Fried chicken salad?

I think I may have gone a little overboard when I described Gus's Fried Chicken to my friend Nico. (Most amazing chicken in the world? Would it even be possible to defend that?) But no one had taken him! He's visiting from France and has been here for months, and not a single one of his friends has thought to take him to Gus's??? So, I took him today.

I know I've written about Gus's before, but it makes me happy to be able to say it's just as good as the the first time. The chicken was delicious, spicy, moist, etc. The beans and slaw were still standard.


I'd never tried the fried green tomatoes -- they were nice, but not amazing. They turned a little mushy inside their thick batter coat and were *very* greasy. Mostly what I tasted was the grease and mild vegetable-sweetness. I'll never understand why people don't just cut the tomato slices thicker.

One thing that changed for the better: the service was outstanding. Nico wanted mayonnaise with his fries but the first server I caught told us they didn't have any. But our waitress volunteered to look for some anyway. When she found it she brought it out in this little bowl and Nico was so happy! It was really sweet of her.

Protein & Fruit

Shawn is so amazing it makes me feel guilty. Look at what he made me for dinner:

arugula salad with strawberries, feta, and a honey-lemon vinaigrette.
This was my favorite part of the meal. The arugula's bitter peppery-ness played well with the sweetness of the strawberries. Straightforward salty feta and this *delicious* vinaigrette. Shawn tells me he makes it by infusing lemon into some oil then mixing it with the vinegar and honey. His version is so well balanced, and I guess that's the key to vinaigrette.


Seared sea bass with a baba ghanoush crust and little slivers of pepper.
Yum! This was a very generous piece of fish and Shawn seared it then baked it. The inside stayed so soft. You know how fish often flakes apart after you cook it? This one was so perfectly rare that the flaking was minimal. And the baba ghanoush was very tender and salty. I could taste the roasting as well as the earthiness of the eggplant. I wouldn't have thought to put it with sea bass, but it was nice. Shawn's restraint is evident in this dish: I would have been tempted to add citrus or something to offset the richness of the ghanoush. Shawn trusted the freshness of the fish to do this. He was right.

There was also a crème brûlée, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I wish I had, though, because I have a lot to say about this dessert. I'm a little exigent about desserts...only because I make them so often myself and don't usually prefer them to savory things. If I'm going to eat a dessert it had better be damn good. Shawn's crème brûlée is very good. I liked that the crust was nice and thin and crunchy (and didn't taste even the least metallic or butane-like). The flavor was nice, too -- though he claims there was lemongrass and ginger in it. I could only detect those flavors indistinctly and on the backend once it warmed up in my mouth. My only real complaint was the texture. Shawn added more egg yolk than a classic recipe would require. It made the color much richer and the crème thicker. -- Which was far from bad. It was lovely -- but less like a crème, which is distinct from gelatin-thickened desserts or flour-thickened puddings by it's delicateness. Like it's quivering between states. This one touched my tongue and got rolled around. My favorite crème brûlées melt there.

delta fair

I always have high expectations of fair food. And the Delta Fair totally delivered! Bryan and I had funnel cake, gyro, pronto-pup, and the most *outrageously* tasty cajun chicken-on-a-stick. Moist chicken, thick-cut onions, spicy salty seasoning, all fried in a crunchy brown oiled casing. And the best part? They gave us these little plastic packets of ranch dressing to squeeze onto our chicken while we walked! Whoa!

if you can't stand the heat...part four

This was very time consuming. Delicious, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. And I cheated on my rules. Or at least I bent the rules. The noodles need to be cooked, but I used the scalding hot water that comes straight from our tap. Only use so far for the kitchen sink water that goes from frosty to burning in 5 seconds.

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad (adapted from an epicurious.com recipe)

1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced

8 ounces firm dried rice noodles

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
6 tablespoons water
6 tablespoons sugar
5-6 tablespoons Asian fish sauce, to taste
1 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1 teaspoon soy sauce, optional
2 teaspoons minced garlic, optional

1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled, julienned
1 red pepper, julienned
1 cup bean sprouts
4 tablespoons chopped lightly salted cashews

Whisk vinegar and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Add onion and toss to coat. Cover and let stand at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Drain, reserving vinegar mixture. Pile cucumbers, carrots and peppers in individual piles on top of onions and drizzle vinegar over, then drain again, taking care not to disturb the piles. Reserve 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

Cook noodles in large pot of boiling water until tender but still firm to bite, about 2 minutes. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Drain well.

Whisk lime juice, water, sugar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes and garlic and soy sauce if using in small bowl to blend.

Place finely julienned romaine lettuce in the bottom of a large bowl. Place noodles on top. Drizzle with reserved 2 tablespoons vinegar mixture and toss to coat. Pile the cucumber, green onions, carrot, red pepper, bean sprouts and onions into separate piles on top of noodles. Sprinkle with cashews and serve with lime juice mixture on the side for flavoring to taste.

Serves 6

if you can't stand the heat...part three

Taco salad: Toss together greens, chopped tomato, chopped red onion, sliced avocado, a small can of black beans and kernels from a couple of ears of corn. Toss with crumbled tortilla chips and dress with lime and chopped cilantro leaves.

if you can't stand the heat...part two

This salad was delicious, sated my protein craving, and required no cooking. Perfect.

Smoked turkey & black bean succotash salad

3 cups diced, cooked smoked turkey breast
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup diced bell peppers (any colors)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 cups arugula or salad greens mix

Dressing
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint (plus leaves for garnish)
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sherry (or balsamic) vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine turkey, beans, corn, tomatoes, bell peppers and onion in a bowl. Whisk all dressing ingredients in another bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add dressing to turkey mixture and toss to combine. Divide greens among 4 plates and top with turkey salad.

if you can't stand the heat...

Summer in Montreal means many things. There's the street festivals, the jazz, the volleyball, the smell of marijuana (everywhere), the tamtams...and the heat. It's not Memphis-hot, of course, but it's still respectable. And here they don't really bother with air conditioners. Luckily, Dr. DJ's apartment sits high above the city where the breeze from the windows keeps us cool - most of the time. Now it's more like a sultry box, much too close to the sun. And the kitchen's the worst part. It's unbearable in there. But if growing up in the South taught me anything it's that when the temperature starts up, you should wind down. The less work, the better. (And ice cubes don't hurt.) So, I've decided to swear off cooking for the duration of the season. Now that doesn't mean I won't prepare food - it'll just be without cooking it! No stoves, no ovens, and no grills. Nothing to raise the temperature in the apartment. A pretty neat little challenge, I think! Here's the first thing I tried:

Not surprisingly, a salad. But it was a delicious salad! And here's the recipe (adapted from one I found at epicurious.com):

**Palm and Avocado Salad**

For vinaigrette:
1 small garlic clove
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, washed and spun dry
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil

For salad
a 14-ounce can hearts of palm, drained
4 California firm-ripe avocados
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
1 large pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented
Boston lettuce leaves (from about 2 heads)

Make vinaigrette:
In a blender purée garlic and cilantro with lemon and grapefruit juices, honey, and salt. With motor running add oil in a stream, blending until dressing is emulsified.

Make salad:
Cut hearts of palm and avocado into 3/4-inch cubes and in a large bowl with a rubber spatula gently toss with onion, grapefruit, and vinaigrette until combined well.

Line 8 salad plates with lettuce leaves and mound avocado mixture on top.