Ingredients
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Summary
Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes with Red Pepper Dressing
Publisher of: www.chewingthefat.us.com
Recipe Summary & Steps
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Ask me my favorite day of the week
and I will say Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday have their charms. But of weekdays, nothing compares to
Wednesday and the arrival of “Food” from The New York Times. Formerly called “Dining”, the section was
renamed in 2014 “to reflect its increasingly broad focus on
food and drink, restaurants and home cooking, gastronomic trends and
innovation”. The newspaper went on to
say that the newspaper’s most famous food editor of all, Craig Claiborne had
named his first report “Food” when he joined the paper in 1957. Plus ça change… Every Wednesday, I eagerly
await its contents, most particularly, its recipes. What other newspaper has a “Recipe Lab”
where recipes are pored over with a food historian’s eye? Where else can you find a David Tanis, whose
City Kitchen is a constant source of new ideas.
Or “In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite” which is the province of one
Melissa Clark, whose recipes have made it onto Chewing the Fat an astonishing
total of 33 times. But today, Melissa
is absent as her two colleagues, David Tanis and Julia Moskin take center
stage.
David Tanis
David Tanis’ salad had me at first
glance at its incredibly colorful picture.
And talk about what to do with a surfeit of zucchini and summer
squash! It’s a colorful showstopper with
roots in Turkey, according to Tanis.
The squash benefit from blanching in salted water but the real star here
is the roasted red pepper dressing which packs a punch of flavor. And it is very easy to make. I used a mixture of yellow squash and zucchini
which added another layer of color to the dish. I used a Mandolin to slice the squash to the 1/8-inch
thickness. That made life much easier
but if you have a steady hand with a knife, be my guest. I also used jarred roasted red peppers, but
if you must, you can roast your own simply by slicing it on four sides and
discarding the seeds, core and stem.
Using a grill or grill pan, cook skin side down until the skin is blackened. The highly photogenic salad was the perfect
foil for the exceptionally almost all-white Chicken Salad that I would serve
with it. Because two weeks after Tanis’
recipe appeared, I was smitten with Julia Moskin’s “Best Chicken Salad”, which,
like its name is the best Chicken Salad I can remember. It is a close cousin of one served at
The Swan Coach House’s Restaurant in Atlanta. The Swan Coach House is part of
the Atlanta Historical Society where my mother was a long-time volunteer. Their chicken salad was served in lady-like
timbales alongside a frozen fruit salad and cheese straws. Since my parents
left Atlanta in 1981, that’s a fairly good indication of just how memorable a
chicken salad can be. Lo and behold, Ms.
Moskin’s Chicken Salad does indeed owe a debt of gratitude to Swan Coach House.
It also owes a debt to the doyenne of Southern Cooking, Nathalie Dupree whom I
eagerly follow on Facebook. Nathalie Dupree
Ms. Dupree, who among other things,
presided over the Cooking School at Rich’s Department Store provided Ms. Moskin
with a wealth of background including this gem: “ (Chicken Salad) was often the
centerpiece of a special-occasion meal when Ms. Dupree was a little girl, she
said, reserved for Sundays, socials and summer parties. “Summer was when the
hens stopped laying and had to be killed off,” she said.” Apparently there are variations of the dish
ad infinitum. Slivered Almonds,
pineapple, mango chutney and my mother’s favorite, seedless grapes, have all
been added to the basic recipe, which relies on perfectly cooked chicken and mayonnaise. Countless recipes call for rotisserie
chicken, which sounds like a wonderful shortcut until I read that roast chicken
is too dry, too stringy and contains dark meat, which should immediately
disqualify its use. Only poached White
Breast Meat will do. For a chicken thigh
lover like myself, I was pleased to read Ms. Moskin write: “What lifts chicken
salad up is the pure, clean texture of breast meat – one of the very few really good uses for this almost entirely
flavorless cut.”
Julia MoskinThe chicken in Best Chicken Salad was a
revelation in more ways than one.
