Kale. Who Knew It Could Be This Easy?

Spring is here. At least in SF. It's got to be close to 70 degrees here with lovely clear, blue skies. A perfect day for a walk over to our local farmer's market.

There was a nice kale salad in our lunch this past week, so I decided to try my hand at cooking some. I've used kale in soups before, but never any other way.

Many varieties of kale showed up this week at the farmer's market. I got some and then stared it in on my kitchen counter for a good long time. I realized that I had no idea what to do with it. Since it seems very fibrous, braising seemed like a good idea. Then I remembered how we always cooked sausages in boiling red wine before putting them into the tomato sauce when I was growing up. Maybe red wine was the way to go.

It most certainly is the way to go with kale. I don't know if there are purists out there who have a particular right way to cook these hearty leaves, but I recommend that you give the red wine a try.

Once I had the kale cooked down, I thought I'd try two different final dishes with it. I served it alongside boiled potatoes straight from the pan with some of the braising liquid and garlic.

And, I made a pesto-style preparation, by pureeing the cooked kale, garlic and braising liquid in the food processor. Both were good, but I preferred the pesto-style, since I'd never tasted kale this way before.

Red Wine-Braised Kale with Boiled Potatoes

• 1 bunch Kale (or Hearty Greens)
• 1 cup Red Wine
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, whole, skin removed
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 3 cups Potatoes, cubed and boiled

1. Wash Kale thoroughly in cool running water.
2. Set a large skillet over a burner turned to high-heat.
3. Add the oil and water.
4. Turn off the heat and add the wine.
5. Turn the heat back to high.
6. Add the Kale and garlic. It will run over the side of the pan at first. It shrinks to less than half it's original volume once it is cooked down.
7. Cook over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until leaves are tender.
8. Serve over the boiled potatoes, being sure to scoop up some of the cooking liquid to pour over the potatoes.

Red Wine-Braised Kale Pesto with Boiled Potatoes

• 1 bunch Kale (or Hearty Greens)
• 1 cup Red Wine
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, whole, skin removed
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 3 cups Potatoes, cubed and boiled

1. Wash Kale thoroughly in cool running water.
2. Set a large skillet over a burner turned to high-heat.
3. Add the oil and water.
4. Turn off the heat and add the wine.
5. Turn the heat back to high.
6. Add the Kale and garlic. It will run over the side of the pan at first. It shrinks to less than half it's original volume once it is cooked down.
7. Cook over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until leaves are tender.
8. Put the cooked Kale and its cooking liquid into a food processor.
9. Process until all leaves and stems have been chopped up and incorporated into a mixture.
10. Serve over the boiled potatoes.

A version of this recipe is featured on The Fruit Guys website.

What to Bring to Dinner: Apple and Pear Crisp

What were the odds that I would happen to have a piece of fabric with apples and pears on it to present this lovely crisp? Slim to none, I'd say.

I hadn't pre-planned including the pears in the crisp, but as luck would have it, I ran out of apples and had to combine the two fruits. The mix of the flavors turned out well: one bit might be all apple, the next all pear, or you may get two-for-one!

I've never made a crisp before. We were invited upstairs to dinner with our fabulous neighbors. When they came down to invite us over, I asked what I could bring. Somehow, the topic of a crisp came up and knowing that they liked my granola, I offered to make one.

Pastry dough and I aren't generally friends, but I am good at cutting and mixing things, so this was the perfect project for me. And, I found a funny little knife that made the fruit into crinkle cuts. I think it's meant to be used for potatoes, but it worked just fine on my pears and apples. You can't go wrong with the combination of flavors here: butter, vanilla, lemon, cinnamon, fruit and oats. And it's the easiest thing I've made for a dessert in a long time.

The neighbors loved it. I think this will go into my regular rotation of easy, take-along desserts. Hope you like it.

