Curried Chicken Salad

After using leftovers creatively, my most frugal tip is to buy whole chickens and cut them up yourself as opposed to buying chicken pieces at the grocery store. This guarantees that, if you are cooking for two (or two plus a toddler, like I am) you will get two meals out of one bird. The first, of course, is what you make with the thighs, drums, and breasts. The second is what you do with the carcass. Here is what I did with my bird last week: Curried Chicken Salad.

Chicken salad is an incredibly flexible dish and can be simple (mayo, celery and dill) or all dolled up, like it is here. Apples and raisins are always in my house, so that was easy. Celery is a useful veggie and adds base flavors in soups and stews - just be sure to wrap it tightly in aluminum foil so it doesn't wilt within the week. Curry powder is another staple to have on hand. Experiment with different brands - some are sweeter, some are spicier - and find one you like. I stuffed the Curried Chicken Salad into a split croissant, but it goes great on whole wheat bread, and is even easier on the diet when served in Bibb lettuce leaves.

Curried Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• I chicken carcass, or two bone-in breasts
• 1 small apple, diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1/3 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 - 2 teaspoons curry powder, to taste
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Boil the chicken carcass in salted water until cooked through and falling off the bone. When done, remove from water and let cool in a bowl.
2. While the chicken is cooking, dice the apple and celery and add them in a large bowl. Squeeze the lemon over them to keep the apples from browning. Add the raisins and cilantro.
3. Mix the curry powder and mayo together, and taste - it will need salt and maybe pepper and more lemon juice.
4. Remove the chicken from the bones and shred or chop finely. Add to the apple mixture and stir in mayo and curry dressing and chopped cilantro. Mix well and chill until ready to eat.

You can substitute plain yogurt for half of the mayo, if you like. Also, chopped walnuts would be great in this!

Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine

Of all the things in the refrigerator that can go bad, fresh herbs are the worst. I can't tell you how many times I've purchased a bunch of cilantro / parsley / basil / et cetera for one recipe, put the remainder in the veggie drawer, and forgotten about it until it was useless green mush. Herbs are expensive, especially in the winter when you can't grow them outside, so to waste them is painful to me.

Case in point: I made the Green Goddess Salad, which used a few tablespoons of chopped tarragon, a few nights ago. I still had more than half a container of tarragon to use, and desperately needed a recipe for it. A quick search of foodnetwork.com found a Giada De

Laurentis recipe for Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine.

Buy a whole chicken, cut it up for this recipe, and use the carcass for another. I didn't have cippolini onions, so I diced half a red onion instead. For the wine, I had half a bottle of Reisling in the fridge, and I liked the brightness and gentle acidity it lent to the sauce. We mopped up the leftovers with crusty bread and ate it with a salad.

Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine

(recipe by Giada De Laurentis, courtesy of foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (4 -5 pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• salt and pepper
• flour for dusting
• 1 1/2 cups cipollini or pearl onions, trimmed and peeled
• 4 cloves garlic, halved
• 1 cup white wine, such as Riesling
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus 1/3 cup
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves, plus 2 tablespoons
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the oil over high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, to taste, and dust with flour. Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside.
2. Heat the same pan used for the chicken over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high. Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
3. Return the chicken pieces to the pan. Add 3 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of tarragon and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook, turning the chicken pieces over every 10 minutes, until cooked through, about 30 minutes total for the breasts and wings and 40 minutes total for the legs and thighs. Transfer the chicken to a platter and loosely tent with foil while finishing the sauce.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 1/3 cup chicken broth and flour. Whisk the flour mixture into the sauce until smooth. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the butter and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve the sauce over the chicken and garnish with the remaining 2 tablespoons of tarragon.

Green Goddess Salad With Shrimp

I am a huge believer in eating what's in season. It ensures you eat a variety of fruits and veggies, and can help you save money, because it's cheaper to buy what's fresh at the farmer's market than to pony up the big bucks for foreign produce at the grocery store (not to mention the environmental impact of shipping fruit from South America.) That said, sometimes, in the midst of winter, when days are cold and nights are long, you crave a bright bit of summer. Rules are made to be broken, and when I saw the fresh tarragon in the produce aisle, well, I couldn't resist.

