Mesclun Salad with Chicken and Lemon Vinaigrette

What to do with a single leftover chicken breast? On this warm July evening, we decided to make a light and healthy dinner salad with it. Good call! This meal was both delicious and satisfying. As an added bonus, we didn't heat up the kitchen and cleanup was minimal.


For the dressing:

2 T lemon juice
1 T white wine vinegar
1 t Dijon mustard
tiny pinch of salt (~1/16 t if you insist on a measurement)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
dash of onion powder
1 T extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients in a small, deep container (a 2 c capacity glass measuring jar works very well) and mix with an immersion blender. Set aside. If you don't have an immersion blender, then add everything except the olive oil. Whisk the ingredients rapidly while you slowly add the oil. Stir vigorously until well blended.


For the salad:

1 chicken breast, sliced into two thin cutlets
5 oz box of mesclun salad mix
1 carrot, julienned
1/4 c dried cranberries
2 scallions, sliced thin
2 T pine nuts
2 T shaved parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
Mrs. Dash original blend seasoning
1 T vegetable oil

Season the chicken cutlets with black pepper and Mrs. Dash. Cook in oil over medium high heat until outside is browned and inside is cooked through. Set aside to cool, then cut into bite sized pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the salad greens, carrots, cranberries, scallions and pine nuts. Pour dressing over salad and toss well to coat evenly. Transfer to serving bowl, then top with parmesan and chicken.

Serves 2
<250 mg sodium per serving

Bourbon Barbecued Chicken For Two

Sauce:

 1/4 cup onion, minced
2t vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced tomato in sauce
2T molasses
1/4 cup bourbon
1t Worcestershire sauce
1t white vinegar
2T brown sugar
1T chipotle chile powder
2T honey

Sauté the onion in oil until softened. Add remaining ingredients, then simmer to reduce volume by about half, mashing any tomato chunks as you stir.

 Dry rub:

Combine the following in a small bowl -
     1T brown sugar
     1T chipotle chile powder
     1 t garlic powder
     1/2 t cayenne

 The Chicken:

 4 boneless thighs (use bone-in if grilling)

Apply dry rub and let sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Preheat broiler* (or grill). Broil (or grill) for about 2 minutes per side to sear, then baste with BBQ sauce and return to heat. Continue to alternate flipping and re-basting (less than one minute per side each time) until chicken is cooked through. Bone-in chicken will take a bit longer than boneless.

Serve immediately. We paired this with corn and cucumber salad for a delicious summer meal.

Makes two servings, <300 mg sodium per serving


*Broiling Tip: Line a half sheet pan or roasting pan with aluminum foil. Place non-stick cooling rack on top of foil. Arrange meat on rack allowing some space in between pieces. This keeps the meat from getting soggy and lets the edges get crispy.

Guacamole!

A batch of guacamole for our Cinco de Mayo feast:

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 c canned diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
2 T cilantro, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno, finely diced
1 shallot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 limes, juiced
pinch salt
dash pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl, then mash/stir with a fork until blended and still slightly chunky. Serve immediately with low-sodium tortilla chips.


Serves 4, 90mg sodium per serving (not including chips)

Cheesy Pasta Bake, Revisited

I've been in the mood for comfort food, so we decided to give the cheesy pasta bake a second look. This dish used to be in regular rotation - it is easy to prepare, tastes great, fills you up, and makes good leftovers - but since the sodium restriction went into effect we haven't tried it many times. Our previous attempt at converting this recipe was not a bad effort, but it wasn't quite as wonderful as we had remembered. Something was missing, and it wasn't hard to define: this recipe just isn't the same without real smoked sausage. Out of all the adjustments, substituting raw homemade (and unsmoked) sausage for the Andouille had the biggest effect (in terms of sodium and flavor/texture).

Last night we cooked this dish with Thomas Ragin Cajun Andouille Sausage. Yes, it has 550mg of sodium per 2.5 oz, but I found a way to manage this and keep the sodium per serving of pasta at 700mg. I followed our previous recipe (other than the sausage) with these modifications:

1. We started with 3/4 of the package of sausage, saving the remainder for use in omelets and such. This left us with 10.5 oz (2310mg sodium).

