My belly was very happy after a recent meal. Here's how it happened:
During a conference call I'd downloaded a ton of recipes from a batch of 30 scallop recipes. We'd made one and it was good. I had more scallops frozen. And, I'd not thought about the next few evenings dinners before that day so I kind of figured we'd try the scallops with chestnut sauce and maybe do tilapia sandwiches. Not planning a meal ahead is rare for me. I usually have all our meals planned out a week ahead. During the same conference call I'd also downloaded one called Milwaukee dogs. Brats with sauerkraut, Dijon mustard and Swiss cheese.
Then, fate interfered. My internet at my Greenwood office has always been lousy. On cloudy days the modem just doesn't work well. I'd left my modem in my Columbus office so figured I'd use my phone as a tether. Well, that only works if you actually have a card to support it in your computer. So, instead of spending the whole day in Greenwood, I did one meeting in there and drove back to Indy and did the rest via GoToMeeting. And, I called Connie and said, "Please solve this problem permanently." That meant that the next day he was in Greenwood with the folks to hook up real internet. It also meant that he was going to be near Claus' Haus - the German meat market. My mind immediately went to the Milwaukee dogs when he called and suggested that on the way home he'd stop and pick up anything I'd like. I'd like brats, please.
Now, on top of the brats, our friends Raquel and Steve had brought over some potatoes from their garden. Amazing potatoes. Lovely little reds. Creamy. Perfect. I'd found a recipe on the New York Times website for sage roasted potatoes. Connie adores fried sage. I adore potatoes. We were in business!
And, the peach truck had been here. I'd texted my brother John to let him know that we were planning on heading there that afternoon. He texted back that he was in line and was going to get me some. I asked for a box since our friends Deb and Ken wanted to split a box. Does John rock or what????
We had the makings of a perfect dinner. Milwaukee dogs. Sage roasted potatoes. Grilled peaches with blue cheese and honey. Connie tried the brats first. YUM! Then, he tried the potatoes. WOW! Now, since he's not fond of fruit, he saved the peaches for last. His eyes pretty much rolled back into his head. "Pretty good, huh," I said. "That's an understatement," he said. Then, he asked me to rate them. First place went to the peaches. Second to the potatoes. Third to the brats. But, seriously, if I had 100 points to distribute, they'd all be getting about 33! He tried to cheat the system and give the peaches a 7 on a scale of 1-5. LOL.
Here's a photo of the peaches, brats and buns coming off the grill:
Now, on to the recipes.
Milwaukee Dogs
Ingredients:
brats
Swiss cheese
sauerkraut
Dijon mustard
buns
Directions:
Heat the sauerkraut. Grill the brats. Just as they get done, slice them in half, move them to the cool side of the grill and put slices of Swiss cheese on them. Toast the buns. Schmear with Dijon. Put the brats on the buns, top with sauerkraut and top with the other half.
Adapted from the Betty Crocker
Peaches with Blue Cheese and Honey
Ingredients:
peaches
blue cheese
honey
Directions:
Cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Grill cut side down until softened. Flip and put a knob of blue cheese in each cavity. Grill until the blue cheese melts. Remove from the grill and plate. Drizzle with honey.
Roasted Potatoes with Sage
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, cut in half
1/3 c flour
1 1/2 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced (I accidentally omitted this)
1/4 c chopped fresh sage leaves
1 T unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
12 fresh sage leaves
1 T unsalted butter
Directions:
Put a large cast iron skillet in your oven. Preheat your oven to 450F. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise.
Put them in a saucepan of cold, salted water. Put the saucepan on high heat and bring the water to a boil. As soon as the water boils, lower the heat and simmer the potatoes for five minutes. Drain them and pat them dry. Sprinkle the flour on a plate and roll the potatoes in it. Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and pour in the olive oil, making sure to cover the entire bottom of the skillet. Lay the potatoes in the skillet cut side down.
Roast them for 10 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and flip the potatoes. It was at this point that I added the chopped sage leaves and forgot about the garlic. You do NOT want to put the garlic now but you can add the chopped sage. Roast another ten minutes.
