Grilled Grilled Ham & Cheese

For some reason I wanted some grilled corn too...

Happy Friday!  It's been an extremely long day and I'm ready to kick my feet up and put in a Netflix movie.  And I might just be in a cruel enough mood to make Andy watch a chick flick with me.  Yes, the perks of domestic bliss.

I grew up eating grilled cheese, but never understood why it was called "grilled" cheese.  I mean, I only knew of it being cooked in a frying pan - never a grill.  Then I saw Nick from Macheesmo do this.  And I was instantly inspired to do the same! 

Ingredients:

Bread
Cheddar cheese
Spinach
Ham slices
Softened butter

There's not really much to this.  And you don't necessarily have to use the ingredients I did - it's just the sandwich I was feeling at the time.

Light a charcoal grill. 

Butter one side of two slices of bread.  Place one slice on the grill, butter-side down, over moderate heat and top with cheese, spinach, ham, and another slice of cheese.  Then top with remaining piece of bread, butter-side up. 

Grill for about 2-3 minutes, or until grill marks appear and side is golden brown.  Flip over and grill for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Slice in half and enjoy!

Seriously, this was awesome.  Even better than actual grilled cheese.  Don't believe me?  Try it out and let me know!

Have a great weekend guys!  I'm super pumped because we're getting a new couch!  Yeah, you know you're getting old when you can be excited about furniture! 

Grilled NY Strip w/ Vegetables & Olivada

Can you believe that before this meal, I haven't had a bit of red meat in over 2 months?  And you know what?  It made this meal all the better!

It was simple, but elegant.  We had our friend Terry over and he straight cleaned his plate.  That's always a sign that the meal is good, right?!

While I'm not usually a big fan of olives, this olivada (very similar to a tapenade - but easier!) was a winner in my book.  Intermingled with the vegetables and on top of the steak, it was a great condiment and rounded out the dish well.

So the next time your in the mood for a steak dinner - this is where it's at!


Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's recipe

1 red onion, cut into thick slices
1/2 cauliflower, cut into 2-inch florets
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
1 yellow bell pepper, cored and cut into strips
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
salt and pepper, to taste
3 12 oz. New York Strip Steaks

Olivada:

1 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon capers
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

To make olivada, combine olives, capers, garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl.  Let sit for about 20 minutes for flavors to meld.

Meanwhile, combine onion, cauliflower, asparagus, and bell pepper in a grill pan  Toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill under direct heat until vegetables start to char - about 10 minutes or so.  Toss vegetables with about half of the olivada.  Set aside.

Brush the steaks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill steaks on direct heat, turning once, about 8-10 minutes for a medium rare.  Cook a little bit longer if you want them more done.  Let rest on carving board for about 5 minutes.

Serve steaks alongside the vegetables and top steaks with additional olivada, if desired.

Seriously, if you're a carnivore, this is sure to please ya!  I don't know if it was because I hadn't had meat in so long or what, but this meal is definitely a keeper!  See you guys tomorrow - have a great rest of your Wednesday!

Restaurant Recreations: Granny's Apron

It's been a while since I've done a Restaurant Recreations post, so I figured I'd start the week with one!

Now, a while back, I posted on my Facebook page that I would be trekking around Louisville to find a hole-in-the-wall diner to try.  Upon just seeing the name of this place - Granny's Apron - we knew we had to give it a go.

The restaurant itself is pretty inconspicuous, it's basically a plain brick building - you wouldn't really know it's a restaurant unless you already knew it was there.

We walked in and were promptly seated.  The restaurant was about half full, so you know that something had to bring them there.  One look at the menu and it was a hard decision to pick what we wanted.  They have all your basic comfort foods, from country fried steak to meatloaf.  We decided to do two appetizers, the onion petals and some mozzarella cheese sticks.

The onion petals tasted like a spicy version of a bloomin' onion, and were served with a sauce very similar to bloomin' onion sauce.  They were tasty though.

The mozzarella cheesesticks wern't anything fancy - in fact, they probably came from a frozen package - but hey, we weren't anywhere fancy, so I didn't expect anything more.

