Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Grilled Chicken with Fresh Curry Leaves & Lemon, Onion Butter Sauce

May 22, 2016 by Mary 12 Comments

Recently, I’ve read a lot about fresh curry leaves in various recipes, and I’m thinking, how can that be? Curry, as a spice, is a total mixture of spices and can be mild, medium, or hot (Madras), depending on the combination. So how can there be fresh curry leaves?

Well there are, and you can eat the whole leaf! So I took a trek to dependable Kalustyan’s on Lexington Avenue between 28^th and 29^th Street. They have EVERYTHING!!! You’ll say, “Holy-crap there’s so many herbs, spices and seasonings from all over the world here that I’ve never even heard of!” (No one there asked me to write this but if you are in NYC, you really should go. It is a food lovers party place!) If you don’t live nearby, you can go online and order from them, although the curry leaves must be shipped overnight as they should be refrigerated. It’s $4.99 for a 1 oz. bag and I used the whole bag in this recipe.

The curry leaf tree (Murraya koenigii) is a small bush or tree that only grows 13 to just under 20 feet in height. The plant is tropical to sub-tropical and native to India and Sri Lanka.

I think I might try to grow my own curry plant as I have fallen in love with these curry leaves. They are very fragrant and taste and smell like…curry!! But I’m talking about really fresh curry and not so overpowering. They add a delicious and different twist to any dish. Use this exotic new flavor to garnish any vegetable or meat. You really should try them and try this recipe. I used the whole bag for maximum impact. Once you find them, you will crave them.

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH FRESH CURRY LEAVES & LEMON, ONION BUTTER SAUCE

3^1/4lb. whole chicken, washed, dried, extra fat & backbone removed
1 oz fresh curry leaves, washed and air-dried
1 Tbs. olive oil
Fine sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Basting Sauce:
4 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 small onion minced
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
Juice of one lemon

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the minced onions on low heat. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes, sweating and softening the onions. Then add the worcestershire sauce. Off heat, blend in the lemon juice and a little salt and pepper.

Using poultry shears, cut along each side of the chicken backbone and remove it. Remove the wing tips. Freeze the backbone and wing tips for the next time you make stock. Turn the chicken breast side up and press on the breastbone to flatten the chicken. Using a small sharp knife, cut partway through both sides of the joint between the thighs and the drumsticks. Cut partway through the joint between the wings and the breast. This will make the white meat and dark meat cook more evenly and the whole chicken will cook faster.

For the curry leaves, use all but one stem. Save that for garnishing. Carefully lift up the skin on the breasts and thighs and spread the whole curry leaves around underneath the skin, evenly distributing them

Rub the chicken with a little olive oil. Salt and pepper both sides.

Oil a grill plate and heat up on the grill to 425 degrees. Place chicken on the grill plate, bone side down, cover and roast for 10 minutes. Baste with the lemon butter sauce. Turn the chicken over, baste on the bone side, cover and roast for 10 – 15 minutes, more until done. Remember, this chicken does not take long to cook because the slits were made in the thighs and wings.

Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces to serve. You can use any leftover basting sauce to put on the chicken because you never basted raw meat.

Chop the remaining curry leaves and garnish the chicken. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

Grilled chicken with fresh curry leaves - finished plate with chicken.

We started this meal with a Caesar Salad and I served this chicken with grilled small arepas – arepitas! For another delicious recipe, visit Supriya at quichentell.com. Her coffee and paprika rubbed grilled chicken is to die for!

Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade Juicy Chicken Breasts

April 26, 2016 by Mary 22 Comments

I have a confession to make. I hate orange marmalade. I hate the bitterness of the rind and I’m really not a jelly, preserve or marmalade person. I’d just much rather have honey on my toast or nothing. That was until I met Jan and tasted her jam gems. This Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade is ridiculously good!!!