While the potatoes are finishing up in the oven, you need to fry the sage leaves. Put a tablespoon of butter in a very shallow skillet (an omelet pan works well) and let it melt and get bubbly and hot. Add the sage leaves in one layer. When the first side is a bit brown, flip them. They're easy to overcook so keep a good eye on them.
When you remove the skillet from the oven, quickly add the last tablespoon of butter and the garlic. Serve the potatoes topped with the sage leaves.
Adapted from the New York Times
There are times in everyone's life where you really wonder what curve balls are going to be thrown your way next. In the last month and a half we've dealt with a house fire at a dear friend's. She's an elderly widow with no kids and her closest relative about an hour away. She's out of the ICU and in a rehab hospital. Next step is a furnished apartment until her home is rehabbed. Then, my mom's best friend was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer and died within about a month of the diagnosis. Finally, my beloved father-in-law, Donald, died. He's actually my brother John's father-in-law. John married the girl down the street many years ago. We'd grown up with Pam and her sister Debbie. We'd all gone to the same church too. So, I've known Donald since I was about six. Since I didn't have a father-in-law or mother-in-law of my own, I adopted Donald and Pat. Two of the most wonderful people in the world. When I married Connie, they adopted him as part of the family too. We've all always felt very lucky to be related to each other by marriage. Connie and I had the MOPS (short for our family) Mother's Day and six birthday party on Mother's Day. I took this photo of Donald sitting in Connie's chair.
A couple of days after the party, he went into the ICU. We knew it wasn't good and the odds weren't in his favor. My brother, John, wrote the coolest memory. He said not only did he learn how to do things by Donald teaching him but also by Pam saying, "That isn't the way my dad would do that." He was right. This was a man who could do just about anything. With a smile on his face and a great attitude. Because the visitation and the dinner after the service will include others, it felt right to have dinner just for the MOPS. I knew we'd have at best 90 minutes to cook before everyone got here so I tried to 1)make easy dishes and 2) make old favorites.
Pickle dip for Pat. This was one I made for an exchange group. I felt guilty because it's only three ingredients. It's also fabulous so I got over the guilt REALLY quickly.
Salsa. My former neighbor Sue's recipe. She called it Mexicali Scoop. It's become a family favorite.
Artichoke heart dip. Sometimes the family does this cold. I added extra cheese and nuked it.
Pork tenderloin with bourbon soy marinade. No matter how many recipes I try, this remains my favorite.
Banana chutney. Years ago I thought, "You know what would be great? Banana chutney. And, lo and behold, there was recipe in the Junior League cookbook called Back Home Again. It's killer.
Lemony tortellini salad. From the Kraft magazine. Really good even thought I left out the feta. Partially because I wasn't sure who'd like it and partially because I forgot it...
Corn salad. Connie really isn't fond of corn. This, he loves.
Grilled Caesar salad. If you've never grilled romaine lettuce, you need to start now. Yes, I mean NOW. All you do is cut the head of romaine in half lengthwise then brush it lightly with olive oil. Grill it for just long enough to get some good burn marks. If you want, you can also grill a basket of grape tomatoes, onion rings and avocado slices. All of those get tossed with olive oil prior to putting them in the basket. Then, grill for about five minutes. Slice the lettuce and toss it with the veggies and your favorite Caesar dressing and you're good to go.
Mom's chocolate upside down cake. A kidhood favorite. Chocolatey, gooey, good! Its
one of those deals that creates cake and sauce as it bakes. Yummy chocolaty sauce. I'm not a big sweet eater. This, is an exception. Well, except I still wouldn't eat this in the middle of the night!
Banana Chutney
Ingredients:
2 c peeled and chopped bananas (about 6)
1/2 lb onions, coarsely chopped
1/2 lb pitted dates, finely chopped
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c apple cider vinegar
2 T finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 t salt
1/2 t curry
1/2 c raisins (golden or regular)
Directions:
Put all the ingredients in a large and heavy saucepan. Allow the chutney to simmer until it's thickened. That'll take about 15 minutes.
from Back Home Again
Mom's Chocolate Upside Down Cake
Ingredients:
1 c flour
1 t salt
3/4 c sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 c milk
1 t vanilla
1/2 c chopped nuts (optional - I usually leave them out)
2 T butter
1 square chocolate (is 1 oz of bittersweet chocolate)
for the topping:
4 T cocoa
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients. Melt the butter and chocolate together over very low heat. Slowly stir in the milk, vanilla and melted chocolate/butter. Pour into an 8x8 pan. Mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle them over the batter. Pour a cup of water over all. DO NOT MIX! Bake at 325 F for 45 minutes. Best served warm.
