Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Curried Egg Salad

Sometimes the best inspirations come randomly. I was at my parents looking for a quick lunch on the way out shopping with my mother. I decided on an egg salad, but wanted one with some pizazz! I started adding flavors I thought would taste great together and they did, to my great satisfaction.

Curried Egg Salad

1 boiled egg, whole
1 boiled egg, white only
1 tbsp fat free mayo (I used fat free Miracle Whip)
1 tsp chutney (I used Mrs. Ball's)
1 tbsp carrot, chopped fine
1 tbsp cucumber, chopped fine
1/4 avocado chopped
1/4 sprig green onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp raisins, reconstituted in hot water for about a minute
1 tbsp chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric, depending on taste
salt to taste

Mash the egg, mayo, chutney, turmeric and salt until it is the desired consistancy to your taste. Fold in the other ingredients and enjoy!

Yield about 1 cup

I put this on crackers but it's great on its own or spread on a sandwich. I made enough for two people, but feel free to increase the amounts as needed.

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Curried Egg Salad

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto Passover Special - Laurie's Sephardic Charoset

It's that time of year again! No, not Easter - though that is also just around the corner. Passover (Pesach) for us Jews starts tomorrow night. Passover is an eight day Jewish holiday that commemorates the flight of the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt in biblical times. The Hebrews were trying to get out of Egypt as fast as they could so that the Pharoah would not have time to change his mind. As such, they did not have time to even allow their bread to rise so Passover is the holiday of Unleavened bread as well. Jews all over the world refrain from eating anything that expands when cooking or has leavening. This includes bread, rice, pasta and even some legumes. This is why we eat matzah - unleavened bread which resembles a large cracker - at this time of the year.

Just in time for my family's Passover seder (the traditional dinner), I decided to post my go-to recipe for charoset - one of the symbolic foods on our special seder plate. Many years ago, a dear family friend made a similar version of this charoset and I have been playing with it for years. It is in the Sephardic style, which means Jews from countries like Spain, Morrocco, Tunisia and Portugal.

Laurie's Sephardic Charoset

1 cup dried dates, pitted
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup chopped dried apricots
1 cup chopped pitted prunes
1 cup pear peeled and cubed
1 cup apple peeled and cubed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup red wine (I used a fruity Beaujolais)
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/2 tsp star anise
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water (to start but keep water handy during the cooking process)

Put the fruit, nuts, spices and wine in a pot on medium heat. Allow the alcohol to burn off the put in the remaining ingredients. Simmer 1-2 hours until the fruit is soft, the water has reduced and the flavours condense. You may need to add more water during cooking so the fruit doesn't burn or stick to the bottom.

I grind my own spices, but you can use whatever you have on hand that is freshest. Laurie only uses cinnamon and nutmeg, but I forgot to buy nutmeg so I used what I had on hand. Also, any dried fruits will do, but if you are not using dates you may need to add some sugar and omit the lemon juice. Not only is this amazing on the seder plate, I also love it to have on matzah for breakfast with some cream cheese. Enjoy!

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto Passover Special - Laurie's Sephardic Charoset

Sasha's Kitchen: Raisin Chicken Tacos

I am actually not the biggest Mexican food fan in the world. I really don't eat enchiladas or burritos, and I detest baked beans. But I do enjoy a good taco. My mom has made the following chicken taco recipe for years, and is a very simple, easy to make recipe. It is probably not the most traditionally Mexican recipe in the world, but it is a dish that my husband and I both enjoy. This is not a spicy dish in the slightest - it is actually a tad sweet because of the presence of the raisins. I have made a few modifications to my mom's original recipe (mainly in that I do not put in black olives), and that I serve the tacos in blue corn tortillas because I have a fascination with blue and purple food. In fact, I have read that there is such a thing as purple (and also green and orange) cauliflower, so one of my goals going forward is to find these cauliflower for sale somewhere in the New York area and hopefully either myself or one of the local guest writers will snap some photos of the purple vegetables.

To make the tacos:

1 package of chicken (use either Empire or Bell & Evans)
1 can mild enchilada sauce (I prefer the red variety, although I made with the green variety tonight)
1 small can mild green chiles (please note that there are not spicy)
1/4 cup raisins

You can boil the chicken and once it cools shred into small pieces. Mix with the other ingredients and cook about 10 minutes.

To prepare the shells you should purchase blue corn tortillas (or regular corn tortillas) and fry the shells in oil to make them into tacos.

Another note on some upcoming features I have in the works: I am working on two chef profiles - one of a 31 year old chef who owns a Michelin starred vegetarian restaurant in Napa and another of a chef here in New York with interesting ethnic influences, who has a new cookbook out.

In addition, please stay tuned for some upcoming roundtable features on this blog, including a series of posts on risotto, (more) dishes made using carrots and a Virtual Valentines Day Dinner hosted right here on akitcheninbrooklyn.com.

Sasha's Kitchen: Raisin Chicken Tacos