Of course you can use it on buttered toast and go straight to heaven. You see this marmalade is softer if you will, not at all bitter and not too sweet. It’s juuust right. `

Jan was in the movie business out in LA and it was well known to her friends that she made an amazing fig spread, just as gifts to her buddies. Well word got around and she ran into a food veteran who had heard of her jam. And the rest is history. She makes 11 varieties now, sweet and savory and an absolutely fantastic lemon curd. You can see the whole line here.

But my favorite was this new tangerine marmalade. Because it’s so good, I’ve been using it on everything!! Try this recipe of Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade Juicy Chicken Breasts and then move on to the sea bass fillet recipe and don’t forget to start your day with it on toast. You can make it a Just Jan’s day!

See how the marmalade glistens like jewels!

JUST JAN’S TANGERINE MARMALADE JUICY CHICKEN BREASTS – serves 5

Plan on the time to marinate. I like to do this on a Sunday afternoon. Then your dinnertime prep work is super quick!

2.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts – about 5
1 heaping Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 scant Tbs. coarse sea salt
13 grinds of Szechuan peppercorns
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. grainy mustard
2.5 Tbs. Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade

4 hours before starting to cook, wash and dry the breasts, trimming off all fat. Place the breasts in a ziplock bag. Add the rosemary, buttermilk, salt, pepper and oil. Remove air from the bag and close. Mix everything around until blended and all breast meat is covered. Marinate for 1 – 3 hours in the refrigerator.

Remove the bag from the fridge about an hour before cooking.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large non-stick, ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil and butter until very hot on medium-high heat. Remove the breasts from the marinade and place on a plate to spread the 1 Tbs. grainy mustard evenly across all breasts on one side only.

When the oil and butter are very hot and the butter has stopped sizzling, carefully place the breasts in the skillet, mustard side down and brown for 3 minutes.

Flip over and spread Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade evenly across all the tops of the breasts.

Place the skillet in the oven to roast for about 7 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 150 – 155 degrees. Remove from skillet and let rest on a platter for 5 – 10 minutes and the temperature will gain.

Serve with LOVE and some juices from the platter and enjoy!!

You can also make this DELICIOUS, super easy sea bass recipe.

JUST JAN’S TANGARINE MARMALADE GLAZED SEA BASS – serves 3 – 4

1.5 lbs. sea bass fillet
1 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade
Olive oil to slick the pan
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp. dried Greek oregano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slick a rimmed baking pan with olive oil.

Wash and pat dry your fish with paper toweling. Salt and pepper one side of the fish, then evenly distribute the oregano over all. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add in the Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade to melt and whisk to combine. Brush on your seasoned sea bass fillet. Roast for 10 minutes per inch of thickness of your fish. I roasted mine for about 12 minutes.

Finish with a light sprinkling of Maldon salt, serve with LOVE and enjoy this totally yummy main course.

This jam with butter is outstanding, so naturally it’s great on toast!

You can still get this product in our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box for sale here. We only have a few left so hurry. Perfect gift for Mother’s Day!!

Weeknight Chicken Tacos

February 21, 2016 by Mary 21 Comments

My parents were traditionalists, especially my father. Dinner was always a protein, a carb and a vegetable, (unless it was a homemade soup or stew that had all of those things). We had to have the three things on the plate and dinner was a sit-down affair, around the kitchen table with no TV. But we always had music. My father played the violin, loud, to Gershwin, André Kostelanetz, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, or show tunes. I know all the lyrics to Camelot, My Fair Lady, Gigi, The Music Man and The Sound of Music songs. (oh yes) This was his way of relaxing while having a cocktail (usually a Scotch on the rocks), when he got home from work. And he always took his shoes off and put on his leather house slippers. I know because I was supposed to fetch them for him. Shoot, we missed having our kids do that for us. 🙂

But I digress. Back to food. We NEVER had takeout or deliveries. We never had pizza or Chinese food or tacos for dinner. We never went to any fast food joint, not even Steak ‘n Shake which was sort of an in-between – in between a restaurant and fast food – in those days. No, we always had a three-item dinner every night.

Our friends’ families had pizza or other fast food at times, which was all fairly new then. We would beg and whine to be able to do that, but no, my mother insisted on a healthy home cooked meal.

