By Lisa Golden Schroeder

Heading to Mexico soon for a taste of spring? Or maybe some other southern escape that will bring true spring closer, faster? Living in Arizona as a college student, spring break meant a possible train trip down to Mazatlan for a week of partying on the beach. Now, as a grown-up living “up north,” spring break means a respite from work and maybe a trip someplace that requires only a swim suit and flip-flops. I don’t think I’ll manage that this year, but I do crave flavors from tropical places—a salty margarita, some juicy chunks of ripe mango or a generous bowl of indulgently silky guacamole. It’s lighter food, ready-made for an active vacation but easy to recreate at home.

One dish that never fails to perk me up is a Caesar salad, which hails (according to culinary legend) from Mexico. Caesar Cardini, an acclaimed restaurateur in Tijuana in the 1920s, supposedly created the original tableside salad on the spur of the moment from a few simple ingredients. The true story of the recipe’s origin varies, but the salad itself soon became extremely popular among diners, especially the Hollywood set. I think the reason Caesar salad, in all its iterations, is so beloved is due to its garlicky dressing (with a dab of anchovy), crunchy croutons, crisp lettuce and savory cheese. So to top it off with a tender grilled or thinly sliced sautéed chicken breast only makes it more enticing.

This is a version that simplifies and lightens the traditional creamy Caesar dressing and is a cooling contrast to the spice-rubbed chicken fillets or tenders. The bite of the Romaine lettuce provides even more texture. And what really set this recipe apart are the thick slices of creamy avocado and crispy croutons I make from my favorite sourdough bread. I’m savoring the winter Haas avocados right now, rich in flavor and health benefits, that taste so delicious with the spicy chicken and citrusy tang of the dressing.

CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD with AVOCADO

Makes 4 servings

For an even more authentic flavor, add a few drops of Worcestershire sauce or a small spoonful of anchovy paste to the dressing. You can buy handmade croutons in a good bakery or make your own in minutes. Just toss torn pieces of rustic bread with olive oil or melted better and lots of chopped garlic. Toast in the oven on a baking sheet until golden brown and crisp.

INGREDIENTS

For the dressing

1 large lemon or 2 medium limes

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese (2 ounces)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

For the salad

1 tablespoon smoked paprika or chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 package (14 ounces) Just BARE™ Hand-Trimmed Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Tenders

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 Romaine hearts, halved lengthwise or torn into pieces

2 small ripe avocadoes, peeled, sliced

2 cups large crisp croutons

Freshly ground pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Grate peel from lemon; squeeze juice into small bowl.  Stir in mayonnaise, ¼ cup cheese, and garlic until smooth. Set aside.

• Mix spices in shallow dish. Coat chicken fillets or tenders with spice mixture. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.

• Sauté chicken three to four minutes per side or until no longer pink in center. If using chicken fillets, thinly slice across the grain into strips.

• Arrange lettuce on salad plate or shallow bowls. Top with chicken, avocado and croutons. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and black pepper.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

My Jewish grandmother always said that chicken soup was good for what ails you. And guess what? Science has actually proved that chicken soup is not only good for the soul, but also your bronchial tubes! The benefits of a steaming bowl of rich chicken broth, especially if spiced up with pepper and garlic, are real. In fact, research shows that it’s a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, helping fight off those pesky winter germs. And I think that just about any grandmother, no matter where she’s from, knew this long before laboratory testing proved her right.

I grew up on a very basic, farm-style chicken noodle soup—a nice bone-in hen stewed with carrots, celery and onion. I sometimes got to help slice the hand-rolled noodles—mine were always a little uneven and never quite resembled the beautifully thick and chewy ones my mom slid into the simmering broth. With fingers of asbestos, she tore the hot chicken off the bones, returning it to the soup kettle, along with a hearty grind of black pepper and sprinkle of coarse salt. Nothing more, nothing less—satisfying, a supper that no one didn’t like.

So when my mom became seriously ill with a flu bug this past summer, I rediscovered my own comfort and sustenance in huge bowls of chicken soup from an entirely different place.  Just a few blocks from the hospital, in the heart of an immigrant neighborhood, I found myself haunting a tiny Vietnamese noodle shop that served up an impressive array of traditional pho. Pho (pronounced fuh) is a soothing and beloved rice noodle soup with beef—a breakfast favorite in Vietnam. Intensely aromatic with charred onion, ginger, and spices, pho is also made with chicken—pho ga—and vegetables if you like.

