many versions of it, though not veering significantly from the original, prepared and served table-side at several wonderful restaurants on both coasts.

So what version of Caesar Salad were we served at the fancy-schmancy? First of all, here is what a Caesar Salad looks like. Embed the image in your memory because you will see an altered version later, when I get all uppity in your face.....

Beautiful, crisp romaine lettuce dressed with an authentic Caesar dressing and crisp homemade croutons, sprinkled with a little more grated Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Oh. My. God. A salad that combines sour, salty, tart, garlicky and crunchy all in one bite.

What we were served was a small "bread cup" in which 2 whole romaine leaves, marginally dressed with some sort of mayonnaise-based dressing, stood leaning against each other. Ladies and gentleman....your Caesar Salad is served.

Now, I have to say that I honestly give chefs a lot of leeway to inject their own creativity into traditional dishes. I love creative food. What I don't appreciate is a cheap-ass rip-off.

I'm ashamed to say, we made a bit of a scene. What transpired was "are you kidding me?" and "that is NOT a Caesar Salad in any way, shape or form" and "not only that, but you assured me that you stocked a champagne you NEVER stocked" and "I'm not staying for dinner and I'm not paying for this faux salad", yada, yada, yada. We paid for the champagne and left. We ate our Valentine's Day dinner at a pizzeria about a block away. A leisurely dinner of homemade pizza and several glasses of a decent red wine was just what the doctor ordered.

Okay, so I'm getting to my point, albeit a not so direct route. Yes, I acknowledge that I am a Caesar Salad snob. But you are invited to my house to taste my Caesar Salad and I defy you not to become a CS snob as well.

To my point, sort of....my father-in-law has carried on my late mother-in-law's tradition of providing me with copies of all of the local or semi-local magazines: The 501 (the number designating the area code for our little part of the world), Icon (a magazine specifically dedicated to Conway, Arkansas), and Women's Inc, a magazine for and about women in central Arkansas, but mostly in Conway, Arkansas.

This afternoon, while my soup was simmering, I sat down and thumbed through three magazines my father-in-law brought last weekend when he came for dinner. I was flipping through Women's Inc. when I came upon a recipe for Caesar Salad written by a local "chef" and here is where I got my back up and got all uppity. This is the photo of the so-called Caesar Salad....


Source: Women's Inc Magazine

In my full-on uppity-ness, THIS IS NOT A CAESAR SALAD!

1. Caesar Salad is made with romaine lettuce. The lettuce in the photo is iceburg lettuce. Not even close!
2. You do not EVER put tomatoes on Caesar Salad. Croutons...yes. Tomatoes....never.
3. Nor would you EVER, EVER, EVER sprinkle a Caesar salad with sliced black olives. EVER.

But beyond that, please read the ingredients for the dressing. No anchovies. Caesar Salad is not Caesar Salad without anchovies.....EVER. And no grated Parmesan cheese. What??? In addition, the ratio of lemon juice (acid) to olive oil is completely imbalanced.

There are five basic balanced flavors to Caesar Salad: garlic (usually pulverized before adding other ingredients), anchovies (saltiness and a slight sea essence), lemon juice (necessary acid to balance the pungent garlic flavor and heaviness of the anchovies), Parmesan cheese (adds a pungent earthy flavor) and olive oil (adds a subtle nutty flavor and emulsifies all the other ingredients).

While I understand food styling, shouldn't we be able to expect, at the very least, a somewhat honest rendition of the final dish? Shouldn't readers be able to discern from the photo what their finished dish should look like?

I know. This is so darn nit-picky, but you just don't reinvent a tradition. I think Jim Croce wrote a song about exactly that:

"You don't tug on superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the old lone ranger and
You don't mess around with Jim...."

And you don't screw with the recipe for a decent Caesar Salad.

Top Five Readers Choice for 2011

I know that I have been absent for quite some time....almost a month. But I do have a good excuse. I've been sick since the day after Thanksgiving and I'm still not fully recovered.

It hasn't been anything life threatening...only that horrible cold/flu/crud that has been sweeping the country with a vengeance...but at my age, recovery is a slow, tough process.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't bake one holiday goodie. No cookies. No breads. No cakes. Nothing. It was all I could do to get myself ready for our trip to Reno to visit our oldest son and his family for Christmas.

But, I'm happy to say it feels like I am on the mend and ready to start posting again.

I'm going to start the year with a resolution: take better photos. Tom gave me a tripod for Christmas and I'm going to purchase some good lights. I'm looking forward to sharing much better photos with you in the future.

But this post will include old photos because this post is about last year, specifically the top five posts you liked, according the the number of hits the post received. Then tomorrow, I will post my top five favorite recipes for 2011.

Let's start with your top five:

Number 5: BANG BANG SHRIMP

I posted this recipe back in October 2011 and it instantly became one of the most downloaded recipes. It's a simple, but delicious dish: shrimp dipped in panko bread crumbs and fried and served with a spicy, sweet mayonnaise based sauce.

