Lamb Chops, French Country Potatoes & Greek Salad

I can not believe it's been a month since I blogged! How does the time get away from you like that? I suppose it's all the yard work we've been doing. Central Virginia has had a rough winter and a rainy spring, so when things finally cleared up there was a LOT of work to be done outside! On the plus side, my jonquils, phlox and azaleas have never looked healthier!

Grilled Lamb Chops, French Country Potatoes, Greek Salad 

This Easter was a first for us. There were only 2 of us present for dinner. This year marked the first time I haven't fixed an Easter basket in 28 years. Even though there were just the two of us, me and the hubby, we still marked the occasion with a special dinner. Early in the day I made these colored, deviled eggs. They are an absolute Easter tradition in our family. And they taste delicious, just an added bonus!

 HERE'S a post I wrote a few years ago about how to make these festive eggs. Keep them in mind for other holidays as well. How about red, white and blue ones for July 4th or Memorial Day?

The first thing I did was to get my French Country Potatoes ready. These potatoes are simply a lighter take on scalloped potatoes. They don't use any cream and the amount of cheese is a lot less than in traditional recipes. There are also mushrooms in this version, stretching the potatoes without adding much to the calorie count. I got the recipe from a Weight Watchers cookbook, but have made it my own.

This recipe will easily serve 4 adults. I used a wonderful clay dish from The Pampered Chef, but any round, heavy type baker will work. It needs to be at least 2 1/2" deep to hold the broth and potatoes.

French Country Potatoes
4 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 c. minced onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 T. minced fresh rosemary
8 large mushrooms, sliced
3 oz. Swiss cheese

French Country Potatoes, ready to bake

1 T. butter, divided use
2/3 c.fat free, low sodium chicken broth
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

In a medium, non-stick skillet, heat 1/2 the butter and add the onions. Cook over medium heat until they are translucent. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook about 5 more minutes, stirring gently to combine. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Rub the other 1/2 of your butter over the surface of the baking dish. Layer the potatoes in a single layer, slightly overlapping them. Pour the mushroom, onion, garlic mixture over the potatoes, distributing it evenly. Pour the chicken broth carefully over the vegetables in the dish. Sprinkle with the rosemary, a little salt and pepper and then dot the top with the cheese. You can grate it if you have a block, but I had slices so I just cut it into small pieces and scattered them on top. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, until they are hot and bubbly, as shown below.

French Country Potatoes

Next get your lamb chops ready. I made 6 1.5 inch chops for 2 of us, but it was too much. No worries, my husband loves them and ate them for lunch the next day with leftover potatoes! 

To prep the lamb chops, drizzle them with garlic olive oil*, sprinkle with Kosher salt and fresh pepper and place a few pieces of fresh rosemary on top. (*To make your own garlic oil, heat 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil over low heat and add 2 crushed garlic cloves. Steep this mixture for about 1/2 hour, never letting it get hot enough to sizzle or brown the garlic. You may need to turn it on and off to achieve this.) 

Leave the chops at room temperature for 20 minutes before grilling. Like this:

Lamb chops prepped with garlic olive oil, rosemary and salt and pepper. 

Get your grill nice and hot -- ours was at almost 500 degrees when we put them on. Lamb should be pink in the center, so they only need to cook about 5 - 6 minutes per side. Keep some rosemary on them. They should be lightly browned, and just firm to the touch when you press a finger in the middle of the chop. The firmer the meat, the more well done it is. 

Lamb Chops on the Grill

Greek Salad
First make the Salad Dressing
You'll need;
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh garlic
1/2 of a lemon
Black or Kalamata Olives
1 anchovy (from a can or jar, packed in olive oil)
Dried Oregano
Wine Vinegar
Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
Get out a trusty 1/2 quart jar. Add 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, the juice of 1/2 large lemon, 1 tsp. dried oregano, 1 minced anchovy, 1 small clove minced garlic, 6 minced black olives, 1 T. water and 1/4 c. wine vinegar. Screw the top on tightly and SHAKE, SHAKE, Shake it until it is all blended together. This dressing will keep in your refrigerator for about 2 week. You can omit the anchovy, but I don't recommend it. Once you mince it finely and add it to the dressing, you really can't taste it, you just know the dressing is extra special good!!

