Lee Lehmkuhl

Patti and Alyce’s Spring Chicken Salad

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No! Not that kind of spring chicken!
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THOSE WHO COOK TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER!

Chives in my garden. I have tons! The beautiful purple flowers are edible, too.

Fine cooking friend and local caterer par excellence, Patti White, and I banded together to develop a recipe for this main dish salad to serve 40+ guests for a fun Saturday evening event at First Congregational Church, Colorado Springs. During a trial run last Wednesday, we took my spring fave More Time at the Table Asparagus-Potato Salad , oven-roasted instead of boiled the potatoes, added Patti’s tender lemon-grilled chicken breast along with a tender bed of well-seasoned baby spinach and fresh basil leaves, then topped the whole thing with a piquant, mustardy vinaigrette showered with a fine dusting of freshly-ground pepper. Garnishes? For sure and always. Kalamata olives for the brine; Parmigiano-Reggiano for the salty umami; halved cherry tomatoes for color, texture, and a fresh element; and YAY!! chives from my garden just because. Did we like it? We so, so did… (I love it when Patti and I work together.)

Et voilà, a handsome, toothsome, whole-meal salad was born. While it was awesome for a large crowd (wedding shower, anyone?), I’m thinking it might be just about perfect for you and a few close friends or you and a partner with a couple of extra meals thrown in. Let’s think a simple spring or summer supper, shall we? Scroll down for DINNER PARTY ideas.

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Grilled Halibut with Basil Salsa on Corn and Poblano Risotto

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…shown here with cauliflower soup garnished with chopped sautéed mushrooms and garlic

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Menus: always in pencil!

When students or friends are talking cooking, the comment that comes up quite often is, “I just don’t know what to make for dinner.” Even I feel that way once a while and maybe you do, too. To avoid jumping in the car and going to a restaurant and spending money or cooking scrambled eggs and toast (though I love scrambled eggs and toast), I try and make a menu each week. That helps a lot. If the penciled menu and I are not on the same page on a given day –let’s say we ate some leftovers for lunch instead saving them for dinner– my fast meal answer is always fish. I keep 3 or 4 kinds of fish in the freezer and sometimes more. If I bag the fillets tightly in a ziplock bag (after removing the original plastic packaging for safety) and stick them in a bowl of cold water for thawing, I can be grilling or sautéing or roasting our meal in a half hour. A salad gets tossed while the fish cooks–or maybe only tomatoes sliced if it’s summer and the tomatoes are perfect. Soon, dinner is on the table. Other nights, I’ve planned ahead on a gorgeous fish dinner complete with scrumptious sides and that’s what today’s Grilled Halibut with Basil Salsa on Corn and Poblano Risotto is all about.

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Wild Goose Breast Salad

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On long days of cooking or testing recipes, I’m blessed to have a TV in my kitchen and I often have it tuned to PBS: Create TV. I’m not that picky; I leave it on and whatever happens happens. It may be Rick Steves. A stellar quilter whose name I can’t quite remember. Sicilian chef Nick Stellino. Cool travel woman Samantha Brown. And if God is good– really good — Jacques Pépin may make an appearance. Of course, I live for that moment and stop what I’m doing to watch. So maybe I AM picky. One day, making dinner awaiting my husband’s return from building a house for Habitat for Humanity , my friend Jacques came on making a duck breast salad. (Don’t we all feel we’re friends with Chef Jacques Pépin?! I know I do.)

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Slow Cooker Elk Stew for Valentine’s Day Dinner

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Date night meals have been unique and even innovative for a lot of folks during the pandemic, mostly because instead of jumping in the car and heading for the nearest $$$$ restaurant, we’ve been forced to plan, create, and cook (clean up/boohoo) at home. Ordering food online or even shopping only once a week to limit time in stores means we must think ahead, deciding on a menu and making sure all of the ingredients are available, ready to use, and even thawed. (I hate thawing.) Not only that, there’s setting the table. Locating a bottle of wine. Turning on some decent music. Maybe finding a movie you haven’t seen. Getting out of your pajamas for dinner. Or not.

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How to Make Quiche out of Just About Anything

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French home cooks always seem to have a dozen wonderful things up their sleeves to make on the spur of the moment. Great ideas to use up leftovers come awfully naturally, as well, and they all appear to know about how to feed 6 people with a cup and a half of milk, 3 eggs, a bit of ham, and a handful of grated cheese. How DO they do it? These folks are always frying croutons, whipping up homemade hot chocolate, baking an apple tart using apples from the backyard tree, simmering cream soups or vegetable pastas, stirring up something tasty with canned tuna … or even making quiche! How is it that even carbs aren’t a problem for them? This is proven routinely by the unending ubiquitous photos of yard-long baguettes being carried home by slim citizens riding bikes down tree-lined sunny Paris streets. (Well, right now they’re limited to an hour out a day and can’t go far from home. Sigh.) Over the years I’ve been writing the blog, I’ve read and seen quite a lot about this phenomenon, but staying in France for two weeks a couple of years ago gave me a much more complete and definitely personal insight. I’m finding it all definitely useful in today’s cooking world.

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