Wilted Spinach Salad with Blueberries & Bacon

6 oz. baby spinach
1 ¾ cups fresh blueberries, divided use
½ small red onion, very thinly sliced, divided use
2 small apricots, sliced
4 slices bacon
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1/8 cup crumbled blue cheese
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Toss spinach with 3/4 cup blueberries, ¼ of the onion, all the apricots.
Cook bacon until crisp and remove and drain on a paper towel. Set aside to cool.
Turn heat to low and add the remaining ¼ of the red onion and stir. Add the olive oil, honey and remaining 1 cup blueberries. Stir until blueberries become soft. Turn heat off and add balsamic vinegar and salt. Stir to incorporate.
Toss the dressing with the spinach and blueberries until all the leaves are coated. Add the bacon and blue cheese, toss and serve.

Sweet Potato Rosemary Pizza Won Me a Grand

Here is the link to Slashfood:
http://www.slashfood.com/2009/04/24/sweet-potato-recipe-contest-winners/
She was one of the judges in the Sweet Potato Contest. You can see my winning recipe there and a great professional photo of it.

Press Release about contest and winners:
http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/images/stories/contests/bloggers/bloggercontestrelease.pdf

You can download and print my recipe from here:
http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/bloggers-recipe-contest.html

Buon Appétito!

Chocolate Chip Cookies for Tracey

Ok Trace, try this one. They are buttery and chewy. You always have to undercook your cookies, and whatever you won't eat in one day wrap well and freeze. Then pull them out as you want them. I like to eat my chocolate chip cookies slightly cold still. The cookie is chewy and the chocolate is still cool and crisp.

My other tips:
Forget unsalted butter. Use salted. Just make sure it's real butter! Don't be using margarine or some other crappy substitute.
Use all brown sugar instead of a part white.
Use real vanilla.
Use good chocolate. If you can't get good chocolate chips then chop up a good dark chocolate bar!
Always make sure your walnuts or pecans are fresh. I know too many people who use rancid nuts. Always store your nuts in the freezer.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press slightly. Bake about 10 minutes until lightly browned but a little undercooked. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Mexican Indian Fusion

I made up a new type of fusion. At least I've never heard of it before. Mexican-Indian. India Indian.

I had marinated some chicken breasts in Indian spices (yogurt, amchoor, garam masala, ginger, garlic, coriander) intending to cook them on May 4. Never got to it.

May 5 rolls around and you know you have to eat Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo. At least here in So Cal you do. I think it's the law.

So I whipped up a mixed green salad and a cilantro viniagrette, a mango, cucumber & pasilla chile salsa, and went forth with grilling the Indian spiced chicken. I threw it all together in a salad: Grilled chicken Salad with Cilantro Viniagrette topped with Mango Salsa. The Indian spices on the chicken worked very well with the sweet and spicy mango salsa as well as the cilantro of the viniagrette. The whole fam really liked the Mexican-Indian fusion. I think I will have to do some more experimenting. But for now here's basically what I did:

The Chicken
4 Chicken breasts (boneless skinless)
1 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango powder)
1 teaspooon garam masala
1 teaspooon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup lowfat plain yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime

Squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken. Mix together all the remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken. Marinate for 3 hours or overnight. Grill until done. Let rest 5 minutes and slice on the bias into 1/4 inch slices.

The Salsa
1 large mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup pasilla chile, finely diced
1/2 cup rough chopped fresh cilantro
juice of 1 lime
Salt to taste
dash of cayenne pepper to make it spicy (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together and toss to mix the flavors.

The Cilantro Viniagrette
1 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup plain yogurt, full fat is best but you can use lowfat
2 tablespoons mayonaise
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons feta cheese (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all in food processor for about 2 minutes. Pour over mixed greens.

The Meal
Toss mixed greens with the cilantro viniagrette. Place on platter. Assemble sliced chicken over mixed greens. Top chicken with mango salsa. Serve with warm tortillas or naan.

The Girl and the Fig

I don't remember how I first learned about The Girl and the Fig, but it is a great little restaurant in Sonoma. We had gone for the first time about 2 years ago, and on our trip last week to visit Sonoma State University, I wasn't going to pass up a chance to go back. I think I made the reservation at The Girl and the Fig before I booked the college tour. Priorities...

The restaurant is very quaint, and being on the town square only adds to the charm. The food is French country. Think rustic Provençal. Think Pastis in food.

They focus on fresh, seasonal, local products - vegetables, herbs, cheeses, charcuterie. The wine list contains only Rhone varietals and is easy to manage.

We had a fantastic meal. See my pics. But check out the whole menu on their website http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/. The menu changes regularly. If you find yourself anywhere in the Sonoma Valley make sure to go. Make sure you have a reservation.