Salad Ingredients
Mixture of Romaine and Iceberg Lettuce
A jar of Pepperoncinis
Red Onion
Cucumber
Cherry Tomatoes
Feta Cheese
Black or Kalamata Olives
To make a salad, tear up some washed Romaine lettuce and mix with a little washed iceberg lettuce. Slice some red onion and about 1/2 a cucumber, cut 6+ cherry tomatoes in half. Add those ingredients to the lettuce. Remove 2 or 3 pepperoncinis (small mild pickled peppers) from a jar and squeeze the juice out of them. Slice them, discarding the stem. Mix all the veg together and sprinkle with chunks of Feta Cheese and as many black olives as you like. Dress the salad with a little homemade Greek Dressing. Delicious!!

Cedar Plank Salmon with Soy Glaze



 Last time I blogged, I wrote about being in a chicken breast rut, but we were in a salmon rut too. Salmon is another one of those things I buy every month. Now that there are usually just 2 of us for dinner, I buy a big piece from a big box store and cut it into 2 pieces. I usually oven poach it (Here's my post about how to do that ) or cook it with a lemony herb mixture on top (here's that method ). Anytime I have any leftovers, I make salmon spread, a wonderful appetizer or sandwich spread ( recipe here ). Obviously WE LIKE SALMON but it was time to try something new! After browsing some recipes on my favorite spots, here's what I came up with. It was delicious and it was definitely DIFFERENT. While it took a little time to reduce the glaze, it was not hard to do. If you don't have a cedar cooking plank, they are easy to find -- anyplace that has a good kitchen supply department will have them. You need to soak it for an hour or 2  in plain old tap water before using, but that's pretty simple. I actually had  everything in my pantry for this dinner except the fresh ginger. Give this a try next time you fix salmon and you want to step it up a bit!

Cedar Plank Salmon with Soy Glaze

Put your plank in water to soak, according to the directions on the package. I soaked mine about 90 minutes.

For the glaze:

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. soy sauce

2 T. hoisin sauce

1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 tsp.)

1 2" piece of ginger, peeled and grated

Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Turn down the heat to low and let the sauce reduce until about 1/2 in volume.

Preheat your grill to hot cooking temperature.

You will need about 1 - 1.25 lbs of salmon, cut to fit onto the plank. Lay the salmon on the plank and brush it with the glaze.



Salmon on Grill

Place the plank onto the grill and close the lid. Let it cook over medium heat for about 6 minutes. Brush on a little more glaze after 3 - 4 minutes.  Don't worry about the smoke or the slight charring on the edge of the plank -- that's where the good smoke flavor comes from. I left mine on for 8 minutes and it was almost too dry. It cooks pretty quickly, but it will depend on how thick the salmon is. Salmon is cooked when it flakes easily with a fork or knife tip inserted into the thickest part.

I served my glazed salmon with some Pot Stickers from Trader Joe/s and stir fried veggies. Cut a lime and squeeze that over the salmon right before you eat it -- yummy! I prepped the pot stickers and vegetables before I began cooking the fish, so that when it went on the grill, everything was ready to eat when it was done. I also reheated the leftover glaze and we used it to drizzle on the salmon and the potstickers. The glaze recipe is a KEEPER! (Probably be good with chicken or pork too!)

Glazed Salmon, Pot Stickers and Stir Fried Vegetables for dinner!

Here's how I did the veggies:

Stir Fried Vegetables

1 tsp. peanut oil

1 small onion, sliced

2 cloves minced garlic

2 ribs celery, trimmed and sliced

1 c. shredded cabbage

6 button mushroom, sliced

16 snow peas, washed and threads removed

1 tsp. peeled ginger, grated

1 T. soy sauce

a little salt to taste

In a medium to large non-stick skillet, heat the peanut oil until it starts to shimmer (hot). Add the onion, garlic and celery. Stir that around for 2 - 3 minutes until the veggies begin to soften. Add the soy sauce and ginger to the pan and then add the cabbage and cook for another 2 -3  minutes, stirring periodically. Don't let them brown. Lastly, add the mushrooms and snow peas. Sprinkle the pan with 2 T. water, turn down the heat to medium, cover it and let the mixture steam about 5 minutes. Any combination of vegetables your family likes will work, but this is what I had on hand.

Stir Fried Vegetables

Make Some Barbecued Ribs at Home



Barbecued baby back ribs for dinner!

