My Cherry Chicken Salad Days Are Over

I am very lucky to live in a region where my two favorite seasons collide. Of course I am referring to Michigan cherry season and Christmas in July (see Do Ahead Holiday Casserole). We take a yearly pilgrimage to the Northern Lake Michigan shore to eat our weight in sweet cherries - abundantly available from local grower's roadside stands. But my real guilty pleasure is cherry chicken salad sandwiches. My first stop is always Riverside Deli in picturesque Glen Arbor (indeed, Good Morning America voted it "Most Beautiful Place in America" so you know it has to be good). At this little carry out place on the bank if the Crystal River, you wouldn't expect to find such a carefully crafted (and wrapped - they tie it up with a pretty ribbon) sandwich. Homemade seven grain bread, sliced thick, to house what can only be described as heaven. They distinguish themselves by using fresh cherries, along with pecans, celery (which is usually the bane of my existence but here provides the perfect crunch), fresh greens, and chicken, of course. A close runner up, and usually my second vacation day lunch is the cherry chicken salad wrap at The Cove in Leland, a few miles to the north. The twist here - besides it being a wrap - is that they use dried cherries. Still sweet and savory with cherry/mayo one-two punch, it adds a slightly different dimension to the texture. A fleeting season, it comes but once a year, gone before you know it.

"That's when I knew my salad days were over" is one of my all-time favorite movie movie lines from the Cohen brothers tour de force Raising Arizona.Turns out the phrase has it's origins in Shakespeare, but it was a crazed Nicholas Cage that introduced it to me.The 1987 screwball comedy about a "reformed" ex-con, his infertile police woman wife (who thought havin a critter was the next logical step), quintuplets, and escaped criminals who emerge from the primordial ooze to wreak havoc. Hi and Ed, unable to conceive and unfit to adopt, decide to kidnap a baby that is one of a set of quints, reasoning that those parents 'have more than they can handle'. Ed, directing Hi to "get me one of them babies" sets off a string of events that includes diaper theft, bank robbery, high speed chases, pursuit by a Harley riding bounty hunter, bizarre dream sequences, and a seemingly happy ending once the ill-gotten infant is returned to his birth parents. My salad days, when I was green in judgement, and cold in blood....

The Recipe:

4 cups cooked, cubed chicken

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, finely diced
2 medium shallots, minced
3/4 cup dried or fresh sweet Michigan Cherries
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Some really good bread, sliced thick

Combine all ingredients and adjust any seasonings as needed. You can eat it immediately, but I like to let the flavors develop a little while before eating. So I suggest letting it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so before eating! Makes 4 sandwiches.

Aunt Martha's Old Fashioned Kugel

Everybody gets by with a little help from their friends, and I am no exception. Regular readers know that I rely heavily on a few trusty sidekicks to give me a hand (and often a kick in the pants) when I need a great recipe. Today's installment comes from a familiar source - Julie (see My Big Fat Greek Spinach Pie, among others). And the subject is kugel - a traditional Jewish noodle dish. I first had kugel too many years ago in New York crafted expertly by my brother-law's mother, Marcella Klein. Despite not being particularly known for her culinary acumen, the woman made a mean kugel. Fast forward to modern times, and to Julie's Aunt Martha's kugel that has now become a 4th of July brunch tradition in our little neck if the Woods. A sweet, creamy noodle dish that satisfies both as an entree and dessert - what more could you ask for? One note: when Julie sent me the ingredient list it just said "8oz fine noodles". Not sure, I asked her what she meant because that is not how I would've described the noodles she used. After a bit if back and forth (her saying, you know Passover noodles, and me saying no, I don't know) she finally sent me a picture of noodle bag (see below). Turns out, you don't have to be Jewish to make a delicious kugel, but it couldn't hurt.

I Love Lucy, The Million Dollar Idea.Season 3, Episode 12, originally aired January 11, 1954. Yes, the candy factory and grapes in Italy and William Holden's footprints are all iconic episodes. But this one will equally have you laughing so hard you'll cry.  Lucy once again finds herself in financial hot water with Ricky, when he informs her that she's overdrawn on her allowance until June 12, 1978. Leave it to Lucy to conger up a get rich quick scheme selling her Aunt Martha's salad dressing (for 40 cents a quart, no less). They use the morning talk show of Lucy's frenemy Caroline Appleby to go on TV to hawk the product, Lucy posing as average housewife Isabella Klump and Ethel is the Ron Popiel of her day as the home economist extolling the virtues of such a delicious addition to any woman's dinner table. The orders pour in, and of course our dynamic duo can't fill them all, begin to lose money, and are forced to go back on TV to "unsell" the dressing as liquid swill.  As always, Lucy had a lot of splaining to do. Enjoy the classic clip:

The Recipe:

1lb. cottage cheese (can use 2%)

1C sour cream (can use light)

3oz. cream cheese (can use 1/3 less fat)

1C sugar

5 eggs

1tsp vanilla

8 oz. fine noodles, cooked & drained

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

3/4C ground Corn Flake crumbs (to fine consistency)

Special Equipment:

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a small bowl, take 2 tablespoons of melted butter and mix with Corn Flake crumbs.

