Category Archives: Chicken

Thai Chicken Wings

6 lbs chicken wings, cut into wings and drumette pieces and tips reserved for making stock.

Marinade:

3 lemongrass stalks, white parts only
3 coriander roots, or 1/2 bunch of coriander/cilantro including stems
1 1/2″ piece of galangal, peeled. Replace with ginger if unavailable, or use both.
4 garlic cloves
4 shallots
zest of 1 lime, juice of 2
sriracha or thai chillies to taste
1 T coconut cream (from top of coconut milk can) to help a paste form. A little vegetable oil will also work.

Place all in a food processor and blend until a fine paste forms. Rub thoroughly onto chicken wings and then add 1 C coconut milk and stir to coat well. Let sit overnight or at least 2 hours.
Grill on medium heat until well browned and slightly charred on each side, about 15 min. per side. Do not over cook or you will dry out the meat. Feel free to baste the wings with the remaining marinade as they grill, making sure you cook them thoroughly to avoid any contamination.

Though these taste great on their own, you could also make a peanut sauce to dip them in.

Serves 6-8

Gong Bao Chicken

This recipe is loosely based on this one at Food52.com but has been altered quite a bit.

Chicken Marinade:

  • 5 chicken thighs, boned and skinned
  • 1 T beaten egg
  • 1/4 C corn starch
  • pinch salt
  • 2 t rice wine (chinese cooking wine OR sake will work here)
  • 2 t Japanese white rice vinegar
  • 2 t grated fresh ginger
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

Remove as much visible skin and fat from the thighs as possible and cut into 1″ cubes. This is much easier if the thighs are slightly frozen. Put into a large bowl and add all the marinade ingredients and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, or do early in the day and place in the fridge until ready to fry.

  • 1/2 C unsalted, roasted peanuts
  • 12 scallions, chopped into 1-inch pieces, dark green separated from white/light green parts
  • 2-3 sweet bell peppers, red, orange and/or yellow, diced into 1″ inch squares
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 5 t grated ginger
  • 8-12 dried red chiles, crushed with your hand
  • 4 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns, semi-coarsely ground
Sauce:

Whisk all ingredients together and set aside.

Fry the chicken in 3-4 batches in the bottom of a very hot wok (425°F+) until light brown and crispy in about 1/4 C peanut or canola oil. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Clean out wok and bring back up to a high temperature.  In a couple T of high-temperature, neutral oil (peanut, safflower, canola), very quickly sauté the bell peppers, peanuts, white parts of the scallions, garlic, ginger, half the Sichuan peppercorns and chilli peppers until the bell peppers are seared but still very crunchy. Add back in the chicken to reheat and then add in the sauce, adding water/stock/rice wine as needed to keep the sauce from getting too thick. Add in the green parts of the scallions and remaining Sichuan peppercorns just before serving. Serve with steamed rice and garlic sautéed green beans or pea pods. Serves 5-6

Curried Citrus Yoghurt Chicken with Pineapple & Tomato

2 large chicken breasts, skinned and boned

Marinade:
2 C whole milk yoghurt
2 T Indian style meat rub
juice and zest of 1 medium lemon
juice and zest of 1 medium orange
kosher salt to taste

2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped
4 large garlic cloves
2″ piece of ginger, peeled
1 1/2 T curry powder
1 15 oz can of pineapple
1 12 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 C chicken stock
1 T garam masala
3 T flour

Slice the chicken breasts into 2 inch long, 1/2 inch wide strips like so. Ish.

Arrange the marinade ingredients into dishes so you can photograph them. The lemon isn’t pictured because I already juiced it, and after I did so it fell apart and looked nasty, so I threw it away. But you get the idea. I used fat-free yoghurt because that’s all we had in the house, but I’d go for the full-fat stuff normally. The spice mix in the bottom left is the rub, which in this recipe isn’t actually rubbing anything/one.

Pour the yoghurt into a medium mixing bowl, add the juices, half of the zest, the spice mix, and some salt. Taste it to make sure it is seasoned well enough, but not too much (as this marinade is going to be added to the rest of the dish at a later point, and you don’t want to oversalt).