Green goddess dressing is really easy to make and easily adaptable to whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. Parsley is always available, and so are green onions, so you just need to find one more flavor component to make your dressing zing. Tarragon is my favorite, but other recipes I've seen feature basil or even arugula. And don't leave out the anchovy paste! If you've never used it before, don't be scared - it adds a salty, almost soy sauce flavor, and isn't fishy or gross. A tube of it will keep in your fridge forever, and I keep it handy for Caesar salad.

You could easily sub out the shrimp in the salad for cooked chicken, canned tuna, or hard-boiled eggs for you vegetarians out there. This salad is terrific during the summer when herbs are plentiful, and a real treat in the depths of winter.

Green Goddess Salad With Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh raw shrimp (I used 21-25, but smaller or larger is fine)
• 1 large bag salad greens of your choice (at least 3 oz. salad per person)
• 1 small red or yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 3 tablespoons toasted pepitas (optional)

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• juice of one lemon
• a 2-inch-long squeeze of anchovy paste
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 green onions, white and green parts
• 3 tablespoons parsley, or more
• 2 tablespoons tarragon, or more

Directions:

1. Make the dressing: I just put everything in the food processor. Yup, it was that easy. Blend it all up, taste it - does it need more tarragon? More lemon? More anchovy? Fix it, blend it, taste again. Once you have it perfect, put it in the fridge to chill while you make the salad.
2. Shell the shrimp. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon butter, and add shrimp. Salt them and cook for about 90 seconds, or until pink on the bottom. Flip the shrimp and cook for another minute or two until opaque and hot through. Be careful not to overcook or the shrimp will get tough and rubbery.
3. Add the pepitas and shrimp to the salad and dress liberally with the green goddess dressing and fresh cracked pepper.

We ate this with pita chips and some hummus for a light and fantastic supper!

Project: Rescuing Rice

The Patient: 12 ounces cooked Basmati rice

Status: Declining

Solution: Indian Rice Pudding!

I love Basmati rice. It has the most wonderful perfume to it and isn't as sticky or heavy-feeling as the Korean rice we usually eat here. I made a pot of Basmati rice in the rice cooker, to go along with a vegetable curry and Lamb Kofta Curry. We ate everything but a good cup and a half of cooked rice. Instead of trying to cobble together something to eat with that small amount of rice, I decided to tackle it head-on. Rice, once cooked, doesn't stay nice for long, so that night, after dinner, I made Indian Rice Pudding.

In my pantry I had a can of coconut milk, and I pawed through my spice cabinet to find something to bring life to an otherwise bland dish. I think it was a success. The proof? I ate half for dessert and the other half for breakfast.

Indian Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked Basmati rice
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise pods
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Place the rice and coconut milk in a small pot over low heat. Add the spices, stir in the sugar, and simmer on low for about half an hour. The rice will de-clump, the milk will thicken, and the kitchen should smell heavenly.
2. Once your preferred consistency has been reached, remove cinnamon stick, anise, and cardamom pods. Serve warm with cinnamon sprinkled on top. You could eat this with some sliced mangoes, if you have them on hand.

Moo-less Chocolate Pie

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through my head, recipes were stirring, filling me with dread. We were hosting the festivities on Christmas Day, and I wanted to make two desserts. I'd already decided on an apple pie, thanks in part to my husband bringing home a huge box of apples, each one the size of a small child's head. Scrambling for another recipe, I racked my brain for something easy that wouldn't need much (or any) time in the oven, since we were already planning on roasting some vegetables that morning.

Randomly I cruised around the Food Network website, thinking maybe something chocolate would pop up. And there it was: Alton Brown's "Moo-less Chocolate Pie." I scanned it - quick, no-bake, and no trips to the grocery store needed. Bingo!

I used a block of tofu I had stashed in the fridge (soft, not silken, but close enough) and a bag of chocolate chips purchased in last week's cookie-baking frenzy. The recipe calls for coffee liqueur, which I didn't have, so I used an equivalent amount of coffee. Since my pie plate was already occupied, I made a quick graham cracker crumb crust in my tart pan. Two hours later, and with the addition of a little whipped cream, I had a rich, decadent, relatively healthy dessert that walloped you with chocolate. Easy as pie, indeed!

