The Good Cook – group cooking lessons and small plate catering
Volume 1, Issue 1 March 2009
Food for Thought Spring Chicken
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Spring Chicken
1
Black Bean Salsa
1
My Favorite Things
2
The Tiptionary
2
The Final Word
3
Happy March! Only a few more weeks until it is officially spring so hang in there. And don’t forget to set your clocks one hour ahead this weekend. To help make the next couple of cold weeks a little warmer, snuggle up with a few good recipes. It will be no time at all before we are dusting off the grill and sampling the first of the new spring harvest. Craving something light after all the heavy holiday eating? Try this easy, flavorful and oh so good for you chicken dish: Sautéed Chicken breasts over mixed greens with lemon vinaigrette: Vinaigrette: ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (if you can find them, use a Meyer Lemon) 1 T honey 1 T chopped fresh chives 2 teas. Dijon style mustard ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil Whisk all the ingredients together, add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. 8 cups mixed greens of your choice. Chicken:
Flour for dredging chicken 2 T (or more) Olive Oil Pound chicken breasts to uniform thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour. Heat sauté pan (or two if needed, don’t crowd the chicken!) with oil over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add chicken breasts. Sautee 4 to 5 minutes per side until golden and internal temp is 175. Divide greens among 4 plates. Top with 1 sliced chicken breast, drizzle with lemon vinaigrette. Serve with some crusty bread on the side. Tastes just like spring!!
4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded to uniform thickness This is a picture of Mary Hurst, a good cook from Pennsylvania, dancing with her husband after eating Black Bean Salsa. You can’t make this stuff up!
Salt & Pepper
From the outside world: black bean salsa Mary Hurst, a faithful reader from Center Valley, Pennsylvania sent this one to yours truly. It is good, good, good.
Black Bean Salsa:
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes (sliced)
Small Jalapeno (seeded and diced)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
Mix it all up and add:
½ red onion (diced)
1 TBL Olive Oil
½ cup cilantro (chopped)
Salt to taste
Juice of 2 limes
Food for Thought
Page 2
My favorite things We all have them – favorite things that is. Things that you just love and want to tell the world about. Well, here’s your chance, if you have a favorite thing you want to share, email The Good Cook – tell me what it is, why it’s your favorite thing and where the heck the rest of us can get it. I’ll publish it in the next newsletter.
Do you have a favorite thing you’re just dying to tell the world about? Email The Good Cook at thegoodcooknj@comcast.net
Tito’s Handmade Vodka – oh my gosh folks – this stuff is goooood. AND it’s made right here in the good old USA – distilled 6 times right there in Texas. In NJ, you can get it at Total Wine on Route 22 in Union and The Butcher Block on Centennial Avenue in Cranford. Meyer’s Lemons – sweeter than a regular lemon and just down right pretty when a bunch of them are sitting in a bowl on your table. They make great vinaigrette, lemonade and are wonderful squeezed into Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Corvina – this fish was new to even me, The Good Cook! Firm, white flesh cut into pieces that resemble salmon but with the taste of a cross between Chilean Sea Bass and Mahi-Mahi – and without the big price tag of sea bass. It’s also known as Weak Fish and I found it at Wegman’s in Woodbridge, NJ. Grill Pans – oh, I do love my new All Clad non-stick grill pan. Grilled steak, little baby lamb chops, even paninis, right on top of your stove. If you buy one, buy either cast iron (heavy) or non-stick and remember, don’t ever, ever, use cooking spray on a nonstick pan. It will turn sticky and ruin the surface of the pan. I bought a two burner, but grill pans also come in one burner – just depends on the size of your family and/or appetite. You can find the pans everywhere – Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, Williams and Sonoma and they come in a wide range of prices – from $15.00 to over $150.00.
From the TIPtionary: good things to know about a lot Have a burning question? Need answers to cooking stuff? Email The Good Cook and I’ll find you the answer.
of stuff 1. If a recipe calls for buttermilk and you just ran out – don’t worry. Add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk. Let sit for five minutes and viola, buttermilk.
2. Always use UNSALTED butter in cooking. You can always add salt, but you can’t take it out. If you do use salted butter in baking, reduce the salt in the recipe by 3/8 teaspoon per stick of butter. Using unsalted butter gives you more control over the final seasoning.
3. To keep a pastry (pie) crust from getting soggy, brush it lightly with a well beaten egg white. This will seal the surface. Refrigerate for 15 minutes before filling and baking.
Page 4
Food for Thought
The Good Cook 9 Cayuga Road Cranford, NJ 07016
Phone 908-499-1355 Fax 908-276-1181 E-mail thegoodcooknj@comcast.net
Where cooking is always a party!
The Final Word: The Good Cook was born out of my experience and absolute belief that corporate life sucks. So after 30 years of toiling "for the man" I decided to leave it all behind and "pursue other opportunities" (that’s what they say in the sucky corporate world when someone leaves). But what would I do? What did I truly love? What would ignite the fires of passion in me? And how much would it pay? Certain that this would take a fair amount of brain power to figure out, and knowing that thinking is hard, hungry work, the first thing I did was fix myself something good to eat. As I stirred and sautéed, an idea began to simmer. Why not do my three favorite things in the whole world? 1. Cook 2. Feed People 3. Boss People Around Okay, numbers 2 and 3 are tied. Anyway, quicker than a microwave can boil water, The Good Cook was born. There is nothing more satisfying in the world for me to do every day than to share my expertise and love of cooking good, wholesome, flavorful food. Now, as The Good Cook, I get to share with you over 30 years of combined culinary classes, cooking experience and time tested recipes in a fun, relaxed atmosphere that inspires me, and hopefully you, every day. I hope you enjoy your cooking party - because that's what it is when friends get together in the kitchen, it's a party of flavors, aromas and fun. You just never know what we'll cook up and learn.
We’re on the Web!
www.thegoodcooknj.com
Now let's get in some hot water together! Linda aka The Good Cook P.S. Check out www.thegoodcooknj.com for March specials.
The Good CookTM 2009 All Rights Reserved. To Unsubscribe, email thegoodcooknj@comcast.net, place UNSUBSCRIBE in subject line. To Submit questions, ideas, recipes, favorite things, email thegoodcooknj@comcast.net. All submissions become the property of The TM Good Cook Don’t you just hate all this small print, legal stuff?