So that‘s the way I was raised.

And that’s the way our kids were raised.

Our oldest still proclaims that I used to always say, “It’s not a dinner unless it has a green vegetable.” I don’t remember saying that but it sounds pretty good.

So now the kids are gone and it’s just my husband and me. And I have started making chicken tacos for dinner – with a green vegetable! Yes. All totally homemade, they’re fun and delicious!!!

This dish is roughly inspired by an old Food & Wine magazine recipe and the neatest thing about it is about how to cook the chicken. You roast thighs at a high heat (425 degrees) on a rack, so all the fat drains out. The chicken actually comes out practically fried, with no breading. The original recipe has you rub vegetable oil on the skin of the thighs, before roasting but that makes for a lot of smoke and creates a very messy oven. So I roast without any oil and the chicken has turned out equally good, without the smoke and interior oven splattering.

The skin gets crispy and is very tempting to eat a bit of it while you shred the meat off the bone. Delicious! – but we all know it’s not good for you.

So what I’ve been doing is roasting my thighs on a Sunday when I have more time, shreding the meat and having it all ready for a quick weeknight meal of amazing tacos. Makes the whole thing easy-peasy on the night you’re serving. I know the toppings take a bit of time to prepare but roasting and shredding the chicken ahead of time makes this doable for a weeknight. I made this last Wednesday night with both boys home (Yes! Zach is visiting from Poland!) and it was a HUGE hit!

Try this – you will LOVE it!!

WEEKNIGHT CHICKEN TACOS – serves 4 – 6 – makes about 14 tacos

8 chicken thighs with skin and bones – about 3 lbs.
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 lb. tomatillos, husked, rinsed, cored and finely chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of scallions, trimmed, washed and chopped
11/4 cups vegetable or chicken broth, preferably homemade
Large handful of cilantro, chop the stem portion from the leafy parts, and mince the stems
Warm corn tortillas

FOR SERVING:

Chopped white onion, soaked in ice water for 10 minutes and drained
Sliced radishes – about 3
Thinly sliced jalepeno pepper – 1/2 – 3/4 of one
Feta cheese, broken into chunks
Sour cream or crème fraiche
Diced avocado – we used 1 whole and another half
Cilantro leaves
Salsa – optional or chopped plum tomatoes
Fresh lime wedges

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry chicken thighs, trimming off excess skin and fat. Salt and pepper both sides of the thighs and place on a rack positioned on a rimmed baking sheet.

Roast for 40 – 45 minutes. Let cool, remove and discard skin, shred the chicken from the bone. You could make a stock from the bones and skin. This is the step that I do on a Sunday afternoon to have a quick taco meal during the week. Store shredded chicken in the fridge in a covered container and take out the night you’re having the tacos as soon as you start making the rest of the meal to take some of the chill off as soon as you can.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat the 2 Tbs. olive oil. Add the finely chopped tomatillos, garlic and scallions. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the tomatillos are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, prepare all your toppings in separate little bowls. A hand mandoline is best to thinly slice the radishes and jalepenos. Soak your chopped white onions in the ice water bath for 10 minutes and drain.

Additionally prepare the corn tortillas. Place stacks of 6 tortillas in aluminum foil that is lined with a damp paper towel on the bottom and the top of the corn tortillas. Seal the aluminum foil tightly around and warm in a 350 degree oven for 5 – 10 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken to the tomatillo sauce. Simmer until the chicken is heated through, about 2 minutes. Then fold in the chopped stems of the cilantro and a few whole leaves. Taste to see if it needs any salt and pepper.

Serve everything immediately. I like to assemble my taco with a smear of sour cream or crème fraiche on the corn tortilla first, then the chicken tomatillo mixture, then the cheese, followed by jalepeno, onion, avocados, radishes, a tiny bit of salsa and finished with cilantro leaves.