Number 4: TIMPANO

Posted back in March 2008, this recipe has topped the list every year since then. It is a traditional Italian dish that requires a lot of prep work, but is worth every second.

Layers of homemade meatballs, Genoa salami, hard cooked eggs, chunks of provolone cheese, cooked ziti and a rich Italian meat and tomato sauce baked in a homemade crust!



Number 3: GRANDMOTHER BREAD

I started making this bread last January after I scoured the inter-webs for what to do with the leftover whey from making ricotta cheese. Now, every time I make ricotta... a simple 30-minute process... I save the whey in plastic zip-lock bags in 3-cup measurements and store it in the freezer to use for making this bread. It makes two beautiful, delicious loaves.



Number 2: ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS WITH SESAME DIPPING SAUCE

Since posting this recipe back in 2010, it has been consistently popular with all of you, as well as the guests at my dinner table.

I've made the meatballs as a main dish and served them with steamed or fried rice and sauteed cabbage, and also made smaller, bite-sized meatballs for appetizers. They are a low-cal, low-fat delicious dish.



And finally......

Are you ready????

You are not going to believe this!!

Taaa Daaaa!!!

Numero Uno!!: CAPRESE SKEWERS

These skewers were part of a post that contained ideas for five separate appetizers. So how do I know it was the Caprese Skewers that were popular? Because this photo....

....has been "pinned" on Pinterest several thousand times, as well as featured in the Health and Fitness Blog on GlamourMagazine.com and in Food Served Best on a Stick at TheKitchn.com, in addition to being linked back from several other individual blogs.

Who knew that putting Caprese Salad on skewers in bite sized morsels would be such a hit? I sure didn't. But a hit they were....and I thank all of you for spreading the word!

Tomorrow, I will post my top five choices for 2011. Stay tuned.

Pork Banh Mi Burgers with Vietnamese Slaw

I love to cook. But I suppose that's pretty obvious because I wouldn't be a food blogger if I didn't.

Unlike most couples, Tom and I don't eat out much. We'd rather cook at home and eat dinner, wearing our shorts and a t-shirt or sweats, in the comfort of our backyard patio when the weather permits.

But I have a hard time finding ingredients, particularly fresh ingredients like the daikon radish required for the Vietnamese Slaw for this dish. The first time I made this slaw, there wasn't a daikon radish to be found between Conway and Little Rock, not even at Fresh Market. {pouting face} Since a daikon radish is more mild than the common red radish, Tom stopped at the store and bought a jicama, which has a similar color and texture, though sweeter than a daikon. When Tom got home, I started the slaw preparation, but when I cut the jicama in half, it was brown all the way through. Tom headed back to Kroger, rotten jicama in hand.

I opted to make the slaw with red radishes and tediously grated about a dozen of those little suckers, which yielded just about a cup, so I cut the recipe in half. I also didn't use a fresh jalapeno. I used candied jalapenos, which I make myself (a recipe I will share next time).

The night before I had prepared chicken fried pork steaks for dinner, and as we almost always do, we had leftovers - two pork steaks. I hate seeing food go to waste, so I decided to make the Banh Mi sandwiches using the leftover fried pork steaks. I can't even describe how delicious they were. The slaw is crunchy because the carrots and radish are julienned instead of grated, and slightly sweet from the pickling step, with a little heat from the jalapenos and sriracha. What a wonderful combination.

A week or so later, when I decided to make the Pork Banh Mi Sandwich, I happened to be in Kroger and lo and behold, they had three large daikon radishes! Yippee! I grabbed one daikon and a bag of julienned carrots, paid for my groceries and headed for home to make the slaw.

This time I did not grate the radish. I wanted the daikon to be the same texture as the carrots. I have a mandoline (this one) my son gave me over six years ago. I swear I use it almost every single day. Anyway, the daikon is much larger and easier to use on my mandoline, which has a julienne blade. I cut up two cups in no time.

This...

Became this...


We've used the Vietnamese Slaw on the chicken fried pork burgers and as a side with Bang Bang Shrimp. But on top of those juicy, flavorful, herby, slightly spicy pork burgers....oh my! I served the burgers with oven baked sweet potato fries, which was the perfect compliment to the spiciness of the burger.


Pork Banh Mi Burgers with Vietnamese Slaw
Adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen

For the Burgers:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (if you don't have fish sauce, substitute soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 4 ciabatta rolls or other crusty rolls, sliced in half

In a medium sized bowl, combine the pork, basil, garlic, onion, fish sauce (or soy sauce), sriracha, sugar, cornstarch, salt and pepper until evenly combined. Divide the mixture into four equal parts and pat into four patties.

Heat a grill pan or large skillet over medium heat. Brush the pan with sesame oil. Cook burgers about 7 minutes minutes on one side until lightly browned, then turn the patties over and cook another 5 - 7 minutes or until the patties are cooked through. The internal temperature should be 145˚.

Remove the burgers from the pan and keep warm.

Place rolls in the same pan used to cook the patties, cut side down, over the heat until toasted.

Serve burgers on rolls topped generously with slaw. Top with additional fresh cilantro sprigs and sliced fresh jalapenos if desired.

