Forgive me - I bring you food

Has it been so long?  I suppose it has.  Been busy looking for a job, moving out of the house my landlord is selling, you know, life, but that is no excuse.

To make it up to you, and in honor of the wonderfully cool weather, here is my new favourite warm autumn salad.

Warm Salad of Roasted Squash, Prosciutto and Pecorino  - Jamie Oliver, from Jamie's Kitchen: A Cooking Course for Everyone (p 41)

1 butternut squash

olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

dried chili flakes

heaping tsp coriander seeds

20 slices prosciutto or parma ham

4 handfuls of arugula

6 T extra virgin olive oil

4 T balsamic vinegar

1 small block Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375*.  Carefully cut your butternut squash in half, keeping the seeds intact.  Remove the two ends and discard them.  Cut each half into quarters and lay in a roasting pan.  Rub with a little olive oil.  With a mortar and pestle pound up a flat teaspoon each of salt, pepper and your chili and coriander seeds.  Scatter this over the squash.  Roast the squash for half hour or until soft and golden.  Allow to cool a little.

Lay the prosciutto on 4 plates - let it hang over the sides and encourage it to twist and turn so it doesn't look neat and flat.  Tear up your squash and put it in and around the ham.  Sprinkle over the seeds and the arugula/  Drizzle over the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add a tiny pinch of salt and pepper, and use a vegetable peeler to shave over the Pecorino.  Easily done!

Blueberries for Dinner

So maybe there is something to breakfast setting you up for a good day of eating ahead?  Tonight I had a hunkering for blueberries for dinner.  Maybe it is the warm weather but they just sounded so yummy?  But I still needed something that would fill me up - and a big bowl of berries while tempting would not be enough on its own.  

The answer: Blueberry Chicken Salad.  I luvs me some chicken salad with fruit, usually I add apples and grapes, but tonight there would be blueberries.  And I must say that it tasted so very good, which is great because I always make extra so I can have some the next day.  Chicken salad is one of those things that tastes best after it has had time to come together, so if it is good now I can't wait until lunch tomorrow!

Blueberry Chicken Salad

serves 4 with some leftovers

1 pouch of Trader Joe's frozen Brown Rice

1/2 c TexMex mix of wild and red rice

3/4 c organic chicken stock, plus some for poaching chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes

3 green onions, chopped fine

two big squeezes of lime juice

1 c nonfat plain yogurt (no sugar added)

handful of chopped walnuts

handful of dried cranberries

1 cup blueberries

Microwave brown rice pouch as directed on package.  If you wish to use regular brown rice, prepare 1/2 cup dried as you usually prepare it.  In small saucepan, bring TexMex rice and chicken stock to a boil.  Stir once, cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.  While rice is cooking, to a small fry pan add enough chicken stock to cover the bottom.  Poach chicken pieces over medium high heat until cooked through.  Let cool.  Mix chicken and rice together in a bowl.  Add green onions, lime juice, yogurt and stir gently to coat.  Add walnuts, dried cranberries, and blueberries just before serving.

Enjoy!