Spanish-fusion Blueberry Hazelnut Salad

I whipped this salad together for a family get-together.  See, for ages, I hated salad with a fiery passion bordering on mania.  Lettuce and I did NOT get along.  But in my older, wiser years, I have learned to work around this hate by using arugula - a leaf my husband and I both love.  This usually means that we're asked to bring the salad for our family to-dos, as then they know we'll eat it!

This salad in particular was, as usual, inspired by something left over in the fridge: blueberries.  As anyone who is familiar with Spanish or Catalan cuisine is aware, berries don't feature that often.  But I was determined to make it work, so here it is.

 

Spanish-fusion Blueberry Hazelnut Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cup lightly toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika or ground rosemary

1/3 cup sherry vinegar (rice wine or champagne vinegar works too)

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads

1/2 cup olive oil  

1 heaping spoonful of honey

1 heaping spoonful of Dijon mustard, smooth or whole-grain

salt and freshly ground black pepper

arugula, fresh

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh red pepper, chopped coarsely

Spanish Manchego cheese, shaved

To toast the hazelnuts:

First, chop the hazelnuts coarsely - in quarters approximately.  Heat up a saute pan to high.  Add the nuts to the pan, and move them around constantly until fragrant and a lovely golden brown.  If you wish, add a drizzle of olive oil and season with ground rosemary or smoked paprika.

To prepare the dressing:

After the nuts are toasted and set aside, turn the heat down to medium high and use the same small saute pan to bring the champagne vinegar and saffron to a boil for 1 minute.  In a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine the olive oil, honey, and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Add the vinegar and saffron mixture and shake vigorously to mix well.

Assembling the salad:

Assemble just before serving.  Put the arugula in a large salad bowl, drizzle the dressing over the greens and toss gently with your hands to coat the leaves. Top with hazelnuts, blueberries, and cheese (optional, of course). Serve immediately.

Pan-fried Rosemary Croissant Chicken Breasts (or "What I had left in the fridge")

What do you do when you've got half a dozen stale mini-croissants, a couple massive chicken breasts and some left-over fresh rosemary?  This!

Rosemary Croissant Chicken Breasts

2 'ample' chicken breasts
6 stale mini-croissants (or 3 large ones)
5-6 stems of fresh rosemary
1/4-1/2 tsp white pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
juice from 1/2 lime
as much walnut oil as lime juice
cooking oil (I use sunflower seed)

Using a handy-dandy mortar and pestle (though if you're lazy, you can use a food processor), crush and grind up the stale croissants into crumbs.  Chop the rosemary as fine as possible - we're talking FINE.  Combine the crumbs, rosemary, pepper and salt in a shallow dish (I used a small pyrex 6" dish).  Break the eggs into another similar dish, beat lightly (until uniformly yellow), and add the lime juice and walnut oil.  (Careful readers will note that this combination is the same as the dressing I use for my carrot salad - in fact, I just used what was leftover in the fridge!)  Make sure it's mixed well.  Set out a nice big plate by the dishes, and put your frying pan on medium-high with a dash of cooking oil.

Take the breasts and cut them up into decent-sized portions (no bigger than your palm).  If they are very thick, smack 'em.  By that, I mean pound them to about 1/2 inch in thickness.  Some people use plastic wrap or bags and a meat pounder - I use the heel of my hand and just go to town.  Whatever works.  Once portioned, dry them off with paper towel (the breading sticks better when dry).  Dip the chicken first into the egg mixture, then the breading, then put on the plate.  Repeat with all your pieces.  Once the pan's nice and hot, place your chicken in the pan.  Right away, give the pan a shake to make sure the chicken isn't sticking, and then let it stick without bothering it.  About 5-8 min. later (or when the cooked side is a nice golden-brown), flip the chicken pieces over and fry the other side.  Once cooked, remove to another plate (do NOT reuse uncooked chicken plates - bad idea) and let cool.  If you have some pieces that are still quite thick and you're worried about undercooking, just flip them every few minutes to keep from burning and press down with a nice wooden spatula to try and flatten them more.

Serve with salad, or veggies, or even a light pesto pasta salad'd be nice.

(Roger approves of this recipe, and has already informed me that he will be eating all the chicken without any help from me.)

Chicken in a Creamy Orange Sauce

"Chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions…"

Yes, it's another Hunger Games recipe! Here's what I came up with, and it turned out AWESOME.

Orange Sauce

Zest and fruit from two oranges (I used tangerines)
1 can of coconut milk
1 star anise
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch saffron
2 small or 1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sugar (I used palm sugar)
2 large pinches of salt (to taste, really)
Cooked Chicken 
Cooked Rice

Peel the oranges carefully to remove the zest.  Use a sharp knife and avoid as much pith (the white waxy substance) as possible.  Separate and clean the segments of orange, then put aside to add later. (If you don't peel them all in one go, the outside membrane of the segments will get hard and difficult to peel!)  Bring the coconut milk to a low simmer in a saucepan - make sure it doesn't boil over, as it can cause one heck of a mess.  Add the zest, the star anise, cinnamon, saffron, garlic, sesame oil and sugar.  Allow to simmer gently until the sauce thickens and turns a lovely yellow colour - approx. 15-20 min.  Add salt to taste, and possibly more sugar if needed.  When satisfied, strain the chunks of spices out.  Slice the orange segments in chunks (usually in half is fine) and add to sauce. Let it sit on low for a few minutes (enough to warm up and soften the fruit).

Serve over cooked chicken (I used leftover breast from a roast I'd done) and rice.