For the Vietnamese Slaw:

• 2 cups carrots, julienned
• 2 cups daikon radish, julienned
• 1 jalapeno, chopped (I used candied jalapeno)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 green onions, white and green parts, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro, minced

In a medium sized bowl, combine the carrots, daikon and jalapeno. Pour the vinegar into a measuring cup, add the sugar and stir until sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour the mixture over the carrot/daikon mixture. Stir well to combine. Set aside for about an hour, stirring occasionally so that all of the vegetable mixture is submerged in the vinegar mixture from some time.

After an hour, drain the liquid from the carrot mixture and discard the marinade.

Add the green onions and cilantro to the carrot mixture and mix to combine. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and sriracha and stir until combined. Add to carrot mixture and mix well. Taste and correct seasoning if necessary.

Chill until ready to serve.

Roasted Potato Salad and Date Pudding Cobbler

After the whirlwind month of May, I'm back from vacation.

I spent a week on Anna Maria Island (Florida) with my youngest son's family, a week in the San Francisco Bay Area with my oldest son's family and a weekend in Fayetteville for my nephew's wedding. My trips included 5 days of driving and 3 days of flying, one of my flight days interrupted by flight cancellations due to weather. Whew!

It was a great vacation, but I'm glad to be home and back in the kitchen.

I made these ribs for dinner last night and served them with a Roasted Potato Salad and a simple tomato, cucumber, onion and artichoke heart salad marinated in a vinaigrette.

While I was in Florida, my son made his delicious version of potato salad. As he was putting it together, he called out the ingredients as I quickly noted them in my iPhone. I've already made this salad twice since then -- once while in San Francisco and again for last evening's dinner.

When I was in local grocery store on Tuesday, I picked up a bag of beautiful purple potatoes and used them with the Yukon gold potatoes called for in the recipe.

For this salad, the potatoes are roasted instead of boiled and the dressing is a cross between a mayonnaise and vinaigrette -- a little creamy, a little tangy but with a little bite. And, of course, you can't go wrong with bacon.



Chris' Roasted Potato Salad
PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

• 7 small to medium Yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
• 5 green onions, sliced thin
• 5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon grease)
• 1 small container crumbled Blue cheese

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used reduced fat)
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 1-1/2 teaspoons grated prepared horseradish
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon reserved bacon grease

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the cut up potatoes in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle lightly with the salt and pepper. Mix until all the potatoes are lightly covered.

Place the potatoes in an even layer on a large cookie sheet and bake 35 to 40 minutes until done. You should be able to easily pierce the potato with a fork. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While the potatoes are roasting, fry the bacon until crisp (I cut up the strips of bacon before frying). Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel, reserving bacon grease.

To make the dressing, put all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix well until smooth.

Place the cooled potatoes in a large bowl. Add the cooked and crumbled bacon, green onions and crumbled blue cheese and toss to combine. Add the dressing and toss the salad until all the ingredients are coated well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.



The Date Pudding Cobbler isn't really a pudding or a cobbler. It's a very moist, gooey cake-like concoction.

I was looking for something tasty for last night's dessert, but I didn't want to run to the store for anything, so I started scouring my cookbooks and recipes for something that would use what I already had on hand. I already had the staples: flour, brown sugar, baking powder, etc. I had some medjool dates leftover from when I made these scones and a few walnut pieces. And there was an unopened tub of Cool Whip in the freezer. Cool.

I used all of my remaining medjool dates, which measured just over 1 cup after seeding and chopping. That was the only change I made to the recipe.



Date Pudding Cobbler
PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cold butter
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 3/4 cup chopped dates (I used just a little over 1 cup)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I think pecans would be good, too)
• 1 cup water
• Whipped cream or Cool Whip and ground cinnamon if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with butter or cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and the baking powder with a whisk. Cut in the butter until it is crumbly.

Add the dates and walnuts and toss to combine.

Gradually add the milk a little at a time mixing until combined.

In a saucepan, combine the water and remaining 1 cup brown sugar and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the date mixture and mix well (the batter will be thin).

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes (mine took 40 minutes) or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool.

Cut into squares and serve topped with a little whipped cream or Cool Whip and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Broccoli Slaw - Specifically for My Grandson, Jacob

This is a recipe I'll bet everyone has made at least once. There is a similar recipe on the back of the bag of what is now called Broccoli Slaw.

Back in the day, there was Broccoli Salad: raw broccoli flowerettes, onions, raisins, chopped bacon and sometimes sunflowers seeds with a tangy sweet mayonnaise dressing.

Then a few years ago the companies that package and market raw and/or frozen broccoli decided they were throwing away a marketable product - broccoli stems. I can hardly blame them. The stems taste good, too. I use as much of the stem as possible when I prepare broccoli from the raw state. And if I'm making broccoli soup, the peeled and chopped stems go right in with the flowerettes. So I applaud the food companies that decided to grate the broccoli stems along with carrots and red cabbage into one convenient package.

Now when I make Broccoli Salad, I use the packaged broccoli slaw instead. But I started using the packaged broccoli slaw before the package included a recipe, so I used my own.