For our entrees, Andy chose the fish sandwich and I chose the prime rib burger.

Now let's talk about this fish sandwich.  This thing was huge.  I mean - HUGE.  4 people could have eaten off of this.  And the kicker here?  The sandwich was like $6!  After the sheer shock factor of how big this thing was, Andy said the taste of the fish itself wasn't anything spectacular.

Seriously huge!

There was pretty much only one word for my burger - messy!  It was juicy though!  It had sauteed mushroom and onions on it, as well as some swiss cheese.  Then to top it all off, there was a boatload of gravy on top.  It was definitely way too messy.

Sorry about the blurry picture - but you can obviously see this thing was messy!

All in all, our meal was okay.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but for under $20, we got your typical diner food - and let's not even talk about the "entertainment" we received while people-watching.



So let's get to the recreation!

I liked the idea of my burger, loaded with goods, but the restaurant version was way too messy!  So I decided to "clean" it up a little bit and here's what I ended up with...

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
8 oz. portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
6 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 slices bacon, cooked and divided
Hamburger buns
Swiss cheese slices

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add mushrooms and onions and cook until softened and slightly caramelized, about 10-15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, apple cider vinegar.  Chop up 2 slices of bacon and gently combine in the mix, as well.

Form mixture into 8 patties and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Heat a charcoal grill under medium high heat.  Grill patties for about 4 to 5 minutes per side (for a medium rare), or until at desired doneness.  About a minute before burgers are done, add cheese slices on top (if desired) and cook until melted.

Assemble burgers and top with onions, mushrooms, and leftover bacon slices. 

These were extremely juicy burgers!  I don't normally include a lot of acidity like orange juice or vinegar in burger mixtures, but it really worked here.  And you could taste a slight orange flavor in the meat which was a welcomed change!

The burgers were still slightly messy, but manageable, due to the fact that I decided to omit the gravy.

Give these burgers a try for your next grilling adventure and you won't be disappointed!

Have a great Monday guys!

Red, White, & Blue Dinner Party

If you guys hadn't noticed, I didn't do a post on Friday.  I decided to take the day off.  Why?  Well, Thursday afternoon, I got an e-mail from Foodbuzz's Tastemaker Program that my proposal for a "Red, White, & Blue-themed Dinner Party" was accepted... and I had to post it by Monday June 13th.  So yeah, needless to say, this girl has been busy planning, cooking, and writing this blog post! 

And I already have a special post planned for Monday (make sure to be back!), so that just left Sunday to post this.  What a turn-around right?  So I got busy and posted an open-invite on Facebook Thursday afternoon for some folks to come on over and eat.  We ended up with 6 guests (including me and Andy), so it was just the perfect number to pull off something elegant and summery.

Another plus to this dinner party, was that I received a stipend from both Cost Plus World Market & Foodbuzz to decorate and provide the food for this shindig.  Major score, right?  So I headed to World Market on Friday night to grab some awesome outdoor decor & food platters.  You can check out World Market's super cute and ever-changing outdoor line here through their eCatalog.

At first, I planned to make every part of this meal include red, white, and blue.  And then actually having to sit down and think about it... I didn't want to just throw things together haphazardly.  I wanted this dinner to be elegant.  I wanted it to be unique.  So I decided to incorporate the colors throughout the meal, sometimes separately, sometimes all together - in order to have a cohesive and delicious presentation.  So without further ado... let's check out how the dinner party went!

 

The tablescape - I found the cutest table runner at World Market and it really gives a pop of color to the back deck.  I kind of wish I bought solid colored plates, because you can't really see the clear ones very well, but they served their purpose.  I guess I went really blue with the decor, but I thought everything really went well together.

And now to showcase the eats!

Tri-Color Bell Pepper & Goat Cheese Crostinis

These were one of the easiest appetizers to make - and they were a big hit!

Grilled Tandoori Chicken Skewers... these are always a crowd fave, and the recipe can be found on my blog here

Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Blueberries, Cherry Tomatoes, & Halloumi Cheese

 

 

I was originally going for a surf and turf type meal, but after looking for a recipe with a blueberry reduction, I just kept finding pork recipes!  I guess pigs live on the "turf" too, so in a way, I guess it still is surf and turf!