Apple and Pear Crisp

adapted from Simply Recipes

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 medium Pears, cut into chunks
• 2 medium Apples, cut into chunks
• 3 tsps Lemon Juice
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 1 cup Rolled Oats
• 1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
• 5 to 10 almonds, crushed
• 5 to 10 Walnuts, crushed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine fruit, lemon juice, and vanilla. Toss to combine.
3. Put the pear and apple pieces into a baking dish. I don't really layer, just put them in there, and any baking dish will do here, I used a souffle dish.
4. Mix together the dry ingredients (oats, cinnamon and brown sugar) with the butter.
5. Using a pastry blender or a fork, chop up the butter until it is in small pea-sized pieces.
6. Cover the fruit with the oat mixture.
7. Place the nuts on top of the oat mixture.
8. Set in the oven for 45 minutes.
9. Bake until the topping looks crunchy, being careful not to burn the nut topping.
10. Serve with ice cream on the side.

Chicken, honey? Sure, but it's Honey Chicken.

One night, a few months ago, just when I started shooting almost every meal I made for this here site, my friend came to dinner.

She is a lovely tiny woman. But she can eat. Which is just the kind of friends I love to have. When she arrived, I realized I hadn't come up with a main dish. There were some chicken thighs in the fridge, so I started there. As I thought about what else I had in the house, I came across some fresh oregano and sherry vinegar. The recipe began to form in my head, all I needed was some lemon and a bit of honey and we were off and cooking.

It's a simple affair, if a little messy. I started by heating a pan to super hot, added some oil and salt and put the chicken thighs in skin side down. The fat splatters, so be ready for a little bit of cleanup. The extra step of searing these on the stove top before baking them makes the skin come out super crisp and delicious.

The key to this dish is the combination of the honey, sherry vinegar and oregano. You add these just before the chicken goes into a hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes. And let me tell you, the chicken comes out moist, a little sweet, and very tender. I served it with some roasted brussels sprouts and a quinoa salad. Most delicious.

This past weekend, I found myself with some chicken thighs and recreated the dish for my daughter. She ate two pieces and asked that I save the others for her dinner the next night. A hit, if I do say so myself, and a dish that is so quick to make, I can do it on a weeknight while helping with homework.

So if you are asked "Chicken, honey?" I hope that you respond "Sure, but it's Honey Chicken."

Honey Chicken with Oregano and Sherry Vinegar

makes 4 portions

Ingredients

• 4 Chicken thighs, skin-on and with bones
• 4 Tbsps Olive Oil
• A pinch of Salt
• 3 sprigs fresh Oregano (or 1 tsp Dried Oregano)
• 3/4 cup Sherry Vinegar (Red Wine Vinegar works here, or just some leftover White Wine is good, too)
• 2 Tbsps Honey (I like the dark amber kind)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Heat up a large non-reactive skillet over high heat.
3. Put the olive oil and salt in the pan once it is super hot (technical term).
4. Place the chicken thighs in the pan, skin-side down.
5. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the skin starts to curl up on the edges.
6. Turn the thighs over. Cook for 1 minute more.
7. Turn off the heat. Add the sherry vinegar.
8. Turn the heat back on and cook for 2 minutes.
9. Add the honey, turn off the heat and put the pan in the preheated oven.
10. Bake on the top rack of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the chicken juice runs clear.
11. Remove from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes, and then dig in.

Oven Baked Pork Ribs

 Hello there, ribs. How are you? I will miss you for the next month or so.

You see, it's that time of year, when I abandon pork products and start a-new.

And so, this past Monday night, I made a big rack of pork ribs as my fond farewell to the porky-goodness for the time being.

My friend made up the dry rub recipe, and I have to say it's brilliant. I don't usually use allspice for anything but ginger-y baking recipes and marjoram has never made it's way into my kitchen. The combination of curry with these two spices was amazing. There's just enough sweetness there, and a little bit of the earthly complexity of the curry powder gives you layers of flavor in each bite.

I didn't make any side dishes, just ate lots and lots of ribs to store up the yummy for the next month or so.

See you soon, ribs, and until then, I hope my friends and neighbors will enjoy you.

Oven Baked Ribs

Ingredients:

• 1 large rack of pork ribs
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp curry
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp marjoram
• ½ tsp pepper flakes
• ¼ tsp red pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Wash and dry the ribs in the sink.
4. Cut the rack into pieces if it won't fit into your roasting pan.
5. Coat the ribs on all sides with the dry rub.
6. Place the ribs in your roasting pan(s).
7. Let sit for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight, if you have the time).
8. Place the pan(s) in the preheated oven.
9. Bake for 30 minutes.
10. Turn the ribs over carefully.
11. Bake for an additional 30 minutes.
12. Turn off the oven and leave the ribs in the hot oven for another 10 minutes.
13. Remove from oven, cut the ribs apart and enjoy!

