Chicken Curry Salad

Several years ago we ate at a charming little restaurant in St. Helena called Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen.  We loved our curried chicken salads so much that when we got home we tried to duplicate them.  Here's what we came up with:

·        2 cups chicken stock

·        2 T curry powder

·        sea salt

·        2 large organic chicken breasts

·        4 strips applewood smoked bacon fried until perfectly crisp and golden

·        2 eggs

·        1 t dijon

·        sea salt and white pepper

·        1/8 c lemon juice

·        2/3 c canola oil

·        2 t curry powder (I like Morton and Bassets for its mild pleasant flavor)

·        farmers market organic tomatoes, preferably cherry, cut in half

·        fresh organic greens

·        almonds

·        golden raisins

Pour several cups of chicken stock into a skillet, add 2 T of curry powder and sea salt.  Place 2 organic chicken breasts in and let simmer slowly until breasts are tender and just poached throughout.  Remove from heat and slice.  Meanwhile cook down the curry and broth until there is a very small amount left in the pan.  Add the chicken pieces back into the curry mixture and stir so they are thoroughly covered on all sides with curry. Remove and let come to room temperature.

To make the curried mayonnaise dressing, add 1 egg and 1 egg yolk to your food processor.  Add 1 t dijon mustard, a generous pinch of sea salt, a generous sprinkling of white pepper, and 1/8 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice.  Process for a minute or so and begin to very slowly drizzle in 2/3 cup of canola oil while processor continues to run until mayonnaise is thickened.  Stop processing and add in 2 t curry powder. Process until blended.

Put the lettuce into a large salad bowl and toss with the tomatoes, almonds and raisins.  Scatter the bacon (whole slices) and chicken pieces on top and slather on a generous quantity of the yummy curry dressing. 

Serves 2

Gettin' Your Greens On--Project 333 Day 3

So, how is it going so far?  You might be noticing some changes by today.  If you suffer from inflammation, and that inflammation shows up in your face and body tissues, the puffiness may be beginning to reside by today.*  Your head may be starting to clear and your thinking getting sharper.

Here are our menu suggestions for Gettin' Your Greens on Day 3.

Day 3 Breakfast--Super Green Smoothie (or Farro with Super Greens and Fried Egg)

Another Su;per Green Smoothie? Or...

We're recommending that you have a Super Green Smoothie again this morning because we believe in their powerful healing properties.  However, if you find that they're just not for you, try substituting our farro and fried egg breakfast.

Cooked farro is absolutely delicious and adding a fried egg makes this meal look more like a traditional breakfast.  Be sure to add those super greens on the side for super energy!

Bring 1 cup of farro* to a boil in 2 cups of organic chicken stock.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.  Stir in 4 tablespoons of grass fed butter and salt and pepper to taste.  Top a serving of the farro with super greens sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper.  Gently fry a grass fed egg in grass fed butter and place it over the super greens and farro.  If desired, pour a tablespoon of flax oil over the top for additional anti-inflammation healing.

*If you can't find farro, try amaranth grains or pearl barley.  They're all delicious prepared this way.

Day 3 Lunch--Spinach Wrap Sandwich

Here's an easy-to-pack lunch.  Using a large tortilla style wrap, make a sandwich with fresh kale, sliced red bell peppers, cucumbers, shredded carrots, hummus and tzatziki sauce or hummus and baba ghanoush.  (You can find both the hummus and tzatziki at Trader Joe's.)  To make lunch more filling, you could also pack 1/2 avocado with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper and your choice of fruit.  Or, if you love a treat, try our fabulous recipe for low gluten, no sugar Toll House chocolate chip cookies, here.

Roll 'er up, folks!  A hummus and kale wrap that is delicious, filling and healthy!

By the way, if you are on an anti-inflammation diet, you can use a gluten-free wrap. The wrap we used here is made primarily from teff, which is gluten-free.

Day 3 Dinner--Add an Arugula Salad

For tonight's dinner, how about adding an arugula salad to whatever protein and vegetable you have planned.  If it's summer time, we love arugula and watermelon sprinkled with pine nuts and a little feta cheese.  In the cooler months try arugula, pears, walnuts, dried cranberries and a little goat cheese.  To make a great vinaigrette, mix together 2 T olive oil, 1 T flax oil, 1 T lemon juice, 2 t apple cider vinegar, 1/2 t Dijon mustard, 1/4 t dried dill, 2 T finely chopped shallots, sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Pears with arugula and other super greens, cranberries, goat cheese and walnuts.

We're hoping by this point you're getting the hang of Gettin' Your Greens On.

