If you’ve ever had a Hawaiian plate lunch then you’ve tried this style of macaroni salad. It’s slightly tangy, slightly sweet and traditionally served with some sort of pan-Asian main entree like teriyaki beef or kalua pork and a few scoops of white rice. I made it recently for a Hawaiian-themed dinner party that Husband and I attended. Each creamy bite of macaroni salad brought back fond memories of a trip to Hawaii a decade earlier when we feasted on plate lunches almost daily.

I know it sounds like a lot, but don’t hold back on the dressing ingredients. Make the recipe as it is written because the soft macaroni soaks up the dressing and becomes very creamy and delicious.

Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
-recipe from Cook’s Country Magazine

Hawaiians cook their macaroni until it’s “fat,” or very soft. Turns out they know what they’re doing. Here’s what the Test Kitchen discovered:

•While overcooking the pasta seemed like a bad idea, it actually enabled the macaroni to absorb more dressing.
•The dressing had to be thin enough to soak into the pasta. We used an equal amount of mayonnaise and milk, and we used a lot—a full 2 cups each—to get the right texture.
•To prevent the cider vinegar from curdling the milk, we poured the vinegar directly over the hot macaroni.
•After the vinegar soaked in, we poured on about half the dressing, gave the mixture a stir, and let it cool. We then stirred in the remaining dressing and added grated carrot, chopped celery (for crunch), scallion, a bit of brown sugar, and some vigorous shakes of salt and black pepper.
•Don’t use low-fat milk or mayonnaise because it will make the dressing too thin.

Serves 8 to 10

2 cups whole milk 
2 cups mayonnaise 
1 tablespoon brown sugar  
 Salt and pepper  
1 pound elbow macaroni  
1/2 cup cider vinegar  
4 scallions , sliced thin 
1 large carrot , peeled and grated 
1 celery rib , chopped fine 

MAKE DRESSING: Whisk 1½ cups milk, 1 cup mayonnaise, sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper in bowl.

COOK PASTA: Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta and cook until very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add vinegar and toss until absorbed. Transfer to bowl. Cool pasta 10 minutes, then stir in dressing until pasta is well coated. Cool completely.

MAKE SALAD: Add scallions, carrot, celery, remaining milk, and remaining mayonnaise to pot with pasta mixture and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl and refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Serve.

Tags: Hawaiian Macaroni Salad, Pasta, plate lunch

I was just reading the new edition of Better Homes and Gardens (Oct. 2009) and found an excerpt from the book Can I Freeze It? by Susie Theodorou. Here’s a few things you may not have known you could freeze:

1) Eggs – Lightly beaten eggs, beaten yolks, or whites can be frozen, but not an egg in its shell. Store in lidded ice cube trays. (One egg fills two cubes.)

2) Cooked Rice – spread cooled rice on a lined baking sheet. Rub with a small amount of vegetable oil so grains separate. Freeze, then transfer to a freezer bag.

3) Ginger Root – Wrap peeled ginger in plastic, then put in freezer bag. Ginger grates well while still frozen.

4) Cheese- Cut hard (Parmesan, pecorino) and semi-hard cheeses (cheddar, Swiss) into 1×4-inch blocks, wrap in plastic, then put in a freezer bag. Grate hard cheeses while frozen; thaw others in the refrigerator.

5) Butter or Margarine – Store in a freezer bag, in its original packaging, for up to six months. Thaw in the refrigerator. Don’t freeze whipped butter.

6) Nuts – Store in airtight container or freezer bag for up to six weeks. Use right from the freezer for recipes — no need to thaw.

-Adapted from Can I Freeze It? by Susie Theodorou

Tags: Can I Freeze It?, Handy Hints, Susie Theodorou

If you’re a cilantro fan (like me), you’re going to LOVE this chicken! It’s delicious, extremely easy, and can be served as either an appetizer or a main dish. And, you can use the leftovers (if there are any) to make a Mexi-inspired salad (greens, corn, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, etc) the next day…think jazzed up chicken taco salad.

If using bamboo skewers, remember to let them soak in water for 30 or so minutes to keep them from disintegrating on the grill. If you don’t have skewers (or don’t want to mess with them), just grill the chicken without them. I substituted pine nuts for the walnuts, and used 2 cups of cilantro instead of 1 1/2 cups of cilantro and 1/2 cup Italian parsley. Also, I grilled the chicken over direct medium heat so it wouldn’t get too charred. Chicken tenders cook quickly so don’t walk away and leave them on the grill…you definitely don’t want skewered charcoal! Once the chicken was finished cooking, I let the skewers rest on a plate for a few minutes then finished them with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. The lime juice really brightens up the flavors. Yumm!

Cilantro Pesto Chicken Tenders
-recipe from Weber’s Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance

Makes 4-6 servings.

