Fall Harvest and Pumpkin Time

I've been so busy with work these last two weeks that I haven't spent much time in the garden - which was ok since most of vegetables I planted the first of August for fall harvest were not quite ready. Yesterday, however, I finally had a day to myself and enjoying the sunshine found that lettuce, beets and French Filet green beans were ready to pick!

French Filet green beans are long, thin bush green beans picked young and tender. They are often added to Salad Nicoise or served with almonds or cold with a vinaigrette. My mother gave me the seeds as they are her favorite. I was able to pick a nice "mess" of beans for her and still have plenty for me.

One of the older gentlemen from work brought in a load of pumpkins and squash from his garden. I brought home a butternut squash and a spaghetti squash. I've never tried a spaghetti squash and am looking forward to cooking it.  I'd like to try making butternut squash ravioli but don't really want to make all that pasta, so I bought won ton wrappers instead. I'll let you know how that works out.

Happy The Bride the Sun Shines on Today!

We've had such beautiful weather this week, all sunny and dry, with a little fog some mornings. Perfect fall weather. Today is my neice' wedding day. As I walked out to chicken house this morning to feed and water the hens I couldn't help repeating "happy the bride the sun shines on today".  I wish her much joy and happiness in this new beginning.

The young couple will be very busy with their jobs and their new home. They bought a big house and have spent the summer painting, landscaping and shopping for furniture. They are mostly second shift workers - that is they go to work in the afternoon and work through the evening, so most of their time together will be mornings and early afternoons.  Neither of them are foodies so I imagine all the kitchen wares she received at her bridal showers will get very little use at least for a while.

So here's my recipes for one of my favorite homemade salad dressings, perfect for big green lunch salads.

Honey Ginger Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

pinch salt (optional)

pinch black pepper

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

5 tablespoons canola oil

In a glass jar with a tight fitting screw on lid place the rice wine vinegar and the salt and pepper. Shake well to help dissolve the salt. Stir in the honey until it blends with the vinegar. Add the soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil and shake. Finally, add the canola oil and shaker very well until the dressing is emulsified.  Pour over salad greens and enjoy. 

This dressing is really good over a salad of mixed lettuce leaves, ripe tomatoes and crunchy croutons. The salty, sweet, gingery dressing goes really well with the acid of the tomatoes.Or substitute walnuts for the croutons.

When the tomato season is over, this is equally good with a salad of lettuce, apples or pears, and pecans.

And last but not least, try chopping up Chinese cabbage or other green cabbage, chopped cooked chicken, sliced almonds, chopped apples, and golden raisins. Dress the salad with the honey ginger dressing and let sit in the refrigerator for half an hour or more to blend the flavors. Yum!

Curried Chicken Salad

Another beautiful morning. This is the kind of weather that makes us all love October. I opened Copperfield's Coffee Cafe in October  2005. Right from the beginning the Curried Chicken Salad was the most popular dish we offered (with the exception of one of my mother's homemade fruit pies). I offer the recipe here and suggest you serve it with my tomato soup recipe.

Curried Chicken Salad

2 cups chopped cooked chicken meat

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green onion

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 teaspoon of salt

pinch of black pepper

1 teaspoon sweet curry powder

juice of half a lemon

1/2 to 3/4 cup Hellman's mayonnaise or to taste.

In a wide bowl (so you can mix it easily and well) mix together all the ingredients except the lemon juice and mayonnaise.  Mix well so that the seasonings are all evenly distributed. This is a very important step. Then add the mayonnaise and lemon juice and mix well.  It's best to let this salad sit in the refrigerator for an hour or so to let the curry powder develop. It will turn the chicken salad yellow (that's the turmeric) and blend all the flavors.

A note about the chicken.  I either bake bone in,  skin on chicken at 400 degrees, then cool it, skin it and chop it, or I poach skinless, boneless chicken breasts. To poach the chicken put the raw, washed chicken meat in a baking dish, add a little salt and pepper and enough water to come about half way up the chicken.  Cover it with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the pieces of meat. The chicken will be moist and tender and low fat and you can use the broth that develops from the poaching liquid as a soup base. Enjoy.