Lite Summer Dinner at McBride

When the nights stay warm and muggy I can't help but hum that Billy Idol song "Hot in the City"

Who wants to bomb themselves on hearty meats and carbs when you have sweat dripping down your brow- not me! Our menu last night was lite and delicious:

Rice & Bean Stuffed Zucchini accompanied by a Summer Salad

Stuffed Zucchini

This is a play off a recipe found at Vegetarian Times. We opted for grilling instead of oven baking to fit the summer mood.
Filling:

Cook 1/2 cup of rice; seasoned with bay leaf, cayenne, cumin, salt and pepper
Saute red and green peppers, onions, jalapeno, and garlic

Once veggies are tender add diced tomato, 1/2 can of beans and fresh herbs of your choice

Combine with the rice

Zucchini:
Cut zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on the grill cut side up

After 10-15 minutes check to see if zucchini is fork tender

Empty excess moisture from the cavity and add rice and bean mixture

Sprinkle w/ Monteray Jack cheese and cook with the grill closed for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted

We cut the finished zucchini into two inch pieces to make it more casual finger food and served them with the left over rice mixture and a delicious Summer Salad that had mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and red onions lightly dressed with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Super Yummz Mo!

Also had some Tanq and Teas to wash it all down

Farewell BBQ's and Wiiiiiiiiine

Oh man, I've been on quite the hiatus. And tired.

I've been on a 1 and a half week vacation from life, and boy was it good. I really don't want to return to civilization.

Where have I been you ask? Entertaining my visiting parents, of course!

And entertaining my parents, really just meant eating out 80% of meals, bringing them to all the tasty restaurants in this Bay Area (...that I can't afford). In the beginning, it sounded like a great idea, but by the final night, I had heartburn (which apparently feels like your boob is asking to be ripped off of your body) from eating foreign food substances so much, and really just wanted to return to my kitchen and cook a yummy meal with my mom for billy & my dad.

It was stupendous.

The highlights were a super satisfying corn soup, and perfectly grilled portabella mushrooms (which fared considerably better than some ny strip steaks we attempted to cook, but really just chared), which we ate with grilled/burnt squash and onions and a simple salad of cucumbers and tomatoes with balsamic deliciousness.

Mama Ferrier's (chicken) Corn Chowder

1 1/2 c diced red onion
1 1/2 c diced yellow onion
1 1/2 c diced potato
1/2 c diced carrot
1 c diced celery
4-5 corns on the cob, boiled, with kernels cut of
6 c chicken broth
heavy cream
flour
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 t fresh basil
pinches of dried oregano, basil
a couple of shakes of chili powder
Optional: meat picked from half of a rotisserie chicken

In your soup pot, start with some olive oil, the carrots, the onions, and the celery. Cook until translucent, add flour and cook until the flour smell is away. This soup is thickened more by this rue, than the cream, so use a hefty amount of oil and flour to get a nice rue. Add the chicken stock to the pot now and do a little scrappin' to get all the good flavors on the bottom of the pan. Bring soup to a boil and add the potato, corn (and chicken if you wish). Now is the time to add the basil, oregano, and chili powder. Let the soup simmer for a little while, and test the potatoes for doneness. When the potatoes are to your liking shut of the heat and allow to soup to cool down to a temperature that allows you to add some cream. Add as much, or as little, as you like!

Grilled Portabella Mushrooms

4 Large Bella Shroomies
1 t mustard
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 t fresh chives
1 t fresh basil
oregano flakes
juice from 2 juicy lemons
1 Container for shaking

add dressing contents to container and shake up. Place mushroomies in a big bowl and pour the dressing all over them. You might have to add more oil than you think to coat evenly. Be sure to add enough salt to encourage a little water to release before you grill. Do this about a half hour before you are grilling. When you place the musrooms on the grill save the extra dressing in your bowl and drizzles over top the finished mushrooms.

A Note on Wine Country

While the retals were here, I had the awesome chance to go to Napa and Sonoma- only an hour from Oakland! This hole concept of driving around, and drinking, and then driving around more is really strange to me, but f-ing awesome none the less. The whole myth that you aren't drinking enough to get drunk it just that- a big myth. I got saucy both days I went up there. It was grand.

I went to about 6 wineries- all were yummy. Even the cheap wine companies we see in the store tend to have reserve wines on site that are super. The most memorable wineries were:

Peju
Ravenswood (due more to a heavy handed server than the wine)
Sebastiani




If you have $100+ to blow on wine, I recommend any of the Peju's Napa Style Cab's

Two cool Cats

I have been slacking recently on my posts.

