Lick Your Plate Cookbook – Simple, Easy Homecooking
I’ve got a lot of cookbooks to catch up on and feature! Lick Your Plate landed March 2016, but is a classic, with more than a few great recipes that I need to share with y’all. Lick Your Plate has 160 recipes easy to follow recipes for home cooks that are quick and simple, but full of flavour . There’s lots of fun to be had reading through this and the ingredients are readily accessible. You’ll find chapters on No Fork Required Appetizers; Steamed-Up Soups; Crunch Time Salads; Pick of the Crop Vegetables; Fueled-Up Pasta, Rice and Grains; Rule the Roost Chicken & Turkey; No Bones About It Fish; Grade-A Meat; Rise & Shine Brunch; and, Be-All & End-All Desserts. Nothing too obscure, will please most family members and picky eaters!
JULIE ALBERT and LISA GNAT are the hilarious sisters behind this cookbook and the way they write makes me want to friends with both of them. We tried a few of the recipes and found that they were quite simple, but very tasty. Because I cook at home a lot I do usually add to the more simple recipes, and I did take the liberty quite a bit with a few of these ones to swish them up a bit, but if you are less advanced, this is a perfect book for you. This Moroccan Chicken salad, though, needs nothing more! So good!
Moroccan Chicken Salad
Looking to add some Moroccan mystery to your cooking repertoire? You don’t need to watch Ishtar or head to the dusty desert—all you need to do is raid your spice rack. So simple to pull together, this aromatic, full-flavored, fantastic salad is the result of crunchy greens, chickpeas, tomatoes and fresh mint being combined with Middle Eastern–spiced grilled chicken and tossed in a creamy and refreshing lemon dressing. Topped with za’atar-spiced pita chips, this striking salad will have you rocking the casbah (and your kitchen) in no time.
SERVES 6
PREP 20 minutes
(+2–8 hour marinade)
COOK 40 minutes
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp za’atar spice blend
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
PITA CHIPS
2 large pita breads
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp za’atar spice blend
¼ tsp kosher salt
CREAMY LEMON DRESSING
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp honey
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp ground cumin
SALAD
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
⅓ cup roughly chopped fresh mint
1. PLACE CHICKEN in a large resealable plastic bag. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, brown sugar, smoked paprika, cumin, za’atar, ginger, salt and cinnamon. Rub spice mixture into chicken breasts and refrigerate for 2–8 hours to marinate. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling and add lemon juice to chicken. Preheat barbecue to medium- high and lightly oil the grill grate. Remove chicken from marinade and grill 8–10 minutes per side, until cooked through. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into large cubes. Set aside.
2. FOR THE PITA CHIPS, preheat oven to 350°F. Cut each pita into 8 wedges. In a large bowl, toss pita wedges with olive oil, za’atar and salt until combined. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes, flip and continue to bake for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool.
3. FOR THE LEMON DRESSING, in a small bowl, whisk lemon juice, olive oil, mayonnaise, sour cream, honey, salt and cumin until well combined.
4. TO ASSEMBLE THE SALAD, in a large bowl, combine celery, tomatoes, green peppers, chickpeas, fresh mint and cubed chicken. Drizzle dressing over and toss well to coat. Serve with pita chips.
Excerpted from Lick Your Plate by Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat. Copyright © 2016 Pinky Swear Press Inc. Cover and book photography: Ryan Szulc. Excerpted by permission of Appetite by Random House, a division of Random House of Canada Ltd. a Penguin Random House company. All rights reserved.
