Grilled Salad - Get me outta' the kitchen!

Why am I sweltering away in my hot kitchen when the cool evening breezes are starting to waft about my shady back deck?

Yeah - I don't have an answer either.  So it is time to head out to the grill for dinner.

The Oxbow Box provided me with my new favorite lettuce, Little Gem.  It makes me think of a mini Romaine - it has that sweet crunch, but in a more manageable size.  One thing that is fun (and tasty) with Romaine is grilling it until the cut side has black char marks.  The contrast of the sweet and charred is delicious.  I thought, since I was heading out of the kitchen, this would be the way to go!

Detour:
To go along with this - I did the butterflied/spatchcocked chicken.  By flattening the chicken it cooks quickly.  And rubbing a mixture of salt, pepper, chopped garlic, lemon juice and zest + a little oil under the skin and over the meat makes the chicken scrumptious, both hot, and cold as 2nd meal food the next day.

The first few time you flatten the chicken... it may take a little while, but after a few tries, the prep & the cooking will take less time than running out to get a rotisserie chicken.  (Check out this great, old school, instructional video - by one of the masters, Jaques Pepin.  You'll learn several great things.)

Back on Track:
So get out those Little Gem's, and slice them in half.

You can get them all washed off and any grit out this way.
Give them a firm shake to get the water out.

Rub them a little oil on all the surfaces (put about a 1/2 tsp in you hand, rub your hands together and then rub your hands over the lettuce halves.  You'll get everything covered, and use less oil this way).

Pull out the Patty Pan squash (or zucchini, or other summer squash),

slice into pieces about half the width of your pinky (1/8 inch or so), toss with a little salt and oil, and these are ready to go.

A hot grill is your best friend here.

Grill those veggies until they have distinct black marks - this will bring out their sweetness, and give them a delicious texture.

All you need now is delicious, cooling dressing to pull it all together.

Yogurt Dressing for Grilled Salad 

Ingredients:
thick yogurt (greek or drained regular) 1/2 C
parsley
dill or basil
garlic - 2 cloves
lemon juice or white wine vinegar 1-2 Tbs or to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Equipment:
small bowl
cutting board
knife
spoon

Prep & Cook!
Chop the herbs and garlic.  Stir them into the yogurt.  Start with 1 Tbs of the lemon juice/vinegar and a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Adjust the acid, salt and pepper to your taste.

All together now!

So quick note...

What if you have a grill with huge spaces between the grates?

Like I do.

Lodge Cast Iron to the rescue!  (No, they have no idea I'm mentioning this - it is just that good).  These pans are pretty indestructible.  You cannot damage them, no matter how hot your charcoal gets.  I mean, if you are trying to grill over lava (2100˚F), you have other things in mind, and I can't help you.

To cook smaller and more delicate things, I don't go in for some of these silly baskets, or breakable, rustable things.  I break out my big slab of cast iron.

 It preserves the grill experience, and I can use it on the stove as well.  (The other side is the pancake side.)

This side also works great for fish if you have something really delicate.

Oh, and if you just have a skillet

 bring it out the the grill instead.  No grill marks, but same great char - and OUT of the kitchen.

Fava Bean & Beet Salad

I dunno where YOU are, but up here in the Pacific North West, the sun has been shining more than usual - and around here that is a good thing.  The result is beautiful beets, the arrival of the fava beans and spectacular lettuces.  And then, fresh garlic is here to.  That means salads with garlicky vinaigrette.

This year, I ran across a fascinating hybrid of Chioggia (candy stripe) beets and golden beets.  They ended up looking particularly psychedelic.

The hardest part about this salad is the fava beans - they need to come out of their well-padded, fuzzy pods AND out of their tough, slippery, light green skins.  But go ahead, don't be afraid.  Jump in and try this one.  It is worth the effort.  Other than the lettuce, everything is really hearty, so you can make  lots of beets, onions and beans one cool night, then make this salad over and over on hot steamy days.

Fava Bean & Pickled Beet Salad

(Serves 1 for an excellent lunch.  Multiply for the crowd you have.  OR, make lots, and have the salad several times.  The pickled beets and blanched favas keep for about a week in the fridge.)

This is what you do with favas and beets to make them easier to handle – which is important when you find out how tasty this combination is.