The chicken version is my favorite—and the best part of the dish, beyond the amazing broth and chewy rice stick noodles, are the classic condiments served alongside them:  fragrant Asian basil, fresh bean sprouts, wedges of tart lime and hot chiles (sliced serrano or Thai bird chiles and ruby red chile paste). Other fresh herbs might be offered, like cilantro, culantro, saw-leaf herb or purple mint. Torn leaves are scattered into the steaming bowl, and I personally love adding a spoonful of hoisin and a big squirt of Sriracha chili sauce. The brilliant, deep flavors definitely have curative powers.  If you don’t have time to leisurely simmer a whole chicken, try this short-cut (I make no claims of authenticity) version of pho to stave off any lingering sniffles or coughs, fortifying your family until spring arrives.

CHICKEN AND RICE STICK NOODLE SOUP (Pho Ga)

Makes 6 servings

I know people who crave diving into vast bowls of this aromatic chicken noodle soup. Stirring in torn fresh herbs, a squeeze of lime, a spoonful of hot chiles, some crisp bean sprouts or a drizzle of sweet hoisin, Sriracha chili sauce or fish sauce allows diners to personalize the flavors in their bowl. The rich broth is deeply flavored all by itself, the perfect pool for the chewy rice noodles. Adding chunks of chicken and some steamed veggies only makes it better—a handful of broccoli florets, snow peas, sliced carrots or chunks of sweet bell pepper would make this a one-bowl meal.

INGREDIENTS

For the broth

2 medium onions

1 large (3-inch) piece fresh gingerroot

1 quart good-quality chicken broth

1 quart water

¼ cup fish sauce

2 teaspoons raw sugar

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 package (20 ounces) Just BARE™ Hand-Trimmed Boneless Skinless Thighs*

For the noodles

1 package (14 ounces) dried rice stick noodles, 1/16-inch-wide (banh pho)

1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced

3 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally

Garnishes

6 large sprigs Thai basil

½ pound fresh bean sprouts

1 lime, cut into wedges

Red chile sauce or oil, if desired

Sriracha chili sauce, if desired

Hoisin sauce, if desired

INSTRUCTIONS

• Holding the onions and ginger with metal tongs, roast them over an open gas flame or place them under the broiler until the skin is charred. Peel the blackened skin away; cut ginger into 1-inch pieces and onions into wedges.
• Place broth, water, fish sauce, sugar, peppercorns, and salt in large soup kettle. Bring to a boil; add ginger, onion and chicken thighs. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place rice noodles in a large bowl of cold water for about 30 minutes. Heat a large saucepan of water to boiling.
• When the broth is done, remove chicken. Shred into bite-size pieces.  Drain noodles; place (you can do this one serving at a time) into boiling water. Blanch for about 20 seconds until hot. Place noodles in large soup bowls.
• Top the noodles in each bowl with shredded chicken, along with some red and green onion. Ladle hot broth into each bowl.
• Serve soup with garnishes.

*One (3.5-4 pound) Just BARE™ Whole Chicken, cut into quarters, may be substituted. Simmer broth for 45 minutes, skimming fat and foam from surface occasionally. Remove the skin from the cooked chicken; pull meat from the bones. Shred chicken into pieces and return to soup.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

I don’t believe that Valentine’s Day is a greeting-card holiday. Maybe because my wedding anniversary landed, quite unintentionally, close to Valentine’s Day, I feel a special bond with it. The idea of showing my affection to my nearest and dearest, on a specific day laid out just for that purpose, is so perfect. In fact, I gave up trying to send out winter holiday cards in favor of valentines a few years ago. Delighting friends with a bar of chocolate and my annual family update weeks after New Year’s is never a chore in the depth of winter. I’ve also made this slower time of year my moment to throw open my kitchen to guests who are now spending too many quiet evenings at home.

