Sunday Dish

Southwestern Chicken Salad with Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

The weather in Los Angeles has been absolutely craaaazy lately.  Earlier this week, we tipped the scales at close to 100 degrees, flip flops and tank tops were the order of the day.  Then, a few days later?  Cloudy with random rain and thunderstorms.  What's up with that?

I don't know about you, but much of my inspiration for what I'll cook up on any given day, is weather related.  Cool and overcast?  I'm thinking comfort food, a nice stew bubbling on the stove or a big batch of lasagna.  If it's warm, then I'm definitely in the mood to grill, have a salad, go for something light. 

But when the weather is pulling a Jekyll and Hyde, Sybyl, split personality thing on me, it just gets my knickers all in a knot!

I shopped earlier in the week (um, when it was seriously like mid summer) and bought all the fixins for a grilled chicken salad.  I had visions, of me, manning the grill, glass of Sauvignon Blanc in hand,  q-ing up some chicken, corn, onions, and these gorgeous tomatillos I picked up.  Then throwing them all together in a salad.  Girls night rolls around (and my girls do enjoy keeping it light with a salad) and it's anything but balmy.  I'm not going outside, dammit, and risk getting pummeled by a freak hail storm.

So, instead of manning the grill, I roasted everything in the oven.  It wasn't quite my mid-summer's night dream fantasy, but, well, in the end, the damn salad tasted good.  And the creamy tomatillo dressing?  Ooooh!  I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but BEEP! BEEP! 

Alright, enough of the chit, chat....on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

4-6 tomatillos (depending on size) husks removed.   (Aren't these stunning????  I'm so in love with how pretty they are.)

1 large yellow onion, cut into wedges

2 chicken breasts (see recipe for marinade below)

2-3 ears of corn -silks removed, husks left on  (let them soak in water for at least 30 minutes)

1/4 stick of butter, melted.

1 large tomato - diced

1 can of black beans - rinsed

1 cup Cotiija Anejade  - crumbled and divided. ( This is a Mexican Cheese - if you can't find it, Feta is a decent substitute)

Greens of your choice.  I used Romain but any dark green leafy lettuce will do.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing (see recipe below)
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Marinade:
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 Tablespoon cumin
salt and pepper

Rinse Chicken, pat it dry and place in a roasting pan.  Mix all the marinade ingredients together, pour over chicken, and rub the mixture into the chicken thoroughly.   Cover, and chill for at least an hour, and up to  4.

Meanwhile,  preheat the oven to 425  degrees.
 
Place your onion wedges and tomatillos on a cookie sheet that's lined with parchment paper (this is optional, but it makes clean up so much easier.) 

Take the corn, gently pull back the husks, and baste the ears with the melted butter.  Also give them a good seasoning of salt and pepper.  Place the ears on a separate cookie sheet.

Place both cookie sheets in the oven. 

The tomatillos and onions will be done in about 30 minutes.  Remove those, but let the corn cook for about another 1/2 hour.

Once you've removed the onions and tomatillos, place the chicken in the oven.  Let it cook, along with the corn at 425 degrees for that remaining 30 minutes.  Then, remove the corn, set it aside to cool, and lower the oven temp to 350.  Let your chicken cook for an additional 30 minutes (or a bit longer if you have very large pieces.)

While the chicken cooks, you can now make the dressing....

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing:

Roasted Tomatillos
Roasted Onions
1/3 cup cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
2 table spoons red wine or white wine vinegar
1/4 cup of water
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic
pinch of cumin
1/4 cup of the crumbled cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream

Mix all the ingredients together in a blender. 
Side note:  I made this recipe up as I went along, measurements are not exact.  So have some fun, and do a little experimenting with this dressing. I'd love to hear if anyone does a variation of this!

Let the dressing sit for a bit and then give it a taste and adjust your seasonings accordingly.
 
Once the chicken is done, remove it from the oven, let it cool, and then shred it or dice it, whatever you like best.  I'm a dicer, Todd's a shredder.  Hey, we can't see eye to eye on everything! 

Now is also a good time to cut the corn, from the stalks, and put it in a bowl. 

Whew!  Now it's time to put it all together!

Putting the salad all together.