Ingredients:

beets - 2 small, any color

fava beans 4-5 pods

lettuce – 1 small head or 5-6 leaves from a large head

fresh cheese – crumbles (think goat cheese, queso fresco, feta)

sweet onion – ¼ of a large one, or 1 small

herbs – a handful of what’s handy (dill & parsley are excellent)

pickling liquid –

water – 1 C

vinegar – ½ C (rice, cider or wine)

peppercorns – 6

cinnamon stick – 1 (or 6 allspice berries)

cloves – 2 whole

salt – 2 tsp

sugar – 2 Tbs

dressing –

3 Tbs used pickling liquid

pepper (& salt) -  to taste

mustard – 2 tsp

garlic – 2 cloves (fresh garlic if you see it!)

tasty oil - ¼ C (nice olive oil is excellent here)

optional – garlic bread or nifty crackers

Equipment:

knife

cutting board

vegetable peeler

saucepan

slotted spoon

2 – 3 medium and small bowls

sauce pan with lid

whisk or fork

small snap-top container with tight lid for mixing dressing (or another bowl & whisk)

salad spinner (optional)

salad bowl or serving plate

measuring cups and spoons

Prep:

Grab the fava pods.  Break off the stem end, use it to pull the sting off the top seam of the pod.  Pull out the beans (but leave them in their skins – the trick for getting them off is a little further down).

Chop the greens off the beets if they have them.  If they are small, tender and tasty looking, put them with your lettuces, or to the side for cooking later (just like chard).

Peel the beets with your vegetable peeler.  Slice them into wedges the thickness of your pinky, or thinner.

Rinse and dry your lettuce, and any optional herbs (use your salad spinner here if you have one).

Slice the onion thinly.

Measure out all the dressing ingredients into the small snap-top container EXCEPT for the pickling liquid.

Measure out the pickling liquid ingredients into the saucepan.

Cook:

Put the pickling liquid ingredients in the saucepan, on the stove.  Bring to a boil.

Put the fava beans in the boiling liquid.  Fish one out with the slotted spoon after 3 minutes – run under cool water so you can handle it.  See if the bean slips out of the  pale green skin easily.  If not – try each minute until they do.  When the skin slips off easily, scoop out the rest of the beans and let them cool in one of the small bowls.

Put the sliced beets and half the onions into the pickling liquid.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Let them simmer until they are fork tender – this will take about 10 minutes.

While the beets are cooking, peel the fava beans (run under cool water if you need to, so you can handle them).  Also chop or crumble a tablespoon or two of cheese.

Make the optional garlic bread or toast.

When the beets are cooked through, take the saucepan off the heat.

Add 3 Tbs of the pickling liquid to the dressing and shake it well to combine all the ingredients.

Combine the chopped herbs, beets, fava beans and onions (both pickled and raw) and cheese.  Toss with enough dressing to make the salad tasty.  Enjoy with our without the garlic bread.

Variation:  If you are using regular onion, pickle it all!

Add, subtract and substitute ingredients as you need to.

Sweet lettuces like little gem, romaine, Boston and bibb are especially good.  Roasted nuts and seeds go well in here as well.

Egg Salad and Herbs

Egg Salad

Another one of those things that started out as a really good idea, but has gotten pushed around, over simplified, had all the love and originality removed, and we have been made too afraid of fats to appreciate the good the ones in their whole food form do.  And there are few things "whole-er" than eggs.

The laziest way possible to hard boil eggs.
Pop them in your electric kettle, fill to the "full" line,
press the go switch, and get back to the eggs any time
from 5 min to a half an hour later.

Tap gently all around on a hard surface
then peel off the shell - in a nifty strip if you
and your eggs are good.

Work through your eggs
and look - no icky green with the gentle boil.

torn in half is a nice way
to start the salad.

Add a few handfuls of chopped herbs - parsley, cilantro, chives,
oregano, and more cilantro

mustard, salt, pepper and mayonnaise
maybe a little lemon juice if you have some.

ciabatta rolls and lots of fresh summer lettuce 

Enjoy the good summer greens!

B-L-(Fried Green)T

With a nod to Lulu's  (which is inaccessible to me most of the time, since it's in Charlotte, NC), it is time to bring the Bacon, Lettuce and Fried Green Tomato Sandwich to your table.

