Sometimes I find a recipe that replaces an old favorite. More often than not, though, I make a different version and really wish I'd made the old favorite. So, it's always a tough call. Do I try for the BBD (bigger, better deal) or do I stick with old faithful. When it comes to a basic vinaigrette I've always done the red wine vinegar, tarragon, sugar, Dijon mustard and extra virgin olive oil one. But, recently I've been experimenting. First it was a vinaigrette with maple syrup. Then, one with cumin. And, then another with sherry vinegar. Now, I'm pretty well convinced that my favorite vinaigrette is EVOO, sherry vinegar, cumin, maple syrup and Dijon. And, ya know what? One of my favorite sister-in-law is named Sherry. And, she goes by Guido. So, this is Guido Dressing. And, BTW, I have six sisters-in-law. They're all my favorites so don't even THINK I'd play favorites here. But, I will say that Guido and Ken are amazing cooks.
Now, the next thing I've found is eggplant croutons. I was feeling pretty darned smart to have thought them up. Then, after serving the salad tonight, just for grins and giggles I looked them up on the internet. Yup, a whole herd of recipes for eggplant croutons. Oh, well.
I failed miserably on the photo front here. I was down to my last eggplant crouton and said, "OOPS." So, you'll just have to visualize here... And, no, I didn't measure for the dressing. So, taste it and make sure it meets your taste.
Salad with Eggplant Croutons and Guido Dressing
Ingredients:
Serves two
spring mix
1 large leaf Swiss chard
2 oz. semi-hard cheese - we used a Tomme but Swiss or Gruyere would be just fine
2 small beets
1 chicken thigh
1/2 small eggplant
milk
1 egg
panko
Creole seasoning
Guido Dressing
1 T maple syrup
1/2 t cumin
1 t Dijon mustard
3 T sherry vinegar
3 T EVOO
Directions:
Put a handful of spring mix in each bowl. Dice the chard leaves and the stems separately. Toss the leaves on top of the spring mix. Dice the cheese and toss it on the greens.
Pan saute the chicken in a small amount of olive oil. Just as the chicken is done, toss the chard stems into the pan and let them soften a bit. While the chicken is cooking, make the eggplant croutons. Peel and dice the eggplant into about 1/2" pieces. Toss them first in a milk and egg mixture. Then, into some panko with a bit of Creole seasoning tossed in. We make our own Emeril's Seasoning. Brown them well in olive oil. I put enough in the pan to have it about 1/8" deep then turn the croutons regularly until they're nice and brown and crispy.
Cook the beets while you've got everything else going on. My beets were really small with very thin skins so I just cut off the tops and bottoms and popped them into a bowl with a bit of water and nuked them. Once they'd cooled a bit, I chopped them up and tossed them on the salad.
Once the chicken is done, shred the meat and put it on the salad. Top with the dressing and then the chard stems followed by the eggplant croutons.
While we were cooking we enjoyed a cocktail. It's about the fifth time we've made this particular cocktail. Connie actually processed the last couple persimmons and popped the pulp into the freezer so we can have some more soon!
And, I can't post this without telling a great story. We went to a new place for dinner the other night. I ordered a cocktail with bourbon and toasted marshmallow syrup. Connie ordered one that was their take on the Mai Tai. It had a HUGE sprig of mint. He took it out and wrapped it up and I tucked it carefully into my purse. It went into the fridge and is happily helping us make cocktails!
Here's what he had to say:
Loosely borrowed from KANGARHUBARB at food52.com
Being from Boston, I wouldn’t know a persimmon from a
lychee. However, in Indiana, this is a
display of total ignorance. Persimmons
are adored and persimmon pudding is ambrosia, the food of the gods. Kate proved this by taking it to my cousins’
Thanksgiving feast a number of years ago.
What is this, they asked? It
didn’t matter. They gobbled every last
bit.
The persimmons came from a tree we planted at our prior
house. The tree is still there but the
persimmons are no longer ours. Alas, but
we have planted another, and in 10 years or so, we will have our own persimmons
again, unless the stupid squirrels eat them all before they fall to the
ground.
Undaunted, Kate bought some Fuyu persimmons at Costco and
tried to make the best of it. It was not
the same. Okay, but not great. Trying to salvage the persimmons, we turned
to cocktails. This actually worked out
very well, but we didn’t follow the prescribed process, so I’ll give you our
take on persimmon syrup and a persimmon mojito.
They tell you to make a persimmon syrup, which involves
boiling water, sugar and persimmons.
Instead take a Fuyu persimmon, remove the stem, quarter it, add 4 oz of
sugar and pulse it in a bullet or mixer.
Now you have persimmon syrup.
And, at least I did get a photo of the drink. Lousy photo, but something to post!
Persimmon Mojito (for two)
Mint leaves (it’s December, I found enough off my plants to
satisfy, do your best)
Lime zest (they call for a pinch, not too much, not too
little)
Muddle those
Add 4 oz of persimmon syrup and a “pinch” of ground ginger,
cinnamon, clove and nutmeg
2 oz spiced rum (we used Captain Morgan)
2 oz lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a glass
Add club soda if you wish (we did not)
Toast the one you love and enjoy
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