You can do one big, family style salad, or individual servings.  I change my mind from day to day on which I like best, and that's my womanly prerogative, right?  The one thing I never do is pre-toss my salad with the dressing. 
Remember "When Harry Met Sally"?  She liked everything "on the side?"  Well, I'm down with that.

So, place your greens, tomatoes, chicken, beans, corn, in a bowl and dressing with the creamy tomatillo dressing.  Sprinkle a little cheese on top and you are good to go. 
To accompany our salad, we had corn chips and Vanessa's tasty guacamole.  (I'll have to get the recipe from her and share it with you guys!)

Enjoy.  It sounds like a lot of work for a salad, but really, it was more work writing it all down then it was making it!

Oh, and next time, I'm going to roast another onion, and put the second one in the salad, I think it would have been a great addition, don't  you?   

Smashed Grape Tomato, Cilantro & Orange Coulis

This is another of those "necessity is the mother of invention" recipes.  And it turned out quite tasty. Although a "coulis" is, strictly speaking, a thick puree or sauce,  I let the ingredients cook way down and I did smash the tomatoes, somewhat pureeing them by hand.  But, I may be stretching it a bit by calling this a coulis, considering I did not, in fact, put it anywhere near a blender.  But hey, breaking the rules is half the fun!

My kid, who is beautiful, fickle, amazing and quite the connoisseur, was craving a little Mexican food.  I didn't quite find the time to make it to the store (you know how that goes) so I turned to the refrigerator to see what mamacita (we're feeling Mexican, can  you handle it?) could whip up.

To start I thought I'd make a little something to go along with a simple quessadilla. Tomatoes?  Check.  Cilantro?  Check.  Lime?  Dammit.  No lime, but some gorgeous oranges, that'll do. Let's see what happens when we pop those in a pan and turn up the heat.   Here's the results...

Ingredients:

2 cups grape tomatoes

1/2 red onion - diced

1 jalapeno - seeds removed and finely diced.  (optional, I left it out since it was for my kid-lette)

1 clove garlic - minced (or put through a garlic press, we're easy here folks.)

1/2 cup cilantro

Juice of 1 orange

1/2 cup (or so) of chicken broth

Pinch (or two) of each:  oregano and cumin depending on your particular taste buds

Salt and pepper to taste
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Spray a pan with some non-stick cooking spray (or olive oil either will do fine)
Add the tomatoes (leave them whole) the onion, garlic, jalapeno if you are using it, and juice from 1/2 the orange. 
Cook over medium until the tomatoes begin to burst.
Add the rest of the orange, the chicken broth and seasonings.
Cook until all the tomatoes have burst and are quite soft and broken down (while they cook, I continue to mash them down with the back of a wooden spoon).
Check your seasonings and adjust accordingly.

I served the coulis with a simple cheese quessadilla and some beans that I doctored up with red onions, cumin, garlic, a little chicken broth, orange juice and s &  p.
If the clean plate my daughter left behind is any indication - it went over quite well.

Heirloom Tomato and Zucchini Ragout

The origin of this recipe is somewhat convoluted.  I believe the inspiration came from some crazy cookbook my Mom had on her shelf when I was little.  It was a hippie, vegetarian, free love collection of recipes.  If I recall correctly, the author, at some point in the book, recommended passing a joint to enhance the enjoyment of the meal.  It was written in the 70's, what do you expect?  And seriously, a good joint would "enhance the enjoyment" of about any meal, right?  I think the name of the cookbook was Epicureans Delight or something to that effect.  It had a very zaftig figure on the front.   If by some random chance you know what the book I'm referring to let me know!  I'd love to get my hands on it.

But I digress.  The basis of this recipe, sauteing zucchini and tomatoes hasn't changed much, I've just added to it,  with some wine, onions and basil.  None-the-less, it's healthy (vegetarian even!) easy to prepare and quite tasty if I do say so myself - and that's without the joint! 

Ingredients:

2 pounds zucchini - cut into 1 inch slices

1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, leave them whole. 
I found these heirlooms at the Trader Joe's.  Aren't they gorgeous?? They reminded me of gum balls!  So pretty.