My grandson, Jacob, loves my Broccoli Slaw. I make sure I prepare it whenever he visits. I like that he loves it. His mother?....no so much. Oh, she likes Broccoli Slaw, too, but she doesn't like the ration she gets from Jacob when she prepares it.

Has your husband ever said to you, "You don't make that like my mother! It doesn't taste like hers." Which generally receives the response, "Well, that's because I'm not your mother!

That's sort of what my daughter-in-law Kelly has to put up with....That doesn't taste like Grandma's Broccoli Slaw!"

Well, now it's time for Jacob to man up! He's a good cook. He's a creative cook. He knows how to handle himself in the kitchen pretty darn well. So for Jacob, who is fast approaching his 18th birthday and almost ready to venture out into the world on his own, here is the recipe for Grandma's Broccoli Slaw. The recipe makes a large bowl full, but is easily cut in half.

No more excuses Jacob and no more complaining.



Grandma's Broccoli Slaw Salad
PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

• 2 packages raw Broccoli Slaw
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup sunflower seeds - I've also used pecan chips and they are tasty as well
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and roughly chopped
• 1 small red or yellow onion, cut in a small dice

Dressing:

• 1-1/2 cups Helman's lite mayonnaise (it's Best Foods in the west)
• 3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup Splenda or plain white sugar
• 1 teaspoon whole celery seed

Combine packaged broccoli slaw, raisins, sunflower seeds, chopped bacon and diced onion in a large serving bowl. Toss to mix well.

In a separate bowl or large cup, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar (or Splenda) and celery seed. Add dressing to the salad and toss to mix well; chill thoroughly before serving.

Cauliflower Salad, A Lighter Alternative to Potato Salad

Six or seven years ago, Tom and I went on a low carb diet. It was during the spring and summer and I was having a difficult time finding side salads to have with our burgers wrapped with lettuce leaves instead of buns. We weren't allowed to eat potatoes, I was tired of broccoli salad and steamed or grilled vegetables and I wanted something that tasted substantial and familiar but fit into our low carb mode. Cauliflower Salad was just the thing.

The recipes I found called for regular mayonnaise because, while it is high in fat and calories, it is low in carbohydrates, and dill relish because the sugar in sweet relish is forbidden.

We both loved the salad, but when we abandoned the low carb diet, I needed to exchange some ingredients to make the salad lower in fat and calories, so I swapped out the full fat mayonnaise with a lite version.

Today I made the salad to serve with our burgers...on regular hamburger buns.

PRINT THE RECIPE: Cauliflower Salad

Cauliflower Salad
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

• 1 head of fresh cauliflower
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 of a medium onion, diced
• 2 large dill pickle spears, diced
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 cup Lite mayonnaise (you can use full fat)
• 1/4 cup dill pickle relish
• 1 heaping tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon each salt & pepper

Cut the cauliflower into small florets.


Prepare a steamer to cook the cauliflower. Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Insert the steamer portion into the pot and pour in the cauliflower pieces. Cover with a tight fitting lid and steam for 7-minutes. Do not steam any longer. You want the cauliflower to retain it’s shape but not be crunchy. You should be able to pierce the cauliflower gently with a fork. Remove the steamer from the pot and allow the cauliflower to cool in the steamer for about 15 minutes.

While the cauliflower is cooking, dice the celery, onion, dill pickles and gently chop the eggs and put in a small bowl and set aside.


To make the dressing, mix the mayonnaise, relish and mustard in a small bowl and set aside.

Remove the cooled cauliflower to a large bowl. Season with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Mix a couple of times, then season again with remaining salt and pepper. Add the reserved chopped ingredients on top of the cauliflower. Pour the dressing over all and mix gently. I like using a rubber or silicone spatula.

Cover and refrigerate until cold (about 2 hours). Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Chicken Teriyaki Dinner

When we were growing up in northern California, my parents had a very diverse circle of friends.

My family and our family friends would gather nearly every weekend for picnics or dinners and everyone would cook something different from their culture or background to share. Recipes would be traded like they were gold. I still have a few of the recipes my mom collected over the years, written in her handwriting on now-yellowed lined index cards.

One of my childhood favorites was Chicken Teriyaki. Harry was Japanese, single and my dad's co-worker. He grew up eating beef or chicken teriyaki made by his traditional Japanese mother. When Harry brought chicken teriyaki to one of our gatherings, my mother quickly asked him for the recipe. My mom made it many, many times over the years and never changed a smidgen of any ingredient.

But, you know me. I just can't leave well enough alone. I have tweaked Harry's mother's recipe quite a bit over the years, adding ginger, beer and sesame oil for a more dimensional flavor, but every time I eat this it reminds me of those wonderful meals with friends.

The other night, our meal consisted of Chicken Teriyaki, Baked Brown Rice (the recipe I got from Mel @ My Kitchen Cafe) and a salad made with romaine lettuce and thinly shaved carrots topped with a Japanese-style Ginger Salad Dressing.