Cookbook Review: Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food

Remember how my friend got me a quail to roast for my birthday a few weeks ago? Well, that same friend got me a great cookbook for Christmas, too.

The book,  Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food, by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough, with photographs by France Ruffenach, brought me back to the re-opening of the Bi-Rite Marketin 1998.

At the time, we lived on 17th street and Dolores, just a block from the market. The book lists June 8, 1998 as the opening day of the market as it operates today. That would put me at about 3 months pregnant. Which, as I recall, makes total sense, because by the time I was in my third trimester and had little to no interest in cooking, many a take out dinner came from the Bi-Rite Market. Lucky me!

The book talks about creating community through food, and the relationship the owners and his family had throughout the years with the neighbors. I experienced this day in and day out, whenever I went in to buy some meat or fish or prepared food, the people behind the counter always recognized me and knew what I was going to ask for before I even asked for it. From the outset, the atmosphere was always inclusive, never condescending and truly inspiring. It was a new take on an age-old traditional local grocer: organic, locally produced foods, where you might pay a little more, but what you got was well worth the investment.

My baby's first solid food (other than rice cereal and cheerios) was a piece of Bi-Rite's roasted chicken. I think that kid ate more Bi-Rite meals than I did in her first few months of solids. It was a good routine: walk down the hill from work, pick up some delicious food, walk the block home and enjoy. Did I also mention that the job I was walking home from was through a random connection that was made in front of the prepared foods case at the Bi-Rite?

I was in the market one afternoon, with my baby in her stroller. A woman approached me, said she liked my shoes and mentioned she had a baby about the same age as my girl. We talked for a bit longer, during which time she asked what I did for a living. At the time, I was managing trade shows, and told her this, and proceeded to ask her what she did. She had just launched an ecommerce start-up that was looking for some people and would I want to send her a resume. Email addresses were exchanged, communication ensued and I eventually became employed by a woman I met at the Bi-Rite.

So, yes, for me, creating community through food holds a special meaning in my heart when it comes to Bi-Rite. And, the book is organized in such a way that it's as if you're going on several visits a week to the store. You can read about pantry staples, locally sourced cheese, wine and produce, as well as get some awesome recipes for all of the above ingredients and more. The book presents the recipes within a story about the ingredients and why the buyer may have chosen to bring a particular variety of a fruit or vegetable into the market. It's written as a whole piece, not just story-then-recipe-then-story. It's more about the nature of how you might shop if you were to shop for your ingredients each day (which I love to do), versus how to make a meal in 30 minutes or less.

There is a definite need to know how to get good food out to the table quickly. This book does an excellent job of explaining how to get the best ingredients into those simple (and also the not so simple meals) and to give you an appreciation of what it took to get that carrot onto your plate. I'm a very busy single-parent who loves to cook and sees the benefit in buying the best ingredients I can, so this book is for me.

In closing, I'd like to share the recipe from page 162 for Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios and Warm Bacon Vinagrette. I made this the other night and was thrilled with the results. I've never used raw brussels sprouts (nor the super fine slicing attachment on my food processor), but I most certainly will do so again.

Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios and Warm Bacon Vinagrette

recipe from Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food, by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough, with photographs by France Ruffenach

copyright 2011, 10 Speed Press

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds Brussels Sprouts
• 6 thick slices Bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• bacon fat drained and reserved
• Extra-virgin Olive Oil, as needed
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Sherry Vinegar
• 1 small Shallot, minced, about 1 tablespoon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced Garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon Honey
• Kosher Salt
• 1/4 cup lightly chopped toasted Pistachios

Method:

• Peel off and discard the darker outer leaves of the sprouts and trim any discolored areas from the stem ends.
• Cut the sprouts in half lengthwise. then silce them crosswise very thinly - about 1/16 inch.
• Alternatively, you can use a food processor fitted with the slicer attachemtn, but the cuts will not be as clean.
• Transfer to a large heatproof  bowl, add the bacon, and set aside.
• Measure 1/4 cup of the reserved bacon fat into a small pan and warm over low heat until liquefied(if you don't have enough bacon fat, make up the difference with olive oil).
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice, vinegar, shallot, garlic, honey, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
• Drizzle the dressing over the brussels sprouts and toss well.
• Taste and season with more salt as necessary.
• If you have time, let the sdalad sit out for 30 minutes or so before proceeding--in this time, the dressing helps the sprouts soften a bit.
• Just befor serving, top witht he toasted pistachio; if using the horseradish, use a microplane grater to shave a little over the top as well.

Don't Eat The Unopened Clams!

I'm on some kind of a fish kick right now. It probably has to do with the amount of meat I consumed over the holidays. I've been craving fish and salads, so I'm going with it.

Just after my salade nicoise evening, I decided to make some clams served over a saffron rice. Just before I began to cook, I realized there was no saffron in the house. Gran Fran is always very innovative when it comes to missing ingredients. I thought for a minute, went through my spice cabinet and pulled out the smoky Spanish paprika I love.

Gran Fran uses anisette or vermouth in her saffron rice preparation, but again, I came up empty. A bottle of nice white wine with lots of fennel seed added to the pot, along with some clam juice and lemon juice, saved the day. My McGyver-type survival skills will do Gran Fran proud.

I've often watched her make clams, but I rarely do so myself. If memory serves, Gran Fran would flip out if more than just one or two of the clams she had steamed didn't open up when cooked. Her take on this, I think, was that all of the clams were tainted and maybe we shouldn't eat them because who knows what kind of disease one might get? Botulism? Salmonella? I'd like to point out right here and now that we all made it through, just by avoiding those unopened clams along the way.

But, her fears did come bubbling up within me when I prepared to cook these clams last night. What if I didn't cook them long enough? What about those diseases, or worse yet some unknown hazard came up? I tried to channel the other side of Gran Fran in the kitchen: the devil-may-care cook who throws ingredients in a pan with reckless abandon and comes up with wonderfully delicious dishes in the end.

It worked. The clams turned out great, it was fast and simple and the broth was really interesting with the extra hit of paprika in the end. The rice turned out well, too, though different in flavor than my beloved saffron rice, it was a hit. No one got sick, and the food was delicious.

Steamed Clams with Fennel and Red Rice

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound clams, cleaned and soaked in cold water
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup clam juice
• 2 tbsps lemon juice
• 1 tbsp dried fennel seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic chopped roughly

Method:

• Put everything in a large pan and cover with a lid.
• Bring the mixture to a boil.
• Cook for 10 minutes.
• Lift the lid and check to see if all (or almost all) of the clams have opened up.
• If not, cover and cook for another two minutes.
• Serve over rice (see below).

Steamed Red Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white Basmati Rice
• 1 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Clam Juice
• 3 Tbsps Lemon Juice
• 3 Tbsps Butter
• 2 tsps Smoked Spanish Paprika
• 3 cloves Garlic chopped
• 2 tsps Fennel Seeds
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Method:

• Put all ingredients except for the rice in a large pot that has a lid.
• Boil the mixture,then lower it to a simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the rice.
• Return the pot to the boil.
• Stir once.
• Reduce the heat to low.
• Cover the pan and cook for 12 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and allow to stand for 6 to 8 more minutes until the rice is cooked through.
• Serve with the clams, using some of the broth the further flavor the rice.

Salade Nicoise: How-To: Another Cooking for One recipe

The salade nicoise has got to be the best salad ever. It involves only a handful of ingredients (two of which I've featured recently as make-ahead basics, here  and here).

When my daughter and I were in Paris, I ordered salade nicoise. What I got was not at all what I was accustomed to from our American version.

For one thing, there was rice in it. Yes, you read that right, rice. For another thing, the tuna tasted and looked odd, and overcooked. Lastly, there was some heavy dressing with a bit of cream in it. I won't judge the entire country on how this one brasserie made their Nicoise. Instead, I guess I'll just have to venture back over to France to find the perfect version.