1 yellow onion - diced

3 cloves garlic - minced

1 cup dry red wine

 
1 cup (approx) fresh basil - chopped

olive oil for sauteing the zucchini

salt and pepper to taste

Good quality cheese to grate.  Parmigiano-Reggiano is always the go to (but soooo pricey). This is Pecorino Romano, which I love.  Crumbled Feta or a little grated Asiago would be nice as well (and much more friendly on the pocket book!)

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In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add the sliced zucchini, season with salt and pepper and cook until they begin to brown. 

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and saute until they turn translucent.   
Next add the red wine to the pan to deglaze.   Turn the heat down and let the wine continue to simmer until it has reduced a bit - about 5 minutes or so.

Then add the tomatoes to the pan and cook on med-low until they soften and break open - about 10 - 15 minutes.

In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add the basil to the pan and check your seasonings. If needed add a bit more salt and pepper.

Meanwhile cook your pasta of choice according to the directions on the package.  Spoon the ragout over the pasta and add the cheese of your choice. 

Enjoy - remember, the joint is optional.

Steak Salad with Champagne and Mint Vinaigrette

Upon suggestion from my two amazing girlfriends/sisters, I am going to post some of my recipes here under "Girls Night Recipes."

For years (since the early days of my single motherhood) my two best gal pals would lug themselves over to my place to keep me company once a week.  It was my lifeline in those days, a chance for me to keep in touch with them and unload, laugh or just drink a little too much wine.

The menu usually consisted of our version of a PuPu Platter:  cheese, fruit, veggies, crackers, you get the idea.   But other times I'd repay their friendship and loyalty to girls night, with dinner. 

Since I was, and still am, a working mom, it had to be something I could put together pretty easily.  It also had to be on the healthful side, 'cause my girls and I are all about keeping our girlish figures for as long as we can.

So here's my first contribution to Girls Night Recipes:
 
Steak Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette. 

I would love it if you'd make it for your gal (or guy) pals and let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 lbs. steak (I usually go for what's on sale to be honest) marinated for at least 1 hour (see recipe for marinade below.)
2 red, orange or yellow peppers (or a combo)
1 large yellow onion - sliced into 1/2 moons
Grape or cherry tomatoes - cut in 1/2
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
Your choice of greens:  red leaf, arugula, spinach, I usually like a combo of all of these.
Champagne and Mint Vinaigrette (see recipe below)

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Begin by making the marinade and letting the meat marinate for at least an hour. (see recipe below)

Next, roast the peppers. 

You can do this under the broiler or on the bbq, whatever is easiest for you.  Once the peppers are charred on all sides, transfer them, while they are still hot, to a large bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

While those sit, caramelize your onions. 

In a large skillet heat up some olive oil over medium/high heat.  Add the onions and cook until they begin to brown, stirring them often. Then turn the heat to low and continue to cook the onions until they are soft and a nice golden color, about 20 minutes.   Set aside.

Now, take your peppers from the bowl and remove the seeds.  You can also remove the skin if you like, but I enjoy the charred flavor.  Dice the roasted peppers and set aside.

It's time to make the vinaigrette.  (see recipe below)

Next, cook your steak.  I cooked mine in a grill pan, but you can do it under the broiler or on the grill.  Cook it to your preferred "doneness"  I like medium rare.  Once it's done, set it on a cutting board, cover, and let it sit for at least 10 minutes, Then slice the steak into strips.

From here you can compose the salad, making one large salad or individual servings, as you like.   Place lettuce in the bowl.  Add steak, peppers, onions, feta and tomatoes.  Drizzle with vinaigrette and serve.

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For the Steak Marinade:

1 cup red wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic - mashed or minced
Thyme - to taste
salt and pepper

Put the meat in a nonreactive dish.  Poke a few holes in it with a fork.  Add all ingredients to the dish.  Cover and let the meat marinate for at least an hour, but longer is better.

For the Vinaigrette:
1 cup champagne vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
squeeze of lemon
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 table spoon fresh mint
pinch of oregano (or a little more if you are using fresh)
small scoop of the diced/roasted peppers
small spoonful of the caramelized onions
1 clove of garlic - minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Take all the ingredients and mix them together in a blender.  Place the vinaigrette in the refrigerator until you are ready to put your salad together.