Grandpa's Home Cooking

Grandpa's Fresh, Delicious Chicken Salad

There are not many foods that are quite as good as fresh chicken salad sandwiches on a hot summer day.  Pick and chop chicken from the chicken not eaten the night before and bring together the goodness of the chicken, chopped hardboiled eggs, chopped fresh celery, sweet pickle relish, and salad dressing. Spread the salad on fresh artisan bread and serve the sandwich with sweet ice tea for a happy and delicious lunch.

There are many taste options. Use rotisserie chicken with the nicely seasoned skin which adds flavor to the salad. Chop fried chicken with the seasoned and fried skin for a different taste experience. Use whatever you have and go ahead and chop the skin into the salad as well. Some people will not use the skin because the skin is rich in fat. I use it because the seasoned skin is also rich in flavor. Fix it the way you want it.

Choose varities of bread to suit your taste. I love chicken salad on slices of fresh Great Harvest round white. Nancy's choice is to make her sandwich on fresh, Great Harvest honey wheat. What a great taste you'll experience when you spread your freshly made chicken salad on slices of Great Harvest or other artisan bread. Try using Jewish rye, crusty Italian, sourdough, French, or whatever kind of bread you like. I wonder though, why anyone would still be buying rack (sponge bread, such as Wonder bread) when there are so many choices of fresh baked artisan breads that are available and reasonable. 

I'm not limited to a single recipe of chicken salad. The thrust of this posting is for you to use the ingredients you have on hand and/or to use the ingredients that please you. And while your at it, select some additional ingredients that add flavor.

For example, I love to add apple juice infused dried cranberries when I have them. I also use dried cherrys, raisins, walnuts, pecans, etc. You want a real treat. Chop some California dried apricots into your chicken salad. You might want stir in some fresh blueberries. Or for a real bright taste chop in some chilled seedless green grapes. Put a leaf of lettuce on the sandwich one day and use fresh basil leaves on another day. I love sweet pickle relish and I generally use it as an ingredient in the chicken salad to brighten the taste, but one might like to occasionally use dill pickle relish. Whatever ingredients I add, however, it suits me to make sure the flavor of the chicken, eggs, and celery come through clearly.

Ingredients (The ones I used  for today's chicken salad -- Use what you have available.)

• Rotisserie chicken w/seasoned skin, chopped (I used half of a chicken)
• Hard boiled eggs, chopped (I used 6 today, but less or more is okay)
• Fresh celery, chopped (I chopped 4 stalks; I like to use a lot of celery)
• Sweet pickle relish (I used a half of a small bottle and a little extra sweet pickle juice)
• Mayonnaise (Use just enough to hold the salad together)
• Iceberg lettuce (to dress the put on the sandwiches

Use what you have and/or use more or less ingredients than I to suit your taste.

Instructions:

Mix all of the ingredients and stir in only enough mayonnaise for the mixture to hold together. Grab two slices of preash bread. Lay a leaf of fresh Iceberg lettuce, or multiple leaves of gourmet salad greens, or fresh basil leaves or whatever salad green you have available on one slice of the bread. Spoon on and spread a good amount of your best fresh chicken salad on the other slice of bread. Top off the sandwich with the green and top piece of the bread. Plate. Add chips or another side of your choice. Pour a delicious summer drink. Take your food to a cool spot and sit down and enjoy your lunch.

Alternatives:

• Stuff a big red ripe tomato with your chicken salad.
• Put leafs of lettuce on a plate and pile chicken salad on top.
• Add slices of avacado to your sandwich or salad plate.

Fixes:

Oh my. Is your celery a little limp? Fill a big bowl halfway with ice cubes. Add water. Plunge the celery you have in the icy water and let it rehabilitate for an hour or so. Then remove the celery from the ice water and chop it.

It's 11:58 a.m. I'm going to fix a delicious chicken salad sandwich for my lunch!

Grandpa's Black-eyed Pea Salad

I came up with the idea for this salad as I considered a menu to prepare a special Saturday night dinner for Grandma. I'm calling it a Black-eyed Pea Salad, though it occurred to me that it could be called Grandpa's Carolina Caviar. Nancy liked this salad so much she asked me to please fix it often. Together, we ate the whole bowl of salad in two meals (about twice the amount pictured). 

I served this black-eyed pea salad with a delicious braised red cabbage and a wonderful roasted apple pork tenderloin. I'll post the braised red cabbage and roast pork tenderloin recipes soon. 

Ingredients:

Here's the exact ingredients; but use whatever you have on hand and/or what is available!

• 2 1/2 to 3 cups black-eyed peas, cooked but still firm  (not mushy!)*
• 1 cup white onion, chopped fine
• 1 cup yellow, orange, and green bell pepper, peppers chopped fine
• 1 stalk of celery, cut  lengthwise in three strips and sliced thin
• 1 carrot, cut lengthwise in three strips and sliced thin
• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• Grandpa's sweet and sour dressing (see below)
• 4 very small heirloom tomatoes (red, blush, orange, and/or yellow), chopped

* Use dried black-eyed peas. Rinse twice. Put in a saucepan. Pour water to provide two knuckles of water above the peas. Bring to a boil & tun heat to simmer for an hour or until the peas are cooked but are still firm. You don't want 'em mushy! Hold on there!! You also need to check that water level regularly and pour more water in the pan if the water gets low. You don't want burned peas and a burned pan. Use canned black-eyed peas if you must, but mark my words that they'll be too soft.

Grandpa's Sweet & Sour dressing:

• 3/4ths cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup salad oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Combine the vegetable ingredients and pour on just enough dressing to coat the vegetables. Salt and pepper the salad to taste and serve it when you feel like it:-). If you end up with too much dressing, just do a little dance and pour the leftover in a canning jar and refrigerate. You'll use it up soon enough on salads or on another batch of black-eyed pea salad. My wife likes it so much she said, "Why don't you make more of that salad the first of the week."