Lemony Tortellini Salad
Ingredients:
1 9 oz package refrigerated cheese tortellini, cooked, drained and cooled
1 c coarsely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 c crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 c finely chopped red onions
1/4 c Zesty Italian dressing
1/2 t zest and 2 t juice from a lemon
1/4 t dried, crumbled oregano leaves (I used fresh)
Directions:
Mix the ingredients together gently and serve.
Last week was a zoo. Total, complete and entire. I was so ready for Saturday so I could head to the office and have no phones ringing and where the email deluge would slow down. I got up early and headed to the living room and sat down at the computer and started to work on the week's menu and grocery list. Plus the obligatory check of the weather and Facebook. I'd planned to start this post... But, at 8:12 we got a call from the idiots at the Fraternal Order of Police. I hung up on them. Grrrrr. Connie woke up and started puttering around. I'd had all of about half an hour of quiet time.
While Connie went to the farmers market and grocery and TJ's, I headed to the office to start in on the mountain on my desk. The bad news is I'll be there all day Sunday too. So much for brunch at Chef Josephs!
The fruits and vegetables are wonderful this time of year. So, I've got corn on the cob, watermelon, zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers on the list. A couple of weeks ago we scored a box of fresh cherries. They were amazing. My kitchen was covered with cherry juice by the time I got done pitting them. About half went to a boozy cherry dish from a friend's blog. The other half went to the amazing cherry clafouti from A Kitchen in France. That's this Sunday's recipe from Weekend in a French Kitchen. I've made clafoutis before and we've thoroughly enjoyed them. This one was a bit lighter and more flavorful than it's predecessors. I made half a recipe since we're not into sweets too much. In fact, despite the fact that this was really wonderful, about a third of it went into the trash. Sweets just don't get eaten around here... Here's what it looked like:
Clafoutis are pretty darned easy to make. First you put the fruit in a buttered baking dish. Then, you top it with a custard of flour, sugar, vanilla, milk and eggs. Pop that in the oven and bake it for about 45 minutes total. Cool it (if you can wait) then dust it with confectioners sugar to serve. I confess that we didn't wait. It just smelled too good!
Let's see, in addition to the clafouti we 've had the most amazing cocktail: Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas. An absolute five in my book. I got the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. One of the magazines I quit taking eons ago but that is now on nextissue.com so I skim it... I think next time we'll make our own margarita mix and avoid all of the chemicals and preservatives that come with the prepackaged stuff.
Here's what the recipe was:
Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita
10 servings (needless to say, we cut the recipe to two servings!)
Ingredients:
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and sliced
3 c margarita mix
1 1/2 c gold Tequila
3/4 c orange liqueur
Directions:
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the jalapeno and cucumber with 1/2 t kosher salt. Add the margarita mix, Tequila and orange liqueur along with several ice cubes. Shake well. Strain and serve over ice.
We also had a lamb pasta sauce that was incredible. It was supposed to be lamb meatballs in spicy sauce. My ground lamb was frozen. Pasta sauce was the best alternative. I doubled up on the spices (not the herbs, just the spices) in the sauce since the ground lamb wasn't seasoned as the meatballs would have been. The only change we'd have made is adding more cheese. It's a recipe I got from the New York Times. The original measurements are given below.
Lamb in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 small sprig rosemary
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 t fresh thyme leaves
1/2 t ground cumin
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 t sugar
1/4 c orange juice (I used 1/4 c of frozen concentrate)
crumbled feta cheese
farfalle
Directions:
Brown and drain the lamb and onion. Crush the tomatoes. Add them along with the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for about half an hour to reduce the liquid. Serve over cooked farfalle. Top with crumbled feta cheese.
