Another easy recipe for grilled chicken breasts. Make up the yogurt-based marinade with oodles of Moroccan spices at least a few hours ahead, or ideally the day before and chill the chicken in it. Grill and garnish with a bit of reserved marinade and some cilantro.

The other night I decided to cook at home for Dave’s best friend Joe. He was visiting (on business) as he does every couple of weeks. Usually he goes out to dinner with customers or an employee , but this night he had dinner with me. I defrosted some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and searched my recipes for some new way to make them. Elise over at Simply Recipes made this version. I changed it around just a little bit – I added some turmeric; I made a bit more of the marinade and reserved some to put on top (forgot to show that in the photo, sorry) and I garnished with more cilantro.

About the topping: I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a rare chicken breast that doesn’t need some kind of topping – like a chutney or a relish, or mango salsa, or a mustard sauce. Something. So on this one I merely made a bit more of the marinade and used it to help the chicken be more tasty and moist. Chicken can get dry so easily – especially so on the grill if you’re not watching it carefully. I don’t know if you have any secrets to maintaining moist chicken? My only technique is to pound the chicken breasts a bit thinner in that thicker part (Costco’s chicken breasts are really big, and very thick) so they cook more evenly. And I use a meat thermometer. Generally chicken is supposed to be cooked to 165°, but breasts are done at 150°. So when I grilled these I checked the internal temp about 4 times to make sure I didn’t overcook them. They were perfectly cooked. The yogurt marinade mostly cooks away during the grilling process – and much of it ends up burned on the grill itself.

What’s GOOD: I liked the subtle flavor of the marinade – it is not overpowering at all – in fact if I did it again I’d probably add more of the spices to the marinade. It needed a bit more. But it was good. It’s low calorie, and I’ll also tell you it’s delicious cold. I made a plum chutney (to serve with another meal and I’ll post about that in a few days) and ate the left overs with that, which was very nice.

What’s NOT: nothing, really. Just don’t over cook it, okay?

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Aren’t we all busy as can be sometimes and we need a quick dinner without a lot of prep? Here’s one.

Defrosting a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts was all I’d done in preparation for dinner. I glanced through my to-try file, and knowing that I had a sweet potato, cilantro, milk, ginger, garlic and Dijon . . . well, that constituted enough to try to make a riff on a Jamie Oliver recipe I had. Really, about all I used from his recipe is the technique, the milk, garlic and cinnamon. The rest I made up as I went along.

You do need to know that when you cook milk, it separates. It just does, and Jamie (and many other great cooks) have shared recipes for meat simmered in milk, so it’s not a new idea by any means. But something chemical in the milk doesn’t allow it to be simmered (boiled) without separating. (If you use heavy cream, it won’t separate even when you boil it, but milk, yes it will.) You could add flour to it to make a thin-type sauce, which would avoid the separating, but I was too lazy. I could have dipped the chicken in some seasoned flour and that would have provided some thickening to the sauce too, that might have kept it from separating. But again, I was lazy and didn’t. I wanted to try it as-is, Jamie’s way. It provides a kind of lumpy, thick-and-thin sauce that’s not exactly pretty. But it tastes good, and especially if you have some kind of carb to put it on.

I had some zucchini too, that needed fixing, so that went in another pan with a chopped up slice of bacon and cooked away slowly while I made the chicken. First you brown (light golden-brown) the chicken in a bit of butter in a big skillet (that has a lid). Once golden brown, you remove it and set it aside. Then you add a shallot, cook that a bit, then add some big chunks of sweet potato, uniformly sliced about 1/2” thick, though, so they cook evenly. Those got slightly browned, then I added in the milk. I also added a little jot of cream – hoping it might help the milk from separating (no, it didn’t). Then I added my seasonings: Dijon mustard, garlic, salt and pepper, and the cinnamon. Jamie called for a stick of cinnamon – I didn’t feel like hunting for it, so I just used a pinch or two of ground cinnamon instead. Once simmering, I added the lid and let it cook slowly for about 10 minutes, until the sweet potatoes were just barely tender. You don’t want to overcook them. The chicken is added back in, simmered for 3-4 minutes is all – until it’s tender and juicy. Don’t overcook those either or it’ll be inedible. (I ordered a Cobb salad the other day, and the chicken meat served on it was so dry I almost choked on it – what a waste.) Just know that chicken breasts don’t need hardly any cooking – check it frequently to make sure you don’t overdo it.

In the cooking time, the sauce, as I mentioned, separates. It’s kind of like curds and whey. You can see some of the curds on the sweet potatoes in the photo. The milk becomes a kind of broth, almost, with the curds in it – my solution was to kind of mush-up the sweet potatoes a little bit, then eat a bit of that, with a bite of chicken and some of the milk sauce. All together. The flavors are subtle – even with the garlic – I expected the garlic to be pronounced, but it wasn’t. I made 2 servings and used 3 garlic cloves, mashed.