I still rely on my tried-and-true buffets, anchored by some kind of roasted chicken, for my favorite Valentine’s Day suppers. For a really cost-effective dinner party, I’ve found that if I buy two whole chickens and cut them into quarters myself I’m able to generously feed eight people. Each guest gets a sampling of both light and dark meat, and most don’t need to return to the buffet for seconds. Because it’s Valentine’s Day. I’ll want to make the chicken special, with a hint of sweet along with the savory. The flavors of Spain, which often play the sweetness of dried fruits and spices off the richness of meats and poultry, are deliciously addicting. I’ve made variations of my Catalan Chicken over the years, changing up the dried plums for apricots or adding a splash of wine instead of broth. But the sprinkle of dark brown sugar over the chicken stays the same, helping caramelize and crisp up the skin, while the meat stays moist and succulent.

As your guests arrive, settle them in with small glasses of sweet sherry or Rioja wine. Lay out a tray of crackers, a chunk of piquant Manchego cheese and a bit of quince paste—a classic Spanish combination of nutty sheep’s-milk cheese and fruit. Then serve up platters of your aromatic roast chicken, along with a pot of steamed whole-wheat couscous, fluffed with a spoonful of grated lemon zest. A skillet of quickly sautéed winter chard, fragrant with loads of chopped garlic, completes a heart-warming menu for your valentines. Oh, and don’t forget the chocolate!

CATALAN SWEET AND TART CHICKEN

Makes 8 servings

This recipe elegantly feeds a nice size dinner party but is easy to cut in half for a smaller supper. The sweetness of the dried plums (formerly known as prunes), contrasts with the brininess of the olives and capers—delicious with the richness of bone-in chicken. The cooking of Spain, where it’s common to see the combination of sweet and tart flavors enhancing poultry and meat, influences this style of dish.

INGREDIENTS

For the chicken

2 packages (3.5 to 4 pounds) Just BARE™ Whole Chicken

¾ cup dried plums (prunes)

1/2 cup green Spanish olives

1/3 cup small capers

8 cloves garlic, finely chopped

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup chicken broth

For the Garnish

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

INSTRUCTIONS

• Cut chickens into quarters with poultry shears.
• Place chicken pieces in a large bowl or jumbo plastic storage bag. Add dried plums, olives, capers, garlic, vinegar, oil, chili powder, and red pepper flakes. Turn pieces to coat with seasonings. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 400˚F; adjust oven racks to accommodate two baking pans. Arrange chicken pieces, olives, and plums on two foil-lined rimmed baking sheets. Pour marinade over the top. Season chicken with salt and pepper; sprinkle with brown sugar and pour chicken broth around pieces.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink when cut near the bone. Serve with pan juices, sprinkled with garnishes.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

My oven is on the blink, right in the middle of one of the worst cold snaps we’ve had in years. I’m hoping for a reprieve in the coming week, but for now I’m thinking about other ways to make hot, comforting food that meets the wild schedule of my family. I read recently that sandwiches are the No. 1 fallback dinner for busy families. Hmmm, scrambled eggs are mine. But sandwiches do qualify for a close second. I also read that sandwiches from other countries—yep, everyone else in the world likes to slap stuff between two slices of bread—are quite trendy. A Vietnamese-style meatball sub is evidently hot—banh mi has qualified as one of the predicted favorite recipes of 2010 by foodies in the know. A crusty baguette filled with highly seasoned meatballs, topped with pickled vegetable slaw and doused with a hot chili mayo, sounds pretty toasty right now.

So I’m thinking about making a great slow-cooker sandwich that’s a riff on my favorite shredded pork—a classic southwestern dish of my childhood. I’m going to use boneless chicken thighs instead, swimming in a roasted green chile salsa with lots of onion and chopped potato. A long, slow simmer will give me tender shreds of rich, dark chicken, along with a sauce that’s thick and spicy. I grew up wrapping salsa verde in warm corn tortillas with shredded Mexican cheese and fresh cilantro leaves. But I’m thinking about making a lightly pickled slaw that has some crunch to top this chicken salsa verde. And maybe my kids will like to spoon everything on top of crisp tostada shells instead of tortillas—they’re fun and make a fine mess once you start eating them. Yes, I like the idea of planning some kind of sandwich (I use the word loosely) for supper, rather than just letting it happen.

SLOW COOKER TAOS TACOS

Makes 4 servings

I really like to make a small bowl of vegetable slaw to provide some texture and crunch to these simple tostadas. The chicken is extremely tender and a bit spicy, so a bowl of cilantro-spiked shredded cabbage, carrot and zucchini—dressed with a little olive oil and mild vinegar—is a perfect accompaniment.