In large bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and remaining buttah. Stir in noodles and pour into greased 9 X 13 pan.

Sprinkle Corn Flake & butter mixture over the top and bake for 50 minutes, uncovered.
Julie's Notes (and Julie Knows Best):

Can make ahead: reheat at 250° for 30 minutes. Can make it ahead and freeze: bake at 350° for 40 minutes – cool – freeze – thaw – bake again for 10 minutes at 350°. 

This dish is great cold the next day too! :Makes 12 Serving

The Deep Fried Ravioli

Even though it is fried and true, this famous appetizer from St Louis is well known as "toasted" ravioli. But it's fried, trust me. I first had them many moons ago on a business trip to St. Louis and more specifically, a to an Italian neighborhood there known as "The Hill". Intrigued, and urged on by all of the natives, I was game. And every restaurant has it on the menu - it is as ubiquitous as Busch Beer. But, I guess once you have a hit, it's easier to go with what works than risk something new. The recipes I found all used whole milk or buttermilk as the liquid, along with the requisite egg and breadcrumbs. Being the rebel that I am, I used what I had on hand, 2% milk - ignoring the potential need for a higher fat content, I mean isn't frying instead of toasting fatty enough?!  Again, being the deviant that I am, in place of the traditional marinara sauce for dipping, I used some delicious leftover pomodoro sauce (see Big Night Pomodoro Sauce) from the previous night's dinner.I have to say, they came out great.  The only thing I would do differently, if I were to to repeat my success, is to use a larger ravioli. I only had small round ones leftover in the freezer and you didn't quite get enough of the ricotta flavor with each bite. One last thing, these are definitely a make at home treat for anyone outside the Greater St Louis area, as here in Detroit, toasted ravioli is an unknown delicacy - although I've heard tales (suburban myths likely) that one of the chain "Italian" restaurants has them on their menu. I'm the wrong person to ask of such things, as those who know me know I only patronize small local establishments, of which there are many. I was so lucky to be born in my favorite city.

On the heels of Jaws summer blockbuster success, moviegoers were ready to go back into the water with another Peter Benchley tome, The Deep. 1977's underwater thriller starring Nick Notle, Jacqueline Bisset, Louis Gossett Jr and Robert Shaw (this time his fate is to be fried, not eaten). The plot thickens as Notle and Bisset innocently uncover a cache of morphine and Spanish treasure from a shipwreck while scuba diving off the coast of Bermuda. Let's stop here for a moment so I can tell you that 12year old me was so enthralled with the gorgeous Bermuda backdrop of this fine film that it became my life's ambition to travel there. 25 year old me made it, so did 30 year old me and 45 year old me. Dare to dream people, dare to dream. Now back to our story....enter Haitian drug lords who use black magic on our young heroes in order to unearth the morphine, a double-crossing treasure hunter, and the lone survivor of said shipwreck with questionable motives. All willing to kill for a prize worth, you guessed it, one million dollars. Talk about jumping the shark....

The Recipe:

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 large egg 
• 2 tablespoons milk 
• 2/3 cup bread crumbs
• 24 refrigerated cheese ravioli or frozen, thawed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 cups  marinara sauce
• 
  

Special Equipment: Heavy bottomed pot, candy thermometer, wax paper (which really isn't special)

1. Pour enough vegetable oil into a large, deep pot so that it reaches a depth of 2 inches. Heat oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325°F.
2. While vegetable oil is heating, whisk together egg and milk in a shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in a separate shallow bowl. Working in batches, dip ravioli into egg mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then coat with bread crumbs. Place coated ravioli on wax paper. 
3. Line a plate with paper towels. Fry ravioli in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes total. Be careful not to crowd ravioli in pan, and make sure oil comes back to 325°F before adding another batch of ravioli. Transfer fried ravioli to lined plate to drain. Sprinkle fried ravioli with grated Parmesan. Warm marinara sauce. Serve fried ravioli with warmed marinara on the side.