Total yum.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Potatoes and Arugula

January 10, 2016 by Mary 34 Comments

The inspiration for this recipe of Roasted Chicken Thighs with Potatoes and Arugula came from a Melissa Clark recipe in The New York Times several weeks ago. However, I have changed it big time, making it more of roasted chicken and potatoes atop a salad of arugula as opposed to a few arugula leaves scattered on top.You probably know by now, I love warm things atop greens.

I prepared this for a dinner party Friday night in the city. Throwing a party on a Friday night is a great way to start the weekend! First of all, your guests are really excited that the week is over and they can truly relax because a Saturday sleep-in is possible. The noise level was intense. Of course that may have had something to do with the whiskey tasting that was going on. But that’s what I mean, that would have never gone on on a school night!

Tomatoes and dill air drying on a white paper towel.

Looks like Christmas all over again, right?

The beauty of this dish is that you do most of the work in the morning, marinating the chicken and potatoes in the harissa, olive oil and cumin, and the rest is easy. I even washed my arugula, tomatoes and dill in the morning, and let it get good and dry by laying it out on a clean counter before putting it in a plastic bag with a few paper towels to wick up the extra moisture that would form from being in the fridge. I had help from one guest to make the yogurt dressing, and voila, we had dinner!

Our oldest son has a friend who loves yogurt on EVERYTHING!! He would clearly LOVE this dish. He is half Austrian and half Turkish, mainly raised in Turkey. I always want to have yogurt on hand for him, and Zach says, “NO, not necessary, serve the dinner how you want … ” So he would really love this dish.

The day before New Year’s Eve, I had made a big pot of pea soup, so I froze half of that and used it to start the dinner. With light appetizers, just nuts and a smoked salmon tartare in phyllo shells, starting with a slightly heavier soup worked out just fine.

I hope you try this dish. It’s got a lot going for it. The spiciness of the harissa on the chicken and potatoes, mixed with the creamy yogurt dressing atop the cool arugula and every once in a while you get a hit of dill, it’s delicious!!

Easy, delicious and different – all that I’m after!

ROASTED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH POTATOES AND ARUGULA – serves 8

10 chicken thighs with skin and bones, fat and extra skin removed
2 ¼ pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes, (creamers), cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 ½ tsp. Kosher salt, more as needed
½ tsp. black pepper, more as needed
6 Tbs. harissa (or use another thick hot sauce, such as sriracha)
1 heaping Tbs. ground cumin
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed, divided
5 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
Lemon zest (from 2 large lemons), divided
1 heaping cup plain Greek yogurt
3 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
Juice from one large lemon
10 oz. baby arugula, washed, air dried and chilled
21 cherry tomatoes
Chopped fresh dill, as needed

Combine chicken and potatoes in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together harissa, cumin and 1/2 cup of olive oil. Pour over chicken and potatoes and toss well to combine. Let it marinate up to 12 hours in the refrigerator or in a pinch, at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you have refrigerated it, let it stand at room temperature for one hour before roasting. While it’s marinating, if you can, toss and mix it up every so often.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine leeks, lemon zest, a pinch of salt and the remaining ¼ cup of oil.
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange chicken (skin side up) and potatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 15 minutes. Toss potatoes lightly. Scatter leeks over pan. Roast until chicken and potatoes are cooked through and everything is golden and slightly crisped, 25 to 30 minutes longer.

While chicken cooks, place yogurt in a small bowl. Grate garlic over yogurt and season to taste with salt and pepper. Thin with lemon juice from one large lemon. Zest another large lemon over the yogurt. Mix with a whisk to combine all.

To serve, place arugula evenly over a large platter. Distribute chicken and potatoes over all. Drizzle all pan juices on top. Spoon yogurt over chicken and vegetables. Scatter the dill and cherry tomatoes over all.

For dessert, I served a platter of Christmas cookies – date bars, pecan crisps, bourbon balls, and Hello Dolly squares – along with a touch of ice cream and strawberries.

Make this tonight! Perfect for a Sunday night dinner. Serve this magnificent colorful platter with LOVE. Your family or guests will love you back big time – guaranteed!

