Classic Chicken Salad

With hurricane Sandy in town, I've been thinking about different meals I could make that we could have already available, no cooking necessary, in case we lose our power. And chicken salad is one of those meals I could eat all year round; it's delicious no matter the season. I know most people probably already have their own favorite version of chicken salad, but this recipe is so good, it's worth posting.

Since apples are available now, I made this version with honeycrisp apples. But if I make it in the spring, I usually use sliced green grapes and celery instead. Chopped walnuts and almonds also make nice additions to chicken salad, really you can make a million variations and they {almost}always turn out delicious. This recipe is adapted from the one in Cooks Illustrated May & June 2012 and makes the perfect classic chicken salad.

Classic Chicken Salad
serves 4-6
salt and pepper (I use seasoning salt too)
4 (6-8 ounce), skinless chicken breasts, no more than 1 inch thick
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 honeycrisp apple, chopped (depending on the season, I'll use 1 cup of green grapes, sliced in half, instead of the apples and add in 2 ribs of celery to add some crunch)
2 green onions, sliced
salad greens

1.) Dissolve 2 tablespoons salt in 6 cups cold water in a Dutch oven and submerge the chicken in water. Heat pot over medium heat until water registers 170 degrees. Turn off heat, cover pot, and let stand until chicken registers 165 degrees, 15-17 minutes.

2.) Transfer chicken to paper towel lined plate and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes. While chicken cools, whisk mayo, lemon juice, mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in a large bowl.

3.) Pat chicken dry and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Transfer chicken to bowl with mayo mixture. Add apple, green onion and anything else you like in your salad and toss to combine. Season with pepper and seasoning salt and serve on a bed of your favorite salad greens. Salad can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. 

Creamy Cauliflower and Leek Soup

This hearty soup is a starch-less variation of the popular leek and potato soup and makes an excellent winter stand-by. It stores well in the fridge and tastes great as leftovers. You can even make a double batch and freeze half of the soup to defrost for an easy meal on a cold day.

Creamy Cauliflower and Leek Soup
serves 6-8
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound leeks, cleaned and dark green sections removed (about 4-5 medium leeks)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound cauliflower, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
1 cup heavy cream
2-3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
green onions or chives for garnish (and cooked & crumbled bacon, if you'd like!)

1.) In a pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and a few shakes of salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook until the leeks are tender, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the wine and stir.

2.) Add the cauliflower and the broth, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and gently simmer until the cauliflower is soft, about 30 minutes.

3.) Turn off the heat and puree the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender, you'll just have to ladle it in in batches.) Stir in the heavy cream and cheddar and adjust seasoning to taste. Sprinkle with chives/green onions/bacon and serve!

Maple Flan

Flan is a dessert that I've been wanting to learn how to do right for awhile, since it's one of the standard Cuban desserts. And since we're a little unclear on whether or not caramel is starchy I decided to take a different (but equally delicious) route with our flan and use maple syrup. Roi says that this recipe is more like a "restaurant" version of flan as opposed to a "homestyle" version. I'm not really sure what that means but I'm taking it as a compliment. This recipe makes unbelievable creamy flan, and real maple syrup is the perfect compliment.

This recipe is adapted from the flan recipe in America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two 2009 cookbook. I doubled the recipe and exchanged the caramel for maple, but other than that, the recipe was perfect.

{adding the maple to the ramekins}

{adding the custard to the ramekins}

{in the oven}

{baked custards}

Maple Flan
makes 4 servings
1/4 cup real maple syrup (not a corn syrup substitute! gross!)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup milk (I used whole milk, but you can use any type)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1.) Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Place a kitchen towel at the bottom of a 9X13 inch baking pan. Grease four 6-ounce ramekins, divide maple syrup between the ramekins and place them on the towel.
2.) Whisk the egg and egg yolk together in a medium bowl. Whisk in the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. Divide the custard evenly between the four ramekins.
3.) Place the baking pan in the oven and carefully pour enough boiling water into the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake the custards until the centers are just barely set, 25-30 minutes.
4.) Carefully remove the ramekins from the water bath and let the custards cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Cover the ramekins tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or up to 1 day.
5.) Run a small knife around one of the ramekins to loosen the custard. Place an inverted serving plate over the top and quickly flip the custard onto the plate, drizzling any extra maple over the top. Repeat with the remaining custard and serve.

