Rogue River Chipotle Cabbage Slaw Demo

Joy Henkle, owner of Whitewater Warehouse demos the company’s famous Chipotle Cabbage Slaw dressing…

Rogue River Salad: The Recipe!

In our last post, we talked about the talented Jan Roberts-Dominguez. She is a noted food specialist and also a fine artist. We admired Jan’s work so much that we decided to give her a call and issue her a  challenge. We asked her to create an outstanding river salad; made from fresh, local ingredients for our Whitewater Warehouse rafting, kayaking and hiking guests. Well, Jan responded and she delivered the goods! Here, in all its glory, is the recipe for Rogue River Salad. You can find this recipe in Jan’s upcoming hazelnut cookbook entitled “Oregon Hazelnut Country — The Food, The Drink, The Spirit.”

Rogue River Salad

Recipe makes 8 – 10 servings

5 large Anaheim chiles, roasted and peeled (see note)

1 large Walla Walla Sweet onion (or another variety of sweet onion)

2/3 cup pitted and halved Kalamata olives, drained

5 very ripe local tomatoes, cored and diced to measure about 3 cups

1 cucumber, peeled and diced

5 grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooled and chopped

3/4 cup coarsely chopped darkly roasted and skinned hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

4 pieces top quality bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/3 cup red or white wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

About 1 1/2 cups crumbled Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue (or other good quality blue cheese)

Crusty artisan bread, sliced

Remove the stems, seeds, and inner membranes from the roasted chiles, then chop.

When ready to serve the salad, combine the chopped chiles with the onion, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, chicken, hazelnuts, bacon, and basil in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil.

Toss the salad mixture with enough of the vinaigrette  to moisten thoroughly. Serve in individual bowls and top each serving with some of the blue cheese. Serve along with crusty slices of good artisan bread.

Note: to roast the Anaheim chiles, poke each chile once with a sharp knife to avoid explosions in the oven. Place the chiles on a baking sheet and broil until the skin has blistered and is fairly blackened on all sides. This takes about 6 – 8 minutes total time. Alternatively, you could roast them over a burner or on a grill. Just make sure the skin gets blistery and blackened in most spots all the way around. Remove from the heat and let cool. The skin will peel away very easily.

Recipe from “Oregon Hazelnut Country — The Food, The Drink, The Spirit,” by Jan Roberts-Dominguez. Copyright Jan Roberts-Dominguez, 2010

Again, our thanks to the wonderful Jan Roberts-Dominguez for taking the time, the thought, and the care to create this one-of-a-kind Rogue River Salad!