Somehow youtube knew this and showed me a French chef of the French Cooking Academy, who teaches in English for the home cook. I became obsessed with watching his videos and how he explained sauces in an easy to understand way with tips.

Buy his book: The French Cooking Academy Cookbook

I’ll let you know my experiences cooking the dish and the tips I found to be most important.

I have made a boneless mustard chicken before here, which is very good, but this is a sauce for whole pieces of thicken. I chose to make this with chicken thighs, but it would be very good with chicken breasts on bone cut in half.

The dijon sauce is very easy to do. Make sure to gather all of your ingredients first and plan to spend a few minutes active time.

Ingredients for Dijon Chicken

• 40 grams butter
• Chicken pieces on bone with skin
• Butter
• Garlic
• Bayleaf
• White wine
• Heavy Cream
• Egg Yolks
• Dijon Mustarad
• Herbs
• Salt, Pepper

More From Spinach Tiger

• Boneless Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce
• Mashed Potatoes
• Mash Cauliflower
• Keto Parmesan Boneless Chicken Bake with Cauliflower

Pin this

What to Buy

• French Cooking Academy Cookbook

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Dijon Chicken

Dijon Chicken cooked stovetop in a dijon mustard sauce.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 pieces chicken with skin and on bone
• salt and white pepper
• 40 grams butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• fresh thyme
• 200 ml white wine
• 200 ml heavy cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• dash umami seasoning
• parsley for garnish

Instructions

• Melt butter in frying pan and place chicken in and continue to cook on both sides until chicken in golden brown,
• Remove chicken from pan.
• Deglaze pan with white wine. Make sure to burn off alcohol before next step.
• Add cream to pan and boil for about two minutes.
• Add a small amount of cream to the egg yolks to temper and add to pan. Do NOT BOIL THE YOLKS.
• Add mustard and umami seasoning (if you have that). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Add chicken back into the pan and cook on low to reheat chicken. Add thyme sprigs and bay leaf.

  Chicken must be at 165 degrees F.
• Serve with mash potatoes or cauliflower rice.

The post Dijon Chicken from a French Chef appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

At a recent cookout,  I needed a side for burgers. I didn’t want any starch, and a salad seemed too formal. No one around here likes mayonnaise based salads (except me). That delicious cauliflower salad came to mind when my friend texted me from Adele’s during brunch. I looked at the ingredients in their on-line menu and went from there.

Watch the Video for Raw Shaved Cauliflower Salad

Now normally I would not make anything with raw cauliflower, because it has no taste, and isn’t pleasant to eat. However once you add marinate shaved cauliflower in a strong vinegar based dressing, pistachios, golden raisins and scallions, it becomes a pretty addicting salad.

Here’s what I Learned about Raw Shaved Cauliflower Salad.

You almost can’t add enough vinegar and you need to let it marinate overnight. If not, it ends up being fairly tasteless. If you can wait or you plan ahead, it’s amazing, especially if you add nuts for crunch, and dried fruit for sweetness and texture.

You also needs lots of scallions, and a strong mustardy dressing.  I used a ratio of vinegar to oil 1 to 2. Normally I use much less vinegar, but this salad needs a lot of acid. It also needs salt, but add the chopped nuts first (which are salted) before you add too much.

I used a large whole cauliflower and sliced each floret as thinly as possible. I tried both slicing with a knife and a mandolin. The mandolin works better and I use this one also featured below.

As far as nuts, I used chopped, salted pistachios. Harder nuts seem to work better in this salad, and you could also use chopped peanuts or sliced almonds. If you use almonds, sautè them first to intensify their flavor. I added in some red chili flakes for heat.

Tips for the Best Shaved Cauliflower Salad

• Robust Vinaigrette made with Olive Oil and Mustard
• Slice Cauliflower thinly
• Scallions (lot of them)
• Toasted Nuts for more texture
• Add in heat with red chili flakes

Shaved Cauliflower Salad stays crunchy and is the perfect side dish to take to a party or pot luck.

I find that people really appreciate healthier choices at parties. This will be added to my list of salads that travel well, that include this Potluck Autumn Kale Salad and this Brussels Sprouts Salad with Raw Beet Pesto.

