A chicken dish to put love goggles on your dining partner
Good morning, fare friends. The request box was empty this morning, so I headed over to a neighborly requester for this one. “I want an entire menu for Sunday lunch, please, that can be ready when we arrive home from church with friends: a meal that can be put on the table, or on the buffet, in maybe 15 or 20 minutes after we all arrive together.”
Keep reading for another request for Vine Street Market recipes.
Readers, we must talk. We do want to give recipes in their most useful form; a recent missive asked for nutritional information wherever possible.
And here’s another query. Many recipes from authoritative sources list two parts of a recipe and title them thus: Ingredients and then Instructions. Is that not obvious? Does it need to be said?
Please let us know what matters, what helps in making a recipe clear for you … and succinct.
SALAD BY REQUEST
The request for a Vine Street Market rice salad, named Atchafalaya, got Sandy Zitkus’ attention and brought some good memories.
“I worked in the Vine Street Market kitchen back in the early ’80s while I was a student at UTC,” Zitkus wrote. “They were fun times. From a large family, I’ve always loved to cook, but being in this kitchen put me in seventh heaven. I remember a few good recipes from those days, but the salad recipe J.S. requested is still one of my all-time favorites. I don’t remember what we called it on the VSM menu, but I have it listed in my book as Cold Almond Chicken Salad. It continues to be one of my family’s favorite summertime dishes.”
This recipe fits all requirements from the original requester, J.S. of Maryville, who explained, “I was in grad school at UTC from 1978 to 1980, so had many occasions to enjoy Vine Street’s lovely menu items.”
We now hereby expand the request to any favorite recipe from that VSM era (before the move to Hanover Street).
Cold Almond Chicken Salad
(From the Vine Street Market on Vine Street)
1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 cups cooked chicken,
diced
2 cups celery, finely diced 1/4 cup toasted almonds 3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 cups cooked rice
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon dill weed (optional)
Mix all ingredients thoroughly, and chill well before serving.
Note: Some are not fans of artichoke hearts, so when preparing for a crowd, I usually leave these out.
This recipe doubles easily.
CAJUN FLAVORS
Roseann Strazinsky
responded to the aforementioned request not from her tasting and cooking experience, but from online research from her Fairfield Glade, Tennessee, computer. Atchafalaya cuisine has Cajun roots; the word itself is a Native American word for “long river.”
The food is “an intricate mix of European, African, Caribbean and Native American descent,” she discovered.
The next recipe is actually a rice salad, though not with the same ingredients as the requested Vine Street Market version. Its source, the website TheSpruceEats.com.
Classic Cajun Rice Salad
3 cups cooked rice (about 1 cup raw, cooled) ¾ cup sliced green onions ½ cup chopped green bell
pepper
¾ cup mayonnaise
1 ½ teaspoons stoneground or Creole mustard
1 ¼ teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon white pepper ½ teaspoon cayenne
pepper
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
In a large bowl, combine the cooled cooked rice with the green onions and bell pepper. Toss to blend ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the mustard, salt, white pepper, cayenne and Tabasco sauce. Add the mayonnaise mixture to the rice and vegetables, and gently toss to blend. Variations:
› Add part red bell pepper with the green bell for extra color.
› Add ½ cup chopped celery to the salad.
› A diced hard-boiled egg may be added, or garnish with slices of hard-boiled eggs.
Makes 6 servings. Nutrition facts: 546 calories, 21 grams fat, 79 grams carbohydrate, 7 grams protein.
FOWL TEMPTRESS
When Good Neighbor made her initial request in today’s column, she had a recommended recipe already on her kitchen counter: Marry Me Chicken. “I haven’t tried it, but it sounds interesting. The total preparation time, the recipe says, is less than 30 minutes.”
Topped with fresh basil or parsley, it looks as good as it tastes. Serve over freshly cooked pasta, rice, polenta or with crusty bread to soak up the sauce.”
You can also toss a few handfuls of torn fresh spinach into the pan.
Marry Me Chicken
3 tablespoons all-purpose
flour
Salt
¼ teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper 4 thin-sliced chicken breasts (about 1¼ pounds; see note) 2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely
chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup heavy cream
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and finely chopped 2 teaspoons tomato
paste
½ teaspoon dried oregano ¼ teaspoon crushed red
pepper flakes ¼ teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil, plus more for serving
Place the flour, ¾ teaspoon salt and the black pepper in a zipper-lock bag, and shake to combine. Add the chicken to the bag; seal the bag tightly, and shake to coat the chicken evenly. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place the flour-dusted chicken in the pan, and cook, flipping once, until the chicken is lightly golden and just cooked through, about 3 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium, and add the onions to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened and translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds more; do not brown. Add the cream, broth, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, red pepper flakes, sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt; use a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits from the pan into the liquid. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and gently boil, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the Parmigiano Reggiano (or Pecorino Romano) and basil.
Add the chicken back to the pan, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate; reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce thickens a bit more, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with more fresh basil, if desired, and serve.
Note: I use precut, readyto-cook, thin-sliced chicken breasts for this recipe. If you’d like to use regular chicken breasts, you’ll need to first cut them in half horizontally to form flat fillets, then pound them until they are between 1/8 and ¼-inch thick. (It’s important to cut them in half first; otherwise, they’ll be enormous after pounding.)
Nutrition facts (per serving): 580 calories, 31 grams fat, 27 grams carbohydrate, 45 grams protein.
Valentine’s Day, with its special meals and high expectations, is less than a week away, so we have begun the celebration appropriately with today’s hearty dishes. We’ll look for you next week.