Mid week our friend Diane stopped by to pick up the bike her boyfriend, Craig, had bought from Connie. We made antipasto salads. Well, kind of. Let's see, no provolone and the truffle cheese (which was provolone based) had mold on it, so I used cheddar. No chickpeas so I used black beans. No salami so I fried some bacon. LOL. Talk about substituting! Diane is the ultimate baker so I was a bit hesitant to make a pie. But, since we had help to eat this one I pounced on the opportunity. Peach sour cream pie. It looks like it came from All Recipes. It tasted as wonderful as it looked. And, made a mighty fine breakfast too!
Peach Sour Cream Pie
Ingredients:
pie crust
4 fresh peaches sliced 1/4" thick (you can substitute a 16 oz bag of frozen peaches, thawed, drained and patted dry)
1 T lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1 c sugar
1/3 c sour cream
1/4 c flour
Directions:
Prebake the crust in a 425F oven that's been preheated. It'll take about 15 minutes for it to get golden brown. Allow it to cool for about 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temp to 350F. Toss the peach slices and the lemon juice. Lay the peach slices in the pie crust. Mix the other ingredients and spoon the custard over the peaches. Bake for 50 minutes. The original recipe called for tenting foil over the pie for that 50 minutes then removing the foil and baking it for an additional 30 minutes. I didn't use the foil and skipped the last 30 minutes because the filling set up enough for my taste.
adapted from All Recipes
Last, but not least, watermelon wedges. With all kinds of wonderful things sprinkled on them! Now, this is one that I saved in nextissue.com also. BUT, it doesn't reference the magazine. My guess is Cooking Light. I put the spice mixture together for this and cut a couple of wedges. The cilantro was chopped and ready to go but I totally forgot that and the olive oil the first round. So, I made another wedge. Connie liked it better with the cilantro and olive oil. I preferred just the spice mixture.
Chile Lime Watermelon Wedges
Ingredients:
grated rind from one lime
1 t ancho chile powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t kosher salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
8 - 8oz wedges seedless watermelon
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Put the lime rind in a cake pan or on a half sheet and bake it at 200F for 10 minutes. You want it to be slightly dry but not dry enough to lose it's flavor. Mix it with the chile powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Lay the watermelon wedges on the dish you'll use to serve them. Sprinkle them with the lime mixture. Then, drizzle them with the evoo. Finally, top them with a sprinkle of cilantro
I think this is adapted from Cooking Light. I got it from a magazine on nextissue.com - one that doesn't show attribution...
About a month ago I started keeping a food journal. For years I've made my menus on the back of our grocery lists. They'd get lost. I'd get frustrated. There was no way to go back and find recipes I'd wanted to try but hadn't. What my eighth grade drafting teacher would've called a mell of a hess. Turns out one of the reps had brought me a journal. A blank journal. Perfect. Now, when there are photos that I can't quite figure out I can go to the journal. I can also keep a list of the things that need to be used up. For example, today's list was: chicken stock, bbq pork and beef, peaches, cabbage, corn, pesto potato salad, fresh mozzarella, panzanella salad, pickled beets, eggplant involtini, pesto, grilled zukes, rhubarb, chanterelle mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet cherries in port, meringues, eggplant spread and asparagus. Quite the collection, eh? I've got four dinners to plan from that. Plus six lunches. We'll be eating well, won't we?
Now, the other great thing about the journal is that when I make up a recipe I've got a place to record it without having to actually write a blog or create a document in Word. Saturday evening is a great example. Eggplant involtini was on the menu. It's one of our favorites. Turns out there was an old eggplant in the fridge downstairs. It was on its last legs and there was no way I could use it for involtini. So, I created an eggplant spread. First I peeled and cubed the eggplant. Then, I tossed it with olive oil and roasted it for about 25 minutes. After that it went into the food processor with about 2 T of tahini, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1 t of lemon juice, 1/2 t of cumin. That all got processed. Then, I drizzled in 2T of olive oil. It was fabulous on some nice crackers but would be equally good on fresh veggies. Or, on a sandwich... It wasn't much too look at but made up for that in taste!
