Salads are always one of my favorite recipes — this one is absolutely delicious and very easy and very simple to follow. Salads are my favorites because they are so loose, you can swap out ingredients for something you like more and add in some stuff you like. I have made this with a variety of bases , cabbage, or one of those cabbage mixes that they sell in the supermarkets. The last time I made this I used a cabbage mix with Kale and Carrots that they sell in Whole Foods which tasted wonderful. I wouldn’t use a lettuce mix because it won’t hold up to the dressing so stick with a cabbage type of base.

You can even dress ahead if you prefer your cabbage a little less crunchy. Kale also tastes best when it gets to sit in dressing for a bit.

* should serve 4-6 nicely as a side salad

Ingredients:

1 head of purple cabbage or a package and 1/2 of cabbage mix — app. 1-1 1/4 pounds –as you can see in photos one time I used a package of a kale and cabbage mix and one time I just chopped up a head of red cabbage. Do whatever combo you like

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of fresh lime juice — I prefer the taste of lime but if no lime use a lemon

Salt and Pepper– you can use black pepper or crushed red pepper flakes — to taste — I sprinkled a little crushed red pepper not too much just a pinch or so.

1/2 cup pitted dates, coarsely chopped or sliced

4 ounces of feta but if you really like feta you can use a little more — crumbled or chunked your call

2 teaspoons well-toasted sesame seeds– put into oven on a small baking sheet and cook for a few minutes to brown up slightly — be careful not to burn

Directions:

Toss cabbage with Olive Oil and one Tablespoon of fresh lime juice, sprinkle a little salt and pepper, coating everything evenly. Taste and add more lime juice, if needed more salt and pepper. Go easy on salt because feta is salty but you will need a little salt. You’ll want the base well seasoned because this is where salt and pepper are best absorbed. I let it sit for a bit so that the cabbage softens up. You can actually let the whole salad sit for at least an hour, if not longer in the fridge. The salad leftovers tasted pretty good the next day as well.

Fold in the dates and the feta and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

That’s it folks — easy and delicious fresh tasting salty and sweet salad.

It has certainly been one crazy un-precedented year. Here’s a list of recipes from CWC that you my readers have gone to the most. It’s hard to sometimes figure how some recipes get so much attention but that’s part of the fun of writing this blog. You might want to check out some of these very popular recipes for yourself.

Happy Healthy New Year to all of you from my kitchen to yours.

Keep on Cooking with Candi.

1. Vinaigrette with Maple Syrup
2. Clams and Spaghetti–White Sauce
3. Chicken Cacciatore
4. Baked Salami
5. Mushroom Barley — Side Dish
6. Peach Farfel for Passover
7. Bowtie Pasta with Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms
8. Grandma Sally’s Mandel Bread
9. Classic Soffritto with Spicy Sausage
10. Tik Tok Pasta

Chicken Scarpariello could easily be one of my most favorite dishes to order in an Italian Restaurant. The translation is Shoemaker’s chicken and it is a classic Italian-American dish of chicken, sausage, onions and peppers . The flavors are layered and spicy and sweet and this recipe often has potatoes in it but this time I left them out and we didn’t miss them. I made this for 2 people so used only 1 lb. of chicken. Recipe is for 2 – 3 pounds of bone-in skin-on chicken , you can use whatever pieces you like but if you’re using breasts have them cut in 1/2. I also made whole recipe in my Le Creuset Stockpot because I cut recipe for just the two of us. If you make whole recipe you’ll want to transfer to a large roasting pan before putting in the oven. I didn’t because I only used 3 pieces of chicken and 2 sausage links so I kept it all in the Le Creuset dutch oven .

Enjoy this hearty recipe and if I were making potatoes I might just roast some on the side and add in when I serve. Potatoes are totally optional.