Marinade:
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts
2 medium garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh Italian parsley leaves and tender stems
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 lime, cut into wedges

To make the marinade: In a food processor, finely chop the walnuts and garlic. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the cilantro, parsley, salt, and pepper and process until finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the oil to create a smooth puree.

Place the chicken in a large, resealable plastic bag and add the marinade. Press the air out of the bag and seal tightly. Turn the bag to distribute the marinade, place in a bowl, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove the chicken from the bag and thread onto skewers. Grill over Direct High heat until the meat is firm and the juices run clear, 6 to 8 minutes total (3-4 minutes per side), turning once. Serve warm with the lime wedges.

Tags: Chicken, cilantro, cilantro pesto, grill, skewers

A friend of mine recently gave me some freshly picked pears from her pear tree. They were green when she picked them but they ripened into the best pears I’ve had in a long time. I ate a few, used a few to make Pear Spice Cake then decided to use the rest to make Spiced Pear Butter, a wonderful pear puree with the flavors of warm Autumn spices and just a hint of citrus. It turns ordinary toast into a work of art. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. It is really delicious, though.

I didn’t have the full amount of fruit so I halved the recipe, using 2 pounds of pears. Once the pears were cooked, I forced them through a sieve, a process that takes a few minutes to extract the pears from the pear peels. Peeling the pears would eliminate this step but might change the texture/thickness/flavor of the finished product (there’s pectin in the pear peel). I’ll experiment with that the next time I make it.

Instead of using citrus slices, I used a 3″ piece of lemon zest and two 3″ pieces of orange zest (removing as much white pith as possible from the zest). Even though I made only a half recipe, I still used a whole cinnamon stick and the 4 cloves. I didn’t have cardamom so I didn’t use it. I used half of a vanilla bean then split it down the middle. The split vanilla bean adds those little black seeds (black specks) to the pear mixture. If you don’t feel like pureeing the cooked pears, you’ll have a delicious pear sauce (same texture as apple sauce). I didn’t do the canning process; I just put the cooled pear butter in the fridge. I can’t wait to try it warmed up and served over vanilla ice cream. Yumm!

Spiced Pear Butter
-recipe from epicurious.com 

On the gift card that she encloses with these preserves, food editor Kristine Kidd tells her friends to spread the pear butter on toast, French toast or pancakes or to heat it and spoon it over vanilla ice cream. If you want to omit the canning process, go ahead: The butter can be stored in the refrigerator up to two weeks.

Yield: Makes about 4 cups

4 pounds Bartlett pears (unpeeled), cored, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 orange slices
1 lemon slice
4 whole cloves
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch of salt

Combine pears, wine and lemon juice in heavy large saucepan. Cover and simmer until pears are soft, pushing unsubmerged pears into liquid occasionally, about 25 minutes. Force through food mill or coarse sieve to remove pear peel. Transfer to processor and puree.

Return puree to heavy large sauce-pan. Add remaining ingredients. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium and boil gently until mixture thickens and mounds slightly on spoon stirring often, about 50 minutes.

Discard fruit slices, cloves, vanilla and cinnamon. Spoon butter into hot canning jar, filling only to 1/4 inch form top. Immediately wipe rim, using towel dipped into hot water. Place lid on jar; seal tightly. Repeat with remaining jars.

Arrange jars in large pot. Add boiling water to pot so that at least 1 inch of water covers tops of jars. Cover pot and boil rapidly 15 minutes. Remove jars from pot. Cool to room temperature. Press center of each lid. If lid stays down, jar is sealed. (If lid pops up, store butter in refrigerator.) Store in cool dry place up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.

Tags: cinnamon, cloves, pears, Spiced Pear Butter, vanilla bean

This is so good! noodles and ground pork mixed with a spicy peanut-flavored sauce. Yumm!

I thought the dish had a nice amount of heat. To make a mild version, leave out the red pepper flakes. Instead of serving the noodles with the sauce ladled on top, I just mixed it all together in the pot and added about 1 .5 cups of shredded cabbage and carrots (Dole bagged cole slaw mix). Although I forgot to add the bean sprouts for the main photo, I did add them to each serving when we ate the noodles. Bean sprouts (pictured at right) add nice flavor and cruncy texture so do use them if you can. I didn’t use the Sichuan peppercorns so I don’t know how they would enhance the dish. I’ll probably try and find them for next time, though. With the added veggies, this is a great one-dish meal!

Spicy Sichuan Noodles—Dan Dan Mian
-recipe from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated)

Serves 4 as a main course.  

If you cannot find Asian noodles, linguine may be substituted. If you are using natural peanut butter or Asian sesame paste that has a pourable rather than spreadable consistency, use only 1 cup of chicken stock. Also note that the amount of sauce will coat 1 pound of fresh noodles but only 12 ounces of dried noodles, which bulk up during boiling.

