Grilled Chicken and Rice Salad with Curry-Saffron Dressing for the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

This recipe, in honor of the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, was submitted last week by Alan J. Hommerding,  Senior Liturgy Publications Editor for World Library Publications.   I apologize for posting this late (our kitchen remodel/addition is proving to be quite overwhelming at the moment), but at least it will be here in the archives for next year.   Thank you Alan! 

"With July soon upon us, I remembered when I worked at a parish consecrated to St. Thomas.  I came up with this recipe to combine the “holiday” weekend tradition of firing up the grill with an Indian flavor, since his legends say he took the Gospel to India."

Grilled Chicken and Rice Salad with Curry-Saffron Dressing

Prepare 3 cups whole grain brown rice according to package directions. Refrigerate.

Marinate 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in juice of ½ lemon and fresh ground pepper (a very light dusting on both sides of each breast) for about ½ hr.

Toss ½ large sweet onion, very coarsely chopped in 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. honey

Prepare coals in grill according to directions, when medium-hot:

Grill chicken breasts approx 7-8 min. per side, until done (depending on thickness), cover and refrigerate.

In a perforated grilltop skillet, sauté onions until browned/carmelized (you will need to stir constantly to avoid scorching the honey). Refrigerate.

Cube or shred cooled chicken.

Toss chicken, rice and grilled onions with ½ c. golden raisins (or other dried fruit) and dressing.  Refrigerate and serve chilled. Garnish with dried chives, chopped scallions, or other herb.

Dressing:

1 small container plain yogurt
2 tbsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. saffron
salt and pepper to taste

St. Thomas the Apostle, Pray for Us!

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Mexican Chocolate Bread Pudding

The following recipe, in honor of the feast of Blessed Junipero Serra, was submitted by Abigail Burke from Elk Grove, CA.   Thank you Abigail!

Mexican Chocolate Bread Pudding

2 squares baking chocolate (you can find Mexican chocolate at any well-stocked grocery store, or at a local Latin food market)
2 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (Mexican vanilla is best for this recipe)
2 cups cubed stale bread (can also use 3 cups stale flour tortillas)

Heat the milk and chocolate in a double boiler. When chocolate is melted, stir until well blended. Beat the eggs until foamy, then add the sugar and salt and mix well. Temper the chocolate mixture with the egg mixture by adding a little of the chocolate to the eggs a ladle full at a time (this will prevent the eggs from scrambling); stir vigorously. Once half the chocolate is added to the eggs through this method, you can add the rest in one go. Add the vanilla and mix. Place the bread (or tortillas) in a greased baking dish, then pour the chocolate mixture over. Let sit for 5 minutes (or until the bread has soaked up the liquid). Place the dish in a pan of hot water and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until the pudding is crisp on top and the custard is cooked.

Serve with fresh whipped cream with a little dash of Mexican chili powder or ground cinnamon.

God most High, your servant Junipero Serra brought the gospel of Christ to the peoples of Mexico and California and firmly established the Church among them. By his intercession, and through the example of his apostolic zeal, inspire us to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Flan -- A Spanish Delight

July 1 is the feast of Blessed Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary, so well known for evangelizing in California and Mexico. He battled cold, hunger, and illness, as well as those who would challenge him in the battle for souls. You can find a simple biography of him here.

Celebrate his feast day with a sweet Spanish treat -- Flan (pronounced flahn), a sweet custard dish with a caramel base. This dessert is a little intimidating the first time you try it, but once you've done it one time, it's a breeze to put together. The final result, however, is a big "wow." Not only the presentation, but the taste. The "burned" sugar really flavors this dish and it's such a unique flavor. I make individual flans, because I have some lovely ramekins, and the kids like "their own." But, it is just as good made as a big flan, just use a shallow ceramic or glass dish. Start far enough ahead that the Flan can chill completely before serving.

This is a delightful dish that can be served for any Spanish feast day.

Flan
from The Joy of Cooking

3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
5 large eggs
3/4 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
3 c. whole or low-fat milk
3/4 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place 3/4 c. sugar in a small, heavy saucepan. Drizzle water evenly over the top. Place the pan over medium heat and, without stirring, very gently swirl the pan until a clear syrup forms. It is important that the syrup clarify before it boils, so move the pan off and back on the heat if necessary. After the sugar dissolves, raise the heat to high and bring the syrup to a rolling boil; cover the pan tightly and boil for 2 minutes. Uncover the pan and cook the syrup until it begins to darken. Gently swirl the pan by the handle and cook the syrup until it turns a deep amber. Quickly pour the syrup (be careful -- it will blister you if you touch it) into eight 6-oz. ramekins or custard cups or a 2 to 2-1/2 cup dish. Using a potholder, immediately tilt the dish(es) to coat the bottom.


