As you might recall, one of my favorite pastimes is staring at the wall of prepared salads at the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany.
Last March I obsessed over their cilantro-lime chickpeas , and I’ve since discovered many others, including the vegan kale Caesar and the Thai tofu salad. Most recently it’s been their “Sumi” salad, an addictive mix of cabbage, scallions, sesame seeds, and almonds.
It’s fresh and satisfying, tasting sweet not spicy, the dressing flavored heavily with sesame oil.
I’ve made it several times at home now, and I’ve had the best luck employing a method I read about in the Slanted Door cookbook, which noted the importance of pre-salting the cabbage in their Vietnamese chicken salad.
Pre-salting the cabbage, even just for 15 minutes, softens the strands, allowing them to better soak up the dressing. Prior attempts, in which I had skipped the salting step, rendered the cabbage too crunchy and surprisingly difficult to eat.
In an effort to make the Sumi salad more of a stand-alone meal, I added the pulled meat of a whole poached chicken. I followed the poaching method also from the Slanted Door —15 minutes of simmering, followed by 15 minutes covered off the heat— which I loved, and then I made stock with the carcass, which is always so nice to have on hand this time of year. This recipe yields a lot of salad, and it keeps well in the fridge, too, making for easy lunches and dinners.
I hope you all are so well. Happy Happy New Year.
Description
Inspired by the Sumi Salad at the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany, this one has the addition of a poached whole chicken.
I learned the cabbage salting method from The Slanted Door cookbook. The brief salting helps the cabbage relax and release some of its liquid, which not only helps it absorb the dressing better, but makes the shreds more tender and easier to eat.
If you don’t feel like dealing with a whole chicken, you could certainly substitute pieces, such as two or three boneless skinless chicken breasts or legs. To use boneless, skinless pieces: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the chicken pieces, turn off the heat, cover the pot, remove it from the heat and let it poach for 15 minutes. Remove pieces, let cool briefly, then shred.
To make chicken stock, don’t discard the bones and poaching liquid in step one. Return the carcass, bones, and skin to the pot, and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours or until the broth tastes good
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 whole chicken, about 3 lbs
- 1 head cabbage, about 2.5 lbs
- 1/2 cup neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed
- 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 6 scallions, thinly sliced
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Drop in the chicken and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove chicken, let cool briefly, then remove meat from bones, and pull or shred into pieces. (See notes above about making stock with poaching liquid and bones/skin).
- Meanwhile, cut the cabbage into quarters through the core. Thinly slice it, discarding the core. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Using your hands, massage the salt into the cabbage. Let sit for 15 minutes. Fill bowl with cold water and jostle the cabbage with your hands. Drain into a large colander. Don’t worry about drying the cabbage.
- Meanwhile, make the dressing: Whisk together the neutral oil, sesame oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, and remaining teaspoon kosher salt.
- In a large bowl, place the cabbage, pulled meat, almonds, sesame seeds, and scallions. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Serve.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: Asian
Description
Inspired by the Sumi Salad at the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany, this one has the addition of a poached whole chicken.
I learned the cabbage salting method from The Slanted Door cookbook. The brief salting helps the cabbage relax and release some of its liquid, which not only helps it absorb the dressing better, but makes the shreds more tender and easier to eat.
If you don’t feel like dealing with a whole chicken, you could certainly substitute pieces, such as two or three boneless skinless chicken breasts or legs. To use boneless, skinless pieces: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the chicken pieces, turn off the heat, cover the pot, remove it from the heat and let it poach for 15 minutes. Remove pieces, let cool briefly, then shred.
To make chicken stock, don’t discard the bones and poaching liquid in step one. Return the carcass, bones, and skin to the pot, and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours or until the broth tastes good
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 whole chicken, about 3 lbs
- 1 head cabbage, about 2.5 lbs
- 1/2 cup neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed
- 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 6 scallions, thinly sliced
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Drop in the chicken and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove chicken, let cool briefly, then remove meat from bones, and pull or shred into pieces. (See notes above about making stock with poaching liquid and bones/skin).