Here's a picture of a dinner plate with rounds of roast pork tenderloin the braised red cabbage, and the black-eyed pea salad. 

Autumn Apple and Arugula Salad

My wife is a salad artist. While Grandpa was baking salmon and fixing potatoes tonight, Nancy worked her artistry making this beautiful salad of arugula, yellow California heirloom tomato, new crop Honeycrisp apple, dried cherries, walnuts, and cucumber. We dressed our salads at the table with a light drizzle of Italian extra virgin olive oil and red raspberry balsamic vinegar. Oh boy, this salad was delicious!

It's September and beautiful apples are arriving at the store every day. I'm all set to make homemade apple sauce, Nashville, Indiana, apple butter, and apple pie. It is also the time to pick up a crisp juicy apple and move to a comfortable chair on the front porch. Enjoy the cooler weather and say hello to your neighbors.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Arugula
• New crop Honeycrisp apple, chopped      
• Small heirloom tomato (yellow, red and yellow, green, or red), chopped
• Dried tart cherries
• Walnuts, chopped
• Cucumber, chopped
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Red Raspberry balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Set the stage by arranging fresh green Arugula on salad plates. Now use your artistry to add the chopped apple, heirloom tomato, dried cherries, walnuts, and cucumber to the salad. Set the salads and little pitchers of extra virgin olive oil and red raspberry balsamic vinegar on the table. Each person can dress their salad to suit their taste.    

Moroccan Beet Salad

  
Moroccan dishes are tasty and good for you. I love beets. Here is a really nice Moroccan beet salad. We enjoyed my preparation of this as a side for a dinner. Expand your interest in the treasure of vegetables that are available and delicious when prepared in a variety of ways.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 fresh beets, trimmed of root and stem, but save the leaves!
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Light salad oil such as canola or grapeseed
• Salt
• Chopped parsley

Instructions:

Put the beets in a good-sized pot along with enough water to cover them. Cook them for about an hour, or until you can easily put a knife through the center of a big beet. You need to watch the pot and add additional water as necessary. When the beets are cooked  exchange the hot water for cold water and let the beets cool. When cool, you can use your hands to remove the peel. Cut the beets into a mixing bowl in bite size pieces of various shapes.  Add the garlic, lemon juice, salad oil, salt, and parsley. Gently mix the ingredients and turn the salad into a nice serving bowl. Refrigerate the salad. 

Watercress & Red Raspberry Salad

 

Extraordinary is often simple. The next time you're at the Farmers Market,Whole Foods, or your favorite Grocery, and you see a carton of beautiful red raspberries, remember this recipe. All you need are fresh red raspberries, watercress, and bean sprouts or alfalfa sprouts, and a container of delicate Grapeseed Oil. This is a mouth watering salad to serve with a gourmet meal. Savor the first splash of the flavor of red raspberries and fresh watercress. I served this salad with a big platter of beautiful snow crab. What more do you need but an artisan French bread and bottle of Alsatian white wine!

Ingredients:

• Fresh ripe red raspberries, or other beautiful fresh fruit
• Watercress
• Bean sprouts or alfalfa sprouts
• Grapeseed oil

Instructions: 

Perform artistry in arranging watercress, red raspberries, and sprouts on salad plates and set the salads on the table with a container of grapeseed oil. Each person at the table can lightly drizzle the delicate oil on their salad. Walla! Bon Appetite!

 
  

Heirloom Tomato Salad

This is a bright tasting salad! I make this salad often using big juicy heirloom or fresh from the garden tomatoes. We enjoyed the salad pictured for our dinner last night, along with baked Atlantic Salmon and Basmati rice prepared with the recipe of Tibetan monks. Oh yeah, for real! I've posted the instructions for cooking the rice as they would be cooked in a Tibetan monastery. l have also posted the instructions for baking the salmon.    

Ingredients:

• 1 big juicy heirloom or fresh garden tomato, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 big long cucumber, quartered and sliced into bite size pieces
• 1 bunch of green onions, trimmed of root and leaves and sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped 
• Extra virgin olive oil, your best for this dish
• Balsamic vinegar, your best red balsamic vinegar (or apple vinegar)
• Salt, for the table
• Fresh ground pepper, for the table

Instructions:

Combine all vegetable and herb ingredients in a pretty cool salad serving dish and carefully mix toss the salad. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the salad. Then drizzle a bit more red balsamic vinegar on the salad. Toss the salad again to coat the ingredients with the olive oil and vinegar. Chill and serve when the dinner is brought together on the table.

Cottage Cheese Farm Salad

This is one of Grandpa's favorite summer salads

Take your basket to the garden and gather a fresh tomato, cucumber, pencil onions, and a fistful of basil and head to the kitchen to make what is sure to be a refreshing salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 tomato (quarter and slice into chunks)
• 1 cucumber (quarter and slice into chunks)
• 1 bunch of green pencil onions (sliced thin)
• 1 fist full of fresh basil leaves (chopped)
• 24 oz container of large curd, 4% milk fat cottage cheese*
• A pretty serving bowl
• Salt
• Pepper

* 4% is better than 2%, but do as you wish. I recommend 4% large curd

Instructions:

Empty the contents of the cottage cheese container in a bowl. Add the tomato and cucumber chunks, round pencil onion slices, and chopped basil. I love the taste of heirloom tomatoes but any fresh tomato will be good in this salad. Stir the vegetables and cottage cheese together. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the salad into a pretty serving bowl and set it on the table.