Chicken and Wild Rice Salad with Almonds

I found this recipe from the Cooking Light Magazine. It was very good and easy to make. A great substitute for the chicken breast is to use shredded rotisserie chicken in place of the chicken in the recipe. The fig vinegar makes this dressing spectacular and unique, but you can substitute white wine vinegar if you can't find it.

Ingredients:  
2 cups fat-free,less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups uncooked wild rice
1 tablespoon butter
Cooking spray
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon  black pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons minced red onion

Dressing:
1/4 cup  fig vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons canola oil 

Directions:
1. To prepare dressing, combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Gradually add oil, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Cover and chill.
2. Combine broth, rice, and butter in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Remove rice mixture from heat; cool.
3. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 8 minutes on each side or until done. Cool; cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
4. Combine cooked rice, chicken, celery, carrots, cranberries, almonds, and red onion in a large bowl. Add dressing; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill.

Vanilla-Spiced Caramel and Pear Tart

I can't believe November is here! Thanksgiving is just right around the corner. I'm trying out a few recipes for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We're hosting Thanksgiving at our house for 15 people this year. This will be the first time I get to cook for so many people! Wish me luck!

Special equipment:
10-inch-diameter springform pan

Ingredients:
Crust
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed, or one 14- to 16-ounce package all-butter puff pastry (1 to 2 sheets, depending on brand), thawed
Pears
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole star anise
3 whole cloves
Generous pinch of coarse kosher salt
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 medium firm but ripe Anjou pears, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored
Filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise in half
1/2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
2 whole star anise
6 whole cloves
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
Generous pinch of coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 egg white, beaten to blend

Directions:
1. Crust: Roll out pastry to 12-inch square and trim off corners, forming slightly rounded crust. (If using all-butter puff pastry, roll out to 12-inch round.) Transfer pastry to 10-inch-diameter springform pan, pressing pastry firmly onto bottom and 1 to 1 1/2 inches up sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep frozen.
2. Pears: Melt butter in heavy large skillet over low heat. Add sugar and next 4 ingredients. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring until sugar melts and turns brown (color of peanut butter), about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; add pears, rounded side down. Cook until pears are almost tender, turning and moving skillet around occasionally to ensure even cooking, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on ripeness of pears. Carefully turn pears over; continue to cook until pears are very tender, about 10 minutes longer. Remove skillet from heat; cool pears in skillet with spices (pears will release juice while cooling).
3. Filling: Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Add cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. Increase heat to medium; cook until butter is golden (watch to avoid burning), 3 to 4 minutes. Remove vanilla bean and spices from butter; discard. Whisk sugar, egg, and coarse salt in medium bowl. Whisk in flour. Gradually whisk browned butter into egg mixture. DO AHEAD Pears and filling can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover separately; let stand at room temperature. Whisk filling before using.
4. Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 400°F. Brush frozen crust with beaten egg white. Pour filling into crust; spread evenly over bottom of crust (filling will be very thin). Using slotted spatula, remove pears from skillet, allowing excess syrup to drain back into skillet; reserve syrup. Arrange pears, rounded side up, atop filling (about 9 around edge and 3 in center of pan).
5. Bake tart until crust is deep golden and filling is set and brown at edges, about 1 hour. Run small knife around sides of pan to loosen tart. Release pan sides. Transfer tart to platter. Let stand, uncovered, at room temperature to cool slightly until just warm.
6. Just before serving, boil syrup in skillet until reduced to generous 1/3 cup, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard spices. Drizzle syrup over pears. Serve tart slightly warm.