Mix the marinade together and add in the chicken, stirring to make certain the chicken is well covered with the marinade.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate from anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days. This time I just did it for a couple hours.

Now get the rest of your ingredients out.

Peel the garlic and ginger, chopping the ginger into garlic clove-sized chunks and place both into your food processor (or blender).

Chop the onions into similar sized chunks and do the same.

Grind/purée until smooth. Clearly, this isn’t there yet.

And now it is. Nice and smooth. Beauty, eh.

Heat a large dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pan and add in a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Heat on medium-high until warmed and add in the chicken, being sure to drain as much of the marinade off as possible.

Fry the chicken in batches until well browned.

Once you’ve browned all the chicken, you might want to add the whole amount back to the pan just to caramelise the coating a little more.

Meanwhile, mix up your chicken stock and pineapple juice making 3 cups of liquid. I love the Better Than Bouillon product (which comes in a ton of different flavours), though it’s saltier than the broth you can buy in the carton (which I do often use), in this case I just cut back on the salt I add to the recipe.

Remove all the chicken from the pot and add in the onion, garlic, and ginger mixture, the curry powder, and a little salt.

Sauté for several minutes until it becomes well browned and a fair bit of the liquid reduces out.  Once it starts to stick too much add in the tomatoes, chicken broth, and pineapple juice.  Be careful when you add in the tomatoes and make sure you don’t accidentally dump the tomato can lid into the pot and then grab it with your bare fingers. Because you know, it’s kind of hot in there. So yeah, don’t do that.

What you should do is add in the chicken and pineapple at which point it should look pretty much like this:

Pineapple!  Also add in the leftover yoghurt from the marinade.

Don’t forget to add in the rest of the orange and lemon zest.

Add the flour and a little cold water to a mason jar, put a lid on it, and shake until completely combined. No lumps!  Add to the sauce and then simmer for about 45 min – 1 hour.

Simmering:

Once it’s thickened up nicely, add in the garam masala about 1-2 minutes before you serve it.

Yay, you’re done! Now EAT.

I served this on a bed of brown rice (becuase it has more flavour and is better for you) alongside some buttered broccoli. Not very Indian I suppose, but it’s my favourite veggie, so suck it.  This would also be fantastic garnished with some chopped cilantro. I would’ve but I didn’t have any, and I made up this recipe because I was specifically cooking only from ingredients that I had on hand.

Grilled Coconut-Lime Chicken with Peanut Sauce (Chicken Satay)

8-10 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast and/or thigh meat

Marinade:
1 can coconut milk
1/4 c soy sauce
3 T freshly grated ginger
4 minced garlic cloves
1 T sriracha (thai chilli sauce) could also use sambal oelek/ulek
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
zest and juice of 2 limes
2 T sesame seed oil
1/3 C vegetable oil
2 T of curry spice mix, recipe below
salt to taste, if needed

1/2 bunch cilantro chopped as a garnish

Marinate the thigh and breast pieces for 1-2 days in the fridge. I like to use all thigh meat (because it’s juicier and more flavourful) that has been boned and skinned so it’s really easy to just put it right into the marinade with no prep.

Preheat your grill. Once hot, scrape off any crud, and oil well.  Once the chicken has finished marinated, remove each thigh and cut in half lengthwise. Skewer as many strips you can fit on your skewers (I did 3). Grill until just done on medium-high heat. During the last couple minutes of grilling, sprinkle the chicken with just a little bit of garam masala (recipe below) or the curry spice mixture if you prefer.

Once all the chicken is done, place on a large platter, and sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Serve with the peanut sauce to dip.

Peanut Sauce:
1 1/2 C crunchy all-natural peanut butter (nothing in the ingredients but peanuts and salt) or 2 c roasted peanuts, crushed
zest and juice of 3 limes, extra lime juice if needed
2 T freshly grated ginger
1/2+ C dark soy sauce
1/3 C brown sugar
2-3 finely minced garlic cloves
sriracha/sambal oelek to taste (I like mine quite spicy)
2-3 t sesame oil
2 t curry spice mix, recipe below
coconut milk as needed until desired consistency

Mix all together. The liquids are in variable measure because depending on what kind of peanut butter you use, how oily it is, and whether you grind your peanuts freshly, the amount you’ll need to add in will change. If using peanuts instead of peanut butter, blend 3/4 of your peanuts in a food processor until it turns to peanut butter. Add the remainder of the crushed peanuts, and pulse a few times to mix them in, but retain the crunchy texture. Also depending on how limey and spicy you want it, change the amounts of lime juice and sriracha accordingly. In fact, feel free to adjust all amounts of all ingredients according to your taste.