Serve with some good bread to soak up this delicious sauce.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my kitchen to yours.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. bone-in , skin-on Chicken I used thighs only this time,, use what you like but keep breasts small and cut in 1/2

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper ( or coarse black pepper)

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil ( if you’re cooking up chicken and oil disappears add a little at a time)

4 links Italian Sausage — you can use 1/2 mild and 1/2 spicy whatever you’d like

2 large Bell Peppers and if you’re making for more people and transferring to large roasting pan you can use 3 Bell peppers — seeded and cut into thin strips

1 large sweet onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced

1 teaspoon minced garlic — probably 2 small cloves

4-8 hot vinegar cherry peppers or pepperoncini, left whole If you don’t like hot you can substitute with sweet cherry peppers in vinegar or peppadew peppers in vinegar( I know Trader Joes has these) Use what you like and what you can find.

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. season chicken pieces with kosher salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven style pot or use a large pot/pan for sautéing . In batches, ( don’t over crowd pot) brown the chicken , skin side down to start, you’ll probably want to sauté for at least 5 minutes or more per side and using tongs check for skin color to be golden brown, this may take longer or shorter and be careful not to burn the oil. I used a medium flame but if it starts to burn lower immediately . Remove the chicken to a plate when finished. Add the sausage to same pot and sauté until brown, about 3 -4 minutes per side. ( they will not be cooked through at this point– just browned. Remove with tongs , cut into 1″ slices and set aside along with chicken.

Now into the same pot sauté the bell peppers, onion and garlic until soft and beginning to brown , probably another 5 minutes or so. I sprinkled a little salt and pepper here while it was sautéing

Return the sausage to pot, add the cherry peppers or pepperoncini, chicken broth , wine, vinegar, oregano . Gently mix together, then transfer everything in the pot ( all liquid as well) to a large roasting pan. ( I always spray first for easy clean-up and easy removal of cooked food) use an olive oil spray if you have it and spray lightly) Nestle the chicken in the vegetables (skin side up) with sausage and roast in the oven until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced slightly, probably 30 minutes . If you are halving this recipe for 2 people you can put Le Creuset in the oven which is what I did but for larger amounts use roasting pan.

I served on plate and spooned a little of the sauce on top of chicken and vegetables.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

You can test done-ness of chicken with a meat thermometer.

*I prefer using dark meat here but that’s totally up to you

I know that most of the time I post a soup recipe with chicken it’s using a rotisserie chicken which is a convenient hack but this time out I used ground chicken. Saw this recipe on my favorite cooking site @nytimes.com/recipes and knew I had to make this . Of course I made a few changes to our tastes but feel free to check out original recipe. Very very easy and very delicious. You can definitely add egg noodles or any small pasta or cavatelli. I used ditalini which I almost always use for a small pasta. You may need to adjust amount of stock so have extra on hand.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons olive oil–

1 pound ground chicken ( if you can get dark meat I would but unless you’re going to a butcher you probably won’t find it) white meat is fine

Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into small cubes or slice and cut in 1/2 moons —

2 celery stalks, halved lengthwise, then sliced 1/2″ thick

1 large shallot , finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme– if you want to use fresh thyme about 1 Tablespoon of thyme leaves

7-8 cups chicken stock, more as needed

1 cup dried small shaped pasta

Directions:

In a large stock pot , heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add the chicken, season with some salt and pepper and cook, using a wooden spoon to crumble chicken, app. 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and coriander and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until chicken is cooked through, app. 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove chicken to a small bowl and cover with aluminum foil to retain moisture, cover and set aside.

Add the carrot, celery, shallot, thyme and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot, season with some salt and pepper and cook stirring until everything is slicked with olive oil, app. 3 minutes. Add the stock — I started with the full 8 cups and brought to a boil over high heat.

I cooked my noodles in a separate pot . When the soup cooked down for a while and vegetables were very soft ( probably a 1/2 hour or more) I added the ground chicken and any and all juices that were in the bowl and heated until warmed through, taste for salt and pepper.

I placed some pasta in the individual bowls and poured the hot soup over the pasta and if you’d like a squirt of fresh lemon is always delicious here.

Enjoy!