What’s GOOD: I loved the taste, that’s what’s important. The visual, well, not so good, and I’d probably not serve this to guests, just because people might be put-off by the separated milk/sauce. I was fine with it, especially since Jamie Oliver tells you right up front about what happens to the milk in his recipe. Milk is a lovely tenderizer of meat, even though the chicken didn’t spend that much time bathed in the milk. It was good. It was simple. All good reasons to make it again. Is it fabulous? Well, no, I wouldn’t put it in that category. It was quick, that’s what I was looking for.

What’s NOT: the only thing is the sauce – some may not like it. I can see children saying “ew, Mom, what’s that?” But if you mush up the potatoes (or serve rice on the side) and the sauce goes on the carb, they might not notice.

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Oh my gracious! This salad. This salad is going to knock your socks off! Trust me. Bread salad with lots of nice greens, some pine nuts, a few chopped raisins, a tart vinaigrette, and on top – well, just the most delicious chicken I think I’ve ever had. Bar none.

Having guests over for dinner a week before I left on my trip was maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had – I was kind of frantic getting everything done, items packed, friends and neighbors notified, bills paid, taxes done and paid for, and yet, I’d been wanting to have these friends over, and figured oh well, a week before my trip I’ll be fine. And really, it was. Joan brought marinated tomatoes. Jackie brought a delicious blueberry custard dessert. I made the main dish and an appetizer. I brought out one of Dave’s favorite wines from the cellar, an Amavi Syrah, which was wonderful with the chicken. Also served a Zaca Mesa Viognier for two of the guests who preferred white wine. I set the table, of course, chilled the water, made the appetizer the day before, and did the shopping 3 days before.

There is a caveat, however, about this recipe. You absolutely MUST start this at least 24 hours before you want to serve it. And 48 hours are still okay too. It’s not hard to do that step, but it’s imperative you do it. The whole chicken is drained, dried off, salted and peppered and a few sprigs of fresh herbs gently slid underneath the breast skin and the thigh skin. Then it’s left to sit in the refrigerator with just a paper towel over the top. It’s like dry brining. It just sits. See, I said that part was easy. It probably took about 10 minutes of prep to find the right dish to hold 2 chickens that would fit in my garage refrigerator. And 4-5 minutes to dry off the birds and pat the salt all over them. The cold air in the frig helps dry out the skin, but then the salt helps protect it and hug in the juices. Such a chemical term – hug in the juices. I don’t know how else to describe it.

It’s a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. I’d heard, many years ago, about the fame of Judy Rodgers’ roasted chicken. It was epic to her San Francisco restaurant fans when she published her cookbook with the beloved recipe contained within for her roast chicken. Judy Rodgers died a couple of years ago. Chefs and fans mourned grievously. She was a rock star in the chef world. I don’t own her cookbook – The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco’s Beloved Restaurant [Hardcover] [2002] First Edition Ed. Judy Rodgers, Gerald Asher. The link just provided goes to an older edition that isn’t available for purchase, but you can find it in hardback. Amazon’s link is broken, somehow. Her cookbook is noteworthy for chefs, and very experienced home cooks. It’s not meant for the weeknight family dinner. You can find Rodgers’ roasted chicken full recipe online.  I copied it off from the ‘net, but wasn’t so sure I’d ever make it, as it’s an extremely complex masterpiece.

But, when I found an easy version of Rodgers’ famous chicken and bread salad, I downloaded it in a jiffy from a blog called NW Edible. It’s been in my to-try file for several years. Gosh, what a shame I hadn’t made it before since it’s such a winner!

Here’s what’s involved. Once you have done the dry brine, and a couple hours before you want to eat, bring out the bird(s) to reach room temp. Chop and oil the rustic bread and broil or bake until crispy but not hard. Make the vinaigrette. Get all the other ingredients ready. NW Edible used cast iron frying pans for her chickens. I don’t own 2 of them, so I opted to use my big Teflon coated turkey roasting pan, which was a perfect fit for 2 Costco chickens I’d prepared. I pre-heated the pan to 475°F. Now, that’s not a typo. The chicken IS roasted at 475°. Really. Once the pan was heated, I took it out and plopped the 2 chickies in the pan and they did sizzle. Probably not as much as in a cast iron skillet, but it worked fine in my book.

Into the oven the birdies went and I set the timer for 80 minutes. Meanwhile, I served an appetizer and wine and we would occasionally catch a whiff of the chicken roasting away. Once out of the oven, right on time – the chicken breast was at 170°, a little high, but it was fine. With help from Joan, we each poked a utensil into each end of the chicken and allowed the juices and fat to drain out into the pan. You also slice the skin near the legs to allow all those juices to drain. Then the chickens went onto a big carving board while I worked on the salad. The big roasting pan was drained (and saved) for of all its juices. I used a fat-separator, as I didn’t want the fat, just the juices. For the 2 birds, I think there was about 1/2 cup of juices and fat. That was set aside to do it’s separating and I went back to the pan. It went onto a stovetop burner and once heated up, with the residual fat in the pan, I added fresh garlic and pine nuts and they took a minute or two to get barely golden. Then 1/4 cup of the juices were poured in. That got poured over the top of the bread croutons in a big bowl. They are allowed to just sit for a minute or two – you want those pan juices to soak into the bread. The raisins were added (currants are called for, but I didn’t have any, so I used regular raisins chopped up fine) into the vinaigrette. A couple of huge wads of salad greens were added. The recipe calls for arugula, but Trader Joe’s was all out of arugula (gosh, that stuff is popular), so I used a multi-colored greens mixture that contains quite a bit of arugula anyway.