Pork Chops with Mozzarella and Homemade Tomato Sauce

It's like pizza on your pork chops! This dish makes an excellent weeknight dinner because it's simple to put together and you can leave it alone to cook. And it's pretty quick, especially if you have the tomato sauce made ahead of time. Roi said that he thought it tasted even better as leftovers, which he doesn't say about anything really, so you know that these have to be good.

This is another recipe adapted from Everyday Food and you can find the original recipe right here.  I decided to pan-cook my pork so that I could get it really tender, so my cheese didn't brown like in the original recipe that was done under the broiler. If you go with the broiler method instead, let me know how it turns out! My tomato sauce for this recipe is taken directly from my Starch Free Pizza post and is just re-posted here for your convenience. It's my go-to, on-the-fly tomato sauce.

{getting things ready}

{browning the meat and making the sauce}

Pork Chops with Mozzerella and Tomato Sauce
serves 4-6 (depending on how much you want to make)
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 lb. pork chops/pork cutlets
1/2-3/4 cup tomato sauce (see recipe below for making your own)
6-8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into slices

1.) Trim the pork chops and season with salt and pepper. Add a few lugs of olive oil to a large skillet and heat on the stove over medium-high heat until the olive oil is fragrant.
2.) Add the pork chops to the pan and cook on first side until browned, 2-3 minutes. Then flip them over and brown the other side.
3.) Once both sides of the pork are browned, turned the heat down to medium low, cover the skillet and let simmer for 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye on the skillet, just to make sure the pork chops don't burn. If bottom starts to caramelize, just de-glaze the pan by adding in a little white wine or sherry. And don't skimp out on this part, this is what makes the pork really tender.
4.) Still in the pan, cover the pork chops in tomato sauce then add a slice or two of mozzerella to each one. Re-cover the pan and let cook until mozzerella is melted, about 5 minutes.
5.) Serve with a lettuce salad and add extra tomato sauce on top, if you're like me and you like it extra saucy.

Simple Tomato Sauce*
makes 1/2-3/4 cup
2-3 tablespoons butter
4-6 medium tomatoes, chopped (depends on how much sauce you want!)
a small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper
basil, oregano (to your liking)

1.) Add butter and onion to a saucepan and saute over medium heat until onion is tender and starting to turn golden in color.
2.) Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic.
3.) Add white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Add tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium high.
4.) Once the sauce starts boiling, I usually turn the heat back down to medium and let the sauce lightly boil for awhile, so that most of the moisture from the tomatoes can evaporate.
5.) Once the sauce begins to thicken (after 10-15 minutes), add the seasoning to taste. Turn the heat down very low and let the sauce thicken.

**I never really measure anything when I make this sauce, I kind of just throw in what I have available, go on what feels right, and keep tasting it as I go along. It always turns out delicious; this sauce is almost impossible to mess up.

Cold Cucumber Soup

I know that this recipe is kind of late because summer is gone, and I actually meant to post on this almost 2 months ago, but I forgot so I'm posting it now. You'll just have to deal with it. Wink. Wink. I'll be posting much more Fall-friendly recipes from now on, so you can breathe easy.

And I think I've told you this before, but this year our cucumber plant has done really well, giving us a steady stream of giant cucumbers. So I was left trying to find different cucumber recipes to make so that Roi didn't get sick of eating the same cucumber salad every week.

I adapted this recipe from the Cold Cucumber and Yogurt Soup in Judith Jones' cookbook, that I inherited from my grandma. This soup is really light and refreshing and makes a good substitute for a salad with your lunch or dinner.

Cold Cucumber Soup
serves 2
2 medium cucumbers
2 scallions
1 1/3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
fresh chives or dill

Peel the cucumber and roughly chop. Trim the scallions of the course outer layers and chop into rough pieces. Put the cucumber and scallions with the broth and sour cream into a food processor/blender and blend until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper to tasted. Pour into a chilled soup bowl and sprinkle with herbs.