PRINT THE RECIPE: Chicken Teriyaki
Chicken Teriyaki

2 to 3 lbs. chicken pieces (I like boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can use any combination of chicken pieces)

Marinade:

• 1 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup beer
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely minced green onion
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Add all of the marinade ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the marinade to cool to room temperature.

Place the chicken pieces in a large zip-lock type plastic bag. Pour the teriyaki marinade over the chicken. Seal the bag and refrigerate for at least one hour. The flavor is best when the chicken is marinated for several hours or overnight.

Heat your barbecue grill to a medium heat. When grill is hot, place the chicken pieces on the grill all at once, close the lid and cook on one side for 10 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 10 minutes. The chicken is done when it has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove the chicken from the grill to a platter and cover with foil allow to rest for about 10 minutes.

Note: If you plan on using a portion of your marinade for a glaze or sauce, measure about 1-1/2 cups of the marinade into a small pan. Discard remaining marinade. Bring the marinade to a boil and simmer for at least 5 minutes to kill any bacteria. To thicken the sauce for a glaze, mix 1-1/2 tablespoons corn starch with 1-1/2 tablespoons cool water and add to simmering marinade and continue to cook until the sauce has thickened.


PRINT THE RECIPE: Baked Brown Rice
Baked Brown Rice
Adapted from Mel @ My Kitchen Cafe

Mel's recipe called for low-sodium chicken broth and added a little salt. I just used regular chicken broth and omitted the salt.

• 1-1/2 cups brown rice
• 2-1/2 cups chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the brown rice and chicken broth in a 3-quart casserole dish and cover with tight fitting lid or aluminum foil.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before removing lid or foil and fluffing with a fork.



I love this salad dressing. It reminds me of the Sushi Club in Reno, Nevada, an all-you-can-eat sushi place where everything is made to order. For $20 a person, you get miso soup, a salad with this dressing and you can order as much sushi as you can eat from the menu. Unfortunately, they don't give out the recipe for their salad dressing, but I think I got it right.

PRINT THE RECIPE: Japanese Style Ginger Salad Dressing

Japanese-Style Ginger Salad Dressing

• 1/4 cup onion, finely minced
• 1/2 cup roasted peanut oil
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger root
• 2 tablespoons finely minced celery
• 2 tablespoons catsup
• 4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise (I always use light mayo, but you can use full fat)

Put all the ingredients together in a blender and blend on high until all of the ingredients are pureed, about 30 to 40 seconds.

Day 2 - Saturday Night - of the July 4th Holiday Weekend

Dinner was Vinny's Chicken, Pan-Crisped Deviled Egg Salad on Baby Greens and Vanilla Ice Cream in Puff Pastry Shells topped with Home Grown Blackberries sweetened with sugar.

I started marinating the chicken Saturday morning...

Vinny's Chicken
Adpated from the recipe created by Vinny DeGallo for Villa DeGallo Restaurant
Oceanside, California

2 chicken halves or 4 chicken breasts
2 cups or enough white wine to cover the chicken
1/4 cup olive oil
1 - 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 sprigs of rosemary

Lay the chicken flat in a container with sides tall enough so the chicken sits below the top. Sprinkle the chopped garlic over the chicken. Remove the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and sprinkle over the chicken. Gently pour in the olive around the sides of the chicken so as not to disturb the garlic and rosemary. Now add the wine, also pouring gently around the sides. Add enough wine to cover the chicken. Allow to marinate 4 - 6 hours, but you can also do it the night before.

About 30 minutes before cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Just before cooking, take the chicken out of the marinade and discard the marinade.

For the grill: Heat the grill on high to get it really hot, then turn it down to about 350 degrees. Cook the chicken pieces until done, turning only once (for boneless chicken breasts, about 15 minutes; for chicken halves, about 25 to 30 minutes). Chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.

For the oven: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the chicken in a baking dish or pan and large enough so that the pieces do not touch each other. If you are using chicken halves, place the chicken skin side up. Bake the chicken breasts for about 20 minutes. Chicken halves need about 40 minutes. The chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.

Debbie's recipe for this wonderful salad is here. If you like deviled eggs, you will love this salad.


Tom grilled our chicken. It was tender, juicy and so flavorful!


And for dessert...

Simple and delicious. Tom baked two premade frozen puff pastry shells, filled them with no sugar, low-fat ice cream (it's really pretty darn good), and topped them with some of our home grown blackberries.

So, tonight is appetizer night. Tom prepped the salmon this morning and is smoking it as I write this...

But more about that tomorrow.

Just a reminder that if you are lighting fireworks tonight, please do it safely.

Two Recipes: Garlic Confit and Chickpea & Orzo Pasta Salad

About three weeks ago I posted a list of recipes for dishes I wanted to try. Sadly, I didn't accomplish all of them, but I did prepare two from the list.

