No. 303: Chicken Salad with Peanut Sauce; Mother’s Day Gift Guide; Asparagus Tart
Plus: Lemon bars, rhubarb chutney, more restaurant openings
😎 Chicken salad for the cool kids
We’ve reached that time of year when not everything we cook has to be piping hot. In fact, it’s a relief to have something for supper – or for a party – that doesn’t have to be grilled, roasted, sautéed or flambéed! Not that we flambé too often around here (especially now, without a stove), but you know what I mean.
Enter Chicken Salad with Peanut Sauce and Crunchy Vegetables, delicious at room temperature – or even cold right out of the fridge (we had leftovers). This was the second-to-last recipe I developed before the kitchen was demolished for the renovation. The first was the Warm Potato Salad with Spring Garlic and Local Greens that I included in last week’s newsletter.
This one was inspired by my Cool Peanut Noodles with Crunchy Vegetables recipe. It occurred to me (I’m sorry I didn’t think of it sooner), that I could replace the noodles with cooked (preferably poached), shredded chicken breasts and have a killer peanut-y chicken salad, thanks, in large part, to this Spicy Peanut Sauce.
I gave it a spin, using (thinly sliced) red cabbage, snap peas, carrots, and spinach as my veggies, and it met with a five-fork review over here by the chief taster, who admittedly is a little biased in favor of anything that is prepared for him. So you’ll have to be the judge. Sadly, I had to limit myself to one (delicious) bite since my (low-level) food allergies now include peanuts, raw carrots, raw peas, raw cabbage and coconut milk. Fun, eh?
Provided you’re not serving folks with food allergies, the chicken salad would make a nice make-ahead Mother’s Day lunch with Abby Dodge’s Tangy Lemon Bars with Lemon-Poppy Seed Crust for dessert.
🥗 More ideas for cool-ish salads
If you like the idea of having a hearty lunch salad that you can serve at room temperature, I’ve got a couple more to suggest, starting with this Farm Stand Salad with Roasted Fingerlings, Spring Onions, Shiitakes and Snow Peas.
Hidden in that recipe is a fun little recipe for roasted fingerlings with sage leaves.
My variegated sage (also called golden sage or Icterina) is one of the few herbs that reliably makes it through the winter for me here in West Tisbury. I highly recommend planting some as it is an attractive plant, too.
And you can’t go wrong with serving Mediterranean Farro Salad With Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Olives, Chickpeas & Cilantro any time.
🥓Asparagus (and salami/prosciutto/pancetta) to the rescue
Happily, I am not allergic to asparagus. So if it were me, I’d be making an Asparagus & Spring Onion Puff-Pastry Tart for Mother’s Day lunch.
It has all the flavors I love to pair with asparagus. I’m especially fond of pancetta or prosciutto or salami or some such salty, porky thing to counter the slightly grassy flavor of asparagus (which, in my opinion, transforms for the better when cooked with high heat). Hence this recipe for Sautéed Asparagus with Prosciutto Crisps and Parmigiano.
🍽️ What’s for dinner?
If I had a stove (and a sink), I think I might make Chicken, Kale, Parmigiano and Ricotta Meatballs for dinner.
Or I’d make up a batch of Vineyard Rhubarb Chutney with Dried Cranberries and have that with grilled steak.
But what I’m really craving is this Parmesan-Crusted Cod with Potatoes, Bell Peppers, Onions & Cherry Tomatoes that we posted about in March. Come to think of it, that recipe would be a good one to cook for Mom on Sunday night.
And, just for the heck of it, I’d make a batch of Sugared Lemon Mini Donut Muffins just because I could!
🎁 Mother’s Day Vineyard Gift Guide
We thought you might like a few Vineyard-centric ideas for Mother’s Day — assuming your Mom is a foodie, too.
A bunch of fresh asparagus AND a bunch of spring flowers from Morning Glory Farm.
Salt Rock Chocolate (yes, they’re back) AND a bunch of tulips from Beetlebung Farm. (Check out the Takemmy Farm flower stand for amazing tulips, too.)
A selection of pastries and a few Milkweed Farm vegetable seedlings from The Grey Barn. (Seedling sale Saturday and Sunday.)
A gift subscription to Cook the Vineyard. (tee hee!)
A copy of The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook. Author Julia Blanter is doing a signing at Bunch of Grapes on Saturday, May 10, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Martha’s Vineyard Sea Salt and a honey-tasting tower from Island Bee Company.
A pasta party and pasta making class from Katie Leaird of Martha’s Vineyard Pasta.
A blueberry bush, a peach tree, or potted herbs from Jardin Mahoney; an unusual herb from Vineyard Gardens, or a rosemary topiary from Middletown Nursery.
If you’re not celebrating Mother’s Day, or if it is a difficult day for you as it is for many people, please remember you can treat yourself to any one of the goodies above.
Happy Cooking, and as always, if you have a question, leave a comment here or feel free to email us at cookthevineyard@vineyardgazette.com.
— Susie Middleton, editor
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🥗 Where to find recipes and past newsletters
Our recipe archive is always open at cookthevineyard.com.
All previous newsletters can be accessed by paid subscribers at cookthevineyard.substack.com.
⛴️ What’s happening around the Island
🥂 Events & restaurant openings
🦪 In Edgartown, Détente is reopening on Thursday, May 8. Also in Edgartown, 19 Raw Oyster Bar is now open for lunch. L’etoile opens on Thursday, May 15.
🪴 In addition to the Milkweed Farm plant sale at The Grey Barn, there are other plant sales happening this weekend. The Greenhouse of Martha’s Vineyard in Oak Bluffs kicks off its annual plant sale on Saturday, May 10, and Sunday, May 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School horticulture program is holding their fundraising plant sale on Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. to noon.
💰 Martha’s Vineyard Sea Salt is just shy of its fundraising goal to finish the rebuild on the salt evaporator destroyed in a storm earlier this year. One more ask!
🥕 Farm Stands, Spring Schedules
Ghost Island Farm is open every day, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Beetlebung Farm is open Thursday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Morning Glory Farm is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Grey Barn’s farm stand is open Thursday to Monday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
North Tabor Farm’s farm stand is open daily, dawn to dusk.
Mermaid Farm is always open!
🐟 Seafood Markets
The Fish House at the airport is open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Net Result in Vineyard Haven is open Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Larsen’s Fish Market in Menemsha is open daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Menemsha Fish Market is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
Edgartown Seafood is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
🎧 Listen! On the Vineyard is a New Podcast
Our very own Vineyard Gazette has a new weekly podcast covering local news and events, with voices from the newsroom and beyond. Listen here or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Photos: MV Sea Salt courtesy MV Sea Salt; cookbook cover, Jocelyn Filley; Katie Leaird, Jeanna Shepard; oxen, Tim Johnson; all others, Susie Middleton.
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