Meanwhile, I asked one of the guys to carve, which Don did, very kindly. I could have done it, but I thought I’d ask for help. Tom was the sommelier, we decided to call him and he kept our wine glasses filled. The two husbands handily stepped in to fill Dave’s shoes. Once the salad was tossed – the greens and the soaked bread, it was all on the big white platter you can see up top, and then Don put the chicken pieces – some thick breast slices, some dark meat and a drumstick or two on top, and it was ready. Done.

Almost always when I serve dinner, I serve it buffet style in the kitchen. On my huge island. Then everyone takes their plate into the dining room. We had a lively conversation about a variety of things. Travel, politics, religion. Two of those somewhat no-no subjects. We talked about our families, grandchildren and their busy schedules, travel destinations, etc. Anyway, it was just great fun, and the chicken was magnificent.

What’s GOOD: there is absolutely nothing that isn’t GREAT about this recipe. It takes a bit more prep than some, and you do have to start at least a day in advance. The vinaigrette is fabulous. The salad and slightly soaked crispy bread is magnificent. And the chicken. Well, it’s in a league of its own. Make this. It’s going onto my Carolyn’s Favs list, if that tells you how good it is.

What’s NOT: only the part about needing to start it at least a day ahead.

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There’s still a minimal amount of cooking going on at my house these days. I’m going to cooking classes occasionally, and I’m reviewing books, and I am cooking, but I’m not doing much cooking that’s all that noteworthy. Worthy of a blog post, anyway. But this soup, oh gosh, is it ever good. Such comfort food, good for cold weather and something to come in from the rain to enjoy.

Actually my daughter Sara and I made this several months ago. I realized that I’ve had the recipe up in my browser for a good long time and hadn’t ever transferred the recipe to my software (MasterCook). Then I went looking for the picture I’d taken of it. Couldn’t find it. So, the credit goes to Bon Appetit, whence the photo came, from the article they did on this soup years ago.

An equally long time ago – a couple of years ago, I’d think – I wrote up another recipe with a similar title (Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo) , from my friend Linda. It’s a thick soup with oodles of orzo in it. This one is completely different – it’s a more brothy soup, with very little orzo, but enough that you know it’s there. It’s a very flavorful broth (from canned stock), and it has big shreds of chicken meat. And celery and leek, and a lovely sprinkling of fresh dill when it’s served. The day Sara and I made this at her home in San Diego, we were trying to make 2-3 dinners on a Saturday so she’d have some things already made for busy school nights with her family. We had this for dinner that night, and we just couldn’t get enough of it. It’s the lemon juice that makes it – and there’s almost nothing made with lemon juice that I don’t like – so it was a given I’d be head of heels in favor of this soup.

It’s not hard to make – just buy a leek, some fresh chicken thighs (or breasts), have celery on hand, chicken broth, and then some dill. Don’t forget the dill – it’s essential. Oh, and the lemons, obviously.

What’s GOOD: everything about this soup is delicious. As I mentioned, the lemon flavor was what struck me first, and I loved the fresh dill too. Hearty, but not thick. Remember, it’s a brothy soup. No cream or dairy in it. Healthy soup too, but you’d never think it because it’s so flavorful.

What’s NOT: nary a thing. I loved this soup. I have a small Ziploc bag in my freezer right now – Sara sent me home with one portion. I need to find it. I’m not making a whole lot of headway at cleaning out my freezer.

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What makes this Pacific Rim? The little tiny jot of soy in the lemon sauce. There are 3 steps to this (the sauce, the marinade and cooking the chicken).

My cousin Gary was visiting over the last 2 weeks of December, and I tried to do a little bit more dinner-cooking than I had been. And after having many very elegant and fancy meals over the holidays, I offered to fix some chicken. I looked through Phillis Carey’s cookbook, Fast & Fabulous Chicken Breasts, and found this recipe I’d not made before. The chicken is marinated in a simple mixture of oil, lemon juice, zest, ginger and garlic. If you want to make this up a bit ahead, you can – maybe 2-3 hours. Longer than that and the lemon juice will start to “cook” the chicken through the acid chemistry.

