Dinner Boards

I am into wooden boards!

Of all shapes and sizes!  These are a few of my favorites.  The board I am holding is an antique Turkish bread board, and it’s old!  You can see that the wood split and copper was hammered in place to hold it together and restore it for good use.  Below that is a striped board that Mark and Brandon made me many years ago that is a treasure and staple in my kitchen.  And just beneath that, is a prized large olive wood board that I hauled back from Provence and trust me, it barely fit in  my suitcase!

I NEVER cut on these boards!

Instead, I like to use them for serving.  Here I am using it as a trivet for a hot dish of Artichoke and Red Pepper Quiche.

What about the idea of serving an entire meal on the board?  This is my olive wood board, piled high with a fresh crispy Chicken Caesar Salad, ready to be served right from the board.

Talk about a quick dinner, Sausage warmed along with Baked Beans and Confetti Slaw.

Who’s hungry?

If you are board with dinner, try using your wooden boards to serve!

Tune into Fox 4 for a segment featuring ME and more Dinner Boards on Tuesday, October 14th!!

Chicken Caesar Salad on a Board

Dressing

1 cup mayo

3 cloves of garlic

1-ounce anchovy paste

¼ cup milk or half and half

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Salad

2 grilled chicken breasts cut into chunks

2 heads Romaine lettuce

½ cup of halved tomatoes

Parmesan cheese shards

Toasts

½ small French bread loaf sliced paper thin

¼ cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic crushed

To prepare the toasts, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix olive oil and garlic in a small bowl.  Dot both sides of the bread with a small amount of the oil mixture using a pastry brush.  Spread the bread on a baking pan.  Bake toast until golden brown about 4 minutes, turn toasts and cook another 3-4 minutes to brown the other side. Meanwhile, prepare dressing by adding all ingredients in food processor or blender, process to combine well.  Add additional milk if a thinner dressing is desired.  To prepare the salad cut root of each lettuce head off and let water run through to clean the leaves.  Keeping the bundles intact slice heads into thin strips and place the lettuce in the center of the serving board.  Add chicken, tomatoes and toasts and toss along with a generous amount of dressing.  Top with Parmesan shards and serve.

Confetti Veggie Slaw

2 carrots shredded

1 green bell pepper cut in a julienne

1 red bell pepper cut in a julienne

2 cups of shredded purple cabbage

2 green onions finely diced

Dressing

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

To prepare dressing, whisk together ingredients in a small bowl.  Assemble slaw in serving bowl by layering ingredients.  Add dressing, toss to coat.  Let salad stand for a few minutes before serving.

Baked Beans

2 16-ounce cans of baked beans any brand

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup ketchup

¼ cup yellow mustard

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch salt

Mix all ingredients in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes or until center is bubbling.