Isn't this the cutest serving platter ever?!  Perfect for the pork chops!

Whole Foods was having a sale on the bone-in chops so it was just meant to be!

Everybody let me plate their dish (which I actually really enjoy doing!)

Good times definitely look like they are being had!

And now on to dessert...

My friend will probably kill me for putting this candid picture of her up here, but hey... she looks like she's enjoying this right?

The brownies went quick!

And a nice fruity cobbler to finish everything off

 Both desserts were topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, because hey... sometimes you can't have dessert without a little bit of ice cream to go with it!

I really want to thank my friends for coming over and experiencing this meal with me and allowing me to be my food blogger self and take pictures of the dinner!  Hope you guys enjoyed the meal as much as Andy and I did! 

So although I didn't have any meals that were all red, white, and blue... I think I did a pretty good job showcasing the colors in a cohesive and delicious menu.  I was really on the lookout for purple/blue potatoes, but my go-to places in Louisville were all out!  Maybe next time =)

And don't worry... I'll be posting some recipes of some of the eats from tonight later on this week - anything you guys are dying for the recipe of?  I'll post whatever is the most popular!

*Thanks to Cost Plus World Market & the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program for letting this all happen.  I was granted a monetary stipend to conduct this post, but all opinions and recipes shared in this post are my own. 

BBQ Pork Chops

Almost every Saturday morning, sometime between 10am and 2pm, I find myself perusing around the Douglass Loop Farmer's Market.  And more often than not, I find myself ogling the meats at the Stone Cross Farm's booth.  I've been having a hankering for some bone-in chops lately, but always arrive too late to the booth to get some.  But trust me, settling for the boneless chops isn't that bad.  In fact, it's not bad at all.

You see the chop in the above picture?  That was only HALF of the whole chop I got.  Yeah, the whole chop was practically bigger than my entire plate.  Now, that's what I call a chop.

And the size isn't what gets me reeled in, either... the flavor of the meat is just superb!

And while I was perusing for recipes last weekend, I came across this little gem at Kohler Created.  By far, one of the. best. pork chop. recipes. ever. EVER.

Don't forget to vote in this week's treat poll:





Ingredients:

Adapted from Kohler Created's recipe


2 boneless pork chops (or in my case, one huge one cut in half)
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, combine the honey, brown sugar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, soy sauce, and garlic until sugar is dissolved.

Place pork chops in a large Ziploc bag and pour marinade into bag.  Place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Heat a charcoal grill under medium high heat and grill chops for about 5-7 minutes per side.  Let chops rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

We served this with some leftover homemade macaroni and cheese and some mixed vegetables.  This was the perfect Friday night meal.  So what are you waiting for?  It's Friday night!  And if you're in the Louisville area tomorrow morning, between 10am and 2pm, don't forget to check out the Douglass Loop Farmer's Market for some goodies!  Especially for some Stone Cross Farm's pork chops!

Have a great weekend guys!  We'll be headed up to Indianapolis for a graduation party (and to possibly hit up the outlet malls in Edinburgh on the way up) so don't forget to vote in the poll above to suggest something I should bring with me!

Grilled Naan

Yes, my basting brush is a man figure - and I love it.

I seem to like making naan bread.  It may not be the most authentic versions ever, but I manage to make it taste pretty darn good - and in the end, that's what matters right?

We got some green garlic in our CSA a couple weeks ago and it was really just sitting in the fridge waiting to be used.  I thought it would be a welcome addition to this naan.  Next time though, I may roll it in with the dough, instead of just using it as a topping in order to incorporate the flavor a bit more.

I love this grilled version because it provides a little bit more of a crispier naan, which I have no complaints about.  And hell... I just like using my grill, so why not?  Right?  Right.


Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 & 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter, melted plus more for brushing
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 stalk of green garlic, sliced thinly

In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and warm water.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, sift 2 & 1/2 cups of flour with salt.  Pour in melted butter, yogurt, and yeast mixture.  Mix well. If dough is too sticky, add remaining 1/2 cup of flour a little bit at a time, until you reach your desired texture.