Incredibly tender, juicy and just perfectly cooked, by itself it was the
best white meat chicken I’d ever tasted.
This was due to the Ms. Moskin’s discovery of a Chinese method of
poaching that is incredibly easy and would be beloved in the south since you
actually turn the stove off once you put the chicken in to poach. All you do is to add some peppercorns and
scallions to a large enameled cast iron Dutch oven, cover them with water and
bring it to a boil. The bone-in skin on
breasts for into the boiling hot water and the stove is turned off. The breasts sit in the water for two
hours. If you are going to serve this
for lunch, you might schedule your cooking for early morning because, in
addition to the two hours, there’s also the edict that the chicken should rest
in the refrigerator for four additional hours.
Believe me, every moment you spend on this dish will reward you with a
simply flawless chicken salad. I upped the quantities as I was serving more
than the 4 portions in the original.
Besides, who doesn’t love leftover Chicken Salad. Here are the recipes:
Recipe for Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes with Red Pepper
Dressing from David Tanis in The New York Times
Time: About 30
minutes (tops). Serves 6.
2
pounds zucchini or summer squash, sliced lengthwise
1/8-inch thick
1
garlic clove, minced ¼
cup extra-virgin olive oil 1
teaspoon Dijon mustard 2
tablespoons red wine vinegar 1
tablespoon lemon juice ½
cup roughly chopped roasted red pepper (see note)
1
teaspoon Maras pepper flakes, Korean pepper flakes
or sweet paprika Pinch
of cayenne Salt
and pepper 1
pint cherry tomatoes, halved and lightly salted
A
few fresh oregano leaves and flowers, for garnish, or a few small basil leaves
Parsley
leaves, for garnish (Optional)
Recipe for Best Chicken Salad from Julia Moskin in The New
York Times. Time: 30 minutes (tops). Serves 6.
4 large, bone-in, skin-on chicken
breasts 4 scallions, cut into thirds 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns 2 lemons, halved 1 cup mayonnaise,
preferably Hellmann’s, Best Foods or homemade 1/3 cup sour cream or crème fraîche, more
to taste 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard or 1 teaspoon
brine from a jar of pickles, optional 3 pale green celery ribs, cut into
medium (1/4-inch) dice 3/4 cup minced onion or finely sliced
scallion, optional ½ cup walnut or pecan halves, broken
into bite-size pieces 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon,
parsley, or chives, plus extra for garnish Salt and ground black pepper, to taste 1. Choose a heavy pot or Dutch oven with a
tight-fitting lid. It should be large enough to hold the chicken snugly, but not
much bigger. Fill pot about 2/3 full with cold water, but don’t put the chicken
in yet. Boil some extra water in a teakettle. Add scallions and peppercorns to water,
cover and bring to a rolling boil. Turn off heat and slip chicken pieces into
the hot water. If needed, add boiling water from the kettle to cover chicken
with water by 2 inches. Replace the lid and let chicken rest in the hot water
for about 2 hours. Do not turn the flame back on: The pot will retain enough
heat to cook chicken thoroughly and safely. (To test, cut into 1 piece of
chicken and check the meat near the bone. If it is still pink, return the pot
to low heat, bring the water to a simmer and simmer 10 minutes more.)
2. Lift chicken out of the pot. Remove and
discard bones, skin and fat. Pat the meat dry with paper towels, then cut or
shred into small bite-size pieces and transfer to a bowl. (Meanwhile, simmer
cooking liquid until tasty, strain and refrigerate or freeze to use as chicken
stock.)
3. In a bowl, whisk together juice of 1/2
lemon, mayonnaise and sour cream. If using, whisk in mustard or brine. Taste
and adjust the seasonings and thickness to your liking. Pour over chicken,
scraping the bowl clean with a rubber spatula.
4. Add celery, onion if using, nuts, herbs
and salt and pepper. Toss gently but thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, at least
4 hours. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Sprinkle with herbs before
serving.
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