It’s the last big deal of the holidays………New Years Eve!!!!
In New Years Eve’s past, Tim and I have always worked. When you are in the restaurant business, New Years Eve is a big deal………for customers! For those of us who work on New Years Eve, we call it amateur night. Those who only come out on New Years Eve and celebrate a bit to much!… if you know what I mean!
This year, we get to celebrate at home…….woot woot!!!! For any special occasion I always think of a steak……..for me, nothing beats a filet mignon. It’s tender and juicy (if cooked right)…….but, it is rather pricy…….ok, it’s really expensive, but you don’t eat it everyday, so on the eve of a new year we splurge.
Truth be told, we got a gift card from Omaha Steaks, so ours were free, well, not free……..when you go to their site, and see all the great offers…….lets just say, we went over the amount on our gift card. We were not disappointed in the purchase, the steaks were/are great!
Kale is all the rage right now, and rightly so. It has crazy amounts of vitamins A, K, and C, and it’s packed with calcium. I must admit that I prefer spinach, and in a nutritional match up they are pretty equal. Although, spinach is a better source of iron, magnesium, and fiber. Be sure to buy either of these organic if possible. Leafy greens can be a sponge for any chemicals used in the growing process. Nutrition lesson over……..but look for our new page……coming soon, that will be all you wanted to know about nutrition, but were afraid to ask.
This recipe is hopefully….fingers crossed, just what my friend Michelle was looking for. She had a salad at a restaurant in Chicago and tried to replicate it but, wasn’t happy with the result. Now, Michelle is one of the best cooks I know, so if she couldn’t come up with it I wasn’t sure I could either. But, I was willing to give it a try.
Michelle described what was in the salad and the ingredients were fairly simple. Kale, cabbage, mint, cilantro, parsley, and a peanut dressing. As I said before, I am not a huge fan of kale, but I tried a baby kale which I found to be a better taste. I will try this again with spinach. The dressing is where Michelle was stuck, so I hope my version…….peanut oil, rice wine vinegar, etc…….see recipe…..is the taste she was looking for.
I added grilled chicken that I marinaded in the dressing for flavor, and and topped it with roasted peanuts. Both Tim and I really enjoyed it.
So, I hope my version of Roasted Peanut Kale Salad will be a close match for the restaurant salad……….let me know Michelle!
1/4 cup each fresh mint, cilantro, parsley chopped
2 green onions sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup peanuts, toasted and chopped
3/4 to 1 pound chicken tenders ( about 6 tenders)
Dressing
3/4 cup Peanut oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon garlic pepper
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 clove garlic minced
Instructions
Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
Add 1/4 cup of the dressing to chicken tenders and marinade for 30 minutes (or more).
Combine all ingredients for the salad, except the peanuts and set aside.
Remove chicken from marinade, discarding any remaining marinade. Grill chicken tenders over medium high heat until cooked through. Remove from grill and cut into bite size chunks and let cool slightly.
Add chicken and dressing to the kale cabbage mixture. Toss to coat adding dressing as desired.
As our asparagus patch winds down for it’s first productive year, I wanted to make something different with our last cutting.
How about Asparagus Goat Cheese Pizza? I ran across a recipe that was written in…..you guessed it French (if you are new to our blog I am a huge French/France fan). Now translations sometimes do not go as you plan. Some words do not translate into the same products or instructions…….well lets just say, if I ever had to cook in France I may not do so well…….
That being said, I decided that perhaps my best approach was to make my own recipe and forget the translation. If you would like to see the original recipe take a look at the La popotte de Manue website. It is all written in French but is a very pretty website.
So, on to my version, I liked the idea of the asparagus and goat cheese, and adding bacon…….well, its bacon…… you can add bacon to anything and have a winner!
We always have onions on pizza, and red onions have the color and taste that are just right for this pizza. I wasn’t sure about the cream and egg mixture as the “sauce” but it lent a creaminess when mixed with all the other ingredients.
You can make your own dough or buy a ready made dough. Do use dough and not a pre made crust, as you need to make a rim so the egg mixture stays on the pizza, and isn’t a giant mess in the bottom of your oven.
So, for our final cut of asparagus, we give the Asparagus Goat Cheese Pizza a big thumbs up and we think you will too!!!!
Cook bacon until crisp, cool, crumble and set aside.
Slice red onion and set aside.
Cut asparagus into 1 inch pieces and set aside.
Prepare the pizza dough. You can make your own dough or use a purchased dough. Roll dough into a 12 inch round and place on pizza stone or cookie sheet.
Whisk together the cream and eggs, salt and pepper.
Place the asparagus,bacon, red onion and goat cheese on the dough. Pour the egg cream mixture over the top.
Bake at 400* until crust is browned and the topping is starting to turn golden, about 15-20 minutes. Garnish with basil.