While the chicken marinated I quickly mixed up the sauce – very easy – chicken broth, lemon juice, zest, sugar, the tiny bit of soy sauce in this dish and cornstarch. It took 3-4 minutes to make and then I just left it sitting in the pan on the back of the stove until I was ready to plate this. Meanwhile, Gary and I made mashed potatoes, and I also made some fresh veggies – sugar snap peas and mushrooms sautéed in a bit of oil and butter, salt and pepper. Gary had never had cooked sugar snaps before – he liked them a lot.

When everything was coming together, I put the chicken breasts into a nonstick pan heated to medium-high (Phillis’ original recipe called for grilling the chicken, but it was gosh-darned cold outside, so I just did them in a pan) and quickly browned them on both sides (in the marinade), then turned down the heat and simmered them until they were just done to perfection (at 155°F)  using my Thermapen to measure the temp. I heated the plates, and oh, were they hot! But that kept the chicken and mashed potatoes warmer than they’d been on a cold plate. The sauce was reheated gently (and I ended up adding just a tiny bit of extra water because it was a bit too thick for me) and poured on top, then it was garnished with cilantro. In the recipe below I’ve doubled the sauce recipe because with the size of standard chicken breasts these days (big, from Costco) there definitely wasn’t enough sauce. If you use smaller chicken breasts, you can reduce the sauce proportion.

What’s GOOD: it was a healthy entrée; it was easy – relatively – although to some people if you have to make a marinade and a sauce, that constitutes difficult. I did have some help – Gary peeled potatoes and cleaned sugar snaps while I did the rest. I think this will be a good re-heat-able dinner – with the sauce kept separate. I’ll only need to microwave the chicken breasts and reheat the sauce.

What’s NOT: only that there are a few steps to making this.

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Without a doubt, this soup could be made with leftover turkey – in which case you wouldn’t need to use the slow cooker. But the flavors are lovely. Simple to make. Hearty for a cold night.

Making this soup was a milestone for me in more ways than one. If you’re not a regular reader of my blog, you won’t know that I’ve been suffering from plantar fasciitis in my left foot, and the most painful thing I do is stand still. So standing at my kitchen counter is painful.

When I do stand there, usually for just a very short time, I put more weight on the other foot, which then makes my right hip talk to me. I also try putting more of my weight on the ball of my foot, which doesn’t hurt. But that isn’t exactly comfortable for any length of time, either. Anyway, I’ve purchased another pair of the shoes that are so much better (Brooks Glycerin 12’s) and now I’ve added in two more things: Aetrex arch supports (which have a cloud-like feeling to me) and Feetures cushioned socks. Those have made a huge – and I mean huge – difference in my walking ability. Even some of the standing-still ability as well. Of course, if I’d lose 50 pounds, my foot might not hurt so much.

I’m tired of eating out. Not that I’ve done that every day – I don’t. I’ve dug things out of the freezer lots of nights. I had more of that fabulous Moroccan Harira Chicken Soup, that I can’t get enough of, some lentil soup I made many months ago, before my injury to my foot, and I’ve defrosted some pork chops and have managed to stand long enough to cook those in a skillet. I’ll make some fresh vegetables – love Brussels sprouts with dried cranberries and a tiny bit of maple syrup drizzled in at the end. Or zucchini and onion with thyme. Nothing very exciting for veggies, but they’re something I can do without too much standing. I visit my local Mexican place once a week. And I buy any number of things at Trader Joe’s. I’ve poached salmon in my Lekue case on a number of occasions because it’s done in the microwave. And I stick a few veggies in there too, so it’s a meal in one. I discovered an ancient bag of soup in my frozen Soup Library that was made in 2009 – a Mexican Black Bean Sausage Chili. Oh my goodness was it delicious. I ate it 3 nights in a row. Who says frozen food doesn’t taste good after a year. I thought it was great, and it was 5 years old! I also make myself an omelet for dinner once in awhile. If I have a big lunch out, then I eat salad (often one from Trader Joe’s ready-made ones, my current favorite being Chicken Citrus Salad) or soup, or even cold cereal on occasion.

All that story leading up to the fact that the other night I WANTED to cook. That’s the other milestone. Since Dave died (8 months ago now), my interest in cooking has been only because I needed to feed myself. The joy of cooking had completely vanished. I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy eating the food I ate, I just didn’t want to cook it and if I cooked, it wasn’t fun at all. This particular morning, though, I thought about what I’d like to have and felt that I’d be able to do something in my small crockpot. I went to one of my crockpot cookbooks and found this one. I had all the ingredients, so that made the decision very easy. What appealed to me was beef stew, but I didn’t have any beef chunks in the freezer, so that idea went down the drain. I did have chicken, though. I almost always have chicken breasts and thighs on hand.

So with this recipe I’m celebrating the fact that I wanted to cook and that I was able to stand up at the kitchen counter long enough to do the food prep. Hooray! I had 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I cut them up into large-ish bite-sizes. I sautéed the onions, added the garlic in at the end, sort of browned the chicken, then added in everything else and let it slow cook for about 2 1/2 hours. The recipe said 6-8 on low, 3-4 on high. Well, that didn’t work for me – this soup was completely done in about 2+ hours on low. I went online and read another website with this recipe (which came from Andrew Schloss’s Art of the Slow Cooker: 80 Exciting New Recipes). Others commented that the chicken was dry after that many hours, so I’d definitely not leave this to cook all day. Chicken thighs do have a lot more moisture, but chicken breasts would probably be done in an hour. You could slow it down by using chilled chicken broth, chilled canned tomatoes, etc.