Knead for about 15 minutes (yes, I got in my arm workout for the day with this one), or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a clean and oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel.  Let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down and knead for about a minute.  Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each one out into a circle/oval about 1/4 inch thickness.

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat. 

Before placing on grill, brush each flatbread with melted butter and place on grill.  Brush top of bread with additional butter and top with green garlic.  Grill for about 2-3 minutes, or until dough is crisp on the bottom.  Be careful not to leave it on there too long because it will burn easily (trust me, I had a casualty or two, lol). 

I'm working on my food styling - comments/criticisms welcome!

We served this with some freshly made raita and Indian spiced salmon fillets (recipe soon to come, of course) and it was just a great dinner all around. 

So next time you're in the mood for some naan... bust out that grill and throw those dough pieces on there!

See you guys tomorrow for a CSA Week #4 update - we got some more great stuff!  And let me know if you want me to feature your CSA, as well - there's still time to e-mail me =)

Mixed Grill w/ Spicy Bourbon Sauce

Happy Monday everybody!  Honey Caramel Ice Cream won out the poll (by a landslide!) last Friday, so look forward to that sometime this week.  We had a pretty good weekend, going out to dinner with friends and just enjoying this beautiful weather!  Which has turned into gray skies and cold rain!  What a way to start a week off huh?

It was a beautiful weekend in our neck of the woods.  Temps were 65F or above and guess who had to work on Saturday?  Me!  Couldn't enjoy any of it!  Well, any of Saturday, anyway.  I did get a pleasant surprise when I came home Saturday night though - found out I got a $2000 scholarship toward the Fall Quarter of Culinary School!  Major score!

Good thing I had Sunday off... and the weather was still just as nice.  So we took the opportunity to bust out the grill for the first time this year and fire up some good meats!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe


For Marinade:


3/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 large garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup mild molasses
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 & 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tablespoon Sriracha
salt and pepper, to taste
3 green onion, chopped

For Meat:

1 rack of baby back pork ribs (2 lbs.)
8 beef back ribs (3 lbs.)
8 chicken drumsticks
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon bourbon

To prepare your marinade, in a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, garlic, molasses, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili powder, ginger, and Sriracha.  Mix until sugar is dissolved.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then add green onions.

Sprinkle meats with salt and pepper on both sides. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Place pork ribs and chicken on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Place beef ribs in a metal baking pan.  Use half of marinade to coat all meats and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.  For remaining marinade, cover and set in fridge until ready to grill.

Position one oven rack in bottom third of oven and another in top third of oven.  Preheat oven to 350F.

Add beef broth to metal pan with beef ribs.  Place ribs meat-side down on top of broth (if not already in that direction).  Cover baking sheet with pork and chicken, as well as pan with beef, tightly with foil.  Place chicken and pork on lower rack and beef in top rack of oven.

Bake the chicken and pork for about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and open foil.  Cut pork rack into individual ribs pieces and place on a large platter.  Place chicken on platter, as well.  Bake beef for a total of 2 hours, then remove from oven and open foil.  Place beef ribs on platter.

Carefully oil grill racks with a kitchen towel and fire up charcoal grill under medium high heat.

Meanwhile, prepare your bourbon sauce.  Pour the pan juices from pork, chicken, and beef baking sheet/pan into a medium saucepan.  Carefully spoon off the fat.  Boil juices until reduced by half and slightly thickened, about 25 minutes or so.  Add bourbon (I used Woodford) and bring mixture back to a boil.  Remove from heat and season with salt, pepper, and additional Sriracha, if desired.

Place meats on grill (I had to do this in 2 batches - had enough room for the pork ribs and chicken on the first batch, and then the beef ribs on the 2nd batch) and brush with reserved marinade.  Grill until slightly charred, about 10 minutes or so, turning occasionally.

Serve meats with prepared bourbon sauce and your choice of grilled veggies (we stuck with potatoes and asparagus). 

This was definitely a great way to kick off the grilling season, let me tell you.  We tried to invite people over so we wouldn't seem so gluttonous with all this meat between the two of us, but nobody bit the offer.  So they definitely missed out!  So next time you need an idea for a barbecue/cookout - let this be your answer!  Enjoy your Monday guys!

