(Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.
(Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle); if you haven’t heard about this book, you should! It’s a novel written from the voice of the black servants and some of the people they work for, all residents of Jackson, Mississippi. In the 1950’s. The maids generally are disrespected, still have to ride in the back of the bus, and some are prevented from using the bathroom in the houses where they work. The story is about a young woman (daughter of one of the society ladies) who decides to write a book about the stories of the maids. Anonymously. But not quite, of course. So it’s not only the stories themselves, but about the society-ladies’ relationships, and about the stealth required to interview the maids and write the book. And the repercussions when it’s published. A fantastic read.
by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition); 
by Susan Richards (Kindle edition); 
by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition)
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(Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); 
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If you read my post yesterday, about steeping chicken, then you already know I made a chicken & greens salad. I had a recipe in my repertoire that I hadn’t tried before, from Michael Chiarello (Food Network), from 2006, according to my notes. His recipe was an arugula salad, with a citrus vinaigrette, with grilled chicken and a toasted spice rub. Well, I didn’t have time to go through all of that. Didn’t feel like doing the grill thing for just two chicken breasts. So I turned to an old stand-by chicken cooking method I haven’t used in a long time – submerging boneless, skinless chicken breasts in hot, just below boiling water and letting it sit. It’s like steeping tea – where tea takes 5 minutes to come to full flavor – chicken takes about 20-30 minutes to cook all the way through.
Meanwhile, I made the vinaigrette. You can see it there at the left, still in the food processor bowl. What intrigued me about this recipe was the use of whole oranges. It also has red onion, fresh sage, salt, pepper and olive oil. And it’s all made in the food processor. I added a bit of mayo for flavor.
If you want to use the original recipe for this, by all means go for it. Some people who made Chiarello’s version didn’t care for the dressing (too bitter or they thought it was unappetizing). I didn’t even read any of this before I made the dressing. It might depend on what kind of oranges you used – I used navel oranges (sweet) and they actually had quite a bit of pith attached, so am surprised it wasn’t more bitter than it is. I like the dressing – it’s refreshing. But I added mayo to it, too (not in the original recipe). With all the fruit in it, the dressing comes through as a low-fat type. 
That was my aim – something lighter in fat, not so heavy as a traditional olive oil dressing.
I defrosted the chicken, steeped it in just plain water, made a different rendition of the spice rub (without toasting) that I sprinkled all over the cooked thicken.
Here at the right you can see the moist, tender chicken strips that I tossed with the spice rub I’d made. All I did was sprinkle, turn, sprinkle turn, sprinkle turn, etc. Not overwhelming in flavor, but you definitely got the chile flavor. Mixed with the other spices in the rub, it made for delicious morsels of chicken.
I tossed the salad portion with the dressing – tasted it and added more dressing, then poured the salads out onto plates and decorated the tops with the spice-rubbed chicken strips, sliced avocado and Parmigiano-Reggiano shards. I have a ton of dressing left over, so will have to be creative with how I use it. This salad may not appeal to everyone – if you like the sour cream blue cheese type wedge salads, this won’t fit. This is a light salad, with a refreshing hint of the orange. It’s not overwhelming. And it’s also low-fat. I’m not including the calorie count because the directions include the nearly 2 cups of dressing, and I used about 1/3 cup for two salads.
Chicken, Arugula, Corn and Parmigiano Salad
Recipe By: Inspired from Michael Chiarello recipe, Food Network
Serving Size: 4
2 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves
WHOLE CITRUS VINAIGRETTE: (makes much more than needed)
2 whole oranges
1/2 cup red onion — cut in chunks
1 tablespoon fresh sage — chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
SALAD:
4 cups arugula
4 cups Romaine lettuce — (or other lettuces of your choice)
1 cup fresh corn kernels — cut from the cob (or frozen, defrosted)
1 tablespoon dried oregano — (or fresh, if you have it)
1 1/2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese — shaved in shards (or Pecorino)
1 whole avocado — peeled, sliced
SPICE RUB:
1 1/2 tablespoons fennel seed
1/2 tablespoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon chile powder — or Mercken chili spice
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. CHICKEN: Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Gently drop the chicken breasts into the water, reduce heat to very, very low and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Turn off heat, place lid on the pot and set aside for 20-30 minutes. Remove chicken breasts from the water; cool for 10-15 minutes, then slice the chicken across the grain, either in strips or cubes.
2. SPICE RUB: Combine the ingredients in a mortar & pestle and grind it until it’s a fine powder. Sprinkle it over the chicken pieces and toss to coat.
3. VINAIGRETTE: Cut the ends off the oranges, cut in quarters and remove center core, and all the seeds. Place 2/3 of the pieces into a food processor. Squeeze the remaining pieces – the juice – into the food processor and discard those skins, etc. To the oranges in the food processor add the chopped red onion, fresh sage leaves, salt, pepper and process until the mixture is a very smooth liquid. Add the olive oil in a slow drizzle. Add the mayonnaise and process just until blended. Pour into a refrigerator container and chill.
4. SALAD: In a large salad bowl combine the arugula, Romaine, fresh corn and dried oregano leaves. Toss the salad with ample dressing – taste a leaf or two to see if it contains enough dressing – and pour the salad out onto plates, then garnish with the spice rubbed chicken and avocado slices and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese shards. Garnish with a bit more salt and pepper.
Serving Ideas: You could also serve this salad with hearts of palm, even some sliced pear or apple. Even some fresh fennel too. Ideally you should use fresh corn, but if you don’t have it, use a good quality frozen corn instead. If you have extra spice rub left over roll some jicama slices in it and serve those on top of the salad as well.
NOTES: The vinaigrette makes MUCH more than you need, so the calorie and fat content of this dish is way off. So I haven’t included it here in the post.
Printer-friendly PDF recipe
A year ago: Alabama White Sauce (for Chicken)
Two years ago: Thai Chicken Chile Soup
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