In the meantime, I decided to try my hand at home making this lovely salad. Usually, there are boiled eggs included, but when I was almost finished making (and photographing) the salad, I realized I had forgotten to make them. To my surprise, I didn't miss the eggs at all.  I actually think I preferred it without the eggs, but you can go ahead and add them back in if you want to.

The key to my success was the freshness of the tuna steak. Of course, if you can't locate a tuna steak, you can use a can of best-quality (that's a Gran-Franism, the best quality thing) solid olive oil packed tuna fish. Drain some of the oil out, so that the flavor of the dressing will shine through.

I really enjoyed making this, especially since it was so simple and tasted so darned good.

Salade Nicoise

serves 1

Ingredients:

• A large handful of Salad Greens (I didn't measure, just grabbed as much as I thought I'd eat)
• 1 serving of cooked Green Beans (recipe here)
• 1 serving of Boiled Potatoes (recipe here)
• 1/4 pound Tuna Steak
• 4 Tbsps Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsps Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 tsp Mustard
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

• Place the salad greens, green beans and potatoes on a plate. Set aside.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed non-reactive pan over high heat.
• Salt and pepper the tuna steak.
• Once the pan is good and hot, add a small amount of olive oil.
• Add the tuna steak to the super hot pan.
• Cook on first side for five minutes.
• Turn over the tuna steak and cook for another 3 minutes.
• Remove the tuna from the pan and let rest for a few minutes.
• Mix the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper for the dressing.
• Slice the tuna and place on top of the salad.
• Sprinkle the dressing over the top of the salad and enjoy!

Cooking for One: Potatoes Two Ways

The mighty potato.

It is starchy.

It is filling.

It can be sweet.

It can be saucy.

But it is always delicious.

I've been working on ways to create multiple sauces or preparations starting from a basic ingredient. The idea is to create the basic ingredient once, in bulk and then add different sauces, etc. throughout the week so that you don't get bored with the same leftovers over and over.

This is part of my exploration into Cooking for One (see

here

for my first installation). Once I have enough of these recipes worked out, I'll post a succinct compendium (that there is a $20 word), but for now, I'll link them all through the individual posts. Of course, they'll all be tagged Cooking for One, so if one needs to find them quickly, this key phrase can be put in my handy search box on the right hand side of this site.

But I digress.

Potatoes seem like a great base for many things. I've got two variations here: a light potato salad (light because there's not too much mayonnaise involved) and a pan fried potato with bacon. Both are great, and are based on a large pot of boiled potatoes. Stored in an airtight container, once they've been fully drained and cooled, the potatoes I made kept for a week.

All you need to do is boil up the potatoes and then create sauce variations when you are ready to serve them. Easy as pie.

Boiled Potatoes

serves plenty, portion out to one-person servings as you see fit

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 lbs Yellow New Potatoes
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Fill a large non-reactive pan (I had to use it sometime...) with water, leaving enough room for the potatoes to fit comfortably, while being covered by the water.
• Chop each potato into 6 to 8 even pieces.
• Boil potatoes for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until you can put a fork through them, and the skin has turned translucent.
• Drain potatoes, let cool and portion

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 portion Boiled Potatoes (see above for recipe)
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsps Mustard (I used Sweet/Hot)
• 1 Spring fresh Tarragon (you can use 1/4 tsp dried instead)
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Method:

• Mix the vinegar, mayonnaise and mustard together. It should be thin enough to pour once it's all mixed up.
• In a small bowl, pour the dressing over the potatoes.
• Using a fork, coat the potatoes with the dressing, pressing down with the fork to roughly break up the potatoes.
• Finish with a sprinkling of tarragon, salt and black pepper.

Bacon Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound bacon, cooked and broken up into small pieces
• 1 portion Boiled Potatoes (see above)
• Olive Oil for cooking

Method:

• Turn the oven on to broil.
• Heat a large non-reactive pan over high heat.
• When it's hot, coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. If you have bacon grease on hand, you can use a little of that here, too.
• Add bacon pieces, cooking for 3 minutes.
• Put potatoes in with the bacon, stirring to coat them with oil.
• Cook for 10 minutes.
• Move the pan to the broiler.
• Cook for 5 minutes, then stir the potatoes, getting all the crunchy bits from the bottom of the pant scraped up.
• Put the pan back in the broiler for another 5 minutes.
• Remove and serve!

