Good one for the weeknight repitoire

Made a really good chicken piccata tonight.
Chicken breast pounded to about 1/4 inch, salt and pepper liberally. Dredge with flour.
1-2 min per side in 3 Tbs browned unsalted butter with a Tsp of olive oil added just before adding the chicken. Chx into 200 degree oven.
Cook well diced scallions (2 Tbs or so) for a min or so ( I added about a Tbs of butter to help)
Deglaze with about 3/4 cup chx stock and 1/4 cup white wine. Add 2 Tbs capers. 3 Tbs lemon juice. Reduce by greater than half. Mount with 3 Tbs butter. Pour over chicken. Served over fettuccine (ours was fresh garlic Parmesan)

Thank you Becky! I feel like I really belong now.

Deconstructed BLT salad: The back story here involves an NPR story I partially caught driving home from work. It was an interview with a couple of restaurateurs describing an all tomato menu and extolling the virtues of simplicity and seasonal freshness. Since we don't have fresh crab caught crab in Minnesota, I couldn't make the crab tomato spaghetti, but it got me thinking.
So we tried:

*Baby romaine or any other green available.
*Thick chunk chopped tomato: Take the juice from slicing the tomato and mix with a Tbs or two of mayonnaise. Should make a thin-ish consistency to which we added fresh cracked pepper and a dash or two of veggie seasoning ( ours is called Spike which is great stuff and highly recommended- I think it has some yeast extract which is the special zing.)
* Thick chunk avacado
* Thick slab bacon, coarsely chopped- for a salad that satisfied Amy and I we made 6 slices.
*Home made croutons: we thick sliced a Tuscan style bread ( almost any crusty bread would do) and rubbed it with a little garlic and then brushed with olive oil and then a little salt and pepper. Broil to a light brown. Cool a bit and then chop to biggish pieces.
* optional: we ate the corn on the cob but my initial plan was to cut it off the cob and toss with the salad.
* Combine dry ingredients and then toss with the dressing. It was good. It was easy.

Posting

Scott (et al)--

I think your invitation status is fine b/c you are listed as a "follower" on the blog. I'd guess the problem is that you must first be logged in to make a blog post. Try this:

--click "sign in" in the upper RH corner of the blog page. Enter your username and pwd.
--Once you're logged in, you can click "new post" in the same upper RH corner of the page.

Hopefully that helps! I'd love to see the BLT recipe. Anything with bacon has automatic appeal!

Heather

peanut sauce recipe

Does anyone have a good recipe for a peanut sauce (to go over pasta, veggies, etc.)? I have several, but have yet to find one that I like that isn't too thick, too vinegary, or something else. I'd like to try something that comes with a recommendation. Thanks!

Heather

Corn Chowder

Sweet corn is abundant this time of year. I made a recipe that's on the Williams-Sonoma website for corn chowder yesterday. We liked it quite a bit. I only made 1/2 what the recipe called for and we still had quite a bit left over. I wished I had sauted or roasted some of the peppers we bought at the Farmers' Market to use instead of cayenne powder.

Shrimp and veggie salad

This is the recipe from a friend who brought a salad to a spontaneous BBQ I had a few weeks ago. I loved it! I think it is because of the hearts of palm. It travels well and is a great, tasty, light salad for the summer. Let me know if you make it and like it. --Erika

2 jars artichoke hearts (reserve the oil)
hearts of palm
red onion (i used about 1/4 of a small one)
garlic (i used 2 large cloves)
black olives
tomatoes
asparagus
bell pepper (1-2, think Color!)
green onions
provolone
shrimp (don't know how much, maybe 15-20?)

1/2 cup white/golden balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup oil (use artichoke oil, then supplement with olive oil if necessary)
salt and pepper

pickles

Scott---
We all need your incredibly easy pickle recipe. Please??