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.

Summer Squash, Summer Cabbage & Sweet Onion Salad

Get out the grill kids... this one actually makes squash good!
And I mean children asking for seconds.

(we had this with grilled chicken - the optional chicken recipe will follow)

Start with:
1 small summer cabbage,
1 medium summer squash,
1 small sweet onion.

[This means 1 small cabbage (baseball sized or 1/2 of a big one), 1 medium sized summer squash, (or several small ones to make up the space of 2 cupped hands), and 1 small sweet onion (or half of a big one].

First make a hearty dressing:

1 Tbs grainy mustard
Optional: (1 small handful of tender herbs - parsley, basil, oregano, chives...)
1 garlic cloves smashed/minces
a large pinch of salt & a small one of pepper (to taste)
4 Tbs pale, but not white vinegar (apple cider, rice, white wine, champagne, any of the above)

Shake or stir these together.

Add about 1/4 C ... or a little more olive oil (either add it slowly and whisk it in, or put it all in a jar/tightly closing tupperware and just shake it hard!)

Pour about half of this in a medium sized bowl/tupperware
Slice the sweet onion thin slices, and toss them in the dressing... set this container to the side.

Slice a summer squash into about 1/4 inch slices (thinner than your pinky).  Long way, short way, diagonal.... which ever way you like to slice your squash.
Toss the slice with 1/2 tsp of oil and 1/2 tsp of salt, and set aside while you fire up the grill... or a grill pan if it is chilly tonight.

While the grill is heating, see to the cabbage.  We got purple in the CSA bag... and it makes the summer squash (yellow &/or green) look good.
Peel off the thick outside leaves.
Chop it in half, and make a "V" shaped cut in each half to cut out the core of each
Place each half on the cutting board, flat side down, and make thin slices.
Toss with the rest of the dressing.

Now that the grill is hot, start to grill the oiled squash - get grill marks before flipping.  When both sides of the squash have grill marks, toss it into the bowl/container with the first half of the dressing & the sweet onion.

Now you have all the pieces.  Throw all together, toss well, and eat with garlic toast!

Cumber and Summer Squash Salad

I had this BRILLIANT idea to make lamb sausage wontons. I started with Lamb Sausage from my butcher (Double D Meats, 5602 232nd St SW # 104, Mountlake Terrace, WA (425) 778-7363) that already had garlic and mint. Not to be out done I added mint & yogurt cheese (will discuss soon - a treasure at our disposal). I folded about a teaspoon into a wonton skin and froze on the spot.

I only had ONE package of wontons. Apparently you need about 4 (or 5!) packages to use the whole 2 pounds. Now that I had used slightly less than 1/2 of the mixture, for some reason I felt adding par-cooked potatoes (cubed) and browned onions would be a good idea. I know not why, for it brought the volume of stuff back almost the the original amount. Maybe the lamby & starchy & with the spicy, minty, sweet & oniony are just So I made Lamb Sausage Rolls (in frozen puff pastry). I made pastry dough and created empanadas... and in desperation, little mini burgers. There's no doubt it's all tasty (I checked by cooking a teaspoon in a fry pan), but so much lamb burger STUFF!

OK so now... lamb something from the freezer for the next 6 weeks!

But what to eat with that?

Summer squash and Cucumbers... thats what!

The Easy Part: Slice a medium sized cucumber in half and then into very thin slices.

then a small yellow or green summer squash (zucchini count) also in thin slices. Thinly slice in a mixture of herbs (any and all you have on hand... chives, basil, oregano, cilantro, mint (only a little), sage (also only a little)... etc.

The Hard Part (well the slightly harder part): Dressing. Vigorously stir together 2 Tbs Apple cider vineger 1 Tbs white wine vinegar (champagne, rice... whatever you have). 1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard, a good squeeze of honey, 1 large garlic clove crushed and salt to taste. A few (well, many) dashes of Green Tabasco sauce gives it that something... extra.

Then, stirring hard with a fork or whisk... time to gently pour in some sort of olive oil. Keep stirring and make an emulsion. When you have enough dressing to generously to cover the cukes, squash & herbs, taste JUST TO MAKE SURE IT is tasty... but a little too strong. (or dump everything into a tightly lidded container and shake-a shake-a)

Pour over your pile of thinly sliced herbs, cucumbers and raw squash. Stir REALLY well. Hear your son say it is better than plain, raw cucumbers (high praise in my world).