Whatever your analogy of choice—a car, a piano—tune-ups help things purr or sing (again). I want that for our taste buds. The poor little guys just endured the holidays. They’ve likely been awash in more rich, heavy, creamy foods in the past 6 weeks than in all other weeks of the year combined… with nothing more than a peppermint to ‘cleanse the palate’ so to speak. January’s the time to reactivate our taste sensations for healthier fare. This isn’t about learning to love kale. This is about reviving our palates with eye-poppingly bright, tangy, robust flavors that make food (and cooking!) interesting again… like driving a new road or playing a new sonata.
So, here we go. First up, a salad, but no ordinary salad—my Wild Rice & Arugula Salad with Roast Chicken. This baby is BIG! Big enough to feed 4 for dinner and stacked with enough variety to make it a meal. The base is a nutty bed of wild rice drizzled with a tangy yogurt-balsamic dressing. Then comes the arugula and some seriously sharp aged gouda, more dressing, and finally a canopy of roast chicken (store-bought rotisserie is perfect), diced cucumber, and apple juice-sweetened dried cherries. There’s more than just a medley of flavors going-on with this salad—it spans the gamut from crispy to crunchy to chewy as well. I guarantee it’s been a while since your mouth has had this much excitement.
Next up, another veg-forward dish (okay, a salad, but this time no lettuce). Imagine a salmon walked into a Jewish deli… it’s that kind of story… a combination of flavors so clever and good you’ll practically chuckle. It’s my Off-Script Jerusalem Salad with Maple-Mustard Salmon complete with Everything Bagel seasoning, cucumber, tomato, farro, and flaked hunks of glazed and seared salmon. I gotta tell you, it’s good!
After you re-awaken your senses with these salads, it’s time to introduce some recipes with a little kick… not necessarily a spicy kick, more of an asian kick, those one-of-a-kind zingy fermented flavors. One of my all-time favorite homemade asian dishes is my Soy-Miso Chicken over Sticky Rice. It’s saucy, sticky, flavorful, and—in spite of all that—healthy-ish too. Don’t let the side of charred green chiles intimidate you. They elevate the flavor and only erupt flames if you choose to eat one whole. Hence, they simmer in the sauce and then get sidelined.
This time of year, I also turn to my Fennel & Mushroom Fried Rice to recover and re-tune from the holidays. It has more veg than rice—everything from its fennel and mushroom namesakes to Swiss chard and carrots—so it’s practically a warm salad. Yet, the flavor will deceive you. I know a 7-year old that wouldn’t dare put salad to her lips and manages to devour every morsel of this rice (even the green stuff).
Finally, I’ll advocate for making a big pot of Three-Bean Off-Script Chili or My Off-Script Grandma’s Chicken Noodle Soup this January for the sheer fact that they’re ‘souped-up’ plays on the classics. They’ll each revive your tastebuds with seasoning blends so unique and on-point that I guarantee you’ll be ready for more fun and creative cooking in 2020.