Based on info I found in the comments at that website, I added a large can of tomatoes and more chicken broth. For myself, and because I’d added more liquid volume to it, I also amped up the spices just a little – rounded the teaspoons for all of them. I added regular grocery-store chili powder, which doesn’t have much heat – use your own judgment about that for you and your family. If I served this again, I might also add just a little bit of frozen corn (just to give it some color). Corn isn’t necessary, but it would be a nice addition. I’ve added it into the recipe below even though I didn’t use it. The chocolate – well, it wasn’t noticeable, to me. I think it would need more than an ounce. Someone else used chocolate chips, chopped up some.

What’s GOOD: how easy and quick it was to put together. You do need to sauté the onions (which gives them more flavor). My small crockpot allows me to sauté in the pot. I took out the onions then added in the chicken, then added all the ingredients (except the cilantro and chocolate added at the last). It was really delish. For a quick meal you could do this on the stove and it would be ready in about 30 minutes, I suppose. I decided to use the slow cooker because I was going to be gone for awhile in the afternoon (went to a movie). When I got home the soup was done to perfection.

What’s NOT: this isn’t really complex chili – although by adding your own type of chili powder (ancho? New Mexico?) it might change the flavors some. I was completely satisfied, though, for a quick dinner. I now have frozen half of it and will eat the rest for another 2 meals. If you’re feeing 6 hungry people, it might not be enough. Add another can of beans perhaps?

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Need an easy, but gussied-up way to fix chicken – easy enough for a family meal, but also special enough to serve to guests? This is a great recipe to fit all those parameters.

Watching a recent Ina Garten program, she prepared a chicken dinner (anybody who follows her shows knows Jeffrey loves chicken, right?). It was an anniversary dinner that they ate out on their patio (don’t you all want to be invited to her house for dinner?). Ina reminisced about when they were first married and lived in France for awhile, and she learned to make chicken somewhat like this recipe. I took liberties with it. In essence it’s her recipe, but she used skin on, bone-in chicken pieces. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It worked. She baked hers, I pan-sautéed mine for a flash of time and dinner was ready. The Brussels sprouts took more time to cook than the chicken, but only by a few minutes.

What was different about this – was – you whiz up the panko crumbs in the food processor. Now, I have to ask the question . . . when Ina and Jeffrey were first married (that was in 1968 – I looked it up) I don’t really think they had panko crumbs in France. You think? But okay, she’s updated the recipe, and I’m glad she did. (I love Ina, don’t get me wrong, and I didn’t save the episode, so maybe she said she had updated the recipe . . .I don’t remember.) So, anyway, into the food processor go the panko crumbs, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme (I didn’t have fresh), lemon zest and once that’s all finely minced, then you add a little tiny jot of olive oil and butter. This is IN the food processor. With the panko crumbs. What this does is slightly moisten the panko crumbs with fat and allows the crumbs to brown to a nice golden brown (see picture below) all over – not just where you might have poured some oil into the pan. Actually, she baked them. I did add a bit of oil to the pan also, but I used a nonstick pan.

And, because the panko crumbs are much finer (from time in the food processor) they give the chicken a less dense coating. But before the chicken goes in the pan you prepare a mixture of Dijon and dry white wine. It’s a kind of a slurry (not exactly thick, but certainly not like water, either) and the chicken is dipped into that, then put into the panko crumb mixture.

As I mentioned, Ina baked her chicken (but they were bone-in pieces, remember). I could have done that too, but it just seemed simpler to pan fry the breasts. I also pounded the chicken breasts before I started – to an even 1/2 inch thickness, so they’d cook evenly. Another of those wonderful Phillis Carey tips that I use for any chicken breast recipe I make.

Do cut into the breasts to make sure they’re cooked through. If you question it, use an instant read thermometer horizontally into the thickest part of the breast meat and cook the breasts to 155°. Serve immediately. Do try to serve it with a bright green veggie of some kind – the chicken is a bit pale on the plate. I did Brussels sprouts, but broccoli, green beans, asparagus would all work. Or a green salad.

What’s GOOD: how easy it was to make – I’d definitely make this again. It was super-tasty, and because I watched the cooking time, they were cooked perfectly – still juicy and not a bit of dryness to them.
What’s NOT: some folks might not want to fuss with making the mustard slurry or the panko mixture (you do dirty up a few dishes in the making of this) but the result is worth the trouble, I think.

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Zippadee-doodah! Not only was I glad to be back in the kitchen again, but oh, what a good recipe I’m sharing with  you today. It’s low in fat, hearty, and really high in the flavor department. It is great to make ahead, good to freeze too. And wonderful comfort food.

