Sonoma Chicken Salad

Shopping at Costco is always an adventure. You never know what you can come across. On weekends when all the testers are out, you can actually make a meal of it, and unfortunately it also means more impulse buys since you think you "have" to buy the product you just tasted.

Costco's Sonoma Chicken Salad was one of those buys. It had cranberries, pecans and poppy seeds in it. This sets it apart from a lot of the chicken salads that are out there. It was mighty tasty and we all enjoyed it. The only downside of the Costco chicken salad is that for one, it is expensive, and for two, it also has some unpronounceable ingredients mixed in along with a high calorie count.

So in true fashion I decided to replicate the recipe, and we haven't bought one chicken salad from Costco since. It is a different kind of dish than what you might be used to since I add pecans, dried cranberries, poppy seeds, and grapes to my version which makes it incredibly delicious and look beautiful. Many people who I have served this to who were initially turned off by all the fruit, ended up liking it after all and I keep getting requests for the recipe. 

This salad can be served with crackers, with a loaf of good artisan bread or on a split croissant. It also travels well for picnics and potlucks. I hope you'll give my creation a try!

Sonoma Chicken Salad

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Ingredients:

1 Rotisserie Chicken, skin and bones removed, roughly chopped

2 stalks celery, finely diced

1 cup green grapes, cut in half

1 cup red grapes, cut in half

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Dressing:

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large bowl add chicken, celery, green and red grapes, and dried cranberries.

For the dressing whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice and poppy seeds. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Gently toss chicken mixture and dressing together. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Fold in toasted pecans right before serving.

A Susi's Kochen und Backen Original Recipe, inspired by Costco

Tres Leches Cake with Mango Sauce

The very first time I laid eyes on a Tres Leches Cake was on Alton Brown's Food Network Show "Good Eats". I watched him prepare this cake, that after being baked seemed to hold an unbelievable amount of liquid, like a sponge. I was very intrigued. 

A little while after that while out shopping one day, I came across a Tres Leches Cake in a boxed cake mix. I thought why not give that one a try. Oh my, it was disgusting. It tasted fake, the milk mixture didn't soak into the cake, and it was all just a big mess. I think I ended up tossing most of it. 

Still intrigued and not willing to give up, I decided to go with Alton Brown's version after all. His is truly a good recipe, but I still thought it was a little too rich with all the half and half and heavy cream that was called for in his recipe. Nonetheless, it is fantastic tasting, and I have taken it to parties before and everyone has loved it. 

So when my newest Food Network Magazine showed up not too long ago and I saw they had a Tres Leches Cake with Mango Sauce inside, I knew I had to make it. Well, this version blows any other version I have had out of the water. It calls for whole milk instead of half and half and also reduces the heavy cream topping and sugar. That along with a fantastic fresh mango sauce makes this my new go-to recipe. 

Give it a try, it would make the perfect ending to any Cinco de Mayo Celebration!

Tres Leches Cake with Mango Sauce

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Ingredients:
Vegetable oil, for greasing
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups whole milk, divided
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounce can evaporated milk
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon dark rum
2 large ripe mangoes
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream
Ground cinnamon, for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with vegetable oil and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Make the cake: Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until pale and slightly thick, about 6 minutes. Slowly beat in the melted butter, then beat in the vanilla and 1/4 cup whole milk.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Sift the flour mixture over the egg mixture, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula to make a thick batter. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted  into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes*. Run a knife along the edges to release the cake from the pan.

Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 2 cups whole milk, the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and rum in a bowl. Pierce the warm cake all over with a fork, then pour the milk mixture evenly on top. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

Before serving, make the topping: Peel, pit and dice the mangoes. Puree half the mangoes in a blender with 2 tablespoons sugar. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the remaining diced mango.
In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream and the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar with a mixer until soft peaks form. Slice the cake; top each piece with the whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve the mango topping on the side.

*I had to bake my cake closer to 45 minutes, after the 30 it called for it was still liquid inside.

Adapted from: Food Network Magazine

Restaurant-Style Hummus

I've been eating hummus for years. I didn't grow up eating it but rather got acquainted with it as an adult. Hummus is another one of those dishes that while convenient to buy at a store it is so much more flavorful if you make it homemade. 

The recipe itself doesn't call for a lot of ingredients, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and some salt and garlic. Again a food processor or blender makes preparation a cinch. This is another dish where a high quality olive oil makes all the difference. Since it is added to the hummus while blending and on top of the finished dip, the taste needs to be spot on. Canned chickpeas make this an easy and quick dish to put together. 

I've made this recipe many times and my choice of toppings vary, depending on what I have at home. I love it drizzled with olive oil and pine nuts sprinkled on top. I also enjoy it with roasted garlic. This time tough I went with a small jar of roasted red peppers that I chopped, seasoned and mixed with a bit of olive oil. 

We eat this with pita bread triangles but a lot of times my kids will also take this in their school lunch or eat it as an after school snack with Stacy's Pita Chips. This is also a great dish to bring to any potluck or picnic and even people who have never had it before seem to enjoy it.

Restaurant-Style Hummus

(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup water

6 tablespoons tahini, stirred well

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Topping (optional):

1 small jar of roasted red peppers, chopped

Salt, Pepper and Olive oil to taste

Directions:

Combine lemon juice and water in a small bowl or measuring cup. Whisk together tahini and 2 tablespoons oil in  second small bowl.

Process chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne in food processor until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds.  Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running, add lemon juice-water mixture in steady stream through food tube. Scrape down bowl and continue to process for 1 minute. With machine running, add oil-tahini mixture in steady stream through food tube, continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, scraping down bowl as needed.

Transfer hummus to serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand until flavors meld,  at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil, add topping if desired and serve.

Adapted from: Cook's Illustrated