INGREDIENTS

1 package (20 ounces) Just BARE™ Hand-trimmed Boneless Skinless Thighs

1 jar (16 ounces) mild green salsa

1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)

1 medium russet potato, chopped (1 cup)

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 (6-inch) tostada shells

Selection of condiments as desired: crisp vegetable slaw (see headnote), chili beans, sour cream, shredded Mexican cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

• Place chicken thighs in 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Mix salsa, onion, potato, garlic, and broth together; pour over chicken.
• Cover and cook on LOW heat setting eight to 10 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in center.
• Shred chicken thighs. Stir back into salsa mixture; serve hot over crisp tostada shells with desired condiments.

By Lisa Golden Schroeder

Despite bonfire weather and the swirling leaves in the air, I’m not done grilling. Growing up in the southwest we grilled year ‘round—and so do most die-hard barbecue enthusiasts I know. But among my favorite Thanksgiving birds I’ve roasted was a wild turkey, grilled over indirect heat in a snowstorm! Maybe the adversity of shivering outside, trying to avoid burning my frozen fingers as I ministered to my long-legged bird, adds to my vivid memory. But I do remember that turkey being particularly smoky and succulent. So I remind myself regularly to consider grilling for whole chickens, no matter how awful it is outside.

Grilling a whole bird indirectly—basically slow-roasting it in a covered grill with the coals arranged to the side or around the chicken—takes some time. But a quicker method that allows you to quickly grill a whole bird over direct heat is to “spatchcock” it. I love the word spatchcock (I think it’s an Old English term), which means to partially bone and butterfly (spread open) a bird. It is sort of intimidating to do at first (like when a TV chef instructs you to bone an entire chicken, then proceeds to do it in three minutes flat), but is quite easy with a 3- to 4-pound chicken or smaller game birds. You’ll quickly get the hang of it the first time you try. Just place the chicken, breast side down, on a cutting board. Use a pair of heavy poultry shears to cut through the flesh and bone along both sides of the backbone. Cut from the tail end to the head end and completely remove the backbone. Then just open the chicken up like a book and press down on it with both hands, flattening it. You can either pull the legs out straight or keep them tucked up (like in the photo).

Just this little technique will shorten the cooking time on the grill by 20 to 30 minutes and exposes more of the chicken to the heat, crisping up the skin and more evenly cooking the meat. Rub the chicken skin with a favorite dry herb blend before heading to the grill. Or try this spicy herb paste—I sometimes experiment with different combinations of whatever hearty herbs I still have left in my waning garden in place of the parsley and cilantro.

CHARMOULA SEASONED BUTTERFLIED CHICKEN

Makes 4 servings

This wonderfully addictive (and versatile) herb paste used to flavor the chicken can be slathered on just before popping it onto the grill. Or try gently loosening the bird’s skin with your fingers, then rubbing the paste directly onto the meat under the skin. This can be done well ahead of grilling time and only makes the chicken taste better if it marinates for a while in the refrigerator. This combination of seasonings is called charmoula—sort of a North African pesto.

INGREDIENTS

For the herb paste

3 cloves garlic, cut in half

1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1/3 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1-1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted if desired

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

¾ teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/3 cup olive oil

For the chicken

1 package (3-1/2 to 4 pounds) Just BARE™ Whole Chicken

2 medium limes, cut into thick wedges

INSTRUCTIONS

• Heat grill to medium-high.
• Place all of the herb paste ingredients in a mini-chopper or grinder; process until smooth.
• Butterfly the chicken by laying it on a cutting board breast-side down. Using poultry shears, cut through the flesh and bone along both sides of the backbone. Cut from the tail end to the head end, completely removing the backbone.
• Turn the chicken over and open it so it will lie flat; press down firmly on the breast with the palm of your hand to further flatten it.
• Spread half of herb paste over the chicken, reserving the rest for serving alongside the cooked chicken.
• Place chicken on grill, breast-side up. Cover grill; cook for 20 minutes. Turn bird and place lime wedges on the grill; cover and cook 10 to 15 minutes longer or until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear.
• Serve chicken with limes and reserved herb paste.