First, I made the garlic confit.The recipe calls for canola oil, but I used extra-virgin olive oil. I purchased two plastic jars of peeled garlic rather than trying to peel all those cloves myself. It worked out well. All I had to do to get the cloves ready was trim off the root end.I placed the cloves into a saucepan and covered them with the olive oil until the oil was about one inch above the garlic cloves. The original recipe calls for using a diffuser under the saucepan, but I don't own a diffuser, so I put the saucepan in a large frying pan so the heat was evenly distributed, then I turned the burner to a medium-low heat.

I set my timer for 40 minutes and stirred the cloves about every 5 minutes or so, but had to adjust the heat so that tiny bubbles rose from the cloves, making sure the oil was not steaming or sizzling. You want the cloves to remain white.

It took my cloves longer than 40 minutes to become soft. It was more like an hour. But there were a couple of times when I went back to stir them that I realized I had adjusted the heat too low because I didn't see the tiny bubbles.

For a week I used the soft garlic in nearly everything I cooked then stored the remaining cloves in the oil in a sterilized jar.

I also made the Chick Pea & Orzo Pasta Salad for a family dinner at my sister-in-law's house near Greers Ferry Lake at Eden Isle, but I changed Reeni's original recipe and used my own salad dressing that I created several years ago to use on Cobb Salad. The salad was simple to make, delicious and I will definitely make it often.

The following recipe includes all of my changes to the original recipe, including my recipe for the Cobb Salad Dressing.

Chickpea & Orzo Pasta Salad
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table
adapted from Reeni @ Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice

• 1-1/3 cup uncooked orzo pasta
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 2 cans solid white albacore tuna, drained
• 1/2 cup red onion, sliced then roughly chopped
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1/3 cup basil leaves, chopped OR 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• the juice of one whole lemon

For the dressing (this recipe makes about a quart, but you will only use about a cup. The rest can stored in a jar for up to a week in the refrigerator):

• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 3 teaspoons garlic powder
• 3 teaspoons onion powder
• 3 teaspoons Coleman's dry mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce

Make the dressing first. Put the vinegar in a blender. Add all the ingredients except the oil and blend to mix well. With the blender running, add the oil in a thin stream until it is fully incorporated and the dressing is smooth and emulsified. Pour into a quart jar and refrigerate until ready to use.

To prepare the salad, cook the orzo pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Put the pasta in a large bowl and add the chickpeas, tuna, red onion, grated parmesan, basil and thyme. Mix gently to combine.

Add about a cup of the salad dressing to the salad and mix gently until the salad if covered with the dressing. To finish, sprinkle the lemon juice over the salad a tablespoon at a time, mixing gently after each tablespoon.

Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

PRINT THE RECIPE HERE

Buffalo Shrimp Salad with Spicy Blue Cheese Dressing

I did it. I deleted a food blogger from my Google reader. Actually, I've deleted more than one.

I don't cook every single recipe I read from every post I receive. I couldn't. There are far too many. I think I subscribe to just under 90 blogs, most of them food related. When I do try the recipes, I attempt to post the results and give credit to the blog from which I "borrowed" the recipe.

I deleted the first blogger because credit was rarely given where credit was due. I attempt to skim through the posts in my reader on a daily basis, so I have a good idea of who is posting what sort of dishes. When I see some of my very favorite bloggers posting wonderful original recipes and photos, then two or three days later see this one blogger posting the same recipe with no credit to the original blogger, and I see this blogger doing it repeatedly, it just ticks me off. Delete!

Another blogger writes really well, gives credit where it is due, but even though the photos make the food look wonderful, the food sucks. I tried three of this blogger's recipes and all three were really just horrible, throw-in-the-trash-don't-eat-it bad. Sorry, but delete.

Yet another blogger posts recipes almost daily of the food cooked from the night before and only occasionally posts a recipe for something for which I could have already guessed the ingredients, and the rest of the time doesn't bother to give a recipe. Delete.

I'm getting much more selective with my subscriptions. Perhaps it will slow down the accumulation of posts I receive on a daily basis.

So with the general housekeeping out of the way, I want to share with you a dish I cooked (sort of) last night that was not my idea.

I have been craving salad. Big salads, with lots of stuff in them, but I'm tired of Caesar Salad (does anyone really get tired of it?), Mexican Chef's Salad, Cobb Salad...the whole lot. I wanted something different. Then I opened my Google reader to this post @ Beariatric and started salivating immediately. While I didn't use Tom's recipe, it was definitely his post that inspired me to put this salad together.

I've been using my son, Mike's, Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe for years. I think it is the best I've EVER eaten. And, I make an adaptation of Chef Paul Prudhomme's recipe for Blue Cheese Dressing from his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook. Mike's wings are flavorful and as spicy as you want to make them and Chef Paul's Blue Cheese is cool, but a little spicy with definite onion-y undertone.

For this dish, I adapted Mike's recipe to shrimp and halved Chef Paul's recipe for the dressing. This salad was cool, flavorful, spicy and satisfying.