 More Spinach Tiger Cauliflower Recipes

• Popcorn Cauliflower
• Cauliflower Parmesan
• Greek Cauliflower
• Cauliflower Bacon Leek Soup
• Purple Cauliflower Salad with Walnut Vinaigrette
• Skillet Cheesesteak with Cauliflower (no bread)

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Shaved Cauliflower Salad with Champagne Mustard Vinaigrette

Raw Cauliflower Salad with pistachios, golden raisins, scallions, and a zesty dijon mustard champagne vinaigrette.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1/2 cup chopped salted pistachios
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 2 bunches of scallions
• 1/2 cup champagne vinaigrette see recipe below
• sea salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes as needed

Champagne Mustard Vinaigrette

• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons champagne vinegar more as needed
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

• Cut out the bottom core of cauliflower. Discard
• Slice cauliflower as thin as you can. Mandolin is best, but you can slice with good sharp knife.
• Toss with vinaigrette.You will want the vinegar to be pronounced. I found that the cauliflower doesn’t hold the vinegar taste.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add in chile flakes.
• Add golden raisins, chopped scallions, nuts, (reserve some nuts for garnish).

Vinaigrette Instructions

• Infuse olive oil with chopped garlic for 20 minutes.
• Put mustard in a jar and mix well with vinegar.
• Slowly add olive oil. Mix well.
• Add red pepper flakes.
• Season with salt and pepper.

Video

Notes

Depending on how large your cauliflower is, you may need more dressing. Once you taste, you may need to add vinegar, but I found I didn’t need to add in more olive oil.
You might also want to add in more nuts, raisins depending on your own taste.

It’s important to refrigerate this salad for several hours or overnight to marinate the cauliflower.

The post Shaved Cauliflower Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette & Video appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This is one of those salads I  made over and over and over. It’s just that good and it’s a wonderful way to usher in the Fall with kale and apples dressed with a maple vinaigrette. 

Kale and Apple Salad is great with Maple Vinaigrette

Maple vinaigrette is easy to make and so perfect for a heavy tough green like kale. I  use maple syrup, dijon mustard, olive oil and apple cider vinegar.   

This is the perfect pot luck salad. It can be dressed with this cider maple vinaigrette and made ahead of time. Greens are royal produce and kale is king. I love it for it heartiness. It doesn’t wilt easily, making it nothing like spinach at all. It maintains a chew even when sautéed, and it stays very edible long after it’s dressed.

I added in a chopped sautèed sweet potato which was tossed with olive oil,  maple syrup and cayenne pepper. You can leave this out if you want your salad to be lighter.

Every single time I  bring this salad to a party, people want the recipe and there is none left. People that think they don’t like kale love this salad.

Kale salad is even good left over if you ever have any left over. 

Tell me, do you have a go to dish for carting to dinner parties or potlucks.

More Salads Good for Parties from Spinach Tiger

Festive Kale Salad with Butternut Squash, Figs, Pears

Blue Cheese Salad Party Wedge

Caprese Party Salad

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Kale and Apple Salad with Raisins, Pecans, and a Cider Maple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of lacinato or tuscan kale
• 1 apple in small slices with skin on
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 10 roasted walnuts or pecans
• 1 sweet potato
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper more or less to your liking
• 3 teaspoon maple syrup divided (one for sweet potato, one for nuts, one for dressing)

Maple Vinaigrette

• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon maple sryup can use a sugar free
• 2 tablespoons olive oil Start with one tablespoon and add as you need it

Instructions

• Carefully cut out the ribs of the kale. Rinse and dry.
• Cut into bite size pieces. Some people like kale finely chopped. That's an option.
• slice apples thinly with skins on
• toss walnuts or pecans with 1 teaspoon of maple syrup
• Roast walnuts for 5 minutes at 375. Set aside.
• Toss kale with apples, raisins and nuts.
• Peal and cut sweet potato into cubes. Toss with olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt and a teaspoon of maple syrup. Bake on baking sheet at 350 until done about 15 minutes. You can also saute on top of the stove.

Maple Vinaigrette Dressing

• Place maple syrup, mustard and vinegar, olive oil in blender or magic bullet. (I used my Vitamix).
• Toss salad with dressing. You may not need all the dressing.
• Make ahead. I made salad and dressed it two hours before eating it. The left over salad went into the refrigerator and we ate it the next day. It was still good.

The post Kale and Apple Salad with Golden Raisins, Maple Vinaigrette appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Someone recently asked me what my favorite food was and I had a hard time answering. I thought for a minute about what was the one food I would never want to live without and salad came to mind.  