Spice mix recipes

Curry spice mix:
2 t cumin seeds
1 1/2 t coriander seeds
2 t fenugreek seeds
3 dried bay leaves
1/2 t celery seeds
1 t ground turmeric

Garam Masala:
8-12 green cardamom pods (or 1 1/2-2 t ground cardamom)
1 T cloves
1 T black peppercorns
25g/1 oz coriander seeds
25g/1 oz cumin seeds
4 short cinnamon sticks
1/4 pod whole nutmeg (or 3/4 t ground)
3 star anise pods

Toast the whole spices in a small, DRY sauté pan over low heat until fragrant and warm, you should be able to just smell the spices, but be very careful not to burn them. Grind them in a coffee grinder you dedicate solely to grinding spices. Add in any pre-ground spices and grind to mix in.

Dilled Chicken

12 chicken thighs, skin on
1 1/2 bunches scallions
4 garlic cloves
1 C dry white wine
4 C unsalted/low-sodium chicken broth
2 cans evaporated milk
3/4 T corn starch
1 T dill seed
2 t celery seed
1 T dried dill weed
2 T fresh dill weed
kosher salt and pepper to taste

steamed long-grain rice for serving

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place into an cold oiled large, deep sauté pan, and turn on to medium-low. You want to slowly render the fat from the skin until it becomes crispy, repeating for the other side. This can take about an hour or so. You may have to drain the chicken grease out of the pan at least once.

Meanwhile in a small, dry sauté pan, toast the dill seed and celery seed until fragrant and warm, about 5 min. Then grind to a powder using either a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder used only for grinding spices.

Remove the chicken from the pan. Slice one of the scallion bunches (about 6-8 scallions) into thin coins, and mince the garlic. Drain all of the chicken grease out of the pan, and add in a little fresh vegetable oil, and quickly sauté the scallions and garlic with a little kosher salt. Once soft, add in the wine to deglaze the pan. Once the wine has reduced by 3/4, add in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a slight simmer. At this point add in the dried dill weed, the dill/celery seed mixture, and return the chicken back to the pan. Braise the chicken on low for about an hour and a half until the chicken broth has reduced by almost half and the chicken is very tender.

Slice the remaining bunch of scallions on the bias and chop the fresh dill. Mix the evaporated milk with the corn starch and add in the dill.

Remove the chicken from the broth and set on a serving platter. Add the milk/cornstarch mixture to the broth and cook until just thickened, whisking to avoid lumps and to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, also add in the cream, if using. Check the sauce for salt and add more if needed. Pour the sauce over the chicken and top with the sliced scallions. Serve over long-grain rice.

Chicken Coconut Kurma

Spice mix 1 (rub):
1 t cumin seeds
3/4 t coriander seeds
3/4 t fennel seeds
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground garlic
1/4 t cayenne

Spice mix 2 (curry):
2 t cumin seeds
1 1/2 t coriander seeds
2 t fenugreek seeds
3 dried bay leaves
1/2 t celery seeds
1 t ground turmeric

Garam Masala:
8-12 green cardamom pods (or 1 1/2-2 t ground cardamom)
1 tbsp cloves
1 tbsp black peppercorns
25g/1 oz coriander seeds
25g/1 oz cumin seeds
4 short cinnamon sticks
1/3 whole nutmeg (or 3/4 t ground)
3 star anise pods

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
kosher salt
ghee or vegetable oil
7 cloves of garlic
1 inch gingerroot
1 1/2 c chicken broth
1 medium onion
1 8-12 oz can diced tomatoes
4 T whole-milk yoghurt
1 12 oz can coconut milk
4 T cream

For all spice mixes:
Toast the whole spices in a small, DRY sauté pan over low heat until fragrant and warm, you should be able to just smell the spices, but be very careful not to burn them. Grind them in a coffee grinder you dedicate solely to grinding spices. Add in any pre-ground spices and grind to mix in.