Even though I have some posts already in my queue, I just couldn’t wait to share with you this recipe that I made yesterday. And yes, I know, this really isn’t soup weather. My apologies for that, but when I get a bee in my bonnet about something, it just won’t be stilled.

You’ll remember, perhaps, I posted a few days ago about watching Anthony Bourdain’s CNN show called Parts Unknown where he visits rather oddball places in the world, mostly to sample the food and learn about that country’s food culture. He is such a character – is he an alcoholic, you think? He visited Tangiers, and I was transported back to the day trip Dave and I took to that city (from across the narrow straits at Gibraltar and Spain) back about 15 years ago. And all I remembered was the soup, harira (pronounced just like it looks – hah-ree-ruh) we had for lunch. It was special and full of flavor. I’d totally forgotten about it until I was watching that show. And I could almost taste that soup. I went on the hunt for a recipe. Found several – if you google harira you’ll find several hits. I printed out two in particular and made my own version but with more of it coming from this one at bbcgoodfood.com. The other one was from about.com under their section called Moroccan food.

What makes this different is the group of spices used. Lots of them. Really LOTS of them. The most unusual, perhaps is cinnamon (although you do not taste cinnamon in the finished soup). Also ground coriander, turmeric, cumin seed, ground cumin, ground ginger and some harissa. Now, harissa is perhaps not a common staple in every grocery store, for sure. And I know I had a bottle of it in my refrigerator, but I couldn’t find it. Perhaps it hadn’t gotten used enough and I threw it out awhile back. I substituted red chile paste/sauce (the Thai one) but I think sriracha would work fine too. The ingredients are similar (a variety of red chiles, red peppers – not necessarily hot ones – garlic, sometimes other seasonings, but those are the main ones). And I’m sure if any Moroccan reads this he/she will think it heresy to use anything but a true harissa from Morocco.  You can make your own from this recipe at saveur.

As I began cooking I had a sad moment – my darling Dave would have been hovering around me, and washing dishes (and putting them away) as fast as I dirtied them. I missed his presence. I had to wash dishes three times in the process of making this soup and eating it for dinner last night. Some went in the dishwasher, but not all. He’s chuckling at me, I suppose, saying uh-huh, you miss my dishwashing don’t you? Only one of many things – oodles of things – that I miss about him every single day.

Anyway, I didn’t brown the chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) because I didn’t really think they would acquire all that much flavor from that process. So I sautéed the vegetables (onions, celery, leeks) in a bit of oil. There’s another interesting step here. Mostly I toss out parsley stems and cilantro stems, but here, you wash both and cut off all the stems from the leaves. Save the leaves for later. Also cut off the little brown stem ends. Those stems of parsley and cilantro I diced up fine with a knife. The food processor might have done it fine, but I’d already put the veggies in the workbowl so I just minced away and added them to the food processor too. All that gets gently sautéed. Then you add the canned tomatoes. Do note that you want to use canned tomatoes in puree, not just tomatoes with juice/water. The puree adds just a little bit of texture to the soup.

Water is added at this point, and I stirred in a little glob of my favorite Penzey’s chicken soup base. Then all the spices get added in, plus the chicken thighs. That mixture is simmered for about half an hour, until the thighs are cooked through. Now, you could use chicken breasts in this – no reason why not – just don’t overcook them – if you cut the breast meat into big chunks, it’ll probably not take more than 10-15 minutes to cook through. Remove as in the recipe. But don’t cook the chicken any further or it’ll get dry – yes, I know, it’s in soup – but it will, trust me. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the pieces to a wide bowl to cool. Then add the lentils to the soup and simmer that for about 20 minutes, then add a can of garbanzo beans (or cook your own). At that point add back in the chicken that you’ve shredded by hand, or diced and minced to suit you. Taste it for seasonings. Add more water maybe.

I didn’t want a soup that was heavy-laden with carbs (the garbanzos and lentils) but you could easily add more if you’d prefer. A serving of about 1 1/2 cups is ample for dinner, with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top and some cilantro leaves.

What’s GOOD: oh my goodness, everything about this soup is good. Mostly, I think it’s the spices that make it different/good. It’s just abounding with flavor. Good for a family meal, good for freezing. Altogether wonderful, okay? Make it. Now. This is going onto my Carolyn’s Favs list if that’s any indication of how good it is. There is some heat in this soup, but you can vary it by using more or less of the chile paste.

What’s NOT: nothing, unless you don’t like lots of spices.

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You can thank Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen for this recipe. She posted it last year sometime. I wanted a salad for a hot evening. It was hot like mid-summer around here. It was so hot we couldn’t even eat outside. I cranked down the A/C and we ate in the dining room in perfect cool temperatures. A refreshing salad for a warm night.