I grew up on green salad at the nightly dinner table and I’ve done the same thing. My husband was just a ranch dressing person when we married and now he’s all about the salad with oil and vinegar. We never used bottled dressing and never will, as it’s never balanced, usually has sugar which does not belong in dressing, and often too many other odd or unhealthy ingredients like canola oil. Making your own dressing is almost as easy as opening a bottle from the fridge.

My favorite way to dress salad a lot of the time is with a sharp and zesty champagne vinaigrette. All you need is a little dijon mustard, a good quality champagne vinaigrette.

I  like both Kimberly Organic Champagne Vinegar and Sparrow Lane Champagne Vinegar. Both have five stars on Amazon.

As far as olive oil, you have to be careful not to use a very heavy oil that overtakes the dressing. I recently discovered the Bellucci brand and it’s everything I could ever hope for in an extra virgin olive oil. 

Champagne vinegar is made from champagne and white wine vinegar is made from white wine. I find champagne vinegar to be very sharp and acidic, even though the internet describes it as a mild vinegar. 

Champagne vinegar has typically 5.5 % acidity, where wine vinegar has 6 to 7%.  I  did a tasting of three vinegars, champagne vinegar, red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. The champagne vinegar came across as sharpest, but in a good way.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Champagne Vinaigrette

I  am very picky about my olives oils. I  use a high quality extra virgin olive oil for my vinaigrettes, where I  might use something a little differently in my cooking. I  love several brands and right now am hooked on Bellucci Italian Organic Olive Oil. It’s only about $19 at Whole Foods and a few weeks ago I  bought six bottles when it was on sale.  Look for a harvest date and location of Italian vineyards to get a decent finishing oil. 

What if I don’t have champagne vinegar? You can any of the following to get that sharp vinegar taste. Do not use balsamic vinegar, as it’s not the same and is too sweet. 

• Sherry Vinegar
• White wine vinegar
• Red wine vinegar
• Lemon juice, always a nice sharp substitute

How to Make a Champagne Vinaigrette

Fat, Acid, Salt

I  can honestly say I  make salads that people love, because I understand the umami combination of fat, acid and salt. This trio is what heightens pleasure and delights tastes buds. While the dijon mustard adds in a bit of acid, its main job is to emulsify or bring the opposing liquids together. 

The secret lays in the balance of these ingredients. You not only need to balance the ratio of vinegar to oil, you have to make a decision as to how much vinaigrette to dress the lettuce leaves. Part of this is tasting. Go lightly at first, toss and salt Salting is imperative before adding more dressing. You can always add more, but not take dressing away. 

There are only three ingredients in this vinaigrette. Many people think vinaigrettes have to have a long list of ingredients, when less is best and most authentic. The balance and application is much more important. 

I  like to start with a 1 to 4 ratio, vinegar to olive oil. The vinegar should be mixed with the mustard first and then the oil streamed in. Admittedly, I will add all the oil in and give the vinaigrette a good shake. 

Storing Champagne Vinaigrette. 

Place in closed mason jar and leave on counter to use for the week. If you refrigerate, the oil will solidify. No need to do that.

Try these salads that work well with a champagne vinaigrette.

Shaved Cauliflower Salad.

Beet Greens Salad with Beets

Spinach Salad with Peaches

Playing Around

You can add in some minced shallots, minced garlic, or your favorite herb. Try placing your favorite herb such as tarragon in your jar for a few hours for real treat. 

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Champagne Vinaigrette

Zesty dijon mustard champagne vinaigrette.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword vinaigrette

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Champagne Mustard Vinaigrette

• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons champagne vinegar more as needed
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• dash salt
• dasg black pepper

Instructions

Vinaigrette Instructions

• Infuse olive oil with chopped garlic for 20 minutes.
• Put mustard in a jar and mix well with vinegar.
• Slowly add olive oil. Mix well.
• Add red pepper flakes.
• Season with salt and pepper.

Notes

If you want to make this a little more zesty add a minced garlic clove and or a little bit of red pepper flakes.

The post Champagne Vinaigrette Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Currently I’m crushing on the color purple, and making  purple potatoes recipes a few different ways. These are not the purple  “sweet” potatoes that I made here. These are the beautiful purple potatoes I want put into this veal stew with peas.

I get on food kicks. I’ll find something I like and make it over and over for about a week or two. Dijon Roasted Purple Potatoes is high on my list right now, as they are easy, tasty, beautiful, and make for great leftovers for morning hash!

Potatoes get a bad rap in some circles, but you won’t believe how unfair that is to these jewel colored roots. They have some added health benefits the white guys don’t have.