Wash the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels. Season with spice mix #1 and kosher salt and let sit for an hour. Then fry in ghee or oil until brown and crispy on both sides, remove from the pan.

In a blender, add in 1/2 c of the chicken broth and the garlic and ginger. Purée until smooth.  Dice the onion.  Sauté in the pan, adding a little kosher salt to sweat.  Once soft, add in the garlic/ginger paste mix and fry until almost dry. Add in 1 tablespoon of spice mix #2 (curry) and fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add in the tomatoes and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Whisk the yogurt into the coconut milk and add to the pan, stirring well.  Add in the rest of the chicken broth, chicken pieces, and any accumulated juices.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cover for 30 min until the chicken is quite tender. Remove the lid, add in the cream, 2 tsp of the garam masala, stir, turn up heat to medium and continue cooking until the sauce has thickened considerably.

Serve with rice and buttered, toasted naan.

Turkey Parsnip Barley Stew

1 turkey (or chicken) carcass with some meat still on it; more meat
1 celeriac (also called celery root), scrubbed well and quartered
bay leaves
bouquet garni of parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage/left-over herb stems*
2 large carrots, snapped in half
1/2 onion, skin on

left-over gravy and/or bouillon
3 medium carrots
6 large parsnips
3 medium turnips
1 medium onion
2 celery stalks
1 to 1 1/2 C whole barley. Also great is a mixture of brown and wild rice.
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley*
several sprigs of fresh thyme*
several sprigs of fresh rosemary*
fresh ground pepper
1 c dry white wine

After Thanksgiving is done, most have a turkey carcass and/or some left over meat, leg bones, etc. I freeze this all until I’m going to make this stew.

Put the carcass in a large stock put and fill with *cold* water – this allows the flavour to go into the broth – don’t use hot water. Also add in the bay leaves, carrots, onion, celeriac, and bouquet garni. Let it warm up slowly on low and bring to a simmer on medium-low for several hours until the meat is about to come off the bones. Use a spider to remove the vegetables, meat and bones, picking out the meat and putting into a bowl to add back to the broth later. Strain the broth through fine cheesecloth and rinse out your soup pot.

Peel and chop the parsnips, turnips, and carrots into about 1/2″ chunks.  Dice the onion and celery and sauté in the cleaned out soup pot in a little butter/olive oil until softened. Add in a couple of tablespoons of turkey bouillon (which is hard to find) I use “Better than Bouillon” brand, which is quite good.  Also add in a the Chardonnay or other dry white wine and reduce until almost evaporated. Add in the stock, any left-over gravy, and the rest of the veggies.  Apart from any turkey bullion you add, don’t add too much salt as you want this to cook down quite a bit more before you serve it, and you don’t want it to become too salty. You can always salt it later if it isn’t seasoned enough.  Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Chop half of the parsley, and about 3/4 of the thyme and rosemary and add to the broth with the vegetables. Add in the barley/rice and simmer on medium with the lid off so you concentrate the flavours a little more. It will look like soup at this point, but as the barley cooks it will absorb a lot of the liquid, so don’t worry about it. Add the meat back in about 30 minutes before ready to serve.

Right before I serve it, I finely chop the rest of the herbs and add them to the stew, or put them in little bowls for to place on the table. Fresh rosemary is amazing, and goes really with the parsnips in this stew.

From first adding the water to the pot, this should take about 5-6 hours until it is ready – so for supper you should start this about 12.00.

*When I’ve used the leaves from fresh herbs, I put the stems in a ziploc bag and place in the freezer until the next time I’m going to make stew or soup, and use them to flavour the stock, rather then letting them go to waste. I do the same with bits and pieces of poultry like the wing tips, backs/spines etc.