About the same time, I thought about the sweet cherries in the fridge. They really needed to be used up. And, I had two leftover egg whites. Those got whipped with a smidge of cream of tartar and enough sugar to make a nice meringue. I piped that mixture onto a baking sheet and baked it at 250 for 25 minutes then left them in the oven with the heat off for another hour.
The cherries were stemmed and pitted then cooked down in a couple of teaspoons of butter.
Once they'd softened nicely and released a bunch of juice, I added some sugar and port. That was thickened with corn starch and served over the meringues.
Without the journal I'd not have a clue in a month how in the world I made those. As I type this my favorite hot curried peaches are simmering on the stove - with the addition of a couple of cups of chopped rhubarb and a bit more brown sugar to offset the tart rhubarb.
Shredded cabbage is draining for cole slaw. I'm not sure if we'll be trying a new recipe or going back to one of the old faithfuls- Mrs Huber's slaw or barbecue slaw. Mom got me a cookbook titled, "How to Cook a Porcupine" at the church rummage sale and there's an interesting slaw recipe there so I may have to try something new. (nb - it wound up being new/old with a regular creamy cole slaw and a 4oz jar of pimentos tossed in)
Connie wants leftover eggplant involtini for dinner. I kind of wanted to do just bbq favorites. But, we can do both within reason.
See the serving from Saturday? Two eggplant rolls... For our bbq dinner we each had half a roll.
Tomorrow we'll have Caprese salad and pesto pasta for dinner. Lots of basil. Reminds me that I saw a fun basil butter corn recipe on Food 52. Might try that tonight... Then again, maybe not.
Now, before I post this, I've got to add that the Caprese salad was fabulous. In addition to the usual suspects of sliced tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze, I added a smidge of lemon salt.
Along with the salad we had some pesto pasta, sautéed mushrooms and some onions from our garden. I've never had better onions! They were sautéed with butter and salt and stole the show. We each ate about half of our pasta but cleaned up our onions!
The best laid plans of mice and men. I found my Secret Recipe Club recipe before being assigned the blog. You see, Lisa's blog is one of my very favorites. If I was limited to reading ten or fewer, she'd be on the list. Her taste is very similar to ours. And, I love her writing style. So, I'm a regular visitor to her blog: Authentic Suburban Gourmet. She'd posted a fantastic deviled egg recipe. It was on my menu to take to the family party. Then, for a bunch of reasons the party date was changed. And, on top of that, Connie and I are trying to diet. Something with bacon was simply out of the question. So, here's a link to some deviled eggs that look incredible: "Baked Potato Deviled Eggs."
Now, let's talk about what I wound up doing for Secret Recipe Club... Strawberries with Bourbon Brown Sugar Dip. You see, the other dishes I was going to take to the family party included Strawberry Salsa and Strawberry Torte. The pork butt for the pulled pork will be fine. The eggs will keep. And, the three bean salad didn't get made so all the beans are still happily ensconced in their cans. Alas, the strawberries wouldn't last. They were already getting a bit wobbly. Just my luck, Lisa had the perfect recipe posted for me. Perfect because I had some lowfat sour cream and the kids had given me some mint julep sugar in my box of Christmas goodies. I was good to go!
By now you're probably familiar with how SRC works. We're assigned another blog from our group. We make the recipe and write about it. Sometimes we get REALLY lucky and get one of our favorite blogs. Like me this time :-)
So, let me tell you a bit about Lisa. She's a lot like me. We both are successful executives, love to entertain, self-taught cooks and are married to men who love to eat. Oh, and she loves her Max like I love my Annie! That's Annie begging for some leftover steak.
Needless to say, it makes it fun to read her blog!
So, what did we think? These were such a great twist on the old staple strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar. I love Lisa's creativity. She's always thinking outside the box and it shows in her recipes! Now, once we've lost enough weight, we'll go back and make her pimento cheese toast points with bacon jam... They are drool worthy!
Thank you Lisa for yet another wonderful recipe!