My husband LOVES barbecued ribs. We like the smaller, baby back, pork ribs, as opposed to the larger spare ribs or beef ribs. When we were dating and first married, there was a rib joint called "The Farmhouse" not too far away, here in Richmond, VA,  They had the BEST bbq ribs! You could smell the smoke a mile away and they tasted as good as they smelled. The owners kept their sauce recipe a secret, but many folks swore up and down that there was peanut butter in it! That's right, creamy peanut butter. I never knew exactly what their secret was, but man, oh, man, they were some tasty ribs. They almost fell off the perfectly cooked bones, and they weren't too fatty or tough. That place closed a long time ago, but the memories of those ribs has stayed with us, as we've worked on trying to create the perfect rib recipe at home. Cooking ribs is considered "Manly Man Cooking" at our house (See another recipe here) , so there's always been plenty of input from the hub and the sons. Opinions are never in short supply around here!!

What is a perfect rib? Well, in our opinion, it's gotta' be tender, a little spicy, not too fatty and very flavorful. By watching The Food Network rib competitions, I've learned that the meat shouldn't fall completely OFF the bone, or the rib can be eliminated from the competition. Therefore, the trick seems to be to get them so tender that the meat almost falls off the bone. After trying out numerous recipes and tasting ribs all around Richmond and other places we've visited, this is the recipe and method that I've come up with for home cooks. I am sure it would be a little better if we had a smoker, but I think I've got that almost covered by my cooking method. Tender and tasty, the slow cooking in the oven, paired with the soaking and rub, guarantees a moist rib that's not too fatty.

The very first thing I do, is to soak the ribs in beer. I remove them from their package, put them into a large baking dish and then pour over the beer. I use one can for for each rack. I let them sit for an hour or two, turning them over a few times. Next, I drain off and discard the beer. After draining, I return them to the pan and season the ribs with a dry rub. I roast them covered with foil, low and slow in the oven, before finishing them on the grill with some sauce. Here's my recipe for the dry rub for a single rack of ribs, which will feed 3 - 4 people. Double or triple the recipe if you need more than one rack of ribs. (More instructions follow the Rub Recipe.)

Dry Rub for Ribs

1 T. McCormick Grill Mates Mesquite Seasoning

1/4 c. brown sugar

Ribs with the dry rub.

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. paprika

2 T. chili powder
1/2 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

a pinch of dried red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano
a pinch of dried thyme
Mix everything together and sprinkle on the bottom and top of the ribs, rubbing it into the meat so the rub sticks to the ribs. Eliminate the cayenne pepper and/or the dried red pepper flakes if you don't like things spicy.  Place the rack on a large cookie sheet or baking pan, and cover with foil. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.

Preheat your grill the way you normally do it. We use our gas grill, but any kind will work fine. You can soak wood chips and use them if you wish -- we've done that and the ribs are always good, whether we do or don't.

Slather the ribs with your favorite sauce and cook them on each side, basting with more sauce, for about 15 to 20 more minutes, until the sauce begins to brown and caramelize on the ribs. The ribs are already cooked from the time in the oven, so you don't need to worry about temperature or undercooking the meat.

Baby Back Ribs on the Grill

Finally, a word about sauces: Commercial bbq sauces are so good that we don't make our own, but "concoct" one, using our favorites. I like to mix 1 c. Sauers Barbecue Sauce with 1 c. K.C. Masterpiece Original Barbecue Sauce and 1 T. Texas Pete Hot Sauce. A lot of people swear by Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue Sauce, but we find that a little too sweet. Since we don't like our sauce really sweet, I cut the sweetness of the K.C. Masterpiece with the Sauers. "Sauers" is a regional tomato and vinegar based sauce, made here in VA. In addition, since we like a little kick I add the Texas Pete, but you could totally leave that out, if your family prefers the ribs milder.

Try this, for your family or for a backyard cookout. It's a crowd pleaser!

Grilling Shish Kabob and Back Yard Living

I think Shish Kabob is one of  the easiest meals to make and yet still delicious. My family has always done it, especially when there were lots of us to feed, because it is very budget friendly. You can take an inexpensive cut of meat, cut it into cubes and marinate it and it will go a loooong way. While I am sure there are much more sophisticated marinades, I still use the same one my grandmother always made to cook outside in her big backyard in Hampton, VA. Vegetables were always plentiful and cheap, so it was easy to fill out the meal, paired with a big dish of rice.