Funny, I don’t know about you other bloggers but I always seem to write better posts if I write them and then let them simmer a bit so I can think of other tidbits I want to add or embellish on and then have the time to do that before I actually post. How about you?

Many thanks to our friends, Sumantra and Indrani Sen for taking some of these pictures!

Yogurt Marinated Chicken with Nutraw Pistachio Crust

December 29, 2015 by Mary 6 Comments

This Nutraw Pistachio Bar is made with only 5 ingredients!! It’s got dates, pistachios, almonds, coconut oil and green cardamom, all organic. That’s it! This is a way healthy energy bar that’s gluten-free, wheat-free, soy-free and dairy-free. What more (or less) could you ask for?

It’s, of course, delicious to eat all by itself, so what was I going to do with it in a recipe?

My mind kept on going back to crunchy crusts on things and how much I love them and how frustrating it must be for gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant people because crunchy crusts are hard to come by for them.

So I made up this recipe with chicken thighs that is just delicious! It’s a yogurt-based marinade with garam masala, star anise, garlic and honey. So I guess it’s a bit Middle Eastern?

I love garam masala because it’s a ready-made, terrific spice mix.

I used chicken thighs because they are my favorite and very forgiving in cooking, unlike white meat. I bought thighs with the skin and bones, and I just removed all the skin. I couldn’t find thighs with the bone and no skin, can you? Apparently, they don’t make that combination in the stores that I shop at. It’s either bones and skin or no bones and no skin. Anyway, I felt that skinless thighs would absorb more of the luscious flavor from the marinade.

As the Nutraw Pistachio Bars are thick, yet soft, I rolled them out with a rolling pin in thin sheets, cut them into rectangles and placed them on the skinless thighs to make a super healthy crust.

This was DELICIOUS and definitely a recipe I will repeat. The pistachio bar coating got crispy and browned nicely, just as I had imagined. The chicken was super juicy, tender and flavorful, a tiny bit sweet, but not too much. Super yummy.

I love marinades because you do all the work beforehand. Make this with LOVE on a Sunday, marinate overnight and then your dinner on the workday Monday will be a breeze.

Happy cooking!!

YOGURT MARINATED CHICKEN WITH NUTRAW PISTACHIO CRUST – serves 5 – 6

8 skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, washed and paper towel dried
¾ cup plain, whole milk, Greek yogurt (unflavored)
2 Tbs. olive oil plus more for slicking the roasting pan
Juice of one lemon
2 tsp. coarse sea salt
20 grinds of black pepper
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. garam masala
2 star anise
1 Tbs. honey
2 ½ Nutraw Pistachio Bars

MAKE THE MARINADE the day before you want to serve this dish. Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, coarse sea salt, black pepper, minced garlic, garam masala, star anise and honey.

Trim the fat from the chicken as you remove the skin. Wash and pat dry with paper toweling. Place the thighs in a Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade in the bag. Get as much air out of the bag as you can, and zip it closed. Massage the marinade around all the thighs. (sounds sexy, no?)

Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight. Every time you open the fridge, flip the bag over and massage again so all those wonderful flavors can get everywhere.

WHEN YOU’RE READY TO COOK, take the chicken out at least 30 minutes before you plan on putting it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

While the chicken is shaking off its chill, place the Nutraw Pistachio Bars on a wooden cutting board and roll them into thin sheets with a rolling pin. Cut into 8 rectangles.

Slick a rimmed baking sheet with a little olive oil. Remove the thighs from the bag and place them on the pan with what was the skin side, up. Cover each thigh with a rectangle of the pistachio bar.

Roast for 30 – 35 minutes until chicken is tender and done.

Place the chicken on a platter and let rest for 5 minutes and while it’s resting, scrape and pour all the lovely juices and drippings from the roasting pan into a small saucepan, whisk together and boil for 2 – 3 minutes to make a light sauce.

To plate, put a tablespoon or two of the warmed sauce on a plate and place the chicken thigh on top, so your pistachio topping stays crispy. Serve with LOVE!! Enjoy!