Strawberries with Bourbon Brown Sugar Dip
Ingredients:
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup sour cream or crème fraiche
1 T bourbon
3 T brown sugar or flavored sugar (I used mint julep)
extra sugar for dipping
Directions:
Mix the sour cream, bourbon and sugar. Allow it to sit for about 30 minutes so the flavors can blend. Serve the dip with the strawberries. Have the extra sugar on the side for additional dipping.
adapted from AuthenticSuburbanGourmet
Sometimes our menu is dictated by what needs to be finished up. We'd had leftover pork tenderloin on salads for lunch. But the other pork tenderloin was sitting in the fridge and needed to be used up. So, that became the basis for dinner. Connie loves pears. I'd bought four and they were ripe. Another addition to dinner. Along with the pork and pears I was thinking couscous. There was a container of chopped green onions. And, a jar of tahini that needs to be used. A great addition to couscous.
Here's what I was thinking... We have a fantastic recipe for pork tenderloin. It's marinated in a mixture of whiskey, brown sugar and soy sauce. It's beyond fantastic. What if I switched a couple of the ingredients just a little bit and used Hangar One Spiced Pear and Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce with the brown sugar? We did a taste test beforehand. I mixed about a tablespoon of the proposed marinade and took a little sip. Wow. Lot's of alcohol. Connie took a swig. Sputter, cough. "Oh, that'll do." Really? You about choked on that? Yeah, I know but it'll be fine. So, I mixed the marinade and in went the pork tenderloin.
Down to the basement to the Kinect. I have once agained realized why I HATE the game of golf. It is boring. No, it is BORING. After playing RallyBall we switched to the Sports disk. And, I said let's play golf since we've not played that yet. Last time for me. UGH! No wonder I quit playing the stooooopid game about 1977!!!! We started with the three hole game and I left at the end of two. Mind you, we were tied but I had had more than enough. Ok, fine. You get the message. I don't like golf. Fortunately, I do like cooking.
Next up was brown rice to mix with a chopped red onion and some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and Trader Joe's Cuban Style Black Beans. That's for lunch tomorrow. Then, I started assembling the couscous ingredients. Finally, the pork and the pears went on the grill.
What did we think? Grand Slam. We rarely give out five's. And I only remember one other time we've given every dish a five. This was truly a grand slam. Not only was it super easy and pretty darned low cal, but it was also VERY good.
Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Pears and Mediterranean Couscous
for the pork:
1 pork tenderloin (actually two will fit in the marinade if you so desire)
1/4 c Hangar One
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce
1 Bosc pear (Connie's favorite - use whatever you like best)
for the couscous:
1 c water
1 c uncooked couscous
1 T tahini sauce
1/2 can chickpeas
feta cheese
1 c diced carrots, cooked
1/2 c diced green onions
Directions:
Mix the marinade ingredients and pour the mixture into a gallon storage bag. Add the pork tenderloin, seal the bag and leave it on the counter for at least 30 minutes while you assemble the couscous ingredients. Put a cup of water in a large saucepan and put it on a burner. Don't turn the burner on yet, just get this ready to go. Then, measure out a cup of dried couscous and set it aside. Dice the carrots and cook them until very tender. Crumble the feta cheese and set it aside with the green onions. Open and rinse the can of chickpeas. Set out the jar of tahini and a tablespoon measure. Ok, you are now ready to assemble the couscous once the pork is cooked. It'll cook in five minutes and you can assemble the dish in about three so it's perfect to do while the pork rests after coming off the grill. Last but not least, you need to wash and halve and core your pear.
Once your pork is up to room temp and marinated, it's time to grill it. We like ours pretty pink in the center so rarely grill it past 130 since I know the temp usually goes up about 10 degrees after it comes off the heat. I'd actually prefer to take it off the grill at 125 but on occasion the grillmeister gets preoccupied and doesn't pay enough attention. cough, cough, cough. While the pork is grilling, put the pears on the grill cut side down. You'll either get lovely grill marks or slightly blackened pears. That depends on whether you remember to remove the pears from direct heat and move them to indirect or not. Your choice.