Grilling shish kabob and eating it brings back so many happy childhood memories for me. My grandfather worked long, hard hours, so my grandmother and mother always "manned" the grill. When we visited in the summertime, there were always lots of cousins, aunts and uncles who ostensibly came to "see us",  but the reality was, our family always loved to get together. Any old excuse to eat outside was good enough! SO, out came the bags of charcoal and the long picnic table, set up under the crepe myrtles that were in the middle of the yard, and put us kind of in the shade. Corn would be shucked, mostly by the kids, pitchers of lemonade set out, along with a few cans of bug spray. Highballs were mixed, beers chilled in old metal coolers or washtubs and the party would be on it's way.

We tried to get dinner ready so that we ate as the sun was about to set and the temperature would start drop a little. My grandfather would arrive, just in time to get cleaned up and eat with the family. No man has ever been welcomed home so joyfully! Hot and tired as he was, he always had a big smile and hug for every one of us.

The timing of the meal was such that it was light enough and you could still see your food, but starting to cool off. We could just barely stand to be away from the fans and one huge, hardworking air conditioner that labored away overtime. We could only eat outside in the backyard if the heat and humidity had receded a little. The Virginia peninsula is a hot and humid environment, with notoriously sticky summers. The kitchen was always hot during the summer months, no matter how hard we tried to cool it, as was the "breakfast room". While eating outside was sticky, it was often hotter in the kitchen. Late 50's and even into the 60's, almost no one had central air in Virginia, especially in an old house.

After dinner, if the bugs weren't too bad, we'd lounge around the back yard, kids chasing lightning bugs, or organizing games of "No Bears Out Tonight" while the grown-ups sipped their libations of choice. If we were lucky, or it was a holiday, we'd wave sparklers with wild abandon, conjuring up spells and making rainbows in the night. There were always a few mayonnaise jars with holes punched in the lids, so we could collect the lightening bugs we caught. Rich chocolate cakes or strawberry shortcakes were usually the desserts of choice, but Grandaddy always retreated, sooner rather than later, to inside and the air conditioner and a bowl of ice cream. He'd had enough of the heat and humidity.

Big, fat, lemony smelling citronella candles in clear and colored oval glass holders would be lit and set down the length of the picnic table and next to the lawn chairs on little metal tables. Later, out would come my grandmother's mouth harp, and she'd softly warm up with "You Are My Sunshine". If the bugs got too bad, we'd retreat to the nearby screened porch.  Many nights we just stayed where we were, under the crepe myrtles. Those who felt inclined, would sing and sing and sing:  Old hymns and folk songs, sung and hummed in gentle harmonies, until the little ones would nod off and be carried away, to sleep on any available bed or couch. It was a dear, sweet way to grow up.  I can still smell the nearby marsh and creek, mixed up with scents from my grandmothers' flowers and the honeysuckle that grew in the hedge. How lucky we were...

Eating Shish Kabob over brown rice, outside on a perfect night on the patio!

Making Shish Kabob

This is a method, as opposed to a recipe. It's easy and inexpensive and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser!
One large London Broil or Sirloin Steak, cut into 1:" cubes AND/OR
2 - 3 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 green pepper, 1 large onion, 1 pint fresh mushrooms, 1 pint cherry tomatoes or 4 - 5 large slightly under ripe tomatoes
Zucchini and or yellow squash, cut into 1" thick rounds (optional)
3 c. cooked rice (at least this amount for 6 or more servings)
Metal or bamboo skewers
Marinade for the Beef: 1 c. Wishbone French Dressing, 2 T. Worcestershire Sauce, pinch black pepper, 2 tsp. Adolf's Meat Tenderizer, no MSG kind

Marinade for the Vegetables and Chicken: Your choice, 2c. Wishbone Light Italian or French Dressing, or mixture of one on one vegetable, one on another (see below for how I do it).

It's easy, cut up the meat and wash the veggies. Cut the peppers and onions to about 1' sized cubes. Leave the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes whole; If using big tomatoes, cut them into quarters. Put the meat in one bowl with the marinade, and the chicken and veggies in another. Keep the MEAT AND CHICKEN SEPARATE! Don't mix them in with the veggies or with one another (food safety, you know!).
Don't marinate the chicken, tomatoes or mushrooms until about 30 minutes before you plan to grill them. You can marinate the meat overnight if you like to cook ahead. I like to marinate the onions and peppers in French dressing and the chicken, tomatoes and mushrooms in Light Italian. I also prefer the squash and zucchini in the Italian dressing. My grandmother did everything in the French, and she did not include any chicken, so this is purely a matter of preference.

