Chicken Salad

Every good Southern cook has a favorite recipe for chicken salad. For years, my

chicken salad of choice was seasonsed with curry. When deciding on a menu for Bunco, I decided to create a menu that could be made ahead and served with little effort. After my technique class on chicken at Williams-Sonoma, I had lots of chicken and

Chicken Salad

2 chickens, cut up
Olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1 cup pecan pieces, roasted
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup lowfat sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups grapes, halved

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken pieces on baking sheets. Rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour, or until done. When cool remove the skin and chicken from the bones. Cut into chunks.

Mix together the mayonnaise and sour cream. Add the nuts, vegetables, fruit and tarragon to the chicken. Add mayonnaise and sour cream mixture, adding just enough to moisten the chicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Serve on croissant rolls with lettuce. Yield: 10 - 12 servings.

Payton's Chicken Stew

Payton was last year's winner of the Quail Hollow Souper Bowl. This year, he had two entries. A favorite of the competition was his Chicken Stew. This simple recipe packs a lot of flavor. It is sure to become a family favorite!

Payton’s Chicken Stew

1 – 28 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
¼ cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 ½ # boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups diced onion
2 cups frozen lima beans
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 large bell pepper, diced
4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
Lime wedges

Put tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, cumin and oregano in a slow cooker. Stir to blend. Add chicken and vegetables. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours, or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and pull into shreds using 2 forks. Return to cooker. Serve with bacon and lime wedges.

Cooking with Michael and Friends

I love to cook and the Food Network is the inspiration for many of my meals. I have always wanted to take one episode and try to recreate it. This week I did it! The plan was to use Michael Chiarello's Let the Sunshine In episode and prepare the menu in my kitchen. Susan and I shopped for the ingredients locally with much success. The only thing missing was watercress. Dale joined us in the kitchen and we created an absolutely delicious meal.

I started the day before preparing the Frozen Ruby Reds. One word of caution, make sure you are going to be around for several hours so you can rake the frozen juice every hour or so. I made the mistake of leaving and called Kenny to do the raking. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough and I had to scrape out the ice crystals and put them in another container while the juice that was frozen solid thawed on the counter. After a while I was able to "rake" the juice and get the snow cone-like crystals.

After our shopping trip, we began the preparation. Susan started preparing the fruit for the Triple Orange Dessert Soup while I worked on the Lemon Braised Artichokes over Pasta. It took Susan quite some time to peel and section the oranges, grapefruit and tangerines. My task was to clean and quarter the artichokes. Thanks, Alessandra, for showing me how to prepare fresh artichokes in your Italian kitchen. This was a fairly simple and quick prep. I used fresh thyme from the garden for the braising. Once braised, they were set aside while Dale and I worked on the salad.
With the help of a mandoline, the fennel, carrots and onion were thinly sliced. Since we couldn't find any good watercress, we used spinach. The salad becomes better after sitting for a while so the vegetables can soak up the dressing. Kenny arrived in time to oversee the preparation of the Chicken with Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Sauce. The roasted lemons were amazing. By now, the kitchen was full of wonderful smells. The chicken and potatoes were browned and baked for 15 minutes.

Next time we will add to the baking time. The potatoes were still a little crunchy. During the baking, Kenny got started on mixing the drinks. We rimmed the glasses with salt and enjoyed the frozen drinks while the chicken and potatoes baked and the pasta was cooked.

Once the chicken and potatoes were baked, we made the sauce and finished the pasta. We decided to use only half of the lemon juice. The food smelled and looked wonderful. Everyone's favorite was the pasta – it could easily be served as the main dish with a salad and bread for a delicious meal. The Triple Orange Dessert Soup was much like our ambrosia without the coconut. It was a light finish to a meal that was all about citrus. Thanks to Michael, we had a wonderful meal and a great time in the kitchen!

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings are a favorite comfort food of the South. With the cold weather we have had, this is the perfect meal for a cold winter night. Add a simple fruit salad of apples, bananas, roasted pecans and mayonnaise and you have a meal that is sure to warm you all the way to your toes.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 chicken
Lots of water
Veggies and spices
Biscuit dough
Salt and pepper

The ingredients are simple - chicken, chicken stock and biscuits. Start by boiling the chicken in a pot of water filled with veggies and seasonings you have on hand. The veggies give the stock a lot of favor. This time I used celery, carrots, onion, parsley, sage, salt and pepper. Boil the chicken until tender. Once the chicken is done, remove the skin and bones. Chop or shred into bite-size pieces.

Now for the stock. Strain and refrigerate. Once cold, you can easily remove the fat that accumulates on the top. I like to cook my chicken the night before so it will be ready for supper the next night.

The dumplings are biscuits that are cut into small pieces and cooked with the chicken and stock until done. I like to use Martha White's biscuit mix but you can make your biscuits from scratch or use frozen biscuit dough or canned biscuits. Roll the dough out on a floured board and cut into small pieces. A pizza cutter works great for cutting the biscuit dough.
Bring the chicken and the stock to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the dumplings a few at a time to the stock. The flour on the dumplings will help to thicken the stock. The dumplings will float to the top. Continue to boil slowly.
When the dumplings sink, they are done! Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This is not a colorful dish, but the taste is simple and perfect for a cold winter night!

Cooking with Cast Iron

Last week I was asked to teach a technique class at Williams-Sonoma in Peachtree City. I have been working there during the holidays and was delighted to have the opportunity to share my love for cooking with the customers. My topic was "Cooking with Cast Iron". Cast iron is one of my favorite types of cookware. I have a wonderful collection of seasoned cast iron, thanks to our grandmothers and mothers, and several Le Creuset pots, so it was an subject of great interest.

Being a Southern cook, I use my cast iron for cornbread, stews, soups and roast beef. The goal of the class is to "make the most of your cast iron pieces with delightful yet simple recipes." And that I did!

The feature recipe was 40-Clove Garlic Chicken made using a Williams-Sonoma starter sauce. This is so simple and delicious. With a jar of the starter sauce and 1 chicken, you can create a tasty meal with very little effort. I served the chicken over rice to soak up the delicious sauce.

When cooking with cast iron, the main thing to remember is to avoid the temptation of cooking with too high a heat. Cast iron is an excellent conductor of heat and if you aren't careful, you will get the pan too hot and food will stick. When browning meat, heat the pan before adding the oil and meat. This will prevent the meat from sticking. Since cast iron is an excellent conductor, the heat is retained and for a long time even after removing from the heat source. This is great for keeping your food hot while serving but not so great when you have overheated your pan. So moderation is the key.