Chinese Chicken Salad

This is a really quick recipe, because we will utilize a good quality rotisserie chicken. It's pretty much made with all pantry ingredients. I did have to buy the hoisin sauce. You need to serve this salad immediately after dressing as the dressing will break down the cabbage quickly. 

Serves 4

Salad
2 cups shredded carrots
1 head napa cabbage, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 Tablespoons EACH, black and white sesame seeds ( I didn't have black)
1/2 cup cashews, optional, but it adds a nice crunch and another dimension of flavor
1 good quality rotisserie chicken, torn into shreds


Dressing
1/4 cup soy sauce, or tamari if you are gluten free
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons finely minced ginger
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon Sriacha sauce, optional
1/2 sea salt, or to taste since the soy sauce is pretty salty ( I didn't add salt)
5 chopped green onions, white and green part

Mix all dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight fighting lid, shake vigorously to combine. Set aside.

Mix all salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with a little bit of the dressing. Pour onto a large platter, or individual bowls to serve. Serve with the remaining salad dressing.

Marinara Sauce

I like to have marinara on hand to make quick work of weeknight dinners...

angel hair pasta on hand? Dinner ready in no time....

You have some eggplant on hand? 

slice eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices,  put it in a colander in the sink, sprinkle on some kosher salt  - let sit 30 minutes (removes any bitter taste) rinse and pat dry, brush on some olive oil, grill eggplant 4 minutes per side, put eggplant slices in a casserole dish, layer the eggplant and marinara, sprinkle with cheese. Heat until bubbly and browned at 350 degrees, about 20-30 minutes. ( if you had some ricotta on hand layer some of that in there too, or some panko bread crumbs mixed with some melted butter for some crunch!)

Marinara Sauce:

4 tsp olive oil
2- 28 oz cans whole italian tomatoes, drained, but RESERVE LIQUID
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano, divided
2 teaspoons dried basil, divided
6 cloves garlic
kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
4-6 leaves fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat it with olive oil cooking spray. Place the onions and the whole tomatoes on the center of the sheet, reserving the juice for later. Slide the garlic cloves inside the tomatoes - this protects the garlic from burning and infuses the tomato with roasted garlic flavor. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp oregano and 1 tsp dried basil all over the tomatoes along with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until tomatoes, onions and garlic are tender, sweet and juicy. Be careful not to over cook them because the tomatoes will dry up.

Once they are roasted , remove from the oven and place in a dutch oven. Over medium low heat combine roasted tomatoes, and onions, reserved liquid from the tomatoes that you drained and reserved from earlier, sugar, and remaining dried oregano and dried basil. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender. Simmer, covered, for at least two hours. Add the fresh basil and parsley. 

Baked Chicken

mm mm good! Bake the chicken and take the leftover meat off of the bones once it's cool and use to make soup, chicken divan or one of my chicken enchilada recipes.

• 4 lb chicken pieces, dark and white meat


• 1 tbl salt


• 1 tsp pepper


• 1 medium onion, grated


• 1 tsp paprika


• 1/3 cup wesson oil


• 1/2 cup margarine, melted

Mix dry ingredients in small bowl. Sprinkle chicken with dry ingredients; mix well. Mix oil, butter and grated onion. Place chicken pieces flat in a roasting pan and pour oil mixture over chicken. Seal with foil and bake on bottom rack of oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, drain drippings from chicken and pour over top of chicken again. Leave roaster open and place on top rack of oven at same temperature. Cook until brown and tender, about 30 more minutes. Same recipe may be used for pork chops.