Turn the heat under the pan with a cup of water to high. Now, take your pork and pears off the grill and put them on a nice carving board and tent it and set it aside while you cook the couscous. The water should be boiling right about now. Remove the pan from the heat, dump the couscous in, stir it well, cover it and set it aside for five minutes. Tick tock, tick tock. Take a sip of wine. Make sure the candles are lit and the table is set. Ok, it should be ready to be assembled. Stir the couscous again. Add the tahini and stir it well. Then add the other ingredients and stir them in gently. Slice the pork and serve the pear and couscous. We loved a bottle of Due Uve with this. It's a mix of pinot gris and sauvignon blanc.
Is everyone ready for the long weekend? We certainly are. My brother-in-law, Tom, heads here this evening. He's a hoot. One of these guys who's forgotten more about wine than most folks know. He's a total fitness fanatic. I think he got my share and Connie's share of the workout genes. The best news for me is that unless you give him rare meat, he eats anything. We'll visit the art galleries down on Mass Ave and go to a party at my brother, John's. I've got a bunch of work to do so will have to spend a good bit of time at the office. But, it'll be fun to see him!
My menu's almost done for the weekend. I want to try a new spinach lasagna recipe. Connie's requesting Thomas Keller's fried chicken. My niece, Samantha, wants Casa d'Angelo salad. My brother, John, wants three bean salad. And, yes, he'd love some of the fried chicken. So, I'll make a double batch and share. Kate at Diethood made some incredible looking rosemary crackers. I've been thinking about them all week and hoping I can make them this weekend. There's a cauliflower and truffle soup in the Tavern on the Green cookbook. Then, there's the garlic scapes and ricotta tart that's been on the menu for two weeks or more but hasn't gotten made because I keep heading to the office too early on Sunday. Maybe this weekend I'll plan well so I can work on a project at home while it bakes... Something that I'll undoubtedly make again is this dessert. It was quick, easy and totally wonderful. We've made grilled peaches with blue cheese and honey before. This is that dish kicked up a few notches. We loved it!!
Grilled Fruit
Ingredients:
1/2 peach per person
3 strawberries per person
2 t blue cheese per person
1 heaping T yellow raspberries perperson
honey
coconut balsamic vinegar (or other sweet vinegar like pear or fig)
Directions:
Cut the peaches in half and pit them. Do not peel them. Put the strawberries on a skewer. Heat your grill. Grill the peaches, cut side down. Put the skewer(s) with the strawberries on the grill.
When you have grill marks on the fruit, turn them over.
Put the blue cheese in the centers of the peaches.
When the blue cheese is well softened, take the fruit off the grill. Put each peach in a bowl. Drizzle some honey over it. Top the peach with three strawberries and a tablespoon of raspberries. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar. Serve warm.
This is the fruit salad I make whenever I need to "DO" a fruit salad. It's also the one I make when I just want fruit salad. Now, my brother's mother-in-law is one of those wonderful ladies who makes a fruit salad and takes all the pulp VERY carefully out of the oranges. I'm not. I don't have time and I've quit apologizing for that. It's the way it is. But, guess what? This tastes wonderful no matter what. The recipe originally came from Winners, a cookbook published by the Indianapolis Junior League. It's one of the few times I buy bottled salad dressing. Brianna's Poppy Seed. Most of the other poppy seed dressings are too gloppy and sweet for my taste. Not Brianna's. It's just about perfect on this. Now, the fact that the salad has cashews and bacon on it couldn't possibly have anything to do with how much I like it. You believe me there, don't you??? Ok, fine. Let's just say that this salad is fantastic!!
Now before I get to the recipe, let me tell you what this went with for breakfast. We were at Rosewind Farms for two breakfasts, so I made enough for three meals. That meant leftovers for lunch on Monday :-) Good deal! Saturday morning we had blueberry pancakes, ham and Fruit Salad Ole. I've discovered something that's good to know. I do not like some whole grain pancake mixes. I won some in a contest on Foodbuzz that was quite good. But, this was dry. Dry as the desert. We tossed the majority of the pancakes. Even shagbark hickory syrup couldn't save them. Sunday was much better. Maggie had sorrel growing in the garden so I wandered across the lane and picked a big handful. Then, I sauteed some red onion, the sorrel, shrimp and some herbs. Whipped eggs and feta cheese were poured over to make a lovely omelet. I'd show you a photo but someone forgot the extra camera batteries and the ones in the camera died... I know, it's terrible and I accept all the blame :-)
Fruit Salad Ole
Ingredients:
3-4 oranges
2 ruby red grapefruit
3-4 kiwis
1-2 bananas
2 avocados
big handful roasted, salted cashews
big handful browned, crumbled bacon
poppy seed dressing
Directions:
Section the oranges and grapefruit. Cut each section into bite-sized pieces. Peel and coarsely chop the kiwis, bananas and avocados.