The dark purple pigment, known as anthocyanin, is a type of phytonutrient that belongs to the flavonoid family. Flavonoids are associated with lowering cholesterol, fighting heart disease, and protecting the body against oxidative stress, which will help you age more gracefully, fight cancer, and protect our brains.

Purple potatoes contain chlorogenic acid which aids in lowering blood pressure. 

The best health benefit I’ve seen so far is from Dr. Michael Gregor, on the lowering effects of inflammation versus the white potato. Watch this 2 1/2 minute video and then run out and buy some purple potatoes.

Easy Recipe for Dijon Roasted Purple Potatoes

Lemon Dijon Roasted Purple Potatoes Recipe

In this recipe for I simply washed, quartered and tossed with garlic, dijon mustard, olive oil, fresh herbs and leeks. Rosemary, and olive oil have also been shown to reduce inflammation, so this recipe is a triple winner.

The Process for Roasting Purple Potatoes

I threw onto a baking pan and roasted for twenty minutes, turning halfway. If you roast them in the same pan as a chicken, add them during those last twenty minutes, or they may turn mushy, but will sop up all those good chicken drippings. One night we roasted them next to a rack of lamb, a perfect duo, as both will be done about the same time.

Another idea for these nifty little purple gems is to toss them with other roasted vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, green beans, or kale.

In the following recipe, I used the left overs to make a hash and added spinach.

If you like this recipe, you may also like these.

Purple Cabbage Salad

Purple Cauliflower

Purple Lime Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Purple Potatoes with Blue Cheese

Veal Stew with Onions, Purple Potatoes, Peas

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Dijon Roasted Purple Potatoes

Roasted Purple Potatoes perfect as a side dish for any protein or tossed with other vegetables.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 8 purple potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 large garlic clove minced
• 1 leek washing sliced
• fresh herbs such as rosemary lemon thyme, oregano (see notes)
• Optional teaspoon dried herbs if you don't have fresh
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Scrub potatoes. Cut in quarters.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dijon mustard.
• Add potatoes, sliced leeks.
• Season with salt and pepper and toss with half of the herbs.
• Roast at 400 degrees F. for twenty minutes. Turn over at 10 minutes.
• Once out of the oven, toss with remaining fresh herbs.

Notes

If using fresh herbs, consider what you are using. 3-4 tablespoons of a mix of fresh herbs is good. If using only rosemary, use less, as it's pungent. If using parsley, you can use as much as you like.

The post Lemon Dijon Roasted Purple Potatoes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

When the Peach Truck comes to Nashville, selling the sweetest, freshest Georgia Peaches, I light the grill.

Grilled peaches are so versatile, as they go well with meat like these pork ribs or they are just as good in a salad. I also have a great peaches and pork chop recipe.

Here’s what great about throwing a spinach salad together. You can buy organic baby spinach that is already triple washed so dinner is easy. I love my kale, but that does require more prep work. Spinach doesn’t overpower the taste of the peaches; in fact, they compliment each other.

The grilling part is easy, as long as you spray your grill, or brush your peaches with a little oil. Slicing the peaches around the seed may be a bit of a challenge, but don’t give up. Just set the timer for two minutes.

I am loving my echo dot, because I just say, “Alexa set the timer for two minutes” and I don’t have to worry about the food on my hands.

I just happened to have some peach white balsamic vinegar on hand to make a peach vinaigrette, perfect for the peach spinach salad.

Paciflia Culinaria White Balsamic Peach Vinegar

Peach Vinaigrette is just Peachy for a Peach Spinach Salad

I made a traditional vinaigrette, using some dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil and peach vinegar. If you don’t have peach vinegar, you can use a good balsamic or champagne vinegar for this salad. Keep in mind that spinach is a fragile green and doesn’t require a lot of dressing.

Peaches and Corn Make a Colorful Peach Spinach Salad

If you notice, I added in some fresh corn, cut right off the cob, not cooked.

There’s a lot of ways to play with this salad. I served it with grilled salmon which was perfect. You could make it an entree salad by adding in, bacon,  crispy pancetta or prosciutto. It also goes beautifully with pork!

