Happy (Belated) St. Patrick's Day

Somehow or other, St. Patrick's Day just slipped by me this year. But since some parades are still rolling this weekend, I'll just squeeze this photo in.

If you're still partying this weekend, drink a green beer or two for the kitties and me. We'll be up to our eyebrows/whiskers in home improvement projects.

Longing for Spring

I think I'm not alone when I say I am heartily sick and tired of winter. Bring on springtime.

Last weekend I managed to fake it a little.

Daffodils are popping up in really weird areas of my yard. I suspect my master gardeners may be squirrels. No matter. I was able to pick just enough for a proper little tabletop spring bouquet. Thank you, squirrels.

And since the table looked so inviting, I decided to add to the ambiance with one of the fastest, tastiest and most colorful meals I've ever stolen, er adapted, from Bon Appetit Magazine: BLT Chicken. It's really easy.

First I chopped up about 3-4 strips of bacon (if you're a pork fiend, feel free to add more) and sauteed. Meanwhile, I made the mayonnaise dipping sauce -- 1/2 cup of mayonnaise mixed with lemon zest and chopped rosemary. Yum. I could eat this all on its own.

When the bacon was brown and almost crispy, I raised the heat and tossed some cumin seeds into the skillet (you want the seeds here, not the powder) with a handful of grape tomatoes and cooked in the bacon grease for a couple of minutes until I could smell the cumin and the tomatoes started to wrinkle. I said this recipe was fast, tasty and easy; I didn't say healthy.

Then I tossed several handfuls of baby spinach in with the tomatoes (the recipe calls for mixed baby greens but whatever) and wilted that down for about a minute then tossed the entire mixture with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, some sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

While all that was going down, I pressed panko crumbs onto some chicken tenders and, in a separate skillet browned them in a few tablespoons of olive oil until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. The original recipe calls for whole boneless chicken breasts, but that doubles the cooking time. And I'm all about getting it all out there FAST, so I use the tenders when I have them.

Serve the chicken on top of the wilted greens with lemon-rosemary mayo.

The flavors in this dish come together so well -- the brightness of the rosemary and lemon, the tartness of the vinegar, the smokiness of the bacon and cumin, the roasted sweetness of the tomatoes and the crunch of the panko. Good stuff.