Beer Braised Chicken with Herbed Dumplings

8-10 chicken thighs, skin on
2 12 oz bottles of beer* (see below)
4 C low sodium or unsalted chicken broth
1 bunch flat-leaf Italian parsley
20 g (one .7 oz pkg) fresh thyme on the stem
15 g (3/4 of a .7 oz pkg) fresh rosemary
2-3 dried bay leaves or 8-10 fresh
5 garlic cloves
kosher salt
1 large onion
3-4 large ribs celery (with leaves if possible)
8-12 oz cremini mushrooms (baby portobello)
fresh ground black pepper
celery seed

Dumplings:
3 C flour
4 t baking powder
1 1/2 t kosher salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
4-5 scallions (green onions)
1/2 C milk
1-1.5 C beer (8-12 oz)
reserved herbs

Wash the chicken thighs and pat dry with paper towels. Season liberally on both sides with kosher salt, pepper and celery seed. Lightly oil a very large, at least 4 inch deep skillet, pot, or electric frying pan and pan fry the thighs on both sides until well browned and the skin is crispy. You will have to remove much of the grease half-way through.

Whilst the chicken browns, chop the herbs, having stripped the thyme and rosemary leaves from their stems. Mix the dough for the dumplings, adding in about 2/3 of the rosemary and thyme and 1/2 of the parsley to the dumpling batter as well as all of the scallions, reserving the rest of the herbs for the gravy/garnish. Add in the liquid, adding in more beer if needed to make a slightly stiff dough. Dice the onion and celery, mince the garlic, and halve (or quarter if large) the mushrooms.

Once well browned (don’t worry about cooking through, because you’ll braise them later) remove the chicken, set aside, and then remove most of grease without disturbing the cooked-on remnants. Leave enough fat to sauté the onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic in. Add in the onion and celery and season with salt and pepper, scraping up the browned bits. Sweat until soft and slightly caramelised, then add in the garlic and mushrooms, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add more of the chicken fat if needed. If using fresh bay leaves, add them in with the garlic and sauté them slightly being careful also to not allow them to burn either. Once cooked, deglaze the pan with one of the bottles of beer*. Again scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and then add in the chicken stock. Check for saltiness and add more salt if needed (if you use unsalted or low-sodium stock it will definitely need salt). Add the chicken back in at this point, as well as the reserved herbs (keeping 1/4 of the parsley until the end as a garnish for the whole dish), cover so as not to lose liquid volume, and let braise on medium-low heat for about 20-30 minutes.

At this point, spoon the dumpling dough into the spaces between the chicken (into the broth). The starch from the dumplings, as well as evaporation, will begin to greatly thicken up the broth and turn in into a gravy. Replace the cover, and steam/braise the dumplings for about 7 minutes, and then add in the second beer and (if any) left over which you didn’t put in the dumpling batter. Cook for another 10-15 minutes until the gravy is thickened, but not too thick (add in more stock and/or beer if the gravy evaporates too much/gets too thick). If too watery, remove the cover and let simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Remove the bay leaves.

At this point, serve the dumpling and chicken, spooning gravy over the dumplings. You might want to also serve this with a light salad or carrots, or green vegetable, as this is quite heavy (but goddamn amazingly flavourful). Garnish with the reserved chopped fresh parsley.

*Ideally a medium-heavy bodied, hoppy & malty ale such as an amber ale, red ale, pale ale, Belgian ale, or some types of non-stout medium dark porters). You definitely don’t want to use either a light lager or dark stout – something in between. In Utah we have beers called Polygamy Porter and Evolution Amber Ale, either of which would would be ideal for this dish.

One of the benefits of cooking with alcohol (besides the addition of tons of delicious flavour) is the fact that while alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, all of the alcohol won’t cook out, and it acts as a natural flavour-enhancer (like salt, but obviously without the sodium/salt taste). I add in the second beer later to keep in more of the alcohol in the gravy so the flavour is that much more enhanced, and to ensure the gravy doesn’t cook down too much.

Furthermore, I love to use the beer in the dumplings because the carbon dioxide, in addition to the acid in the beer reacting with the baking soda, combines to create fluffier, as well as more flavourful dumplings than one would get with using milk only.

Using fresh herbs in this is a real must if at all possible. Dried herbs in the dumplings especially would create a different texture and be too bitter and strong. When cooking with fresh herbs, use 3-4 times as much as you were to normally use dried. Some herbs (like parsley and cilantro) lose their flavour when dried, and so are really only useful fresh. Other more woody herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano) intensify when dried, and are good in some dishes/in some instances. I keep dried herbs in my pantry, but regularly purchase fresh herbs for most uses.

