Mediterranean Chicken Pitas (Ckng Lght July 08, pg 178) 4.5
Its summer. Summer means light things for meal. Summer means minimal kitchen time. This, was the perfect recipe for all three of those. I grilled a package of chicken thighs, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and let cool. Meanwhile, I took my yogurt and let it strain through a paper towel (I *have* to get some coffee filters) till nice and thick to mimic the Greek yogurt the recipe called for. I didn’t have enough after straining so I added some sour cream. This is tossed with cumin, chili powder, thyme and a tich of pepper. The cooled diced chicken is combined with red pepper, scallions (I subbed green onions from the garden), black olives and chickpeas, then everything is tossed together. This is served in pitas, and I decided to go with sprouts as my green because they transport well and you can mash them inside the pita.
I liked this dish. Unlike other chicken salad recipes, this one didn’t get soggy watery. I think draining the yogurt and sour cream is key. The flavors blended well and it made a lot. I think this would be good without the pitas, served over just a bit of salad greens or on its own.
Cavatappi Nicoise Salad (CL August 08, pg 148) 5.0
This one ended up with some rather significant modifications, but that’s the beauty of recipes. Their just “guidelines” after all! First, I subbed Lake Trout for the tuna. This was marinated in 7-up with a splash of lemon and fresh grated ginger, then grilled (I don’t like the taste of Lake Trout and I am in a continual quest to make it taste better). I forgot to by Cavatappi pasta, but I had medium shells on hand and I think those worked better anyway. I blanched my green beans in my pasta water to save time and water.
I love nicoise salads, and this one was pretty darn good. It was cool to have pasta instead of potatoes. The little shells captured the capers, black olives and the vinaigrette dressing in delicious cups of flavor where if it had been cavatappi pasta, I think all those small tidbits would have sank to the bottom of the bowl. I would make this again, maybe subbing salmon as an option. Mmm, sounds good...
Cedar Planked Salmon w/BBQ Spice Rub (CL Aug 08, pg 88) 5.0
This is part one of grill once - eat twice. A simple BBQ rub is whisked together (sugar, chili powder, cumin, thyme, salt, cinnamon, and paprika) and then rubbed over two or three wild salmon filets (mine were Alaskan caught). I like to add a bit of olive oil on top - it helps the toppings stay put. The filets are then placed on a soaked and pre-heated cedar plank and grilled until done. I wish I could add a “smell” link, the aroma of lightly baking cedar and cooking salmon was delicious! One filet we ate with freshly grilled corn-on-the-cob, the other was set aside for the next dish.
Grilled Salmon Tacos with Chipolte Sauce (CL Aug 08, pg 88) 5.0
The shredded fish from the previous night ended up in tacos! I don’t think I’ve had fish tacos more than a couple times, and these were outstanding. The toppings are “non-traditional” for us Scandahoovian and Germanic types - pickled onions (leftover from a previous dish), shredded cabbage tossed with scallions and lime juice, avocado (my addition, it needed to be used up) and the chipotle sauce. The chipolte sauce was simply mayo, one chopped chipolte pepper in adobo sauce, chili powder, and some lemon juice. I heated up the salmon on the grill in a little foil packet and lightly toasted some corn tortillas.
Result? Fantastic. And I LOVED how easy prep was! I need to do more of these “grill once, eat twice” dishes.
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