Curried Chicken Salad Wraps

This is a great recipe if you're looking for new ways to use up leftover chicken (or turkey, or pork...any white meat, really). You can whip this together in a few minutes and it makes a delicious light lunch or dinner. Add as many extra veggies as you'd like.

If you don't have any leftover chicken, drained canned chicken will work, or you can broil two skinless, boneless chicken breasts instead.

For the curry, I would recommend Penzey's Sweet Curry Powder. We were introduced to Penzey's spices when a friend gave us the 21-piece American Kitchen gift crate as a wedding present. It was an inspired gift to give to foodies. Every time we use one of the spices or herbs, we have thought about Ahna and John. Delicious memories.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
2/3 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup minced white onion
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (most of the time we use fresh minced garlic, but we like a more mellow garlic taste in this recipe)
Dash of salt and pepper
12 romaine lettuce leaves, ribs removed
6-12 low fat whole wheat tortillas

Directions

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the chicken, celery, onions, almonds, and raisins. In a separate bowl, beat together the mayonnaise and yogurt. Stir in the curry powder, garlic, salt and pepper until well blended. Pour the mayo mix into the chicken mixture and stir it well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Bend a package of flour tortillas back and forth a couple of times so that they unstick from each other. Open the bag and heat the tortillas in a microwave oven for 30 seconds, or until warm and pliable. Alternatively, you can heat the tortillas on a flat ungreased griddle for 1-2 minutes on each side, until they begin to bubble but before they are toasted.

Place two romaine leaves on a tortilla. You can double up the tortillas if they are thin and break easily. Serve 1/4 to 1/3 cup of chicken mixture on each tortilla. Fold over 2" of the bottom edge of the tortilla over the mixture. Wrap the right side over the left. Pick up the wrap and eat from the open side.

Serves 3-4.

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Tuscan Marinated Eggplant Salad (Ensalata di Melanzane)

Joe and I spent the first day of our honeymoon in the airport in Rome waiting for a flight to Pisa, where our luggage had gone and where our rental car was waiting. We missed our connecting flight because of slow lines going through Customs. After several hours, and a couple more cancelled flights, we decided to rent a car and drive up to our cottage in Tuscany.

I didn't even make it out of the parking garage before crawling into the back seat and going to sleep. I was struggling with jet lag and exhaustion from weeks of wedding arrangements. I couldn't drive a stick shift anyway, so I wasn't much use in driving the Autostrada.

We were hours late in arriving at the Agriturismo where we would spend the next week. Our hosts at Rosa dei Venti, who operated the hotel and villas on an ancestral working farm, welcomed us with prosecco and a meal they'd made especially for us: an antipasti plate of sausages and cheeses, marinated eggplant salad, a meaty pasta sauce called Ragu di Carne, a stewed rabbit and chicken dish (coniglio in umido alla toscana), an apricot tart, and fresh figs from the tree next to our cottage.

They also brought two bottles of hearty Barbaresco wine, and we toasted everything we could think of. The family's German Shepherd, Azzo, nosed his way into our villa and sat down by the hearth. We tossed him scraps of rabbit and practiced our Italian. Azzo pricked up his ears no matter which language we spoke to him.

Later, we lay out in the grass and listened to the festival in the tiny town of Creti below us, the high-speed bullet trains rushing from town to town, and the sunflower heads rattling against each other in the vast field to the north. It was a beautiful day.

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant

1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chopped Roma or plum tomato

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp fresh basil, snipped

Directions

Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Heat a dry griddle and sprinkle it with salt. Toast the eggplant on each side until brown and tender, about 5 minutes per side. Finely chop the parsley.

Place the eggplant on a platter. Drizzle with vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil and scatter the parsley evenly over the slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Marinate for at least 1 hour at room temperature.

Cut the tomatoes into a small dice and let the juices drain out in a colander or sieve. Stir in the last tbsp of olive oil, the garlic, and the basil. Spoon the tomatoes over the eggplant just before serving it at room temperature.

Serves 4-6 as a side salad, or 8-10 as an appetizer.

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Mushroom and Pine Nut Wild Rice Pilaf

The first time I remember having wild rice was when I was visiting family in Minnesota at Christmastime. A snowstorm delayed our trip back to the airport, and I ran to the gate with my little girls panting to keep up, just to meet a closed door and an apologetic flight attendant telling us she was sorry about our missed flight, in that cute Fargo-type accent.

Jenny burst into tears.

The sweet little attendant looked stricken. She booked us on the next flight and upgraded us to first class. We spent the next couple of hours strolling through the airport shops, where we discovered the deliciousness of Caribou coffee and I learned about the cultivation and harvesting of wild rice, the seeds that Native Americans have so generously offered the world. Minnesota is very proud of its wild rice.

Wild rice seems to be a natural pair-up with poultry or fish, so I served this easy rice pilaf with Alaskan pollock baked in white wine, salad burnet, and dill. If you don't have pine nuts, the buttery-sweet flavor of pecans is a good substitute.

Ingredients

1 cup mixed wild rice and brown rice

1 tbsp oil

1/2 cup chopped white onion

1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms

1 tsp chopped rosemary

2 cups chicken broth

Directions

Toast the rice in a dry skillet until some of the grains are browner. Set the rice aside. Heat the oil in the skillet, then add the mushrooms and onions and brown them on medium-high heat. Stir frequently so they do not burn.

Add the rosemary and chicken broth, then stir in the rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover the pan. Simmer for 40-45 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed and the grains are tender and chewy. 