Buffalo Shrimp Salad with Spicy Blue Cheese Dressing
Buffalo Shrimp recipe adapted from Mike Powers
Blue Cheese Dressing adapted from Chef Paul Prudhomme Louisiana Kitchen

For the Blue Cheese Dressing:

1 egg
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used crushed red pepper)
1/2 pound blue cheese, coarsely crumbled

In a food processor or blender, combine the egg, onions and garlic; process a few seconds until well mixed. With the machine running, add the oil in a thin, steady stream; then add the buttermilk and seasonings and process a few seconds more until well mixed, stopping once to push the sides down with a rubber spatula. Add half of the blue cheese and pulse the mixture until the cheese is broken up into smaller pieces and combined with the dressing. Add the remaining cheese and just pulse a couple of times to mix, but leave the cheese somewhat lumpy. Remove to a jar or bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 1 quart of dressing.

For the Buffalo Shrimp Salad:

20 large shrimp, shells removed and cleaned and deveined
Buffalo Seasoning Mix (see recipe at bottom of page)
5 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce (Tobasco or Louisiana ~ I used Louisiana
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 bag of mixed greens
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 avocado, cut into chunks

Place the greens, iceberg lettuce, tomato and avocado in a large salad bowl. Keep cool.

To Make the Buffalo Shrimp:

Put the shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with 1-1/2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix and the flour. Mix until evenly covered. Set aside while you get the sauce ready.

In a small frying pan, melt the butter with the hot sauce. Add the remaining seasoning mix and cook one minute. Keep warm.

In another pan, pour in enough oil so that the oil is about 2 inches deep. Heat the oil on medium high until it reaches 350 degrees. Add the shrimp a few at a time (do not overcrowd) and fry for about 1 minute until just done and golden brown. Remove from oil and put in frying pan with sauce to keep warm. Continue this process until all of your shrimp have been cooked.



When all of the shrimp have been added to the sauce, dumped the shrimp and sauce into a bowl and mix well.

To serve, toss greens and lettuce well and pile on a plate. Top with shrimp. Pour Blue Cheese Dressing over all.


Seasoning Mix:

2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on how spicy you like it)
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Use a fork or very small whisk to thoroughly mix the seasonings together and set aside.

POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice

When I was a kid growing up in Fresno, California, my mother would bring home whole pomegranates given to her by co-workers who grew them in the trees in their yards. Mom would cut the pomegranate in half for me, the only assistance I would receive, and I would sit on the lawn in the back yard with a paper napkin in my lap and pick out the red seeds one by one and pop them into my mouth. When I could no longer reach the seeds with my fingers, I'd gently peel back the skin and pry away the white membrane to reach even more seeds. It would generally take more than an hour to completely devour one whole pomegranate, single seed by single seed, and when I finished, my mouth and fingers would be stained bright red and my legs would speckled from the red juice. But not one seed escaped.

I don't think I've eaten a pomegranate since I was a teenager...a very, very, very long time ago.

Just in the last couple of years, I discovered pomegranate juice was being sold in stores, first in the smaller bottles and now in quarts and I've been buying it regularly ever since. But, in the last couple of months, I noticed that many regular food bloggers were using pomegranate juice in everything and praising all things pomegranate because they had received free samples of pomegranate juice. WTH???

So I did it. I did what I sometimes do best. I whined. Publicly. I whined too much about all the other bloggers getting their free samples of POM Wonderful while I made my weekly trip to WalMart to purchase my POM Wonderful with my own money. I suppose POM Wonderful finally took pity on me and guess what I got ~ Yaaayyy!! Free POM Wonderful!

Now you know that I already used pomegranate juice (when I purchased it with my own money) in that barbecue sauce I made a while back. And, I use it in the that refreshing summer drink recipe I also shared in the same post. Of course, I also use it in a pomegranate martini. But what else? I have a box full of those bottles.

I have some ideas. Like reducing the juice down into a syrup and using it to flavor mascarpone cheese for a dessert. Or maybe using it to flavor a salad dressing. Or how about a citrus and pomegranate glaze for salmon. So, I'll be working on those recipes in the next few days to see if I can come up with something delicious to share.

In the meantime, thanks POM Wonderful and Molly for the delicious stash!

I hope this doesn't make me a shill.

Greek Orzo Salad with Shrimp

Can you hear me smacking my lips? Can you see me drooling? This salad was fantastic! What made it so different from any other summer salad? The vinaigrette - simple and fresh tasting.

We were taking a trip to the lake this past weekend to spend some time on the boat and, of course, I was thinking about what to pack in the cooler for our lunch. As I sat making a list for my trip to the grocery store, I was also wading through the posts in my Google reader when I came across a post for this salad on Stacey Snacks. I don't know what prompted me to use the link to her original post, but I did. When I scrolled down the page, I saw that Marie @ Proud Italian Cook (one of my absolute favorite food bloggers) was the first person to leave a comment on Stacey's post. Marie raved about the salad. Well, I am, too.

This salad was a perfect lunch on the boat. But, next time, I taking a bottle of wine to go with it.

This recipe made a lot, so we decided to have it the next day with dinner. To freshen it up a little, I made half the vinaigrette recipe and tossed it with the leftover salad and we had it with more grilled shrimp! It was just as fresh tasting Sunday as it was Saturday.



This salad will become a summer staple at our house.