2. After browning, I separated about 1/3 of the cooked sausage and did not return it to the cooking pot. This left only 7 oz of Andouille in the pot (1540mg sodium). The reserved portion of meat was added at the end to my husband's portions only. My servings had less of the salty meat, but it was enough to provide the correct flavor and texture. PDM certainly didn't mind taking one for the team and eating the extra Andouille.

3. With less meat in the dish, I increased the amount of pasta (16 oz instead of 12 oz) and low sodium organic chicken broth (3.75 c instead of 3 c).

While noticeably less meaty than our traditional version, this revised recipe had ALL of the yummy texture and taste of the original. Unless we get a smoker and start making our own real Andouille, this will be the "go to" version of the recipe, and the cheesy pasta bake will be back in the regular rotation.  Happy!

Grilled Swordfish with Tropical Fruit Salsa

Fire up the grill for this easy and delicious meal!

Grilled Swordfish with Tropical Fruit Salsa - serves 4 (~250mg sodium per serving)

1 lemon, juice and zest
1 lime
1 ripe mango, diced into small pieces
1/4 c diced fresh pineapple
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine
1/2 red onion, diced fine
1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t cayenne
2 lb swordfish steak (four 1/2 lb steaks)
olive oil
salt and pepper

For the salsa:
Combine the mango, pineapple, jalapeno, red onion, red pepper, sugar, a scant 1/8 t salt, and cilantro in a small container. Add the juice of 1 lime, plus the juice of 1/2 lemon and stir. Cover and set aside until the swordfish is ready.

For the swordfish:

Prepare the grill - light the charcoal and when ready pile onto one side of grill to create a two zones of heat. Brush each swordfish steak with olive oil and season with a very small amount of salt and black pepper to taste. Grill over coals in hot part of grill for about 3 minutes per side, turning once. Transfer to cooler part of grill and cook for another 3 minutes per side, turning once. Serve on warm plate topped with lemon zest and tropical fruit salsa. Cut the remaining 1/2 lemon into quarters and place one onto each plate to squeeze onto the swordfish if desired. Serve immediately.

Lamb and Butternut Tagine

A tagine  is a North African stew that is named for the traditional pot that is used for cooking. We altered our chicken version to take advantage of some lamb that we had in the freezer.

Lamb and Butternut Tagine - serves 4 (500mg sodium per serving)

~1.5 lb lamb stew meat, cubed
1 T canola oil
1 medium onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T harissa
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/4 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
3 c low sodium organic beef broth
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into cubes
2 c golden raisins
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 350F.

Brown the lamb in oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat, then remove meat from pan, cover and set aside. Saute the onion until softened, then add garlic and cook another minute or so until fragrant. Return the lamb to the pot and add enough broth to cover the contents. Cover the pot and braise the lamb in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hrs. Add broth as necessary to keep the lamb covered.

Return the pot to the stovetop. Add all remaining ingredients except chickpeas and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the chickpeas and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Serve alone, or with couscous.

Salt-Free Harissa

Harissa is a hot chili sauce that originated in Tunisia. We use it mainly to make tagines (North African stews), but have had to get it via mail order since it is too exotic for most grocery stores. Since this is kind of a pain, we decided to make our own. After synthesizing about six different recipes, this is the one we came up with:

Harissa (makes enough to fill a small jelly jar, and will keep for one month in the refrigerator)

4 oz dried red chili peppers (such as guajillo, ancho, etc. - we used California chiles)
10 cloves garlic
1 T whole coriander seed
1 T whole cumin seed
1 t whole caraway seed
2 T lemon juice
olive oil

Soak the dried chiles in very hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then drain.

Meanwhile, toast the seeds in a dry skillet until they pop and become fragrant. Grind the toasted spices to a fine powder. (We use a dedicated coffee bean grinder for this, but you could use a mortar and pestle or a small food processor.)

Pulse the chiles, garlic, spice mix and lemon juice in a food processor. Add oil as necessary to bring the consistency to a thick liquid paste. When the ingredients are thoroughly processed, use a small spatula to transfer the contents to a small jar. Add a thin layer of oil to the top of the sauce so that none of it is exposed to air. Cover and refrigerate.

Use 1-2 T at a time to add flavor and heat to soups and stews.