My Chicken Salad

I like lots of different flavors and textures in my chicken salad. Celery, shallots, apple and cucumber for body, pecans and walnuts for crunch and the sweetness of rasins and apples balanced with a little vinegar.

I usually stuff it into a some Pita bread so I tend to chop everything pretty coarse -- think 1/2" chop -- to maximize how it fills the sandwich. If I were serving as a salad I'd chop closer to 1/4" for a more refined texture. I also don't use much mayonaise -- It's not good for me and I think it masks too many of the other flavors -- but you may want to add more to make it richer. Makes 6-8 pita sandwiches

1 whole roasted chicken - meat removed, chopped and cooled

1 cup mayonaise

2 ribs of celery (chop)

1/2 Granny Smith apple (dice)

1 English cucumber (dice)

1 medium shallot (dice)

1/2 cup toasted pecans (coarse chop)

1/2 cup toasted walnuts (coarse chop

1/2 cup currants or rasins

1 Tbs tarragon (chopped)

1 Tbs apple vinegar

Combine everything in a large bowl and mix gently. It's always better the next day.

Oats

For a food that has been around for 1000s of years there sure is a lot of confusion about Oatmeal, Quick Oats, Rolled Oats, Steel Cut Oats and Whole Oats.

I listened to some moron at the local "healthy" store attempt to explain the difference to me. He prattled on about how This is better than That and These have a better "mouth-feel" than Those and then realized after his second contradictory statement that this guy really had no idea what he was talking about.

5 minutes with an iPhone, Google and Wikipedia proved that nearly everything the guy told me was flat-out wrong. He must have just been making shit up.

Read about it here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-cut_oats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolled_oats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groats

Follow Up: Steel Cut Oats Rule! Had a batch of McCanns this morning and they beat both rolled oats and my regular 7-grain blend from Sprouts hands down.

Rae - Philly

Rae, Dan Stern's restaurant in Philly and one of my favorite places to eat here is moving. They are still open for lunch but don't do dinner there anymore. I guess I now have an excuse to go to his other restaurant, Gayle, which I have wanted to get to for quite some time.

Really Good Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Brownie Cookies
(adapted from a Gramercy Tavern Recipe)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon brewed espresso
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 ounces 80+% cacao chocolate, chopped
2 ounces 99% cacao chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate chipped into small pieces.


1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Cover 2 baking sheets with Silpat mats.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an stand-mixer, briefly whisk the eggs to break them up. Add the sugar, espresso, and vanilla and beat on high speed for 15 minutes, until thick. Yes, 15 minutes.

4. While the egg mixture is whipping, place the butter in a double boiler over a pot of simmering (not boiling) water, and scatter the extra-bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate on top. Heat until the butter and chocolate melt. Remove the boiler top from over the water and stir the chocolate and butter until smooth.

5. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until partially combined (there should still be some streaks). Add the flour mixture to the batter and carefully fold it in. Fold in the chocolate chips. If the batter is very runny, let it rest until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.

6. Drop the batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until puffed and cracked, 8 to 9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the baking sheets.