Greek Orzo Salad with Shrimp
Adapted from Stacey Snacks

1 box of orzo (cooked per package directions)
1 lb. cooked shrimp (Stacey grills hers; I used a grilling pan)
1/2 red onion, diced
handful of green onions, chopped
handful of kalamata pitted olives, chopped
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful of fresh dill, chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 hot house cucumber, sliced
7 oz. container of chopped feta cheese

Vinaigrette Dressing:

juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of good olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Cook and drain the orzo pasta. While it is still warm, mix with a little of the vinaigrette. Set the pasta aside to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.

I had a little over a pound of shrimp, 16-20 count. I cleaned them, sprinkled them with Cavender's Greek Seasoning and cooked them in a grilling pan for about 90 seconds on each side. They were pretty big for a salad so I cut them in half.

I mixed the rest of the ingredients with the pasta, adding the feta cheese last, then tossed the salad with the remaining vinaigrette.

What's Outside My Kitchen Window & Assorted Other Stuff

I'm tired today after being up in the middle of the night cleaning up after an exploded wine bottle (see this post for a complete explanation).

But, I'm here on Wednesday, albeit a little later than usual, to show you what's outside my kitchen window and to actually share some food stuff ~ oh, how long has it been? Since April? Inexcusable.

Let's start with the view. The pond is coming along nicely. The one water lily has come and gone, but the rest of the plants are starting to bloom extremely well...

My goldfish survived the winter and are fat and sassy this year...



Tom's blackberries are showing signs of changing color. Another month and they will be ready to use in a nice cobbler...



The squash are doing okay. They have lots of leaves and flowers, but the squash that set just shriveled up because of all the rain. I think it has rained every day for nearly a month, but I could be slightly exaggerating.



I am hoping these babies grow into big, or just bigger, zucchini...



And, it looks like my basil is winning the battle of the bugs. It still has a few holes, but it refuses to be intimidated and give in to the chomping...



I finally have a few daylillies with more ready to bloom...



and there are just a few of those wonderfully fragrant honeysuckle blossoms hanging on...



Sadly, I am a shallow woman who cares about appearances, so this skanky looking 3-year-old mint is doomed for the yard waste recycling bin and will be replaced by the younger, lovelier Lily of the Nile. I mean, hellooo, she's just eye candy!



Last but not least, I have failed to post photos of our spa. Technically, it is not in my line of sight outside my kitchen window. But, I'm not an attorney so technicalities mean nothing to me. We had the spa delivered as soon as the new patio and patio roof were finished just about two years ago. One of our friends built the stairs around it. I hung curtains on either side for privacy (yes, don't gag, but I've been known to enjoy the warm massaging waters in the buff). Tom just recently made a stand for the two rhododendrons which had been taking up space around the table on the patio. It was Tom's idea to surround the spa with the foliage. I think it was a good one.



For more Kitchen Window Wednesday, visit Debbie @ The Friday Friends. Debbie started and promotes Kitchen Window Wednesday.

You might also want to take a look at Karen's garden @ Karen Cooks. She's going to have one fine garden!

So, now to the ever lingering question...What have we been eating? We've been eating light. It's been raining a lot, which means higher humidity. Who wants to eat heavy when the air is heavy? Not me. So last Saturday, after we took our son to the airport we stopped to pick up some brie and fruit. First, Tom baked some bread rounds that had been brushed with olive oil. Then I cut up some fresh pineapple and an apple and arranged it on a plate with some seedless grapes. We baked the brie in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes until it was just barely bubbly around the edges. All that and a glass of cold Riesling. It was heaven...



This past Sunday we still felt like just nibbling and made an antipasto tray ~ mortadella, cappicola, mozzarella, provolone, sliced tomatoes, steamed asparagus and assorted stuffed olives.



I also love salads and one of my favorites is Cobb Salad...



The ingredients are simple: On a bed of lettuce (I use romaine hearts because I like the crunch) I lay in sections diced, poached chicken; diced tomato or halved cherry tomatoes; diced avocado; 2 to 3 chopped hard-boiled eggs; 4 to 5 sliced of crisp cooked bacon, crumbled; 4 or 5 sliced green onions. Authentic Cobb Salad also calls for crumbled blue cheese, but I usually leave that out because I think it sometimes tends to overpower the other ingredients. Just before dressing and serving, I sprinkle the top with a couple of sliced radishes for a little more crunch.

When we are ready to eat, I pour just enough of the dressing over the salad to barely moisten it, toss it altogether and serve. This vinaigrette just makes the salad.



Cobb Salad Dressing
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

1 egg yolk
2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (although I've also used cider vinegar with fine results)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
3 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons onion powder
3 teaspoons ground dry mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

With a whisk or in your food processor, whip up the egg yolk until light and a little fluffy. Slowly add the oil to the egg whisking constantly until completely combined. Then add the rest of the ingredients, one at a time, whisking the mixture to combine. Chill slightly.

Note: You can leave out the raw egg if it gives you the heebie-jeebies, but the texture will be slightly different and the dressing will tend to separate.