Roasted Curry Chicken

1 fresh 3-4 lb chicken

Paste:

2″ piece of fresh ginger
5 scallions
2 garlic cloves
1 stalk celery
1/4 bunch cilantro
1 tsp sriracha thai hot sauce
3 T lime juice
1/4-1/2 C oil
2-3 T brown sugar
salt to taste

Spices:

2 parts of:
cinnamon
cumin
coriander
turmeric
fenugreek

1 part of:
dried thyme
fennel seed
celery seed
sesame seeds
black pepper

3 cloves

Rinse the outside and cavity of the chicken well with cold water. Pat completely dry with paper towels.

In a food processor, place the sauce ingredients, chopping the celery, onions, and ginger into large chunks. Add 1/4 C of the oil, reserving the rest.

In a small, totally dry sauté pan, toast your spices over medium-low heat until fragrant and warm. Mix frequently to avoid burning any part of the spices. I didn’t put measurements for each spice, because depending on whether you’ve each spice ground or whole depends on how much you add. I put a little more cumin and coriander and less of the celery seeds, but you may adjust the amounts of each spice to your own taste.

Add the spice mixture to the paste and blend slowly, drizzling in more of the oil as needed until a thick paste forms.

As this paste is probably enough for two chickens, put about half of it in a small bowl so you don’t contaminate the rest with raw chicken.

Gently massage the entire chicken with generous amounts of the paste, on the top, bottom, as well as inside the cavity. With your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the breast from the meat (don’t tear it) and fill with some of the paste.

After you’ve thoroughly seasoned the bird, truss it with butcher’s twice so it cooks evenly.

In the bottom of the pan put about 1/2-3/4 C of chicken broth and 3/4-1 C dry white wine. While the chicken roasts, its juices will combine with this to create a marvellous sauce.

Roast in a covered roasting pan in a 325 degree oven for 30 min per pound, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, the juices run clear and the joints are loose. The lower heat and longer time than normal will allow the connective tissues to break down further which results with a moister, better-tasting bird. Towards the last half hour or so of cooking, remove the lid and raise the temperature to 400 degrees to crisp up the skin and allow some of the moisture to evaporate. Keep in mind that these times and even temperatures are approximate, so do whatever works for you.

Serve with rice and naan or potatoes and yoghurt for dipping.

Lemony Chicken Pasta Salad

1 small chicken, roasted or from rotisserie
1 – 1 1/4 lb small pasta – mostaccioli is my favourite for this.
1 bunch scallions (about 6)
1/2 bunch Italian parsley
1 bunch tarragon
4-5 small centre stalks of celery with leaves
4-5 smallish ripe tomatoes or several dozen cherry tomatoes
butter/boston lettuce
1/2 c coarsely chopped almonds

Dressing:
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 C mayonnaise
2-3 T good extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 t grainy Dijon mustard
1 small jar of capers, drained
salt and pepper

Boil the pasta in salted water for about 10 min. until al dente. You want the pasta to still have some nice bite to it – don’t cook it all the way through. I bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store – they’re extra juicy, but you can roast your own small chicken. Do it several hours or the day before so it’s cold by the time you need it. Shred the chicken meat (breasts, thighs, legs) and reserve the carcass, wings, etc. for making soup/stocks. In a very large bowl, place the cold pasta and shredded chicken.

Wash and chop the celery. I like using the centre stalks for this because I like the flavour and yellowy colour of the celery leaves. You can also add in a large outside stalk. Wash and slice the scallions on a 30 degree bias, using all the white and green part. Give the parsley and tarragon a medium chop and add all the veggies and herbs to the bowl.

Add the mayonnaise, mustard, and lemon zest to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Then add in the lemon juice and enough olive oil to make a pourable dressing. Taste, and then add in the capers and salt and pepper to taste and stir gently until combined.

Add the dressing to the salad and toss just until coated. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Wash the lettuce, and wash and cut the tomatoes into wedges. Place several lettuce leaves on a salad place, top with the pasta salad, sprinkle with almonds and garnish with tomatoes and a couple whole parsley leaves. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil and grind a little bit of pepper over the top.

Now, EAT!