Take a look at these Peach Recipes

Pork Ribs with Grilled Peaches

Corn, Peach, Vidalia Onion and Blackberry Pizza

Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler

How to Grill and Freeze Peaches 

How to Peel Peaches

More Salad Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Salad Dressings/Vinaigrettes from Spinach Tiger

More Peach Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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Spinach Salad with Grilled Peaches, Peach Vinaigrette

Peach Spinach Salad can be a wonderful summer side or an entree when a protein is added. Fresh corn, goat cheese, and a peach vinaigrette add flavors and texture.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 large peaches
• 1 container triple washed baby spinach about 8 cups
• 1 ear of corn
• 1-2 ounces goat cheese crumbled
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans
• 1/4 cup peach vinaigrette or as needed
• salt and pepper
• PEACH VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons peach vinegar or champagne vinegar
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Grill Peaches. Wash and dry peaches. Turn grill to medium. Cut into discs. Brush with olive oil.
• Grill for about 2 minutes each side or until you have nice grill marks.
• Cut corn off the cob.
• Make Peach Vinaigrette by shaking all ingredients in a jar. Taste for your own preference of acid. Some peach vinaigrettes are sweeter than others.
• Toss spinach corn, goat cheese with vinaigrette. You may some some left over. Use just enough to coat the leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Toss gently again. Taste for flavor.
• Top salad with peaches and pecans.

Spinach Tiger is an Amazon Affiliate, gaining a small commission, which provides support to running this site.

The post Spinach Salad with Grilled Peaches, Peach Vinaigrette appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This is chomping food. You know the food that makes you ravenous just to look at it and you don’t want to be polite.

You want to chomp.

You want to dip the chicken in its juices and you want to lick your fingers.

Go ahead. It’s good for you. Open some wine white.

Pull apart some hot french bread. Dunk, Dip. Chomp and still feel good at the end of the meal.

About a year ago I bought cutlery sheers and put them on my nifty magnetic strip and then I forgot about them.

Today I put them to good use cutting the back out of a small chicken and spatchcocking it.

That’s a fancy work for splitting the chicken open. It reduces cooking time and is also a good method for grilling.

It looks cool too, and then I did something really weird.

I laid it over a head of cauliflower to roast and made a marinade

Dijon Mustard

Olive Oil

Thyme

Garlic

Sea Salt

Red Pepper Flakes

You can marinate the chicken for several hours (even over night). Or, you can marinate for about an hour at room temperature.

Use a meat thermometer to test the chicken. You will want to get to 165 ° F. Then let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes, even though it will be hard and you’ll want to pull that wing on and start chomping.

About that Whole Roasted Cauliflower

I’m sure there are many ways to do this. I cut the stem off and roasted it underneath the chicken, but you could roast it whole beside the chicken or all by itself using the same marinade. It gets very soft, very flavorful, and not anything like water soaked cauliflower of the past.

My life lesson here is that simple food can be really good, soul soothing food that’s as easy as a hug or kiss. It makes your day better and it’s not a lot of trouble.

Please take a moment and connect with me on social media. The buttons are up there on the left, and I’d really like to have you come back so please subscribe.

More Roast Chicken

60 Minute Whole Roasted Chicken

Whole Roasted Chicken Video

Roast Chicken with Figs

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Mustard Roasted Spatchcock Chicken with Cauliflower

Spatchcock Chicken with a garlic lemon mustard marinade and roasted whole cauliflower/

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 small roasting chicken
• 1 small head cauliflower
• 1/2 juice lemon
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• sea salt
• black pepper

Instructions

• Cut the backbone out of the chicken with sharp knife or poultry sheers. Pull the chicken open.
• Rinse in cold water. Pat dry. Salt chicken on both sides.
• Mix lemon juice and mustard together well. Add olive oil garlic cloves, thyme, lemon juice.
• Reserve enough of this to put on the cauliflower, before marinating chicken.
• Put chicken in marinade for one hour at room temperature. You can put chicken in marinade overnight, but take out an hour before roasting.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Cut core out of cauliflower, leaving it intact and whole. Some pieces may come off, and you'll reserve those to bake during the last 20 minutes.
• In a shallow baking dish, place cauliflower, doused with the marinade, salt and pepper.
• Place chicken on top of cauliflower and roast. You have an option of baking both separately. Placing chicken on top of cauliflower will give cauliflower extra flavor from the chicken juices.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 400.
• At this point, take chicken off cauliflower and let them roast separately.
• Chicken should be done in 40 minutes; however use a meat thermometer and remove from oven at 165 degrees.
• Let chicken rest for 15 minutes before cutting.
• Serve with cauliflower and pan juices.

The post Mustard Roasted Spatchcock Chicken with Roasted Whole Cauliflower appeared first on Spinach Tiger.