This months
Secret Recipe Club pick for me is
Fran's Favs . They couldn't have chosen better! Fran grew up in an Italian household with a Sicilian Mom and a Neopolitan Dad. This is one of those "wish we were neighbors" kinda thing for me. Although I was not born Italian, it's one of my favorite cuisines. Of course I went straight to the Italian section of her blog - Mamma Mia! Cookies, soups, Momma's meatballs and so much more. Unfortunately, I'm at a big disadvantage this month as my kitchen is currently under renovation and I have been without a place to cook for almost 3 weeks now. I'm getting a bit of blogger withdrawal and Fran's blog has so many recipes that I would like to try! So my options were to grill something or the Crockpot. I spied a recipe for
Beer and Brown Sugar Kielbasa with Sauerkraut that's made in the Crockpot and I'm saving that one for later this week.
One of her other recipes that intrigued me was her recipe for
Apple Butter Vinaigrette . I made a batch of
Apple Butter in the Crockpot in the Fall and have not really opened a jar up for quite a while. I thought this would make a delicious grilled chicken salad.
1/4 cup apple butter
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Combine all dressing ingredients and toss with mixed spring greens, dried cranberries and almonds. Add sliced grilled chicken. Garnish with cherry tomatoes. The dressing is on the sweet side and I added a bit more salt and pepper to my taste.
I doubled the amount - saved half for the salad dressing and used the remainder to marinate the chicken. The grill caramelized all the sweetness of the apple butter and it turned out quite different and delicious!
What a great idea to use apple butter in a vinaigrette! I can only imagine the intense apple flavor. I have to try this..it sounds amazing! Great choice!
ReplyDeleteI’m visiting from Group D, and love what you did this month! Beautiful (AND delicious, I’m sure)! Using apple butter is a bit o' genius!
ReplyDeleteWell now, doesn't that sound just delicious? And so easy! I would have never thought to combine these ingredients ... but I will definitely be doing so soon!
ReplyDeleteAlways nice to have another way to use fruit butters! Seems we use about half the jar and that's as far as we get-fun idea:@)
ReplyDeletei made apple butter for the first time this fall too---in the slow cooker. I'm jealous that you made so many batches....we ate all of our jars up in two days! I'm definitely adding this to the repertoire...thanks. Popping over as a fellow SRC Group D Member
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I would have never thought to combine these flavors, BUT I love this! I bet it is amazing:-) Take care, Terra
ReplyDeleteI am always on the hunt for great salad dressings and this looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteOh I LOVE this idea!! Great SRC post!!
ReplyDeletei'm also a huge italian cuisine fan. it influences much of my cooking. it's just so tasty, simple, and comforting. love it :)
ReplyDeletealso, love apple butter. happy src reveal!
mmm, sounds lovely! i love the way you served it with the spring greens, cranberries, almonds + chicken. those flavors all sound like they'd work perfectly with the vinaigrette!
ReplyDeletePatti, for a non-Italian you sure have an impressive list of Italian recipes! I've bookmarked your pizza soppressata--the photos made me drool. I'm glad the apple butter vinaigrette worked for you with your kitchen out of commission. My family and I thought the beer and brown sugar kielbasa was fabulous. Hope yours does, too!
ReplyDeletethanks for putting up the link. I merged the title with your name for you and took out the duplicate link. Have a nice week.
ReplyDelete