Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I have been researching Italian recipes for our trip there in the Fall.  I have found several recipes using farro.  Farro is an ancient grain in the wheat family that is very easy to digest.  It has a nutty flavor and has healthy benefits.  Farro is grown in the Garfagnana region of eastern Tuscany.  It is also known as spelt and can be used as a grain or ground into flour for bread or pasta.

I found two recipes for farro salad in my search and adapted them to my taste.  In the summertime there is nothing better than a cool salad with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, radishes and basil.  The farro pulls everything together and the lemon zest, juice and olive oil dress it to perfection.  As a luncheon dish it is paired with hard boiled eggs.  For dinner I served it with chicken piccata.  We loved the nutty flavor and the cool accompaniments.

We are looking forward to a happy 4th of July with our family.  We will be entertaining at least 14 family members.  It has become a tradition on Lake Lure.  I relish the memories that our 2 Grands and their 3 cousins are storing up; swimming, skiing, tubing, hiking, eating, wine tastings (Adults, LOL), crickets, porch lights, sleeping bags, cookies, s’mores, fireworks and love.  Will try to keep up here.

Farro Salad: Insalata di Farro

Most evenings we eat on the screened porch overlooking the lake.  It has been pleasant most of the summer, but last week the heat hit us with a vengeance.  I didn’t want to give up our seats with a view, so I made this cooling chicken salad to keep us comfortable in the waning heat of the day.  This salad has it all; tanginess, crunchiness , beauty and taste.

The wild rice adds an interesting twist to the ingredients of chicken, celery, dried cranberries, oranges and pecans.  The mayonnaise dressing is lightened with a bit of orange juice concentrate.  For some reason I have an aversion to heavy, gloppy mayonnaise dressings.  With this dressing I tasted a brightness to the chicken salad that is sometimes missing in your usual chicken salad.

Hope you give it a try.

We will be traveling at the end of the week to Florida to honor the memory of one of our dear friends.  John Spangler Goodling died in late December and his wife Georgia will have a farewell ceremony for him at Atlantic Beach where he grew up.

He was a distinguished Professor of Engineering at Auburn University.  He and David were in Graduate school together and we have remained friends with John and Georgia throughout the years.  Oh, the memories.

Godspeed dear John.  Your light may have been dimmed, but a flicker of your soul will remain with us always.

Talking about this recipe seems irrelevant now.  But I have to tell you a story.  When the guys were in graduate school, they would work hard all morning and then around noon John would say “Jeet jet?” David would say “No, Dju?”. John would say “No, squeet”.  And they would.  So let’s eat.  He would approve.

CHICKEN SALAD WITH WILD RICE

1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
3 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken ( 1 1b.)
1/2 cups pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 orange, segments removed and chopped
1 large celery rib, cut into small dice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup wild rice
1 cup water
Lettuce leaves for serving

Whisk together mayonnaise and orange juice concentrate in a large bowl.  Add chicken, nuts, cranberries, orange,celery, salt and pepper and mix well.  Chill, covered, at least 1 hour.

Rinse rice in a fine sieve under running cold water, then drain.  Bring water to a boil in a heavy saucepan and stir in rice.  Simmer, covered, until rice is tender but not all grains have split, 40 to 50 minutes.  Drain rice and cool, then stir into chicken salad and serve over greens.

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Crab cakes are such a treat.  We rarely have them because of the exorbitant cost of crab meat.  You can buy premixed crab cakes at most Super Markets these days, but I find that they have too much breadcrumb filler.  But, I still think that some filler is an added bonus and does not take away from the sweet taste of the crab meat.  The idea is to achieve a balance, especially when you have three kinds of diced peppers in the mixture.

A wonderful cooling ingredient in this recipe is the cucumber salad that compliments the crab cakes perfectly.  We found this to be a perfect meal with grilled sweet corn.  I even had the crab cakes the next day for lunch with a tossed salad.

I feel like I owe all of you an update on my health issues.  My sprained ankle has healed.  I still need surgery to remove plates and pins in my leg, but I can probably wait until later to have it done.  We have so much going on this summer and a 3 week trip to Italy in September that it is one of those things that I thought could wait until the quiet months of late fall to confront.  When life is so full, why mess it up with surgery?  My Doctor agrees.  Thanks to all of you for your support.

These crab cakes with cucumber salad are worth your attention.  Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.  We have a beach party on the shores of Lake Lure this Saturday with The Ocean Boulevard Band performing.  If you have never heard of beach music or dancing “the shag”,  it originated in Myrtle Beach, SC. and is popular in our area.  Our Lake Lure Association president is Garrett Humphries.  Here is a you tube video of his award winning dancing. David and will try to keep up.  Ha!