It's Not Burger King...Best Chicken Sandwich Ever

I love the Burger King Classic Chicken Sandwich.

Let me rephrase that. I love the memory of eating the Burger King Classic Chicken Sandwich. That first bite, the warm breading, the mixture of grease and mayonnaise. I rarely allow myself to buy one anymore, but the memory lingers on.

Yesterday, while I was doing birthday returns, there appeared on the horizon the mighty Burger King. I was almost weak enough to give in and get in that drive-thru lane and get me one of those sandwiches.

Then it dawned on me, wait a minute, I can make my own version, my way, in no time at all. Which is exactly what I did.

I knew I could make a good gluten-free breaded chicken, mayonnaise is always in my fridge but I had to think about the elements (other than actually deep frying) that make that sandwich taste so good. Then it hit me: lettuce. I know it seems simple, but I never put lettuce in a sandwich, unless it's a BLT.

The marinade that I made is a one that I make regularly. I replaced the milk with almond milk and added some honey, barbecue sauce, egg and hot-sweet mustard. The bread I used is a great gluten-free variety toasted and spread with mayonnaise.

Well, let me tell you, it worked! What a great treat, easy, not too bad for you, and delicious.

Gluten Free and Dairy Free Breaded Chicken Sandwich (or the Faux Burger King Classic Chicken Sandwich)

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breasts, boneless/skinless, cut thin
•  1 egg
• 3 ounces Almond Milk (or any kind of milk you have on hand)
• 1/4 cup Barbecue Sauce
• 2 tsps Mustard (I used sweet-hot, but you can use any variety)
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 1/2 cup gluten-free Bread Crumbs (I use this brand.)
• 2 slices Udi's Gluten Free Bread

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl large enough to accommodate all the chicken, too.
• Add the chicken. Let it soak for at least ten minutes. If you've thought ahead and got to this point the night before, go ahead and soak the chicken overnight.
• Turn the heat to high on a large skillet.
• Put the bread crumbs on a shallow plate.
• Place the chicken in  the breadcrumbs and turn it over to coat both sides.Repeat until all chicken breasts are coated.
• Add oil to the hot pan.
• Place each piece of chicken in the pan, making sure there is some space between each piece.
• Cook on the first side for 5 minutes.
• Turn over the chicken and cook for 2 more minutes.
• Put the pan in the oven to finish cooking for about 10 minutes.
• While the meat is cooking, shred the lettuce and toast your bread.
• Remove from the oven and make your sandwich.

Enjoy!

They're Supposed to be Green (Beans)

Have you ever tried a green bean salad from a salad bar? The beans are usually somewhat grey, dressed with too much oil and not enough vinegar, and often times they are covered in some weird herbs.

I'm here to share with you a really good, quick and easy green bean salad recipe. The key is in how you prepare your beans. You can make any number of dressings for the beans, once they've been cooked properly. If you over cook them no matter how you dress them, they just won't taste right.

If you follow these very simple steps, the most important being to rinse the beans in cool running water for a bit to stop the cooking, you will be ever so pleased with the results.

I'm thinking that a version of this recipe will also end up as one of the Cooking for One series I've been working on. I figure you can cook all the beans at once, store them in air tight containers in portion sized servings. Then, when you're ready to eat the green beans, you can add any number of a variety of sauces. One is included here, just a basic lemon, olive oil and caper combination.

Green Bean Salad

serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Green Beans (or yellow), tips cut off
• 3 tbsps Salt
• 1/2 of a Lemon
• Olive Oil to sprinkle over the cooked beans
• 1/4 tsp capers, drained
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Boil a large pot of water with the salt in it.
• Place the green beans in a steamer basket.
• Submerge the basket in the boiling water.
• Partially cover the pan, leaving enough space for the steam to escape.
• Cook the beans for 6 minutes.
• Take the steamer basket out of the pan, and rinse under cold water for one minute.
• Put the beans (about half the cooked amount will do for two) in a shallow bowl and squeeze the lemon over them. Sprinkle some olive oil on top and add the capers, salt and pepper.
• Mix it up and enjoy!