In a bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and salt, just until blended. Heat the milk just until steaming and gradually whisk hot milk into egg mixture. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved. Stir in vanilla. Pour egg mixture into ramekins or dish. Place in a large baking dish or roaster and place in the oven. Pour hot water into the pan, carefully avoiding the flan dish(es), about halfway up the sides of the cups or dish. Bake 40 to 60 minutes for individual cups and 60 to 90 minutes for a large dish. They should be firmly set in the center.


Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. To unmold, run a knife around the edges and flip onto a plate (it helps if you put the plate upside down directly on top of the dish -- especially if you made a large flan). If necessary (for really stubborn ones) dip the bottom of the dish briefly into hot water.

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Fried Fish in Honor of the Fishers of Men

Today, June 29, is the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, two of the Church's greatest apostles and fishers of men. In honor of this feast, we will be enjoying some beer battered fried fish this evening. This recipe is fun and easy and the kids can help.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. fish filets, dried with a paper towel and seasoned with seasoning salt
1 container shake and pour buttermilk pancake mix
1 cup beer
oil for frying (about 1 in. deep in large fryer)

Directions:

Pat fish filets dry, season, and set aside. Add beer to pancake mix in place of water as directed. Shake well. (You can play with the amount of beer for desired consistency.) Pour batter into shallow bowl. Heat oil in large frying pan, dip fish in batter until coated and place in pan. Fry on each side until golden brown (aproximately 3-4 minutes). If batter begins to brown too quickly, reduce heat. Drain on fish on paper towels after removing from oil.

You can mix ketchup and a bit of horse radish for a dipping sauce, reminding us of St. Paul's conversion story, and then, maybe serve up a bit of Key Lime Pie for dessert, since Jesus entrusted Peter with the keys to the Kingdom.

Blessed feasting to you all. Pin It

St John the Baptist ~ Locusts and Honey

For the feast of St John the Baptist this year, we wanted to focus on the two staple foods he had lived on ~ locusts and honey.
I had bought last year a Nordic Ware Bee Hive Pan since I have a son born on the feast of St Ambrose (bee hive is one of his symbols) and I would say that this is one pan you can put to good use throughout the liturgical year as many saints were associated with bees..St Rita of Casica another and all the eloquent, "honey-tongued" preachers of the Church.

I used this lovely Carmel Banana cake recipe for the beehive, but any good cake recipe will do, of course a recipe that has honey in it, even more appropriate.

I poured the yellow icing sugar mixture over the top and made sure it ran down both sides to the bottom, so no join can be seen where the two halves are brought together. The bees are in the mold, you only need to colour the bees.

Here are some of our edible locusts, all lined up on our tray!

I bought some crunchy caramel sticks, they have that bit of 'crunch' like a locust would have as well as some 'ooze' (the caramel) they would have as well.

I cut each stick in half and made sure that I shaved a little more off to create an angle as you can see above.

I used one bag of pretzels.

So basically, it is the crunchy caramel stick, pretzels broken like you see above, pecans and a tube of black icing sugar.

My 'glue' to put the locusts together is icing sugar, a little water and yellow and red food dye to create an orange colour that goes well with the colour of the pretzels.

So I 'glued' a pecan on the back, for the locusts back wings folded together.

Then I 'glued' on the locusts legs.

Then 'glued' a peacan on the sloped front of the caramel stick for the head and with the black tube, created the pop eyes of a bug.

Awww, how can anybody eat that cute little critter?

Oh my goodness, a plague of them here!

They weren't an expensive endevour either, I bought the caramel sticks for $4 ~ that gave me up to 48 locusts. One bag of pecans, one bag of prezels, a little icing sugar and that was it!

Happy Feast Day!

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St. Josemaria Escriva

June 26th~Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva~

Make Flan!

 ...The national dessert of Spain, home country of St. Josemaria...

I originally printed out this recipe to try.

You may want to try it!

In the meantime, this instant flan caught my eye at the the grocery store...

(I tried it ahead of time with the recipe above to use for Plan B)

Ingredients:

~This box and milk~

Now I'm no "flan connoisseur" but I thought it was delicious! 

~It was amazingly easy, which is the best part for those of us with limited time~

My only critique is that it was not as firm as I had expected.  

However, I used a jello mold for the nice shape and effect...So I'm not sure if this had something to do with the consistency.

Since this flan also came with carmel sauce, it would also be a yummy dessert to use for the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16th!

~Just add whipped cream~

God Bless you on this special feast day!

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In The News

I was recently contacted by Rome Reports for an interview. Before I had an opportunity to answer their questions (I'm constantly way behind with emails!)  they put together the following video.  I thought it turned out cute and wanted to share it with you all.   Thank you Rome Reports!

You can read the whole article here:
 Food Blog with a Catholic Touch 

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