Chicken Skewer Pitas w/ Cranberry Sauce & Tahini Yogurt

Okay, raise your hand if you're excited that it's Friday!  (Yes, I'm raising both hands just for good measure!) 

What does everyone have planned for the weekend?  Anything exciting?  Well, me... I've got an Open House to go to for the Culinary School that I applied for!  Hopefully can tour the campus and get in on some scholarship action.  So you guys will definitely be informed on Monday!

Anyway, it's supposed to rain for half the weekend, but it's going to be fairly warm, so that's good, right?  Spring is coming, and I couldn't be happier! 

So to keep happy spring thoughts going, I made these Chicken Skewers (although I didn't take them out back to grill them... but they would be perfect for grilling parties!) and thought of the flowers blooming, the warm weather, and how great it will be to have cookouts.

Ingredients:
 Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe

Tahini Yogurt:

juice from 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup tahini

Cranberry Sauce - recipe from the Eggnog Pancakes post


1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
small handful fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon


Chicken:

1/2 onion, grated
juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
wooden skewers
pitas, warmed

For the tahini yogurt, in a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, oregano, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, and garlic.  Mix well.  Whisk in yogurt and tahini.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

I had some leftover cranberry syrup (that I had frozen) from these Eggnog Pancakes, and thought I'd incorporate it into this savory meal.  The original recipe called for a pomegranate relish, and not being able to find any pomegranates, I just decided to improvise a little bit.  So in a small bowl, combine the thawed out cranberry syrup, chopped pistachios, parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

For the chicken, in a large bowl, combine the onion, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, and nutmeg.  Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to marinade mixture.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for about 2 hours.

30 minutes before the chicken is done marinating, place your wooden skewers in some water to soak (so they won't burn up under the broiler/grill).

Turn broiler to high (alternatively, you could fire up your grill under medium high heat) and place your rack about 6 inches from broiler (2nd highest notch for me). Thread the chicken pieces on the skewers (about 4 or 5 pieces per skewer) and place on a baking sheet.  Broil chicken in oven for about 5-6 minutes on each side.

When chicken is cooked, let rest just for a minute or two and then assemble your pitas with the tahini yogurt and cranberry sauce.

This would definitely win over at a cookout!  The chicken is absolutely moist and flavorful!  I was a little worried that the cranberry sauce would be a tad to overbearing or sweet, but it actually accompanied the chicken and yogurt very well!  Give it a shot, your guests will be amazed by the flavor and beauty of this dish! 

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

I-Want-My-Warm-Weather-Back Burgers

Hope everyone that celebrated had a festive and amazing Christmas!  I know I did, and I felt extremely loved and surrounded by great family!

I complain when it's too cold.  I complain when it's too hot.  Am I ever satisfied?

Although we didn't get hit quite as bad as the East Coast, Louisville had it's fair share of snow.  We had a white Christmas, which was quite pretty, but enough already.  The snow is cold.  And my dogs are possessed with the devil when they see it.  All they want to do is run around, tugging fiercely on their leashes, making me look like an idiot ragdoll when taking them for walks.  I'm sure it's quite humorous to an onlooker, but to me... it just makes my arms hurt.  And I might have a case of whiplash.  Who knows.

Anyway, I made these burgers with summer in mind.  Although I didn't brave the cold and grill them on the back deck (I'm sure they would have been even better with that smoky grill taste!), they were quite possibly the juiciest burgers I've had in a while.  Andy definitely liked them, as he proceeded to eat two!

Ingredients:
Adapted from The British Larder's Recipe

Burgers:

 

1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, roasted and mashed
salt and pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon horseradish sauce
1 egg
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

Parsnip Fries:

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into fries
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Toss parsnips in a large bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Arrange in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until parsnips are crispy and browned.  

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan under medium high heat. Add onion and carrot and saute for until onions are soft and translucent, about 2-3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Turn heat off and cool completely.  Then mix in roasted mashed garlic.

In a large bowl, combine onion mixture with ground beef, horseradish sauce, egg, panko, and worcestershire sauce.  Mix well.