- Meanwhile, cut the cabbage into quarters through the core. Thinly slice it, discarding the core. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Using your hands, massage the salt into the cabbage. Let sit for 15 minutes. Fill bowl with cold water and jostle the cabbage with your hands. Drain into a large colander. Don’t worry about drying the cabbage.
- Meanwhile, make the dressing: Whisk together the neutral oil, sesame oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, and remaining teaspoon kosher salt.
- In a large bowl, place the cabbage, pulled meat, almonds, sesame seeds, and scallions. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Serve.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: Asian
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2017/01/04/chicken-cabbage-salad-sesame-seeds-scallions-almonds/
Last May I baked a sheet pan of cubed, marinated tofu. Twenty minutes later, I loaded the pan with kale and coconut, and what emerged shortly thereafter was a delicious, near one-pot wonder of a meal. This recipe introduced me to the virtues of the sheet pan supper — minimal fuss, acceptable mess, big payoff.
Like the Instant Pot and Crock Pot , the sheet pan has a devoted band of followers. Rightly so. A sheet pan’s large surface area allows for large-quantity cooking; its low sides encourages airflow and in turn browning; its modest, simple design makes for easy cleaning and stowing.
I recently wrote an article over on Food52 outlining some basic principles of a sheet pan supper. While I was researching it, I crafted a few sheet pan suppers of my own, the most successful being this one: roasted chicken legs with Brussels sprouts and balsamic .
If you’ve made Ina Garten’s roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta and balsamic , this one will feel familiar. The beauty of Ina’s recipes is that the sprouts and pancetta crisp up in unison, the rendered fat from the pancetta flavoring the sprouts, whose surfaces emerge glistening and caramelized.
Here, chicken legs replace the pancetta, and similar to Ina’s recipe, the emptied pan gets hit with a few tablespoons of syrupy balsamic vinegar, which not only deglazes it, but also provides that bite so often welcomed by the cabbage family of vegetables.
The only prep here is cutting the Brussels sprouts, which should take no more than 10 minutes. As everything roasts away, you reduce some balsamic vinegar stovetop until it thickens into a sweet, syrupy sauce. That’s it! Serve with some bread or rice or whatever starch your heart desires.
PS: Sheet Pan Tofu with Coconut Kale and Sheet Pan Roast Chicken with Cabbage
Description
For the balsamic reduction: I start with 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar and reduce it by half. This leaves me with extra reduced balsamic, which never goes to waste. You can, however, start with 1/4 cup and reduce it by half, which is 2 tablespoons, which is what you need for the recipe. Alternatively, you could splurge on a good bottle of syrupy, aged balsamic, and simply use 2 tablespoons of that.
If you use 2 lbs. of Brussels sprouts, you might want to use another tablespoon of olive oil and more reduced balsamic.
- 1 to 2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, halved or quartered, if small
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken legs
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 to 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar, see notes above
- Position an oven rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat it to 425ºF. Place the Brussels sprouts and chicken on a rimmed sheet pan. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season the chicken and sprouts all over generously with salt and pepper to taste. (1 tsp kosher salt per pound of chicken is a good rule of thumb.) Drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat evenly. Spread everything out into an even layer, placing the chicken skin side up. Place pan in oven and roast for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway.
- Meanwhile, place the balsamic vinegar in a small pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then adjust heat so that the vinegar is gently bubbling. Simmer until vinegar is reduced by half — I keep a liquid measure nearby, so I can periodically measure the amount of vinegar. Remove pot from heat.
- Remove sheet pan from oven and preheat the broiler. Transfer Brussels sprouts to a bowl. Return sheet pan to the broiler, and cook until the chicken skin is evenly golden brown, about 3 minutes—keep a close watch. Transfer chicken to a serving platter.
- Pour the 2 tablespoons of reduced balsamic over the sheet pan and scrape up any bits from the pan. Pour this mixture over the Brussels sprouts and toss to coat. Pour the Brussels sprouts mixture over the resting chicken. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