One of our daughters was coming to visit. Hmmm. It’s a whole new language . . .I can’t seem to ever remember to say MY daughter rather than OUR daughter. You can’t turn around 31  years of marriage language in a few weeks – a language of saying “us” and “we” and “our.” It’s so hard, this widow thing. So, I’ll start over here – one of my daughters (Sara) was coming to visit with her daughter, my granddaughter (Sabrina). I made dinner and dessert. We spent the evening together, which was good fun. We heated up the jacuzzi and talked and talked and talked. I knew I had some ground turkey in the freezer. I had Romaine lettuce. I went to the store for fresh mint (my new crop isn’t big enough to harvest any yet), fresh cilantro, fresh limes, a fresh jalapeno chile and a shallot. It took no time at all to make this salad from beginning to end. Maybe a little more than half an hour, but not by much.

First you mix up garlic, shallots and finely minced jalapeno into the ground turkey meat. Then it’s cooked slowly in a NON-STICK pan, with a little bit of peanut oil, until it’s just cooked through. Meanwhile you make a dressing – an oil-free dressing composed of fresh lime juice, Sriracha sauce, Vietnamese fish sauce and some sweetener. The only fat in this entire salad comes from the tiny bit of peanut oil used in the pan, and what little fat there is in ground turkey breast. Not much!

The green part is Romaine lettuce, the fresh cilantro and mint and I added radishes. Kalyn didn’t, and probably radishes aren’t traditionally Thai, but I wanted some crunch, so I added them anyway. The dressing is divided in half – well, you just pour half of it into the pan with the turkey (and try to drizzle it all over so it doesn’t concentrate on one section of turkey – with the sriracha sauce you could get a few really hot bites. The other half I served at the table, but we actually didn’t need it. Since the salad isn’t tossed, I was concerned it would taste “dry” but it didn’t at all. Next time I might toss the 2nd half of the dressing on the lettuce and toss it before I scooped it onto plates. The turkey mixture is spooned on top, then you add chopped salted peanuts as garnish. And add a lime slice to squeeze over it all. Very delicious. Thank you, Kalyn!

What’s GOOD: how healthy it is, and easy to make. You might have to go to the grocery store for fresh mint and cilantro, and a jalapeno. Maybe for the ground turkey. The mixture is super-tasty with kind-of Thai flavors. You know it’s Asian inspired anyway. I’d definitely make this again. I have enough left over for one more serving – yippee.

What’s NOT: nary a thing. I liked it all.

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Yet another way to fix chicken . . . I can never have too many recipes . . . and this one is well worthy of serving to company, but it’s easy enough you could serve it to the family too. It’s the mushroom sauce in the chianti wine sauce that makes the dish. Oh, and probably the butter that gets added into it too.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, then you know that I’m a fan of Phillis Carey. She’s a San Diego-based chef who teaches cooking classes all over Southern California. (She doesn’t own a restaurant or cook in one.) My friend Cherrie and I have attended so many of her classes I couldn’t even begin to count. We’re part of her “fan club,” if you can call any number of people who show up regularly to her classes. We’re Phillis groupies, so to speak. And if you subscribe to her blog, once a week you get a little update about where she’s teaching, what restaurants she’s been to lately, and she provides one recipe from her teaching the previous week. That’s where this recipe came from. The recipes don’t stay on her website – they exist for a few weeks, then they’re gone. But if you subscribe to her newsletter, you’ll get a recipe a week. If you’re interested, just send an email to Phillis – phillis@phillicarey.com and ask to be added to her mailing list. (Tell her I sent you, won’t you, so she knows why she’s getting so many requests all of a sudden.)

I can’t say that I’m really “back in the kitchen” yet. Not like I used to be prior to March 9th when Dave had his stroke. I hardly ate during that subsequent 9 days – I did eat, but not much, and then after Dave passed away, I could hardly look at food, let alone cook anything.

I’ve mentioned it here before that I’m a member of PEO, a women’s organization. The night before Dave’s memorial service (about 10 days after Dave passed away), when my house was filled with people (and guests from our son’s home too) my PEO sisters brought over a meal to serve 20 people (a huge honey baked ham and every possible side dish and 2 desserts). We had 18 guests, and we nearly ate everything they brought. It was such a blessing to me – not only the love and friendship demonstrated by my PEO sisters, but the practical part of needing to feed a whole lot of people when I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I’ll be forever grateful for what they did for me.

Yes, I cook occasionally. But only when I have some reason to – as in I’ve invited friends over or I have houseguests. I don’t think I’ve cooked a complete dinner for myself – alone – yet. I will, I’m sure, once my friends have slowed down their invitations to go out or go to their homes for dinner. As I write this I have 2 Styrofoam containers in the refrigerator with left overs from 2 different lunches or dinners out at restaurants. But I’ve invited a few friends over a couple of times and then I make myself cook. This weekend daughter Sara and granddaughter Sabrina will be here, so I’ll cook something for them for tonight’s dinner (I’m writing this on Friday). What I’ll make, I don’t know. Haven’t even thought about it. There are nights when I’m just not very hungry, so I may eat a hard boiled egg and call that “dinner.” My appetite is pretty-much back to normal, but I don’t eat very much, so I’m still slowly losing a bit of weight (a good thing). My doctor has told me just to make sure I eat some protein 3x a day. I do. That old adage about portion control? Well, I can take very small portions for dinner and be perfectly content, so I’m encouraging myself to do that.