Sunday Night Mystery Meat

My question Mark asked me recently why I can't make crispy chicken on the grill like I do in the oven (see A Few of My Favorite Wings). You see, not only is it too hot to have the oven blazing for 50 minutes, it's also a pain to clean up (resulting in running the oven's clean cycle for another 3 hours. I should mention that it was also a Sunday, and his philosophy is that Sunday is a great day for experimenting with new recipes, because ostensibly you have all day to shop, cook and clean up - yay! Anyway, it was a good question although I hadn't a clue to the exact answer, it was a mystery I was sure I could solve as I knew I had motive, means and opportunity. Afterall, it was a matter of investigating the right meat (dark likely so it would dry out), the right oil (I had used the usual suspect in the past - vegetable thinking it must be able to hold up under the scrutiny of high heat) and time and temp (the perfect accomplices). All it took was a bit of leg work. Chicken legs, rubbed with olive oil and salt, on a very hot grill, for 30 minutes. The photo is all the proof you need.

NBCs Sunday Night Mystery series was the trifecta of crime drama from 1971-77.

A wheel or umbrella series (that's fancy TV talk), episodes rotated between three of the finest investigative crime drama entertainment ever aired. Of course I am referring to McMillan and Wife, Columbo and McCloud. As a kid, I fell in love with the hunky San Francisco Police Commissioner and his young kooky bride and their acerbic maid, the rumpled raincoat cigar chewing LAPD homicide detective, and the fish out of water cowboy lawman fighting crime in New York City. The diagnosis was almost always murder and the guilty party was brought to justice in a just an hour and a half without the use of forensics or DNA.  There's just one more thing, don't do the crime if you can't do the time.  Don't do it.

The Recipe:

4 pounds chicken legs or drumsticks (which could be used as a murder weapon)

4 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. ground black pepper

6 tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. lemon juice

Vegetable oil or spray for the grill

Mix the salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon in a large bowl. Dip the chicken legs in your olive oil mixture and rub the mixture into the chicken, getting under the skin as much as possible. Grease your grill with vegetable oil using a cloth to spread it. Turn the grill to the highest temperature, allowing it at least 10 minutes to preheat. Put the chicken on the hot grill. Cook on high for about five minutes then turn the chicken over and cook for another five minutes.

Turn the grill to low, place the cover on and cook the chicken for another 25 to 30 minutes or until browned and crispy (but not burned beyond recognition) turning once or twice as needed. 

Place on a rack to drain juices before serving to keep crispy. 

No Toum For You

Here's the deal: I like toum. And when I say I like toum, I mean I like like toum.  Toum, you say? Tis garlic sauce, by any other name. And, my favorite condiment when eating Lebanese cuisine, especially shawarma. Not that there's anything wrong with that but here's my dilemma: sometimes I crave garlic sauce at home. And that involves going to my local shawarma restaurant to get a take out of said sauce. And that process can be a bit awkward, merely ordering a $1 of toum to go. And, they don't give you the free bread line when you order your toum at a table. So, I decided to try making it myself.  A quick trip to the internet turned up numerous recipes - the big difference seemed to be a controversy regarding the use of eggs - some were are for it, while others find the addition abhorrent. I chose an eggless recipe, as I had not eggs in the house. Otherwise, it seemed a straightforward oil, garlic, lemon juice process. What followed was a recipe for disaster - and most definitely not food processor worthy. The whole runny mess (instead of tasty fluffy sauce) left a bad taste in my mouth (literally). Don't ever trust a recipe from the internet. Who do these people think they are? 

The ideal result

 Mine

Seinfeld, a little show about nothing that featured a co-dependent group of losers that bumbled through life (and New York) on NBC from 1989-98. Yadda yadda, yadda...maybe you've heard of it? Well then no soup for you!

The Recipe: Don't try this at home. Swallow your pride and get take out

¼ cup lemon juice

2 cups Sunflower or any other neutral oil Do not use olive oil

½ cup peeled whole garlic cloves

½ teaspoon salt

Put salt and garlic cloves in food processor and pulse. Scrape the sides until all the garlic is the same in size.

Turn on the food processor once again and do not stop it until done. In a very thin stream, add ¼ cup oil very gradually. Please do add it very slowly, don’t rush it or the sauce will split. Once you have added ¼ cup oil, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice also very slowly, drop by drop. Add another thin stream of ¼ cup oil then 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Keep doing this until you have used up your lemon and oil. The process will take 10 minutes. Be patient. If your sauce has split by the end of it and isn’t a fluffy dip, you can try to add 2 teaspoons of cold water or add 1 ice cube and whack on the processor again for a few minutes. If that hasn’t worked, abort mission or *gulp* add a raw egg white and process for another 3 minutes.