Toast the pine nuts in a small pan until they are slightly browned. Don't toast them too much, or they will taste bitter. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the rice before serving.

Makes 4-6 side dishes.

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Red Wine-Marinated Pot Roast

This red wine-marinated pot roast is an old-fashioned recipe with ties to both Germany and France. The juniper berries and cloves are typical of a German beef roast, while the cloves and bay leaves are more typically provincial French. Joe thinks this is the most flavorful, rich way to cook a pot roast, and the herbs and seasoning make it a bit different. This is perfect for a special dinner party or a nice weekend supper.

Start the recipe one a day ahead so that the beef marinates in the red wine sauce for a good long time. Slowly braise the beef the next day with some hearty root vegetables like carrots and onions and you'll enjoy the smells wafting from the kitchen all afternoon. I bet you won't even need to call the family to dinner - they'll be sitting there waiting for it.

When we made this pot roast for Sunday night dinner, we used my great-grandma Therese (Hopfner) Detzner's cream-and-gold china. Seems a shame to just store the china in the cabinet all the time.  I'm sure my very German ancestors would have loved this German-inspired recipe, too.

Ingredients

For the Marinade

2 cups dry, medium bodied red wine (try a pinot noir, syrah/shiraz, or cabernet sauvignon)

1/2 cup carrot, cut into matchstick pieces

1/2 cup onions, very thinly sliced

1/2 cup celery, cut into matchstick pieces

2 garlic cloves, smashed

3 whole cloves, or 1 tsp ground cloves

2 bay leaves

1 tsp whole juniper berries, or 2 tbsp gin (look for juniper berries in a jar at a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or  specialty store; keep them in the fridge or freezer for future recipes I will share with you)

For the Roast

3-4 lb nicely marbled boneless chuck, eye of round, or shoulder roast

2/3 cup olive oil
2 large yellow onions

4 large carrots

4 cloves of garlic, minced

6 large potatoes
2 cups beef broth

1/2 cup cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mix together all marinade ingredients in a non-reactive bowl. Place the meat in the bowl and turn in over several times to coat it with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook (at least 4 hours, but it is best if it marinates for a whole day).

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Drain the meat, retaining the marinade. Pour 2 tbsp of oil into a dutch oven or large pot. Heat the oil, then sear the meat on all sides until well browned (a few minutes per side, including the short sides and ends). Pour the marinade over the meat, cover, and place in the oven. If you prefer to cook this on the stove, bring the marinade to a boil, then reduce heat as low as possible and allow to simmer. Cook the roast for 3 hours, turning and basting occasionally, and adding a little water if the liquid gets very thick or falls below 2" .

Near the end of this cooking time, peel the onions and carrots. Slice the onions into small wedges. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan, then brown the onions on all sides. Remove them to a plate or bowl. Slice the carrots into 1" wide pieces on a bias. Heat up 2 more tbsp oil and brown them quickly on all sides. Add them to the onions.

Add the onions, carrots, and 2 of the garlic cloves to top of the meat. Do not mix the vegetables into the pot, or they will get brown and mushy. Cook for 45 minutes more.

In the last 30 minutes of the cooking time, scrub the potatoes and cut them into 2" pieces. Heat the last of the oil and add the potatoes. Brown them on all sides, then add the last two garlic cloves. Add 2 tbsp of water and cover the frying pan. Reduce the heat to low and allow the potatoes to cook slowly.

Remove the roast and set it on a carving block. Discard the cloves, berries, and bay leaves. Strain the vegetables out of the pan juices and put them into a bowl to keep warm in the oven. Pour the cooking liquid back into the pan and add the beef broth. Bring to a boil. Stir together 1/2 cup cold water and the corn starch. Slowly pour it into the broth, stirring constantly. Continue to boil until the broth becomes a thick gravy.

Serve hearty slices of the roast with the sides of vegetables and potatoes, and plenty of gravy. Dinner rolls are great for sopping up the extra sauce.

Serves 6-8.

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Our Favorite Party Appetizers

I'll be honest, we're not usually football fanatics, but we love a good Big Game commercial as well as anyone. One year, a friend of ours had a source that leaked the commercials to her a week ahead of time. At her party, she gave us a little game sheet to play "Guess the Commercial?" Her clues were pretty hilarious, and nobody got up to use the bathroom in the breaks.

Elote (Creamy Corn) Dip

These appetizers are really any kind of party snacks. A lot of these have been well-loved by our monthly bible study group and our Cooking Party friends.

Roasted Red Pepper-Pine Nut Bruschetta

Joe has been making the roasted red pepper-pine nut bruschetta since I first met him, and if he ever starts wondering what he should make for the next get-together, I always suggest this one. There's some sort of magic that happens when you let the nuts, fresh roasted peppers, garlic, golden raisins, and herbs marinate together. I'd really like a bowl of that right now.

Salted Caramel Dreamboats

I learned how to make chocolates in my Grandma's cake and candy store, and I love throwing a candy-making party with my friends. These are truly addictive little bites, so you might want to make a big batch. They're super easy to make!

P.S. I call these "dreamboats" because once in a while my grandma would talk about the days when she dated grandpa, and he was a real dreamboat. That translates just fine over generations.

Hot Reuben Dip

We usually make this in the fall, because it kind of fits an Oktoberfest theme or maybe it's just a fall type of food. One time we showed up a day early for our friends' Oktoberfest party, then stayed to help them cook, including this dip which I immediately needed to make again. Awesome.

Seafood-Stuffed Portobella Caps

This may be a bold statement, but I believe you could stuff just about anything in a mushroom cap and I'd like it.

Eat well, my friends!

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