summer birthday grill

My mom's been kind of mad at me since I publicly said that Terry taught me how to cook. So, I want to take this opportunity (on her 29th birthday!) to say thank you, I love you and you're the best mom.

On Sunday night, we celebrated my mom's special day in 36c heat! Yikes! It was so hot, we almost didn't feel like eating. But, of course, we did.

Menu:

• Guacamole & Pita Chips...that's five avocados split among three people
• Bonnie Stern's grilled salmon and corn salsa (this meal took less than 30 minutes including prep and active cooking)
• Store-bought but still delicious key lime pie

Happy birthday mom!

reminiscent of a childhood meal

It started to rain so I knew better than to ask hubby to turn on the barbeque. Instead, I went with old-school home cooking. On the plus side, most of meal was local. The tomatoes and cauliflower were from the region and the basil and mint were grown in my backyard. I can't wait for my garden tomatoes and eggplant to be ready for harvest.

Bonnie Stern's Basil-Panko Crusted Chicken

~Chop 2 handfuls of fresh basil, 1 clove of garlic, 2 handfuls of Panko or breadcrumbs, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper in a small food processor. Pulse in a couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil. Put the mixture on the chicken legs and thighs. Cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.~

Roasted Cauliflower

~Toss cauliflower pieces with olive oil, kosher salt and thyme (or other herbs of your choice). Put on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.~

Tomatos with Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar & Fresh Mint

~Bad idea. The mint was far too overpowering. Stick with thyme and basil.~

If you haven't done it already, go buy Bonnie Stern's Essentials of Home Cooking. It will make your life just a little bit better.

sticky balsamic ribs summer menu

In celebration of a Sunday dinner, Jay picked clematis from our garden and set the table.

It's unexplainable but Sundays are the best cooking days. This week, I was planning to make Aunt Susan's Ribs but was missing a number of the ingredients so I started browsing through my favourite food sites. I decided on Gourmet's recipe for Sticky Balsamic Ribs. yum!

Thinking about what would pair well with this main course, I came up with a fabulous summer menu:

• Smoked Trout Spread with pita wedges seasoned with smoked paprika and fresh garlic (The spread was adapted from Bonnie Stern's Smoked Whitefish Spread in Essentials of Homecooking. You can find a similar recipe here.)
• Sticky Balsamic Ribs
• Mashed Potatoes with Corn and Garlic
• Tossed Salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes and fresh dill

The smoked trout spread was great for sharing on the patio with a glass of champagne. The only problem was that I should have doubled the recipe!

As for the ribs, let me first praise the glaze! This brown-sugar, balsamic combo made for a soft toffee-like coating. The only change that I would make to the recipe is that you should probably only grill the racks for a few minutes per side. Six minutes per side was a bit too long and some of the ribs were crunchy (not what you're looking for with baby backs!).

Do you have a summer menu that you think I should try?

happy mother's day x 3

Tonight we celebrated Mother's Day with Jay's mom, his sister's family and my mom. To suit the nieces, we started at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 7:30 p.m. The evening required a kid-friendly meal but it still had some fun twists.

Menu

Pomegranate Sparkling Sangria

Blanched asparagus and green beans with homemade green goddess dressing

(courtesy of Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinner)

Roasted Potato Salad

(courtesy of Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinner)

Salmon Burgers with Lemon and Capers

Happy Mother's Day 2009!

lamb: preserved lemons or lemon preserve

Saturday morning I poured through Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinner Book. Every chapter in this cookbook focuses on an entire menu (such as Thanksgiving, Asian Dinner, Graduation Dinner, etc.). Fun for me! However, I decided to live on the edge and combine a few menus for our meal. Wild, I know.

I decided on a leg of lamb for the main course and called a local butcher to have the meat butterflied, trimmed and flattened for the grill. The recipe called for preserved lemons and suggested that I go to a middle eastern grocer to purchase. I headed to Wyndotte St. in Windsor and went into to one of the larger stores. I looked through all the shelves before I found the lemons.

Once I got home, I started to make the Grilled Lamb with Preserved Lemons and Shallots. Sadly, I realized that I had lemon preserve rather than preserved lemons. oy vey! Regardless, I used the jam and the lamb turned out fine (in fact, it had kind of a sweet lemony flavour!). That said, I'm now determined to preserve my own lemons.

Now for the evening's highlights...

Bonnie Stern's Sparkling Pomegranate Sangria

(Recipe stolen and posted below)

Smoked Fish Platter

Smoked fish rocks my world! Growing up, I refused to eat it. I remember going to breakfast club at our shul as a kid and seeing all the men eating bagels, cream cheese with lox and thinking that it was absolutely repulsive that someone would put fish on their bagel. Now I say, bring it on! For our appetizer I pulled together a smoked fish platter with honey-mustard dill sauce and cucumber-coriander yogurt. We purchased our smoked whitefish and kippered salmon from Zingerman's Deli since I haven't been able to find a good supplier for smoked fish in Windsor.

Required: friends who bake

Violet brought over a beautiful apricot daisy dessert. It's German-inspired and not too sweet. If we're lucky, maybe she'll post the recipe in the comments section.

Dinner menu:

• Smoked fish platter with honey-mustard dill sauce and cucumber-coriander yogurt
• Grilled Lamb with Preserved Lemons and Shallots
• Grilled Baby Artichokes with Olive Oil and Lemon
• Arugula and Almond Salad with Preserved Lemon Dressing (I used lemon zest instead of preserved lemons)
• Apricot Daisy Dessert

Sparling Pomegranate Sangria: (1/4 cup orange liquer, 1/4 cup of granualated sugar, 3 cups of pomegranate juice, 1 orange cut in wedges and sliced, 1/2 cup of pomengranate seeds (optional), a bottle of bubbly, ice cubes --- combine first two ingredients in large pitcher and stir until sugar disolves; mix in everything except the sparkling wine and ice cubes, cover and throw in the fridge, when ready stir in the bubbly, add ice cubes to glasses and pour sangria in...mmm!)