Shish Kabob skewers ready for the grill

When you skewer the meat, push it together on the kabob so one piece touches the other one, not loosely with space between each square. Same way for the vegetables, as shown in my pictures. (no chicken shown in the pictures) Skewer the meat separately from the veggies. I know the cooking shows on TV always have the meat and veggies skewered together, but I find that the harder vegetables take longer to cook than the meat and the softer vegetables. We usually skewer the the peppers and onions together and the tomatoes and mushrooms together or each on their own skewers. Same thing for the squash, if we are using it.

The big chunks of onions and peppers will take the longest, next the meats, then the soft veggies. We eat our beef rare, so we don't cook it too long, usually about 4 - 5 minutes on each side. Cook it longer if you like well done. Conversely, we prefer our vegetables a little more cooked, so they soften, so we cook them about 8 - 10 minutes on each side. Be sure to cook the chicken completely through, with no pink showing.
When we serve it, I like to put the rice on a LARGE serving platter and then just pile on the meat and veggies. Keeping them in separate piles, which I did when my kids were younger, allows each person to select their own choice of meat and vegetables. This is great served with fresh corn on the cob or all on it's own. Don't forget a chocolate cake or strawberry shortcake for dessert!

My Grandmother and me, picking flowers in her big backyard, under a crepe myrtle tree

Perfect Burger? Part 2

There is always a debate at our house over burgers: Cheese or no cheese? Fried egg on top? Lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise? Additions to the ground beef or simply let it be? Mustard? Pickles? It goes on and on.....
On Memorial Day we continued our quest for the perfect burger with this combination: Plain beef burgers on the grill, Hot Pepper Monterrey Jack cheese melted over them, topped with a Chipotle Ranch Mayo, lettuce and tomato. Here's how I made the mayo:

Chipotle Ranch Mayo
3 T. light Dukes Mayonnaise
1 heaping T. light sour cream
2 T. Ranch Dressing
2 chipotles plus a T. of juice from a can of "Chipotles en Adobo"
Finely chop up the peppers and add to the other ingredients. Let it sit for about an hour to meld the flavors. Can be done ahead and stored for about 3 days in the refrigerator.

Lean ground beef burger with Monterey Jack cheese and chipotle mayo, lettuce and tomato
Perfect?

For those who are not familiar with Chipotles en Adobo, they are a canned item, found in the Hispanic foods section of every grocery store near me, so I bet they are easy to find where you are! Chipotles en Adobo are simply smoked jalapeno peppers packed with a smokey, onion-y type relish on them. The remaining peppers and sauce can be frozen for another use. They are good in chili, scrambled eggs, salsas -- anything you want to give a smokey little kick to!
Let me also comment that I think the best burgers are make with a little dimple in the middle when you form them. This is another ongoing battle in my kitchen, as my grillmaster husband seems to prefer burgers that resemble flying saucers -- fat in the middle, with overcooked tapered edges. The even formation of the meat and the dimple in the center ensures even cooking and the burger won't puff up with juice in the middle,which is what will happen without the dimple. We do agree, however, that 80/20 or 70/30 ground beef seems to make a juicier, more flavorful burger. The leaner ground beef is often dry and doesn't have too much flavor. If you do use that kind, add a T. of olive oil and a T. of Worchestershire Sauce to your ground beef to keep it juicy when grilled! We also agree that the buns ought to be slightly toasted either in the oven or on the grill, 2 - 3 minutes, cut side down. What do you think? Perfect or not so much?

Perfect burger?

This is my sons' idea of HIS perfect burger, complete with cheddar cheese, mayo, juicy tomato and a FRIED EGG! He toasted his bun on the outside grill and then loaded it up. I don't know what I think of the fried egg on top, but I must admit it LOOKED tasty. See how cute the egg is? We attended a family party over the weekend, and one of my many cousins brought tiny little chicken eggs, from her "teenage" chickens, as she called them. They were organic, free range, happy chickens too, with little speckles on their tiny eggs. They fried up into a perfect size for burger topping.

Prior to cooking our burgers on the grill, there ensued a major, rather loud discussion, about how to form the patties. My husband likes to make the patties, and he forms them into roughly the shape of a fat flying saucer, with a big hump in the middle. After many hours spent watching the Food Network, I think they should be slightly hollowed out in the center, with uniform edges. Dear hubs taper off at the edges, resulting in overcooked edges and almost raw middles. I won last night, and the burgers were perfect, if I do say so myself. Cudos to Bobby Flay and Rachel Ray for the shaping lessons!!