Beet Salad

On the weekend I tried a new salad recipe.  I wanted to make something light and healthy for lunch with our friends who we hadn't seen in awhile.  Don't you love having a good visit with long-time friends?  It's the best - as is making a new recipe that turns out to be a winner.  The beet salad was a big hit so I thought I would share the recipe with you (and let's be honest - I might want to make it again so I need to have it on my blog so I know where to find it).  

Ingredients: mixed baby greens 4-6 beets (depending on the size and how much you like beets) 150 gm (about 5 oz) chèvre (a mild goat cheese) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 3 tablespoons maple syrup
Dressing: 1/2 cup orange juice 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
Method: 1.  Scrub beets, trim ends, cover with water and boil for 45-60 minutes depending on their size.  Beets are done when you can insert a fork into them. 2.  Drain and cool beets.  When they are cool rub them with your fingers or scrape them with the edge of a knife to remove the skin.  Cut into wedges or slices. 3.  Place walnuts in a frying pan and cook over medium-low heat until they just start to toast.  Then add the maple syrup and cook a minute longer until they are coated and the liquid is absorbed. 4.  Whisk together the dressing ingredients. 5.  To serve, put greens on plate, add beets, chopped cheese, and walnuts.  Drizzle with the dressing.  

I know some people don't like beets, but we love them.  I often make borscht or boil up some beets to accompany a meat and potatoes dinner, but this was my first time making a beet salad.  Are beets something you like?

Linked to Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm

The Queen and Her Chicken Salad and Other Stories

As I was pondering what to have for Sunday dinner, I found a recipe on-line for Coronation Chicken Salad and thought that was very timely and we should give it a try.  

I did some digging to find the original recipe used at the coronation in 1952 and this one published by The Telegraph seems to be it. I did modify the recipe a bit as I couldn't find any crème fraîche and I decided to simplify things by using skinless boneless chicken breasts. The chicken salad was delicious and was definitely something I would repeat.

CORONATION CHICKEN SALAD (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp curry powder

2 tbsp mango chutney

1/3 cup raisins (I would even add more next time)

1/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots (I would add more of these as well)

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (I think sour cream or natural yogurt would work as well)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

Method:

1.  Cook the chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces.

2.  Add the raisins and chopped apricots to the cooked chicken and set aside to cool.

3.  Mix the other ingredients together to make the dressing and combine with the chicken and dried fruit.

4.  Serve on a bed of lettuce or watercress.  I served the chicken salad with sliced cucumbers and chopped mango.

The table was set with red, white, and blue for the Union Jack

with a bountiful bouquet of roses in a Crown Mason jar (get it - crown!!!  So witty, I know).

For dessert we had fruit with Devon Custard (for some unknown reason I had a can of it in the pantry).

Last year's post about Prince William's Chocolate Biscuit Cake has been a very popular post - second overall on my blog. Yes sir, people have been Googling that recipe all year long. Let's see how Coronation Chicken Salad does against Chocolate Biscuit Cake - a face-off!

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Diamond Jubilee souvenirs from a shop in Edinburgh (photo taken by my husband)

At the time of the royal wedding I posted about my three close encounters with the British royal family - you can read about when Queen Elizabeth waved at me during the Silver Jubilee celebration.  So sweet of her!  Well not long after I published that post I remembered another encounter with the British royal family, but it was too late to write about it last year so I decided to save it for this year.  
Story #4About ten years ago my husband was working on a contract in Bristol for six months.  We celebrated Christmas in the UK that year as we all flew over to join him.  It was an amazing and memorable trip. The company Jonathan was working for hired a car to take us from London to Bristol and the driver of the car used to be the butler for Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew.  He was exactly like a butler should be - VERY proper, VERY polite, VERY solicitous, and didn't dish any dirt on the royals.  He said Sarah was kind and nice to work for.  

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And finally, I had to add this transcript from a royal visit to Winnipeg, Canada in 1939 that is unbelievably funny. I heard the original on CBC radio many years ago and was able to find a transcription on-line for this post.  In 1939 the present Queen's father and mother came to Canada and were greeted by our Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Winnipeg's mayor John Queen and his wife.  I think they made the King and Queen visit Winnipeg just to see the reporter sweat. 

Royal Visit, 1939

Here comes the Royal Family now. The automobile has now stopped....
Oh, there's the King -- he's stepping out, followed by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, nattily attired in a silver coat.
Mr. King is now shaking hands with the King and introducing Mr. Queen to the King and Queen and then Mrs. Queen to the Queen and King.
They are now proceeding up the steps to the well-decorated City Hall, the King and Mr. King together with the Queen being escorted by Mrs. Queen. The King has now stopped and said something to Mrs. Queen and goes to Mrs. Queen and the Queen and Mr. King and the Queen laughed jovially. The King leaves Mr. King and goes to Mrs. Queen, and the Queen and Mr. King follow behind....

- From CBC Radio report of the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Winnipeg, where they were greeted by Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Winnipeg Mayor John Queen and Mrs. Queen.