Form mixture into 4 decent sized patties (you can make more of smaller ones, if you'd like).  Season outside of patties with salt and pepper, if desired.

Heat frying pan under medium high heat and add a little bit of olive oil.  Cook the burgers for 5 minutes on each side, or under middle is no longer bright pink.

Right before burger is done, you can add some cheddar cheese to melt on one side if you'd like a cheeseburger!

When parsnips are done, drizzle them with honey and serve with burger!

 

Like I said, these were damn good and juicy!  It definitely reminded me of grilling out (although these weren't grilled) in the summertime.  I want my summer/spring back.  Soon enough!

Enjoy guys!

Garlic & Herb Marinated Chicken Thighs

With summer in full swing, the weather is hot, the grills are going... I read about all these fun summer food festivals around the country: Ribfest in Illinois, Pineapple Festival in Hawaii, K-Town BBQ Cook Off & Texas Music Concert in Texas, Food For Thought's Green Cuisine in Michigan, Portland International Beer Festival in Oregon, Jazz & Rib Fest in Ohio, Louisiana Watermelon Festival in Louisiana... why doesn't Louisville have anything exciting like this? Sure, we just had the SoulFood Festival & Taste of Frankfort... but seriously, I think there would be a huge market for more food-related, festival-type activity in Louisville... so let's get on that, okay? Okay.

Speaking of grilling and summer, you could easily sub the chicken thighs for chicken breasts and just cook accordingly, but I'm a fan of the lower cost and juicier outcome of chicken thighs. The marinade is surely interchangeable with other meats as well.


Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon lemon zest
juice from 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients, except for chicken, in a large plastic freezer bag. Make sure they are mixed well and add in chicken thighs. Remove bag of air and seal tightly. Roll the bag up and place into a medium bowl (to prevent any leaking out onto your fridge shelf) in the fridge. Let marinate for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat a grill to medium high. Soak a wad of paper towels with vegetable oil and carefully rub on grill rack to prevent chicken from sticking.

Grill chicken for about 5-7 minutes per side (or if using breasts, a little less than that), or until cooked through.

We served this with a quick ranch pasta salad!

I love the quick cook time of this dish. Yeah, you've got to marinate it overnight, but that's just something you have to throw in a bunch of ingredients in a bag and forget about until the next day. Easy enough, right? Right. Enjoy!

Ginger Honey Chicken

Well, it's officially summer... in my book anyway. After a whole WEEK AND A HALF with just gray and rainy skies, the sun finally showed it's face again this past weekend. And you know what? I worked ALL WEEKEND long. But I know I'll get other chances to enjoy the nice weather we're currently having (hopefully). One thing that does scream summer to me is grilling. Summer = grilling. I know more people are grilling all year round more often, but there's just something about the sun shining, the weather being hot, and a grilling, that just screams summer to me.

Something I wish I'd just go out and buy already, a grill basket. They're just easy to cook practically anything from vegetables to fish in. Definitely would help with the problem of fragile fish on the grill, that's for sure! If you wanna check out a great grill basket, Foodbuzz.com's Daily Special today happen to be just that!

A great grilled chicken recipe comin' right up!


Ingredients:

1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
5-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 in. piece ginger root, peeled and minced
1 jalapeno, minced
3-4 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

In a small saucepan, combine honey, soy sauce, garlic, shallot, ginger, and jalapeno under medium high heat. Stir until honey is just melted and ingredients are well combined.

Place chicken thighs in shallow dish and pour honey soy mixture on top of chicken. Let marinate in fridge for at least 1 hour (I let mine sit for about 2 & 1/2 and it was PERFECT!).

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat. Grill chicken for about 5 minutes per side (depending on thickness of thighs) or until cooked throughout. Let rest for about 10 minutes and slice into strips. I served this with white rice and carmelized carrots!

This was absolutely exceptional. The honey, soy sauce, and ginger were prevalent in the chicken, but didn't overpower one another. The chicken was succulent and juicy! Enjoy!

