Dusty, Trusty, Tangy, Spicy

A funny thing happened after dinner the other night. We were home, at Brian's parents' house, and we fixed the evening meal for his family since the bulk of them were traveling all day and deserved an exemption from having to cook for us. B's family likes to eat healthy--like we do--with plenty of veggies, whole grains and lean protein. We brainstormed for a bit and decided on fresh tilapia, pan fried and served with my best impression of my friend Heff's mango-tomato salsa, a green salad, and that trusty little quinoa dish that started it all. ("It" being this blog.) We made it from memory, but when Brian's mom asked for the recipe afterward, I consulted Google to see if I could print one off. I typed a close approximation of the recipe into the search bar, and what do you think the second search result was? None other than my dusty old blog, nearly two years old and only 2 posts high--a severe case of malnourishment if I ever saw one.

Having been asked for several recipes by friends and family while we visited our home sweet home, I decided to ressurect Scratch, and use it as a vehicle for sharing recipes with the best cooks I know (i.e., you!). If a few more people find me, that's even better.

One of the first things I cooked (and you'll see, it involves no "cooking" at all) after we arrived in Nova Scotia was one of those request-winning recipes. The girls and I were headed on a car-camping trip. and my task was to make something that would survive a drive down to Kejimkujik National Park and pack enough vegetables to offset the mostly processed, non-vegetable fare I anticipated for the rest of our camping weekend. (It turned out, I was wrong--we managed plenty of veggies and only minimal preserved munchies. Being accustomed to hike-in, backcountry camping, I was envisioning the dehydrated and carb-laden gastronomical experience I'd grown used to.) In any case, I chose a main course salad, which Brian and I had for dinner not long before making the trek out East. The salad, another gem from Bon Appetit magazine, is composed of baby arugula, tossed in a tangy, spicy mango curry dressing and topped with sliced mango, roasted chicken torn into bite-sized pieces, and a dollop of thick plain yogurt. The magazine suggests topping it with nigella seeds (which I did for the camping meal), but I think it scores higher with a generous sprinkling of toasted, slivered almonds. That part is up to you. But there's one thing you MUST promise to do: serve it with grilled naan bread, drizzled with a bit of oil and sprinkled with nigella or cumin seeds. You could even bake your own naan, at home, and tell me how it goes--unless I beat you to it!

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons mango chutney
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoons water
4-6 handfuls of baby arugula (2-3 per person for a main course)
Purchased roast chicken (or DIY if you're amazing) boned, meat coarsely shredded into bite-size pieces (just eyeball it according to people and hunger)
1 large Ataulfo* mango, peeled, pitted, sliced
Plain nonfat yogurt (I like Astro Balkan Style yogurt--no gelatin!)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 C slivered almonds

*My friend Riva turned me on to this variety of mango. You're probably familiar with the big ones that fade from red to green; these ones are more yellowy-orange, have a more pleasing texture and sweet-sour balance. If you can find them, get them (and get an extra one to just peel and eat).

Whisk first 5 ingredients in a small bowl to blend. Add more water, just a little at a time, if it seems too thick to coat the arugula, and throw in a bit of salt and pepper. Set it aside. While the flavours get chummy, sidle over to your stove and toast those almonds over medium heat, just until they start to turn brown, and toss them into a bowl immediately to cool.

Go back to your arugula, and divide it amongst your plates. Drop the chicken and mango over top, and spoon the rest of the dressing evenly over each serving. Plop a dollop of yogurt on top of all that, and sprinkle the toasted almonds to finish the plates off.