Discover more exciting products to inspire your cooking in our next MARY’s secret ingredients box! The spring box mails on March 25^th and they are selling fast. There’s only a limited number of them, so order now and be the cook everyone LOVES!!

As my good friend, Marie said, “Good cooks never lack friends!!”

Leftover Turkey or Chicken with Butternut Squash, Asparagus & Persimmons

November 28, 2015 by Mary 15 Comments

I made up this dish one recent Friday night with what I had on hand, when I was trying to convince my husband to eat a somewhat meatless meal, and I was just too tired to go shopping for something specific. It’s an odd combination. As I said, it was with what I had on hand. While I was making it, my husband was making all kinds of remarks about how weird this was gonna be and just guess who had seconds on this Leftover Turkey or Chicken with Butternut Squash, Asparagus and Persimmons dish?

So I wanted to share this with you today, because although I made this with chicken, surely this will be just as great, if not even better, with your leftover turkey. The key is to season your butternut squash. I actually used a curry spice mix from one of our previous MARY’s secret ingredients boxes, – Mz. Curri – but you can use a combination of curry powder, salt, pepper and some garam masala if you don’t have Mz. Curri around.

So while you’re roasting the squash and onions, tear up the poultry meat from the carcass (I also had a lone leg and used that meat too), give it a shot of heat in the microwave – not too much because the heat from the squash and asparagus will also warm the meat. And then steam your asparagus while you chop the persimmon and voila, fold and combine everything together and you are done – with deliciousness in your bowls – super quick and easy!! Serve it with some whole grain crackers, curl up in front of a fire or movie and you are DONE for the night!! So very simple but such a weird and great combo of flavors, textures and tastes.

I must admit, I have been on a persimmon kick for the past few weeks. They are in season now and last year, I was asked to give a speech at a benefit dinner for a non-profit that feeds the homeless that I have been involved with for many years. And the caterer (who incidentally catered one of our sons high school graduation parties when we lived in NJ – it was great to see her again) had served sliced persimmons on the cheese board and they were so delicious! Firm with an ever so slight crunch, super sweet and a beautiful orange color, I was sold!!

So here I am now, using them in everything, from main courses, to salads (coming up!) and in pasta dishes. They’re so versatile, different and delicious!! Go get some and use in my recipes and experiment on your own, with LOVE, and enjoy!!!

LEFTOVER TURKEY OR CHICKEN WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH, ASPARAGUS & PERSIMMONS – serves 4

Chicken or turkey meat pulled off of a carcass, plus the meat from one leg or whatever pieces you have leftover
½ of a large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut in ½” chunks
1 medium onion, cut into ½” pieces
3 Tbs. olive oil – divided into 2 + 1
1 bunch of thin asparagus
Salt
Pepper
1 Tbs. Mz. Curri seasoning or 1 tsp. curry powder and 1 tsp. garam masala
2 persimmons, cored, sliced and cut into ¼” chunks
Whole grain crackers

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare the squash and combine with the onion. Season with 2 Tbs. olive oil, salt, pepper, Mz Curri seasoning or the curry powder and garam masala. Toss to combine everything. Roast for 25 minutes or until fork tender.

Meanwhile, rip the poultry meat off of the carcass and leg or additional piece into small strips.

Wash and prepare asparagus by bending and breaking them at the point of tenderness. Place them in a large skillet with a ½ “ of water. Cook on high heat until crisp tender, about 5 minutes total. Remove and drain water. Put the asparagus back in the hot skillet to dry off the water. Remove the skillet from the heat and drizzle about 1 Tbs. of olive oil all over and season with salt and pepper.

Warm the chicken or turkey in the microwave for about 1 minute on high heat. Cover and keep warm.

Chop the persimmons and have ready.

When squash and onions are ready, scrape all vegetables and juices into a large warm bowl. Add in the warmed poultry. Place the asparagus on a cutting board and cut into 1.5” lengths and add to the bowl along with the chopped persimmons and all juices.

Fold everything together and portion out into 4 warmed bowls. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!! I served this with a Cava – sparkling Spanish wine and it was delish!!