Ladle into bowls and top with cashews, bacon and poppy seed dressing.
Harry Potter, you say? Well, yes, movie three or four is on FULL BLAST in the living room while I'm in the family room attempting to put sentences together in some sort of coherent fashion. When a new movie in the series comes out, Connie disappears to the living room to watch the series to date. I repair to the family room with a pair of earplugs. Not to sound like a party pooper but I'm on the phone or in meetings a huge part of my day and enjoy nothing so much as quiet in the evening. Until Harry Potter is done, quiet won't exist in the evenings. Since Connie loves Harry Potter so much and I love Connie so much, I tolerate the noise. Isn't that a good part of life, tolerating that which we really don't care for because someone we care for loves it? Or, growing to love something we never thought we would because someone we love loves it? I actually watched and enjoyed part of The Chamber of Secrets. Heck, I actually read that book!
Well, fine, that resolves the third portion of the title. What the heck about Turkey Sofas? When I made out our grocery list this weekend, I added Turkey Divan to the menu for tonight (I'm writing this on November 23rd.) Totally ignoring the fact we'd have a rather large quantity of gravy left from our feast last night. So, tonight when we got home we talked about what needed to be brought up from the basement refrigerator, the great decision was made - Turkey Sofas instead of Turkey Divan. I took some of the leftover dressing, nuked it, then topped it with turkey slices, cooked broccoli florets and some reheated gravy. No pics, no fuss. Just Turkey Sofas for dinner. Plate-licking good.
And, cranberry compote. Connie's favorite treat. I actually bought four extra bags of cranberries at Trader Joe's last year. Tucked them in the freezer to make Connie his compote for a couple of special occasions during the year. Then, failed miserably at making my sweetie his favorite treat. I'll not fail as miserably this coming year - I promise! We each had a little bowl of compote last night. Today for lunch we had turkey sandwiches - turkey, mayo, cranberry compote and a huge handful of lettuce on whole wheat. It was fantastic. I remember the first time I had a turkey sandwich with cranberry jelly. Connie and I'd gone to Durham to David and Kara's. David is Connie's oldest son. Kara is his wonderful wife. She's a scientist. She had the whole cooking extravaganza organized to the minute. Now, this was the first time she'd cooked Thanksgiving dinner. And, she did it to perfection. What an amazing meal. And, what an amazing young lady! The next day before we left to drive north, Connie fixed us sandwiches. Turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce. It was the best turkey sandwich I'd ever had. Wow.
One of my friends stopped by the office today. She's having a really fun date for Thanksgiving. She left with half of our leftover compote. The better to entertain with, my dear :-)
As for the compote, I clipped the recipe from a magazine. It was long before I started blogging so I didn't note a magazine of origin and can't give proper credit. Here's a pic of the recipe... I know I should recognize it from the publishing style but I get so daggone many cooking magazines that they're a blur. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they'd put a little logo at the end of each recipe!
Cranberry Compote
Ingredients:
2 - 12 oz bags fresh cranberries
1 3/4 c sugar
1 T grated orange rind
1/4 c orange juice (I just use 1/4 c of OJ concentrate)
2 T orange liqueur
1 cinnamon stick
1 t grated lemon rind
1 t vanilla
1/2 t grated fresh nutmeg
Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan.
This will bubble vigorously so larger is better than smaller. Cook the mixture on medium high heat about 5 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and the cranberry skins begin to split.
Turn the heat down and cook another 7-8 minutes. This will keep in the fridge up to a week - if it lasts that long!
