Curried Chicken Cashew Salad W/ Pictures
2 comments Posted by Julie Barfuss at Monday, June 02, 2008Ok....so, I didn't have to wait long to have the opportunity to assembly this yummy salad! First of all, let's review the ingredients: Chicken (not pictured, as it was in the steamer, working on getting cooked), rice (also not pictured...also getting cooked), celery, green onion, frozen peas, mayonnaise, lemon juice, curry powder, salt and pepper. Don't they all look happy...so much potential!
So...I like to steam my chicken in this Black and Decker "handy steamer". It's one of my favorite appliances and it gets a lot of use in my kitchen. Chicken, when cooked this way is very flavorful and moist.
So, while the chicken and rice are cooking, let's work on the rest of the salad. First I chopped up the celery. I also chopped up the celery tops (the leafy part). I like the added flavor those leaves give to the salad. Kind-of slightly spicy. Also, I will just note, that if you are lucky enough to own a knife that is celery green like mine...you should definitely choose to use it whenever you have the opportunity to chop celery! I mean, how fun is that? :) In case you are wondering...I got my knife from the Pampered Chef. I really really really wanted a santoku knife, but didn't want to pay as much as they cost. This was kind-of a mini version, and the color is what sold me completely.
Ok...enough about my knife. Once you've chopped the celery, add it to the bowl. (And don't pay attention to my cell phone sitting under the bowl!)
Next add the frozen peas to the bowl. Don't worry about thawing them out. They will thaw pretty quickly all on their own.
Then chop up some green onions....(there's that green knife again!)
Oh! I just realized I also left the cashews out of the ingredient picture. I'm not doing so well today, am I? You are going to need 2 cups of cashews, and that's a lot. I bought this big container at Costco. I like that they are whole cashews and "fancy" at that. But you can use any variety.
Ok....now let's work on the dressing. It's hard to see, but there is mayonnaise in that bowl.
Next we will be adding some curry powder. Those of you who don't love curry...(Alan)...don't worry because there is only a 1/2 teaspoon. Really, that's not much. If you love curry (like me) you can always add a little bit more.
And now a little salt. (note: I use kosher salt)
And add some pepper too. I was busy grinding my pepper, and it takes two hands, so you don't get a photo of that, but you can see that I've put the pepper in...
Did I mention, I LOVE this pepper. :) I didn't used to like pepper at all, and then I discovered this. It's a whole new world of pepper for me!
Hopefully your chicken is done steaming. If you are me, and you are bad at timing your salad making, you probably had to go surf the internet for a half hour or so while your chicken finished. So, now, being careful not to burn your fingers, dice that chicken into bite-sized pieces.
Again, I was not really good at my salad-making-timing this day, and I really needed to leave in about 20 minutes. The chicken was still hot, and the rice wasn't cooling down very well either. Well...I thought you might enjoy my solution...the freezer! We did a quick chill.
Then put it all together and stir. (I was in a hurry and forgot to photograph the stirring) But here is the final result. Yummy!
And here we are at the party....everyone LOVED the salad. And the party was fun too!
Man-O-Man, it's summertime and I am feeling ready to participate in some summer BBQ/Picnic/get-together fun. I feel like I have been a slacker lately and haven't really posted much. But I wanted to share one of my favorite "take to a pot-luck Summer picnic/BBQ" dishes. So here we go. It's called Curried Chicken Cashew Salad, and I have to credit my good friend Robin Olsen (not the Robin I knew in High School..Rebecca's sister..whom I would still count as a good friend, but my OTHER friend Robin!) She brought this salad to a party once, and when I tasted it, I thought I had died and gone to chicken salad heaven! I will post pictures of this sometime later, when I have made it (which I will soon!)
First you need the Ingredients: 3 Chicken Breasts, cooked and diced, 1 Cup of chopped celery, 1 Cup frozen peas, 3 Cups cooked white rice (or feel free to substitute in wild rice, or whatever you like...Robin uses a Costco rice blend of wheat, red, and wild rice), 1/3 Cup of chopped green onions, 2 Cups of dry roasted cashews, 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise, 1/2 tsp. curry powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, AND 1 1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Juice.
Basically, you mix the chicken, celery, peas, rice, green onions, and cashews together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, curry powder, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Add the dressing to the chicken mix and Voila! You have super yummy chicken salad!
Ok so I also stole my recipe off of the web for the crust. I have made pizza twice in the past month and used two kinds of crust recipes, and this one is the better one. So here it is.Ingredients
* 2 1/2-3 cups flour
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 2 1/4 teaspoons fast rising yeast (or fast rise, 1 envelope)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)
* 2 tablespoons oil
1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt; blend well.
2. Gradually add water and oil to mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, add 1 1/2 to 2 cupa flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
3. On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover loosely with plastic and let rest in a warm place for about 15 minutes.
4. Press out dough onto (2) 12-inch pizza pans. Prick randomly with a fork. Let rest again in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
5. Brush crusts lightly with oil then pre-bake them in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes.
6. Top as desired, then bake again in 450 degree oven for 4-5 minutes, or until desired doneness.
So I made up the recipe for the sauce and Im open to suggestions here. It was good but im sure it could be better. It was going to bee good with fresh herbs I suppose but oh well.
1 can of tomato sauce, heavily sprinkled with Oregano, Basil, Onion powder, and Garlic Powder.
spread it on the pizza dough thick after the 5 minute pre-bake, and then top with your favorite toppings
I topped with Tons of Mozzarella of course and then Mushrooms and spicy sausage (left over breakfast sausage) The second pizza had Ham and Pineapple. Guess what? the pizza was pretty dang good! the whole thing took a little longer than 1 hour! I cant wait till the girls are older and we can do this one together!
