"hey I know that you work 70 hours a week and raise a toddler, but just putting it out there that you're due for a new blog post when you get the chance, no pressure, I just really appreciate them."
It helped me get out of my over-worked funk and reminded me that I have responsibilities! I have readers! Or at least one reader. Let me first assure you of one thing: I have not been holding out on you. I have simply been working some late nights, and my husband has been working some very late nights, so our collective use of the Trader Joe's frozen food aisle has been at an all-time high.
We also spent this past weekend with seventeen of our closest friends and their children up in Sonoma county on the Russian River, where we ate our weight in delicious food (Malay fried chicken! artichoke dip! grilled cheese with Josey Baker bread!), but we decided to bring bagels and lox for breakfast instead of slaving over a hot oven ourselves (thanks again Kelly and Kefri!). Needless to say, it has been a little while since I've made anything that feels blog-worthy.
The dishes that I do make when I'm in the middle of this kind of intense schedule are usually dishes that can be eaten at all times of the day, with whatever we have around, and are just as delicious on day five as on day one. I have my mother-in-law to thank for introducing me to this chicken salad, which she first made for a summer picnic when we were in Indiana visiting my husband's family. It managed to satisfy everyone and was so easy to pack and clean up - I was in love. The sweetness of the raisins and apples contrasted perfectly with the crunchy, salty celery, tender chicken, and richness of the curry. It can be eaten as a sandwich, over salad greens, with crackers, straight from the Tupperware container (standing in front of the refrigerator), or my personal favorite - open-faced, on thickly sliced and toasted country bread. As I mentioned, it packs up well for lunches or picnics or football tailgating, and the sweetness of the apples and raisins makes it very toddler-friendly.
The original recipe calls for marinated and grilled chicken breasts, which is how my mother-in-law served it. It was delicious, but I have streamlined my own process to avoid the extra steps of marinating and grilling. For me, the most important thing is to make sure the chicken is not overcooked. I came across this method of poaching a whole chicken so that it never overcooks, and I have never looked back. It only requires a little bit of time (usually a few hours) to cool the chicken completely, so it's important to plan ahead. I also personally like using a whole chicken for the great mix of light and dark meat. Of course, feel free to substitute poached or grilled chicken breast if you prefer only light meat. Using a whole chicken also ends up making a hefty amount of chicken salad, so feel free to cut the recipe in half if necessary, although I have yet to see it go to waste.
Other dishes I'm digging for their simplicity:
Greek style shrimp
Winter squash soup
Pretzel crusted chicken
Curried chicken salad
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 4-6
1 whole chicken, about 3-4 lbs
2 tsp yellow curry powder
2 tsp water
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 medium apples, chopped (Braeburn are nice, but others work as well)
2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
1/3 cup raisins
salt and pepper
Rinse the whole chicken and place it in a large pot with a lid. Cover chicken with cold water and partially cover pot with lid. Bring pot to a nice simmer, then turn off heat. Let the pot cool down completely in order for the chicken to cook through, which may take several hours. Once cool, strip chicken from the bone and chop coarsely into 1/2-inch chunks or smaller as desired.
In a large salad bowl, whisk together curry powder, mayonnaise, and water. Add chicken, apples, raisins, celery and stir well to combine. Taste for salt and pepper. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
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