8 ounces ground pork 
3 tablespoons soy sauce 
2 tablespoons Chinese rice cooking wine or dry sherry
 ground white pepper 
2 tablespoons oyster sauce 
4 tablespoons Asian sesame paste or peanut butter
1 tablespoon rice vinegar 
1 – 1 1/4 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon peanut oil 
1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 
12 ounces dried Asian noodles or 1 pound fresh Asian noodles (width between linguine and fettuccine) or 12 ounces linguine
3 medium scallions, sliced thin (about 1/3 cup)
2 cups bean sprouts (about 6 ounces) (optional)
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns toasted in small dry skillet until fragrant, then ground (optional)

1. Combine pork, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, sherry, and pinch white pepper in small bowl; stir well with fork and set aside while preparing other ingredients. Whisk together oyster-flavored sauce, remaining soy sauce, peanut butter or sesame paste, vinegar, and pinch white pepper in medium bowl. Whisk in chicken stock and set aside.

2. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large stockpot over high heat.

3. Meanwhile, heat 12-inch skillet over high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add peanut oil and swirl to coat pan bottom. Add pork and cook, scraping along pan bottom and breaking up pork into small pieces with wide metal or wooden spatula, until pork is in small well-browned bits, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add peanut butter/chicken stock mixture; bring to boil, whisking to combine, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer to blend flavors, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Stir in sesame oil.

4. While sauce simmers, add noodles to boiling water and cook until tender (refer to package directions, but use them only as a guideline and be sure to taste for doneness). Drain noodles; divide noodles among individual bowls, ladle a portion of sauce over noodles, sprinkle with scallions, bean sprouts, and ground Sichuan peppercorns, if using; serve immediately.

Tags: Asian, Pasta, pork, Spicy Sichuan Noodles

Little Guy had a birthday this week and requested chocolate cake as his special treat. Recently I’d run across a recipe for chocolate mayonnaise cake so I decided to give it a go. For me, my favorite part of the whole condiment-in-cake experience was when I was making it. The kids were watching me mixing the ingredients and started laughing when they saw me dumping mayonnaise into the mixing bowl. I’m not talking a giggle here and there but full-on, doubled-over laughter. I found out later that what made it so funny for my oldest child was that he thought his little brother was going to end up with a gross birthday cake. In his brain, mayonnaise goes on sandwiches not in cake. Fortunately, the cake turned out moist and quite tasty…there weren’t any complaints.

The cake recipe didn’t include a frosting recipe so I just made my own using cocoa, softened unsalted butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. If you don’t like winging it and need a recipe to follow, go to the Hershey’s website (hersheys.com) and try their “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting. I garnished the cake with white sprinkles and grated bittersweet chocolate. It was a happy day indeed!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
-recipe from bestfoods.com

Serves: 12

 2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1-2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup Hellmann’s® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1-1/3 cups water

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans*; set aside.
 
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.
 
3. In large bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in Hellmann’s® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise at low speed until blended. Alternately beat in flour mixture with water, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour into prepared pans.
 
4. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. On wire racks, cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely. Frost, if desired, or sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
 
*Or, prepare cake mix as above in 13 x 9-inch baking pan and bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Tags: cake, chocolate, mayonnaise

The other day I was in one of those “what am I going to make for dinner” quandaries. I knew I wanted to use some fresh corn I had on hand and I was NOT going to make a special trip to the store for any dinner ingredients. After a quick inventory of what I had in the pantry/fridge and a quick recipe search, I decided to make Mexican Chicken Soup. Now I know that September isn’t quite soup weather but, hey, we live in the Pacific Northwest and it was overcast and rainy on this particular day. Soup was definitely going to be on the menu!

Not only is this Mexican Chicken Soup hearty and filling, but it’s easy and can be made with ingredients you keep stocked up on (beans, frozen corn, chicken broth, etc). I love the smoky flavor that the chipotle chiles bring to the broth. Mmmm, it’s so good! My soup was fairly spicy which could’ve been due to the size and/or heat of the jalepeno chile I used. If you prefer a milder soup, leave out the jalepeno chile entirely and just use some of the canned chipotle chile and the adobo sauce it is packed in. I didn’t have kidney beans so I used a can each of black beans and pinto beans. For the garnish, I simply topped each bowl of soup with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro. The avocado and jack cheese would be delicious, too, but don’t sweat it if you don’t have it. 