This one is a classic and of course its really quick and easy... for me anyways.
The ingredients - Shrimp (peeled and de-veined and raw), Garlic, Parmesan Cheese, Lemon Zest, Pasta, Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar, Chicken Broth, and Salt and Pepper
The amount of the ingredients used as always depends on you, how many shrimp would you like in your pasta? How Garlicky do you like it? How Lemony? etc.I cover the bottom of the pan with some Olive Oil and add 2-3 cloves fresh chopped Garlic. Let it cook for a good 30 seconds and add the shrimp.
add about 1/4 cup of chicken stock, and a tablespoon or two of White wine vinegar, and let the shrimp get all happy for a minute or two in that. By the way you should have some pasta cooking on the side and it should be done by now and ready to go. If you don't have any chicken stock or white wine vinegar you can substitute some of the pasta water form your pasta and some apple juice or another kind of vinegar.
Add the pasta, I used Whole Wheat Spaghetti (Yum) and then add as much Parmesan cheese as you want, lemon zest, and salt and pepper.
Of course down here in the South Mexican food doesn't really exist. There are some Mexican restaurants, however they leave quite a bit to be desired. So if you are from out West where the Mexican food is authentic, and you have been transplanted to where its not, then you just have to make your own. This is quick and easy, and cheap. Plus you can totally grow all this in your garden.
I used canned tomatoes because I don't have any from the garden yet, and when I do get some from the garden they taste so good, I choose other things to put them in.So cut open a Jalapeño and remove the seeds,or leave them in if your inclined to make the Salsa hotter. If you really want it hot use a Habanero pepper instead. Grab an onion, some garlic, some cilantro, and put it all into the food processor, or the blender, or use a knife to chop it up all small as you please. Open the tomato cans and drain all the juice. Add them to the processor, cut at least one lime in half preferably two or three and squeeze as much juice form them as you can into the mess, salt and pepper to taste and you have Salsa. What a crappy picture this is, I need to learn how to use the camera or something.
So what to do with all this salsa? Well you could just eat it on chips. Or you could make something else. I like to make guacamole. Cut open 3 or 4 avocados and squish them all up, minus the pits. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the salsa and whalla you have guacamole. Or make some fish tacos... Mmmm. thats what I did. Grilled up some Cod with a little honey and chili powder, added some cheese and salsa and wrapped the whole thing in a corn tortilla. cant forget the lime juice. Does it get any better than that. Well maybe it does, if your sitting on the beach in Mexico eating it!
As always I try to keep it really simple and tasty. This one is so easy and quick and of course very versatile. Here are the ingredients. Broccoli, Beef Broth, Soy Sauce, thin steak, or stew meat, Onion, corn starch, Water, Crushed Red Pepper, and your choice of Oil. I used Sesame, but its also good with Peanut Oil.
First pour your broth into a bowl and add 2 Tablespoons of Corn Starch, about 1 Tablespoon of Crushed red pepper, 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce and a cup of water. The Corn starch is going to sink to the bottom and thats ok you can stir it all up later.
Meanwhile Cook up all that broccoli and onion in a little bit of Oil. I put about 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil in the pan and then added just a touch of Sesame Oil. That stuff is powerful so be careful. If your using Peanut oil then you can fore go the Oilve Oil and just use a couple of Tablespoons of that. Also I used a Vidalia Onion, but Its also really good with Spring Onions. Since I'm in the south I have to take advantage of the Vidalias...
When your done with the broccoli, which should be pretty quick, you want to just cook it until its tender crisp dump it into that bowl of broth and put your steak which you cut into bite sized strips into the pan. The pan should be scorching hot and I put the meat in just a few pieces at a time, because it cooks so quick. you are literally turning it over as fast as it goes in. The pan needs to be hot enough to brown the beef but not cook it all the way through. That way it will be melt in your mouth tender when you eat it instead of tough strips of leather!
Doesn't all that meat look tasty! Your pan should look like a huge mess to clean and of course thats a good thing because you are ready to dump the meat, and the broccoli and all the broth back in to deglaze and finish it all off.
Be sure to give the broth a good stir to get the cornstarch incorporated back in.
Bring the whole thing to to a quick boil and then remove from the heat. It will be all bubbly and begin to thicken. Its now ready to eat, so actually we should have discussed what to eat it with. I put it on top of some whole wheat noodles here and it was delicious.
This is the day after when I took the leftovers and put it on Rice. Very good as well! Enjoy!
In Honor of BBQ Season...which is quickly approaching
1 comments Posted by Julie Barfuss at Tuesday, April 15, 2008Are you planning on cooking chicken on the BBQ for say, 30 people? Well, I have no pictures, but I thought it would be fun to post one of my favorite recipes, even if I haven't made and photographed it yet. This one, in particular, because I might not have an opportunity to make it anytime soon. (due to the large quantities!) Anyhow, I got this recipe from my good friend Keith, whom I work with. He uses it for scout campouts/bbq's etc. He taught it to me and we made it the year we were in charge of the office Summer Party together. (Good times!)
Anyway, here you go. (Oh, and this is my small disclaimer, the name is Keith's, not mine!)
Keith's "Damn Good" Chicken Marinade
(recipe good for up to 10 lbs. of meat -- approx. 30 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
(1) Pint Soy Sauce
(1) quart 7-up
(1) T. Horseradish
(1) T Garlic Powder
(1) Pint cooking oil
1) Place defrosted chicken in large tupperware bowl (Doesn't everyone own one of those "That's a Bowl"?)
2) In separate bowl, mix marinade ingredients until fully assimilated)
3) Pour marinade into chicken-laden bowl, place lid on tightly & refridgrate for entire marination process
4) Marinate chicken for 12 hours - carefully shake bowl every hour (make sure lid is on and on good!)