Moo-less Chocolate Pie

(Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown at foodtv.com)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
• 1/3 cup coffee liqueur (I'm assuming Kahlua would be great)
• 1 block silken tofu
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 prepared chocolate wafer crust (though any pie crust would be delicious)

Directions:

1. Place a small metal bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Melt the chocolate chips and coffee liqueur in the bowl. Stir in vanilla.
2. Combine the tofu, chocolate mixture and honey in the jar of a blender. Liquefy until smooth.
3. Pour the filling into the crust and refrigerate for two hours, or until the filling is set.

(Note: I tried making this in my blender. Maybe my motor isn't strong enough, but it didn't mix well. I poured it out of the blender and into my food processor - much better! You want this really smooth so you don't see the white of the tofu, with a uniform, creamy texture.)

Carrot Raisin Salad, All Grown Up

My friend hates mayonnaise. No biggie. But in June, she emailed me asking for help. She needed a recipe for a summer salad to bring to a teacher appreciation luncheon for her son's school. She didn't want to do a green salad, but couldn't think of anything else. "Hmm," I thought to myself, "Potato salad ... out. Macaroni salad ... no go. Waldorf salad ... nope." And for whatever reason, I literally couldn't think of one side salad dish that didn't have any white and creamy components. I felt like a failure!

The one recipe that didn't come to mind was this one, a different spin on one of my childhood favorites, carrot and raisin salad. The one my Mom used to make was simply shredded carrots and raisins in a little mayonnaise. I loved it then and still do. But if you have mayo haters in your life, or are bringing something to a potluck (and want to avoid food poisoning fears of leaving a mayo-based salad out too long) this one is for you. The mint and lemon dress up this old favorite, and the raisins add just enough sweetness and balance. Tie it together with olive oil and a shake of salt and pepper, and you're good to go. (Better late than never, right Sena?)

Carrot, Mint and Golden Raisin Salad

(from Martha Stewart's Living Cookbook)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound large carrots
• 3 tablespoons golden raisins (I used some mixed variety raisins from the farmer's market, and probably used more than than what Martha calls for)
• 2/3 cup fresh mint leaves, cut into 1/4 inch strips (I used less mint, probably a 1/2 cup)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Grate the carrots on the large holes of a box grater or with a food processor using the grater blade. In a medium bowl, combine the grated carrots with the golden raisins, mint, lemon juice, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine well. Serve.

Avgolemono

It's that most wonderful time of the year -- Soup Season! When it gets cold, nothing is better than a giant bowl of soup. Avgolemono (coming from the Greek, "avgo" means egg, and "lemono", well, you can probably guess that one!) is a quick, easy chicken soup spiked with lemon, thickened with egg, colored with spinach, and chock full of bright, cheery flavors!

If you are looking for more recipes to use up chicken carcasses, here is one of the best. I'm sure a turkey carcass would work just as well. Use two breasts with bones if you don't have a carcass handy. The starch component offers a little leeway: I like orzo best, but you can try rice (be sure to add the rice about 20 minutes before the spinach and other ingredients so it has time to cook through) or another small pasta or grain.

Avgolemono

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken carcass, or 2 chicken breasts with bones and skin included
• 1 10-ounce box of frozen chopped spinach
• 3/4 cup orzo
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put the chicken carcass in a large pot with enough water to cover. Boil until chicken is cooked through and falling off the bone. Remove carcass to a large bowl to cool. Strain broth and return to pot.
2. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove from bones and chop into small pieces. You should have 2 - 3 cups of chicken.
3. Return broth to the stove and heat on medium. Add the box of spinach (it's fine it it's still frozen, just drop that green block in there!) to the broth, along with the bay leaves and the chicken. Now look at the consistency of your soup. Do you like it really brothy? Add more water. Do you like your soup thicker? Now is the time to raise the heat and reduce your broth.
4. When you have your preferred consistency, add the orzo to the soup. Cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes.
5. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs with the lemon juice. Slowly add a ladle-full of your broth to the eggs, to temper them, so they don't seize up when you introduce them to the soup. When the eggs have been warmed by the broth, turn the heat off the stove. Slowly stir the egg and lemon mixture into the soup. Keep stirring to make sure you don't get any eggy clumps. Season with salt and pepper.

I like this soup with a big salad and some bread. Enjoy!