CRAB CAKES WITH CUCUMBER SALAD

Cucumber Herb Salad:
2 cups cucumber, seeded and julienned
2 teaspoons fresh dill, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, finely chopped (or 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon)
1 teaspoon fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Crab Cakes:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1/4 red bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 green bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
1 1/2 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

In a medium serving bowl, mix cucumber, herbs, lemon juice and oil until cucumber is completely coated; season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside until ready to serve.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, gently combine all crab cake ingredients except olive oil.  Using a 1/4 cup, measure out 16 cakes.  Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large non-stick saute pan over medium heat.  Sear 4 to 6 cakes until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Turn crab cakes over and sear for an additional 2 minutes.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining oil and crab cakes.  Bake in oven for about 6 to 8 minutes and serve over Cucumber Herb Salad.

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When summer arrives I prefer salads rather than hot side dishes.  We grilled a Tuscan butterflied chicken recently and rather than my usual rice, I turned the rice into a citrus laced salad with fresh herbs from my herb boxes on the deck.  I think I threw everything into that salad.  I had left over diced red onions and peppers, a half empty jar of roasted red peppers, a can of mandarin oranges, and toasted almonds.  With a lemon-lime vinaigrette it was tangy and refreshing.

The Butterflied Tuscan chicken was also good, but it was not very photogenic.  But if you are interested this is the recipe that I used.  I added more herbs though, since my herb boxes are doing so well.

The sage and thyme are looking wonderful so far.  I bought a special organic potting soil mix that is supposed to hold the moisture better than others.

I get my plants from a local shop.  They are inexpensive and always healthy.

We added two more boxes this year, so now I have four conveniently  located herb containers.  It makes cooking with fresh herbs much easier.

This rice salad is best served at room temperature, but it is also good chilled.  You can get creative with it too.  It goes well with anything that you grill.

CITRUS RICE SALAD

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup white rice ( or any rice that you prefer, cooked according to package directions)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp cardamom, optional

Additions:
4 scallions chopped
Jarred roasted red peppers, chopped
small can of mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
Zest of 1 orange
chopped herbs to taste; basil, parsley, chives

Vinaigrette:
Juice on one lime and one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil.  Add the rice, onion and green pepper and cook briefly to coat the rice.  Add the orange juice, water and seasonings.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook until rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, combine the additions in a large bowl.  When rice is done, add it to the bowl.  Cool slightly.  Add the vinaigrette ingredients and toss to combine.

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Mexican meals are so easy.  The ingredients are predictable; taco seasonings, cheese, sour cream, avocado, black beans, tortillas and tomatoes.  We have had a few warm days and a refreshing Mexican salad sounded like a great idea.  I found an excellent recipe in a Cooking Light cookbook.  It has a creamy dressing made with chipotle chile, lime juice, cilantro, seasonings and light sour cream that mellows the heat from the chiles.

The salad ingredients are simple.  You could use a rotisserie chicken if time is short.  But I had two boneless chicken breasts that I dusted with taco seasonings and sauteed until cooked through.  Also in the mix to dress the lettuce are red onions, cherry tomatoes, avocado, black beans and corn.  I served a few corn chips on the side to be crumbled over the salad.

We are making progress on the cottage.  It makes me nervous when my surroundings are in chaos.  I like to be in control and am easily overwhelmed by the need to do everything at once when things are in disarray.  But I saw the light of day (literally) earlier this week and spent a sunny day with my blogging buddy Penny of the Comforts of Home.  We antiqued. . . . . . .

It is always fun to visit The Screen Door in Asheville.  Love this vignette.  I am thinking of using chalk paint to transform one of my dressers like the one shown here.

This is one of my favorite booths.  Lots of French linens, topiaries and antique posters.  After antiquing we dined . . . .

It is a rite of passage for us to have lunch at our favorite French Bistro “Fig”.  We always try to eat on the patio.  The green grass is such a welcoming sight after a grey winter.  As is that lovely glass of Riesling.

What a luncheon feast.  The other Penny (TOP) had PEI mussels with steak frites.  I had chicken schnitzel with white beans and greens in a flavorful red sauce.  We caught up with everything that has happened since we last saw each other last season.  It was a fun day under the warming sun.

Hopefully we will all be experiencing warmer weather soon.  This salad is a good way to sit back and enjoy it.

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TACO SALAD (Cooking Light; the Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook )

Dressing:
2/3 cup light sour cream
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 2 breast halves)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup diced peeled avocado
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, cooked and cooled

To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients, stirring well.

To prepare salad, combine lettuce and remaining 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat.  4 servings.

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