And on that note - I wish you all a happy Diamond Jubilee. I hope you enjoy the Coronation Chicken Salad (there is still time to make it) and the celebration of this memorable event.

(The photo of the Union Jack bunting at the top of the post was taken by my husband)

Linked to Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming,
WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Easy Dinner - Couscous Salad

Kate has been practicing her cooking skills recently and has made a few meals over the past few weeks, but I'm behind on posting them.  This recipe for a cousous salad is very easy and is nice for a hot evening as it can be eaten at room temperature or warm or cold.  

The hardest part of this recipe is peeling and chopping the eggplant - seriously, it is that easy.

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant - peeled and cut into 1 cm square cubes
1 vidalia (or other sweet) onion - chopped
1 cup of frozen peas
1 can of chick peas
2 pieces of roasted red peppers, chopped or sliced
1 cup of couscous
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
approximately 1/2 cup of olive oil for cooking the eggplant and onion


Method:
1.  Cook the eggplant and onion in a frying pan, adding oil as it is needed so it doesn't stick.  Cook for about 10 minutes until the onion is translucent and the eggplant is cooked.
2.  Add 2 tbsp of water to the frozen peas, cover, and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring part way through.
3.  Bring 1 cup of salted water to a boil, then remove from the heat, add the couscous, stir, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.  Then fluff with a fork
4.  Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and enjoy.

You can find other quick and easy recipes that take approximately 30 minutes to make and use approximately 6 ingredients at Project 6:30 (you can see I took liberties with the number of ingredients for this recipe, but it's worth it as it is delicious and easy to make).  I would love it if you joined me in linking up easy recipes.  I'm sure we can all do with some new cooking inspiration.

Culinary Adventures Around the World - France

We are cooking our way around the world and have finally arrived in France.  Since I started this long-term project over a year ago (you can read here about how it all began), long before I had a blog, most of the countries do not yet have posts done on them.  So far these are the countries I have made a dinner for:

• Ireland (see the recipe here)
• England
• Norway (see the recipe here)
• Russia
• The Ukraine
• Poland
• Germany
• Switzerland
• Italy (see the recipes here)
• and now France

I made two recipes from France - Salade Nicoise and Seafood Stuffed Crepes.  They both were very highly rated by everyone in the family, so I'm sure I'll be making them again, especially the salad.  I'm not sure why I never made the Salade Nicoise before, as it is anything but complicated, but now I have.

I used a Salade Nicoise recipe from MediterrAsian.com (What a fabulous site - chock full of heart-healthy recipes.)  Here is the recipe:

SALADE NICOISE

Salad Ingredients:

2 small potatoes - peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

16 green beans - ends trimmed and halved

4 cups lettuce leaves 

14 oz (420 g) canned light tuna in olive oil - drained and broken into chunks

2 tomatoes - cut into wedges

1/4 red onion - thinly sliced and rings separated

4 anchovy fillets -halved lengthways and cut into pieces

3 eggs - hard-boiled, peeled and quartered

16 black pitted olives

For the dressing:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic - minced

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook the potatoes until tender (10 minutes), adding the beans for the last 5 minutes of cooking, then set aside to cool.

Arrange the lettuce, potatoes, beans, tuna, tomatoes, onion, anchovies, eggs, and olives on plates.

Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Pour the dressing over the salad and serve.

I had a little more difficulty with the seafood stuffed crepe recipe as I had to put together a few different recipes, so I'll give you what I made, since it worked really well.

CREPES (from The Canadian Living Cookbook, 1987).

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth in a food processor.
2. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Stir before cooking.
3. Heat crepe pan (or frying pan) over meduim heat, brush pan with butter before cooking each crepe.  Use a 1/4 cup measure to pour batter into pan, tilting pan so batter covers bottom.
4.  Cook about 1 minute or until lightly browned, turn and cook other side 30-60 seconds or just until lightly browned.
5.  Stack crepes as they are cooked.  Use immediately or store at room temterature for a few hours, or wrap and store in refrigerator for up to 3 days, or place wax paper between crepes and freeze for up to 2 nothes.
Makes 12-16, 7-8 inch crepes.

SEAFOOD STUFFING

Ingredients:
1 pkg  salad shrimp (fresh or frozen, with tails removed)
2 lbs (900 gm) haddock fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pkg scallops
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour

Method:
Melt the butter in a frying pan.
Stir in flour, mix, and cook for 1 minute.
Then add seafood and cook for a few minutes until scallops and haddock are cooked.

SAUCE

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a French cheese)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Melt butter in a frying pan and add flour.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Whisk in chicken stock, milk, and salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring often until thickened, for about 8 minutes.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese until smooth.

Assembling the crepes:
Spread about 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Spoon about 1/3 cup of seafood stuffing onto the centre of each crepe.
Roll up and arrange in a single layer in prepared pan.
Drizzle remaining sauce over the crepes.
Bake in 375 (190 C) oven until golden, bubbly and heated through, about 35 minutes.
 

Bon Appetit!

Linked to Recipe Party at Remodelaholic