Grilled steak skewers and Charred corn salad

This was one of the best dinners I have made recently. The steak was delicious, tender and flavorful. The salad was excellent also. I used a skirt steak, instead of a flank steak that the recipe called for. I used grass-fed steak, which I think makes a big difference in the texture on the steak.

A great summer meal!

From Grilling magazine

For the steak:
1 1/2 lbs beef flank (or skirt) steak, preferably grass fed
1 Tbsp each ground cumin and dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp each ground coriander, kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
cherry tomatoes

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
Slice steak against the grain into 1/2 inch slices, set aside.
Combine cumin, oregano, coriander, salt, pepper, and garlic powder for steak seasoning in a medium bowl. Whisk in lime juice and vegetable oil, and toss with steak strips. Place a cherry tomato on each of eight steak skewers. tread 2 steak strips on each skewer, folding stips accordion style. Spread strips along length of skewer. Place a cherry tomato on end of each skewer.
Grill skewers, covered, over direct heat for 3-4 minutes per side.
Charred corn salad Adapted from Grilling magazine
Makes 4 servings
Time: 20 minutes, (plus 30 minutes soaking time)

3 ears fresh sweet corn, shucked
3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks
1/4 cup sliced red onion
3 Tbsp crumbled goat cheese
2 Tbsp lime juice
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Dissolve 1/2 cup kosher salt in 2 qts water. Soak corn in water for 30 minutes, remove and pat dry. Grill corn over medium heat, turning often, until kernels begin to blacken, about 10 minutes. Remove corn from grill. When corn is cool enuogh to handle, cut kernels from cob and place them in a bowl. Add tomatoes, avocado, and red onion.
Whisk together goat cheese and lime juice in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Drizzle goat cheese sauce over corn mixture; toss to combine. Serve with steak skewers.

Best meal of the summer so far, I think!!

Hamburgers: Part 2

There are a lot of variations on burgers. This time I decided to make my own up, and it is pretty basic, but has a little heat and Mexican flair.
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef (grass fed beef is best)
1/2 minced onion
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
a few dashes of hot sauce (I used Frank's)
a handful of chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
ground pepper
4 slices of cheddar cheese (I used habanero cheddar cheese)
Red onion slices
Lettuce
Ketchup or mayo

Throw all of these ingredients together in a medium bowl, and mix it together; I use my hands.

Form into 4 patties. Rachael Ray suggests that you make the center of patty a little thinner than the outside, to counter act how the burgers swell when you cook them.

My wonderful husband prepared a charcoal grill, nice and hot.
He grilled them for about 3 minutes each side.

Top with the cheese, serve on the onion studded hamburger rolls.

Top with onion and lettuce, ketchup and mayo.

I served these with some oven fries. Delicious! It had a bit of smoky spiciness, and the home made rolls really made it special.

Barefoot Bloggers: Croque Monsieur

The second April recipe was chosen by Kathy of All Food Considered. I have never tried making this famous French sandwich, so I was excited to try. You make a ham and cheese sandwich, then smother it in a cheesy white sauce top with more cheese, and broil it in the oven until it is crispy and brown on top. So delicious!
I cut the recipe in half, but other than that I think I followed this recipe without change. I bought my bread from Rick's breads, a local bakery here in Lancaster City. It is a regular white French loaf. I used Boar's head maple ham, and imported Gruyere cheese. And local, hormone free milk, as usual.
Bon appetit!
Ina Garten's Croque Monsieur

Barefoot Bloggers: Real Spaghetti and Meatballs

Wow, this meal blew me away! Spaghetti and Meatballs is not a meal I make at home or order in restaurants. I think it is because growing up, we had spaghetti sauce from a jar, and I don't think my parents made home-made meatballs (much).
But this was so flavorful. And it makes a LOT of meatballs! I ate 2 and 1/2 and that was enough.
My husband taught me to make better tomato sauce. First, don't buy any can labeled "Tomato Sauce."

Buy this instead, put this on the stove with some wine and spices and it will taste better than any canned tomato sauce.

So here is the recipe, I noted the few changes I made.
Barefoot Contessa's Real Spaghetti and Meatballs
Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes
6 ish servings

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

nocoupons

• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• *(I used 1lb pork and no veal, since I didn't see it at the market.)
  
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed)
• 1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• *(I used panko crumbs mixed with some italian spices)
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 extra-large egg, beaten
• Vegetable oil
• Olive oil

For the sauce:

nocoupons

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving:

nocoupons

• 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
• Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork.

Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.

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Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don't crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels.

Here are the delicious meatballs cooking.

Discard the oil but don't clean the pan.

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Smokey and Spicy "Chile" over Pasta

I think I am channeling Rachel Ray on this recipe I invented of today. It definitely seems like her type of thing.
I used grass fed, free range ground beef available from my farmer's market. If you can get grass fed beef, do it. I just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. The things they do to cows to mass produce beef and milk is horrible and not good for you. This beef is free of bad growth hormones. It has lots and lots of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

Ingredients:
5 pieces bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped,
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb ground beef
3/4 tsp chipotle powder
1 can green chiles
1 can tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes
shredded spicy cheese, to taste (I used habanero cheese! Monterey Jack with jalepeno would work)
handful chopped cilantro
3-4 green onions, chopped
1 lb pasta of choice (I used bucatini since I had it already but I think penne or shorter shapes might work even better)

Fill a large pot with water to cook the pasta bring to a boil.
While the pasta water is heating up, cook the bacon in a large pot until crisp.