It's easy to add greens into your daily life.  Just start each day with a Super Green Smoothie or add some sauteed greens to your eggs or cooked grains for breakfast.  For lunch, fortify your favorite sandwich with a big handful of fresh greens to add taste, flavor and healing punch.  For dinner, add several handfuls of greens to just about any soup recipe, serve a salad made with super greens, or saute greens and serve them as a side dish. Hey, you're getting this!

 It's all just a matter of getting in the habit of Gettin' Your Greens On!  


*If you're one of those people that tends toward puffiness, it really takes a week of this to see radical results.  In fact, if you want to ban puffiness altogether, make sure to avoid gluten, dairy and sugar while you're Gettin' Your Greens On.  You'll be amazed at what a week of avoiding these three inflammatants and adding super greens will do for your appearance.  Your skin will glow, your eyes will sparkle, your body tissues will de-puff and you will be leaner, stronger and more clear headed.

Just like Julia

For the second time now, I am reading "My Life in France" Julia Child's autobiography. This book is an easy read and a joy to spend time with.  Julia Child lived life with passion and pleasure and this is apparent in her autobiography.  "My Life in France" is so good that when I read it the first time, about eight years ago, my husband saw how much I loved it, read it too, and was utterly charmed by it. Believe me, women's autobiographies are really not his thing!

Anyway, as part of the fun,  I have been watching Julia's videos on youtube from her old TV show, "The French Chef" and cooking along with her.  Saturday I watched her make a Nicoise salad and Sunday night, that was our dinner.  Of course, much of Julia's cooking is complicated and time consuming, (like the croissants I'm going to tackle today).  Her two volume masterpiece, "The Art of French Cooking", contains all kinds of difficult recipes requiring unusual ingredients, techniques and cooking equipment, at least by the usual American standard.  Even back in the day when I was just beginning to cook and taking cooking lessons from some of Los Angeles' best chefs, I found many of the recipes in her cookbook intimidating.

Nicoise salad is easy in comparison and in, fact, I've made one many times before.

However, this one is different, simply because it's Julia's.  I made it her way, except for the anchovies which I left out.  Julia uses anchovies preserved in salt which she purchases in Nice during the show.  These were a bit hard to obtain in Tahoe City...and I don't really like anchovies much anyway, so they were out.  Otherwise the recipe is pretty much the same.

I am often complimented on my salad dressings and when people ask me why they taste so good, I give the credit to the addition of fresh or freeze-dried shallots, which I feel really add a little tang and excitement to any vinaigrette.    I'll sometimes smash up a garlic clove and let it sit in the dressing for awhile but I remove it before serving.  In Julia's dressing, however, it's all about the garlic.

Vinagrette for Nicoise:

1 garlic clove mashed
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t lemon juice
1 t wine vinegar
1/2 t dried mustard
fresh ground black pepper
1 t lemon juice
1 t wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

Julia starts with the smashed garlic clove in a mortar and pestle.  She then adds in the salt, 11/2 t lemon juice and 1 t wine vinegar and makes a loose paste.  This is then put in a measuring cup to which she adds the dry mustard, pepper, and remaining lemon juice and wine vinegar.  Briskly whisking, the olive oil is slowly dribbled in until she has a good emulsion.

Potato Ingredients:

5 medium round potatoes like Yukon Gold boiled until perfectly done and sliceable, still hot
1 T fine chopped shallots
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 T white wine
water from boiling pan


Slice the potatoes and put them into a bowl while they are still very warm.  Take 1 T of cooking liquid and splash over potatoes.   Add the shallots, generous salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, and white wine.  Let sit until assembly.

Remaining ingredients:

green beans, boiled to al dente
2 summer farmer's market quality tomatoes
Nicoise olives
capers
2-4 fresh boiled eggs
1 can of tuna
1 head of leafy green lettuce such as Boston lettuce, washed and crisping in refrigerator

On a large platter:  Use some of the vinaigrette to dress the lettuce and arrange it in a ring around the exterior of the platter.  Add some vinaigrette to the potatoes and place them in the center of the lettuce.  Quarter the tomatoes and place them in groupings on the lettuce.  Place clumps of olives and capers between tomatoes.  Add the tuna on top of the potatoes, being sure to let some potatoes show.  Place the halved eggs around the tuna.  Add remaining vinaigrette to the green beans, divide them into four clumps and arrange around the platter as shown in photo.

Be sure to wear your pearls and an apron while you're cooking, if you truly want to channel you're inner Julia.

Here's Julia's video if you'd like to watch her in action.  Either way, you must at least watch the first minute or two.  Her unmistakable voice and style is simply, tooooooooo delightful!