See, you put it on healthy bread,
then you have it ALL!

Remember these guys?

Fried Green Tomatoes in 10 Minutes Flat

Did you freeze any?  Time to break them out!

They are destined for a sandwich.

You need tasty bread, lettuce and Bacon!

Get you bread toasting, and do this with the bacon:

This is where you'll fry those tomatoes...
Does this mean it's a 1-Pot meal?

And THEN, the sandwich goes a little "choose your own adventure."

A little mayo on the bread is needed to keep the whole thing moist.  But what kind of mayo do you want?

1. Plain - great if you are in a hurry.

2. Garlic - crush a clove of garlic, and stir into a couple of tablespoons of mayo (garlic powder will also do in a pinch)

3. Spicy - stir Sriracha into mayonnaise at a ratio of 1 part Sriracha to 2 parts mayonnaise (so 1tsp Sriracha + 2 tsp mayo = 1Tbs Spicy mayo)

4. 2 & 3!  Spicy Garlic Mayo.

5. The most time consuming - pimento cheese instead of mayo (in addition to???)

Ingredients: - per sandwich

bread - 2 slices (or 3 for a club sandwich* if you are feeling fancy)
lettuce - the right amount
1-2 slices of bacon (depending of the thickness of the bacon)
1 large slice of dredged green tomato - frozen (or fresh, that's allowed too)
mayonnaise or sandwich spread of your choosing

Cook:

Heat up a skillet over medium high heat.
Get your bread toasting.
(mix up your fancy mayonnaise)
Fry your bacon until crispy, drain on a paper towel.  Leave the fat from the bacon in the pan.
In the rendered bacon fat, fry your tomatoes 3 min on each side.
Spread your mayo of choice.
Place the hot tomato directly on the bottom slice.

Assemble --> Bread - mayo - lettuce - bacon - tomato - (mayo) - bread.
If you are going the club sandwich route, you'll need to decide on your own arrangement.

*This is the audio from a Mitch Hedberg routine - nightclub ready, but not little people safe, and possibly not work safe either. 

Baby Beet Salad...(super easy, no cooking required).

Beets can be scary.

And rightly so, the Celts used to carve them, place a candle inside and put them out for Samhain ("sow-when" or prehistoric Halloween).  And if you are wondering how they got a candle into those fist sized things, you haven't seen how big a beet can get.  If left all summer and fall in the ground, they can get, literally, as big as your head.

And a big purple-red head sized thing, carved and glowing with a candle inside.  THAT would be terrifying.

But beets can also be tasty.

One of the strangest things about beets is their strange vegetable sweetness combined with their soft cooked-carrot texture, and their ability to turn the whole world pink.
I won't lie, I even shy away from the vibrant red beets much of the time (though they do make a good crayon), and lean toward the golden beet, or the candy-striped chioggia.

This salad is about moving away from the scary, unfamiliar bits of beets, and making them worth a second look.

Ingredients:

2 -3 "baby" beets (very small)
a large handful of baby lettuce leaves (to stay with a theme) - or anything tender
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs mild vinegar (rice, champagne, something that doesn't curl your nose hairs right off when you smell it)
1 tsp mustard
1 clove garlic smashed to smithereens
salt & pepper

Equipment:

carrot peeler
cutting board
sharp knife
(mandolin or V-slicer - helpful but not essential)
medium bowl
whisk or tightly closing small container
utensils for serving and eating the salad

Cook!


Make the dressing - in your salad bowl combine the vinegar, mustard and a little salt & pepper.  Whisk in the garlic, and then slowly pour in the oil as you whisk... or place all of the above in a little container, clap on the lid and shake like crazy.

Give the beets a rinse and a bit of a scrub.
Chop off the leaves and the roots (the scraggley hairy bit at the bottom).
Use your carrot peeler to peel off the skin.
Then use a mandolin, V-slicer, or your carrot peeler to make "wafer-thin" slices of your beet.

Put these in the salad bowl with your dressing.

Wash the lettuce greens, tear up if they are big, or leave whole if they really are baby.

Toss it all together.

TA-DA!  Salad!

The chioggia beets are especially striking looking - all stripey and cool!