Two days ago I packed a bag and drove to San Diego for an overnight. My home has been my sanctuary in every possible way – even though every few minutes I’m reminded that Dave’s not here – but my hubby had started a tradition a year or two ago of driving south to have lunch with daughter Sara and her husband on his way to our sailboat, which lives in San Diego. (It’s up for sale, of course, because I don’t sail; the boat was Dave’s pride and joy; I get seasick.) He’d spend a night there, puttering on something or other, spend time with his sailing buddies, and return home the next day and we were always so glad to see one another. After 31 years we were joyful at seeing each other every day, but particularly if we’d spent a night apart.

Anyway, I had dinner with my friend Linda who lives in Carlsbad. It was good to see her and spend an evening just talking. Then I drove to San Diego and spent the night with Joe and Yvette, good friends. Joe spoke at Dave’s service, and is the friend who visits frequently on business and spends the night here at my house (and I cook for him). I spent the next morning with Yvette, then drove to Escondido and had a long lunch with Sara and John. We had lots to talk about. Then I drove home and got dinner ready for a very dear friend, Meredith (daughter of a dear, old friend of mine – our daughters grew up together). Meredith and I are both in book clubs, and we always have lots to share about books to read. She’s my daughters’ age of course, but we have a lovely friendship, and her visit just made my heart sing. She gave me several recommendations of books to read and to recommend to my 2 book groups.

Now that I’ve spent all that time talking about how busy I am, let me just say that I think I’m beginning to come out of my grief cloud. Today (Friday) it’s been  6 weeks since Dave died. I still cry. I still tear up easily, and choke up even more often but it doesn’t last. I’m able to stop the true crying. In private I still do sometimes, but not as often. I cry particularly when friends hug me. In the grief class we’re supposed to tell people how we think we rank (today) on a scale of 0-10. Over the weeks I’ve been anywhere from a 0 to a 1.5. But this week I think I’m a 2. That’s progress. Last week I spent 2 hours with the estate/trust attorney and I have a huge, long list of things I must put together (paperwork). The list is overwhelming. I was the record keeper, the payer of the bills, the one who gathered the info for tax time, but still, some of the paperwork (to value our collective estate before it’s divided up into an AB trust) is just hard to find. I need the registration for the boat (which is in San Diego) and the dinghy (also in San Diego). I haven’t been to the boat yet. I have friends keeping a close eye on it for me and it’s locked up tight. One day soon I’m going to have to go there and take care of several things – removing all of Dave’s personal effects (foul weather gear, jackets, shirts, pillows, blankets, etc.). Next week, I think. I’ll clean out the refrigerator. There may not be anything in it. Don’t know. The desk (chart table) is full of stuff, I know. That will need going through, and just spiffing everything up so it looks good to a potential buyer. It’s a beautiful boat and Dave took wonderfully good care of it.

Sleep still eludes me some, even though I’m taking a prescription drug at night. But I still wake up sometimes at about 3 or 4 am and can’t go back to sleep. That next day is tough when I’m so tired I can hardly function. Once I get some of this prodigious paperwork done, perhaps I can calm my mind better. And sleep until 6. I’m looking forward to that.

Now that I’ve unloaded all that on you, my readers, let’s get back to the recipe. When I made this, I used a combo of chicken breasts and boneless thighs. I cut the chicken breasts in half (bone-in). I cooked the thighs longer and added the breasts back into the sauce just a short time until the breast meat was tender and juicy. I made it with orzo, and I used ample mushrooms. The sauce is what makes this – so don’t skimp. It’s delicious (the gravy) on the orzo you could serve on the side.

The chicken is browned and set aside. Then you make the sauce. The original recipe called for shallots. Well, I only had one, so I added half an onion, which worked fine. I opened a bottle of Chianti and used most of it (about 3 cups) to make the sauce. The chicken is added back in once you’ve made the sauce – it does stain the chicken – that might be a turn-off for some people. Perhaps children? I don’t know. But, it tastes wonderful. A little flour is added in at the last to thicken the gravy. Meanwhile, cook the pasta, and add the mushrooms to the sauce and it’s done.

What’s GOOD: the flavor. Gosh, it’s good. It almost tastes like coq au vin but you don’t have to work so hard to make it. It’s the wine, I’m sure. It’s relatively easy to make – and most of it could be made ahead. Just don’t overcook the chicken, that’s all. Substitute other chicken parts if you’d prefer. Phillis is the master of chicken breasts, but thighs worked just fine.
What’s NOT: can’t think of anything. If I had to work at it I’d say the dark wine staining the chicken isn’t all that pretty, but it’s tastes great, so what the heck.

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