Mexican Chicken Soup
-recipe from Cook’s Country Magazine

Mexican chicken soup is a thicker, richer, spicier rendition of everybody’s favorite soup. Beans, corn, tomatoes, and chiles all play a role. Garnish the soup with avocado, Monterey Jack cheese, and cilantro. You can temper the heat of this spicy soup by reducing the amount of adobo sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 large onion , quartered
4 cloves garlic , peeled
10 sprigs cilantro
Table salt
1 (14.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice , drained, with juice reserved
1/2 jalapeno chile , seeds and ribs removed
1 canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce plus 1 tablespoon sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups frozen corn kernels
2 (14-ounce) cans kidney beans , drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lime juice

Bring 4 cups broth, chicken, 2 onion quarters, 2 garlic cloves, cilantro, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to boil in large skillet over high heat. Cover and cook over low heat until chicken is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to large plate.

Puree tomatoes, remaining 2 onion quarters, remaining 2 garlic cloves, jalapeño, chipotle, and adobo sauce in blender until smooth.

Heat oil in Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Add tomato mixture and 1/8 teaspoon salt and cook until darkened in color, 8 to10 minutes. Strain broth directly into pot with tomato puree (discard solids). Add remaining 2 cups broth, reserved tomato juice, corn, and beans and simmer to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Shred or dice chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to soup. Stir in lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Test Kitchen Discoveries
•Use boneless and skinless chicken thighs, which are far moister and richer flavored than white breast meat.
•Poaching the chicken in canned chicken broth will enrich the broth and make it taste homemade.
•For authentic flavor, “fry” the pureed tomatoes, onions, garlic, and chiles until the flavor and color have intensified. Most Mexican sauces are prepared in this fashion.
•Smoky chipotle chiles add both heat and a rich flavor to the casserole. These chiles, which are smoked jalapeños, come packed in a tomato-based adobo sauce. Small cans of the chiles are found in the Mexican foods section of most supermarkets.

Tags: beans, chipotle chile, cilantro, corn, Mexican Chicken Soup, tomatoes

I have to be honest…figs never meant much to me. When a friend recently invited me to swing by and pick some ripe figs, I couldn’t pass up the offer for free fruit (even though it was for figs). I talked a few friends into joining me for the fig picking and we met at the fig tree. After we loaded up on the ripe fruit and other assorted veggies from the garden, we went our separate ways. Once home, I surveyed my freshly picked figs and decided I’d better do a little research on them.

I learned that figs are an excellent source of fiber, potassium and calcium. Ripe figs are soft (like a peach) but not mushy, and should be used within a day or two. And, I’m told that figs are quite the popular fruit in the Mediterranean.

So now that I had a pound and a half of figs on my kitchen counter, I had to figure out what to do with them. A few years back I’d tried a delicious fig and blue cheese appetizer at a restaurant. The memory of that delicious crostini was my inspiration for making Rosemary and Port Fig Jam, a recipe I found in Food and Wine Magazine. It’s super easy to make and is a creative use of the fruit. I used regular ol’ red port instead of white port since that’s what I had on hand. Depending on how sweet your figs are, you may want to add a bit more lemon juice to the boiling jam if you taste it and think it’s too sweet.

After the jam cooled, I slathered some on baguette slices (a little goes a long way) and topped it with a thin slab of rich and tangy aged blue cheese…a delicious combination! The fig jam would also be really good with roast pork or chicken.

Rosemary and Port Fig Jam
-recipe from Food and Wine Magazine

2 pounds green or purple figs, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup white port
1 4-inch sprig of rosemary

In a large, nonreactive saucepan, toss the fig pieces with the sugar and let stand, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, until the sugar is mostly dissolved and the figs are juicy.

Add the lemon juice, rosemary sprig and water and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Simmer the fig jam over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft and the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick, heavy drops, about 20 minutes. Remove rosemary and discard.

Spoon the jam into three 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and let cool to room temperature. Store the jam in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

Tags: figs, rosemary and port fig jam

Many scenes from life go unnoticed or are easily forgotten, so I was delighted to capture this photo of Grandpa enjoying a cool glass of peach iced tea under the shade trees while watching the youngsters playing in the yard. It’s so Norman Rockwellish, don’t you think?

The peach iced tea I am referring to is a simple and lightly fruity drink I like to make in the summertime. Many peach iced tea recipes use peach nectar mixed with black tea. My version, however, is made by steeping Peach Black Tea made by Stash Tea Company in hot water. I make the tea double strength using 2 teabags for each 8 ounces of water. Add sugar to taste to the hot tea if you like it sweetened. Let the tea cool then pour into glasses filled with ice. Garnish each glass with a slice of fresh peach, a lemon wedge and a sprig of mint. Refreshing!

Tags: peach black tea, peach iced tea, Stash Tea Company

Marinating meat in herbs, beer or wine can reduce the carcinogens that form during grilling by as much as 88%.
-from Food Network Magazine, June/July 2009
(sources: Journal of Food Science and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)

Tags: grilling tip, handy hint