I was inspired to make my own mayonnaise this weekend.  Let me tell you, it was TOUGH ON THE FOREARM.  You have to whisk, whisk, whisk, the whole time you are S-L-O-W-L-Y adding the oil.  A cup and a half of oil didn’t seem like a lot to whisk at first, but I think it multiplied while I was working!  The kitchen got a little shower of oil when I found out I’m not quite as coordinated with my left hand.  It makes me wonder whether you could make it work in the ol’ Kitchenaid.  I’m trying that next time.

We don’t really use much mayonnaise in my house, actually, I’m the only one who eats it and not that often.  The husband has sworn it off, along with Chinese fast food and pretty much lunch altogether (it’s a lot like this).  I don’t tell him it’s in the pimento cheese.

But I thought it sounded like a good idea, making homemade mayo, so I gave it a shot.  I had to see how it compared to store-bought, and I do think it’s better – much richer, fresher, and more flavorful.  And I could make it for the times I need it, and maybe build up my arm muscles as a bonus.

So what does one do with her jar of hard won mayonnaise?  Why make some homemade chicken salad, of course.  I simmered a whole chicken for about two hours in a pot covered with water, a quartered onion, a couple stalks of celery, and a little salt.  Then I took the chicken out, strained the stock and refrigerated it, and removed the meat from the chicken.  I used about half of the meat for this Cashew Curry Chicken Salad recipe.  The curry is subtle, you can add more if you like, and the chives give a nice onion flavor without having to crunch on raw onions.  I’m a huge fan of nuts in my chicken salad, and the cashews taste terrific.

You can most definitely make this with store-bought mayonnaise, but if you feel like working out your arm muscles you’ll end up with some great mayo afterward and some super tasty chicken salad!

Cashew Curry Chicken Salad

serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 1/3 cup homemade mayonnaise (recipe below), or store bought
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/3 cup celery, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cashews, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and stir until well blended.
2. Taste for seasoning and adjust, if needed.

Homemade Mayonnaise

from The Gift of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock

makes about 1 3/4 cups

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil, light olive oil, or a combination
• 1 tablespoon hot water

Directions

1. Put the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and mustard into a bowl, and whisk or stir until the salt and mustard are dissolved.
2. Add the egg yolks, and beat until smooth.
3. Add the oil drop by drop at first, and then in a slow, steady stream, whisking or stirring constantly until all of the oil has been incorporated and you have a very thick emulsion.
4. Stir in the hot water until smooth.
5. Refrigerated, homemade mayonnaise will keep for up to 1 week.

When I was a new bride, I already had a few dishes in my cooking repertoire, but I wanted to learn to make some of my husband’s favorite dishes, too.  So I asked his mother to teach me to make these recipes, and one of them was spaghetti.

Here’s what she puts in:  onion, ground beef, tomato sauce (sounds pretty ordinary so far, right?), ketchup, tomato soup, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and 1/3 cup of sugar.  Not that it tastes bad or anything, I mean I had eaten it a few times before and it tasted fine, but not only is it way different than what I learned to make from my mother, but it’s almost like sacrilege to even call it spaghetti sauce, what with all the crazy things it contains.  My brain just can’t seem to accept it as spaghetti sauce.

But I make it for him sometimes, like when I have some ground beef in the fridge that I don’t know what else to do with.  And then sometimes I make something like this, Barefoot Contessa’s Real Meatballs and Spaghetti (chosen by Rebecca from Ezra Pound Cake), all tomatoey and good.  And he eats it, a lot of it, but would probably like it better if I put in a third cup of sugar.

I don’t know if it was because I was so hungry after my salad at lunch, but I thought these meatballs and the sauce were super.  The kids really liked them, too.  I kept thinking while I was making them that they were going to be bland, since there isn’t much seasoning other than salt and pepper and parsley, but mine weren’t bland at all.  I did have to make just a few changes – I used half beef and half pork, no veal (didn’t plan far enough ahead to get to the store with veal), and I only had plain dried breadcrumbs, so I added a half teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the meatballs.  I used Cabernet for the wine, and only cooked up half of the meatballs.  Also, I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles.  I will make this again for sure. (*edit-just realized I didn’t add the water to my meatball mix, but didn’t make a difference to me!)

Real Meatballs and Spaghetti

from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

serves 6

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

World Tour Day Four:  Mexico.

When I was pregnant with my first child, this was what I craved.  A big bowl of salsa and some chips and I was good to go.  At the time, I was working three days a week and on those days I would suggest/coerce/force the girls in the office to go with me to the Mexican restaurant for lunch.  We would go to one of the many in the area, all named after some Jose – San Jose, Juan Jose, Don Jose – it didn’t matter which to me, as long as they kept the salsa bowl filled.  I know the girls were glad when my due date finally came.

Contrary to the feeling I have about the guacamole at Mexican restaurants, I really love the flavor of their salsa.  In my quest to find a homemade version just as good, salsa has become another one of my cooking obsessions.  I mean the variations are endless, just the beginning being fresh vs. canned tomatoes, jalapeno vs. serrano peppers, vinegar vs. lime juice, white vs. yellow vs. red vs. green onion, and on and on.  Aye yae yae!

The part that stumped me for a while was dealing with the onion.  I like it in my salsa, but if it’s processed at the beginning with the peppers and garlic, the juices release and make the whole thing taste like onion (and probably your breath for the rest of the week, too).  So far, I have found that chopping them up by hand, rinsing and draining them, then adding them at the end works.  But, oh, how I hate the extra step.  I want easy, too, is that too much to ask?  I’m going to try processing them with the tomatoes next time, and if that doesn’t work, then maybe processing them first then dumping them in a colander to rinse and drain and stir in at the end.

It’s taken me a long time to put together a salsa recipe that I think gives those Mexican restaurants some competition, but this one is a keeper!

Karen’s Salsa

from Shortbread

makes about 4 cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup onion (any color), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed and halved
• 1 large fresh tomato, quartered
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1/3 cup cilantro, loosely packed
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Put the chopped onion into a strainer and rinse under cold water.  Shake off the excess water and pour into a medium bowl.
2. Place the garlic and jalapenos in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped.
3. Add all the tomatoes and the cilantro to the processor and pulse until you have a coarse puree.
4. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the onions, add the lime juice and salt, and stir to combine.  Taste, and add more lime juice or salt if needed.

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