East Meets West Shrimp

I must admit, I've been a pretty awful non-practicing Catholic this Lenten season. I didn't give anything up. I've eaten meat on practically every Friday. But seriously... that's exactly why I'm non-practicing. Too many rules. To many things to abide by. Do this. Don't do that. What does it all matter? Why does there have to be a certain "holiday" or time for us to give something up or eat something else. Why can't we just do what we want to do... within legal parameters, of course. I've never been one that's been a fan of being told what to do and when to do it... so it's no surprise that I fall into this anti-Lent category. But for those of you who do celebrate, and want a good seafood/meat-less dish for the last Friday of lent, these shrimps were pretty much awesome.

Ingredients:
(Stuffed Peppers adapted from Food & Wine's March 2010 issue "Shrimp-Stuffed Peppers")

about 20 Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on.
salt and fresh pepper
2/3 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 cup cotija cheese, grated/shredded
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 small handful chopped cilantro
6 Cubanelle peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Fresh salsa
Mango-Teriyaki marinade

For the West part, we're going to do marinated shrimp skewers. Take about 14 of the shrimp and marinate them in your marinade of choice. It'd help if it's Asian themed, to fit with the West-ness, so I found a great marinade bottle at Whole Foods of Mango-Teriyaki. Let marinate for about an hour.

For the East part, we're gonna make some shrimp-stuffed peppers. Heat your grill under medium heat.

Cut a slit down the Cubanelle peppers, length-wise, but not all the way through. Then cut a horizontal slit on each of the ends of the length-wise slit. Kind of like a really wide letter H. Place the peppers on the grill and get a nice char on them, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from grill and let cool until you can handle them.

Meanwhile, mix the cheeses, cilantro, and scallion in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Season the insides of the cooled peppers with a little salt and pepper and stuff with cheese mixture.

In a large skillet, add oil and heat under medium high heat. Add garlic and remaining shrimp. Cook until shrimp start to curl and turn pink, about 2-4 minutes. Stuff the shrimp in the peppers along with the cheese, letting the tails stick out.

Heat the peppers on the grill for about 5-10 minutes, or until cheese mixture is melted.

To finish the marinated shrimp, place 3-4 shrimp onto bamboo skewers and grill for about 3-5 minutes on each side.

Top the stuffed peppers with fresh salsa and lightly top marinated shrimp with Sriracha, if desired!

This was great. I think the two different ways of doing the shrimp really complimented eachother. It was the first time this year we got to use our grill and that is always a sure sign of better weather, and better/great food to come! Enjoy!

Ginger Soy Grilled Chicken

This past weekend I made Andy come with me to watch the Julie & Julia film. Let's just say he felt a little emasculated after it was all said and done. Me, on the other hand, can totally relate to the movie and I thought it was rather cute. Kind of made me think of one day publishing an Asian-Fusion cookbook for Americans. Really, I think there's a market for it. How many people pack into Asian/Chinese buffets every single day? Tons! And that's not even the best part of Asian-inspired cuisine! There's such a range and such a flavor in Asian dishes that I don't think it gets enough credit.

That's exactly why I'm posting this dish. This is by far, the best way to cook chicken, in my opinion. The ginger, the soy, they mix to make just a delicate and delicious balance of flavors.


Ingredients:

2 lbs. chicken thighs (about 10)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup mirin or 1/4 cup sake (I put in both)
2 cloves chopped garlic
4 tablespoons grated/minced garlic
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (you can buy them that way or you can quickly saute them in a pan to get them hot and voila! they're toasted!)
freshly ground black pepper

This recipe is absolutely fool-proof! If you like a different part of the chicken, be my guest, but for those of you that are always scared of drying out chicken or cooking it for too long, chicken thighs are ALWAYS your best bet! It's practically impossible to dry them out so they're perfect!

Just mix all ingredients in a big enough tub to cover the chicken and let sit in refrigerator for about 6 to 8 hours, or leave in overnight so the chicken and the marinade can become one! Osmosis is your friend!

When chicken is ready, heat a grill to medium heat and cook until cooked through. Like I said, it's practically impossible to dry out chicken thighs, so really all you're worried about now is burning the chicken, so watch the grill with a keen eye!


Enjoy!