Oh boy, bacon. This is free range pork bacon also!

Reserve on paper towels. Drain all but about 1 tablespoon of bacon grease out of the pot. Add in the onion and garlic, cook until softened. Add in the beef and chipotle powder, cook, and drain some of the fat off. (Unless you like to live dangerously).
Add in the green chiles. I think you could also add some bell pepper in here too, or some black beans.
Add in the can of tomatoe sauce or chopped tomatoes, a handful of shredded cheese and the bacon.

Mmm this is winter comfort food for sure.

Once the pasta is done, drain it. Serve in bowls with the chile beef mixture, topped with some more cheese, cilantro, and green onion.

Here are all the toppings!
My husband really enjoyed this.

Pumpkin Polenta with Sausage and Fennel

Rach!
A morning show I used to listen to made fun of Rachel Ray all the time, especially the way the commercials for her show would always say, "Next time, on RACH!"
I have seen a few of her 40 Dollars a Day show, but not her talk show. She is strangely perky.
BUT-but, I love her magazine and I do like her recipes. And I have made a lot of them, and almost all of them have been extremely tasty.
On her website, there was a link for Fall Comfort Food. Now fall is my favorite season. And since I try to eat most foods seasonally, I get even more excited when fall food time comes around.
So this sounded really really tasty. I like sausage. And fennel. And polenta with cheese.
Some ingredient notes: Rachel always uses quick cooking polenta. I never see this at the grocery store. I see pre-made polenta which won't work, or the regular stuff which is corn grits/polenta. You are supposed to cook the regular stuff for 30 minutes. So if you use the real stuff like I did, you should probably start that before the sausage mixture.
Also, I just used freshly grated nutmeg for the first time! I grated it on my micro-plane which is really fast and easy.
And lastly, I used basil instead of parsley to garnish.
So try this out. Have it with some apple cider and watch the leaves fall.

Rachel Ray's Pumpkin Polenta with Italian Sausage and Fennel
1 Tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 14-oz can pumpkin puree
1 cup polenta (quick cooking or regular)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (I left this out)
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup shredded romano cheese
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley (or basil) chopped
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (Rach says to eyeball it!)

1. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and brown the sausage. Transfer the sausage to a paper towel-lined plate. Add 1 tablespoon of EVOO (1 turn of the pan) to the skillet and then the onion and fennel. Cook the vegetables over moderate heat until tender but not brown. Add the wine and return the sausage to the skillet. Cook the wine away, a minute or so.
2. 2. In a large saucepan, bring the chicken stock and butter to a boil and stir in the pumpkin. Return to a boil, whisk in the polenta and stir until it masses together, 2 minutes. (Watch out for splatters.)
*For regular polenta, start first and cook stirring frequently for about 30 minutes.*
Remove the polenta from the heat and stir in the nutmeg, thyme, salt, pepper and Pecorino Romano cheese. Top the pumpkin polenta with the sausage and fennel. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve.

Lamb Salad by Jake

While I do most of the cooking, my husband is a great cook. Things he cooks really well include: any meat on the grill, pizza, insanely hot salsa and gourmet salads.
Since I had to work on a Saturday, Jake was given the task of making dinner. It was super yummy gourmet salad.
Some notes about the ingredients-
The lamb is from a Mennonite-type farm in which the lambs eat real grass and roam about freely. So it is always very very good. We get it from Central Market here in Lancaster. If you can get natural lamb you should.
The cherry tomatoes are Sun Golds. They are sweeter than regular cherry tomatoes, and have a thinner skin. They are amazing, and you should go out and try to buy some NOW, before summer is over.
The amounts aren't exact here. I used enough lettuce for 2 people, probably 4 cups total. You can put on the olives and feta to taste. Jake says not to use too many olives, or the flavor will be too strong. He knows gourmet stuff like this. This serves 2 people.
Gourmet Lamb Salad
Ingredients:
1 lamb shoulder steak
Dry red table wine
Arugula (rocket)
Some romaine or other favorite lettuce
4 green onions, sliced diagonally
1 cup of Sun Gold tomatoes
Kalamata Olives
Feta Cheese
Your favorite vinaigrette, homemade or store-bought.

Put the lamb steak in a skillet. Add enough red wine to simmer the steak in. (Amount isn't real crucial, since it is just to give the lamb flavor and it cooks off anyway.) Keep an eye on it as you get the salad ready and remember to flip it once, after about 7-8 minutes.
While it is cooking, slice the olives and green onions. Cut the Sun Golds in half. Wash the arugula and lettuce, and put on two plates. Sprinkle the onion, olives, and tomatoes on the lettuce. Crumble the feta and sprinkle on as well.
The lamb will take about 15-20 minutes to cook. Jake says to make sure it isn't overdone. You don't want tough lamb. You want pretty lamb, still a little pinkish inside.
Take the lamb out of the pan onto a cutting board. Slice into nice little pieces and pile it on top of your salad.

Ooooooo. I felt like I was in a fancy restaurant. And it tasted great. The sweet tomatoes, the creamy salty cheese and the onion went together so well. So did the arugula. And listen. Liking and eating arugula isn't being elitist. Arugula is just good. It is a tasty tasty salad treat. So eat up!