Its just so discouraging when you don't have beautiful pictures to add on! I will work on getting my camera fixed.

I"m surprised no one has spoken about the wonders of Risotto yet. This dish is so versatile, and even at its most bare bones can be so rich and stupendiferous.

The perfect default dish for a low-cost dinner party, or a highly elegant side on a fancy night with your lovers, Risotto can do it all! It can even save the day!

On Memorial day, I was all alone! Oh No! The only thing to do was go to a really awkward building BBQ, that is so overwhelming the only way to make it okay is to pound 2 glasses of wine before joining the party. I always like these parties because I can impress the adults with my cooking miracles (they aren't too shabby either, usually they enter a whose cut of meat was most expensive contest- this week it was a full leg of lamb) but that doesn't ignore the fact that they all think Billy and I are married (wah-wah) and consider us very strange individuals.

So I bought an eggplant, some zucchini (green and yellow saucer shaped), and some red onions. Got them all slathered in a nice coating of olive oil and S & P, cut them up with nice crosshatch marks, and set out to grill. I get out there, and there is no grill space :( sad.

Long story short- I eventually got some grill space, but the coals were virtually dead and I was left with half grilled veggies. Ever try eating raw eggplant?

So I came back and finished roasting them in the oven. The next day I decided they would make a nice addition to a light and creamy risotto. As risotto can be made in all quantities, I will leave that open for interpretation and adaptation!

Risotto with Grilled & Roasted Veggies

Arborio Rice
Vegetable stock
Parmesan cheese
roasted/grilled veggies cut into cubies
S & P
garlic
onions
1 c dry white wine
scallions or chives for serving

So begin with a basic Risotto methodology. Cut onions, brown/sautee until translucent. Add Rice, toast rice, deglaze with 1 c white wine. Stir constantly, and only add liquid after previoud liquid is absorbed.

When you have 2 more cups of stock to add, throw in your cubed roasted veggies.* Continue adding liquid until the rice is cooked and rice begins to give off some of its starch (ie. creamy factor becomes visible) Add parm. cheese and enjoyyyyy!

*You probably don't even have to add the veggies to the risotto- leave them hole and serve them as sides if you wish!

Also- quick note last night I made a super fast, super protein packed meal: Halibut with onions and Quinoa. So yummy! I cooked the halibut in a lemony broth with carmelized onions. The Quinoa was simple and fast: sautee carrots, sweet peppers, and corn until soft. Add 1 16 oz can fire roasted tomatos and heat thouroughly. Add cooked quinqoa and 1/2 thinly sliced raw onion. Complete with some lemon juice or parsley. So yummy!

When liquor gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Lots of happenings in this crows kitchen this afternoon. The gorgeousness of the day inspired me to create a project so, I plunged into making homemade limoncello. Making limoncello is something I have been meaning to do for years and it will be an ongoing project that I will have to keep everyone updated on; unfortunately, it seems like it is going to be a minimum of 6 weeks before anyone will be able to sip on my brew. But, I am none the less excited.


I researched a bunch of recipes and went for it; the zest of 16 lemons is now soaking in a handle of Absolute Vodka in a 5-gallon brewer's bucket ("The Ale Pail") in my pantry. Apparently the only real trick to this is to use clean, fresh lemons and not let any brine (the white stuff on the peel) into the mix. You can use vodka or everclear (grain alcohol)- I went for vodka because everclear is hard to find.



The vodka/zest mixture needs to sit for a minimum of 10 days to 3 months, and apparently the longer the better. I'm aiming for a month. Then it will be strained, mixed together with simple syrup and water and then left to sit for another 2 weeks. So hopefully, come mid-July, there will be limoncello. I'll keep you posted.


A surprise side-effect of all of this was 16 whole lemons, minus the zest. So, not wanting to waste resources, I made another tasty, if less potent, beverage- lemonade. Equipped with a new hand-juicer from Gadgets, Mark helped me extract the juice, which turned out to be way more in volume than I would have expected. We now have a LOT of lemonade. I added two cups of sugar reduced as simple syrup and and a couple of cups of water, but is is still very tart. In retrospect, I think honey instead of sugar would have been delicious. We threw a little Bombay Saphire in the lemonade as a little pre-dinner cocktail. Yumz.


Also, I made a super yummy dinner of grilled shrimp and veggies in the thai-lime marinade with a side of spanish rice. I also grilled a lime sliced in half and used the juice all over the shrimp and veggies- an awesome trick Emily showed me last summer.
So good for a summer day.

nom nom nom.

The crows have been quiet in the absence of Miz Holly! And there hasn't been much activity on my part lately, due to a voyage to the nest of Mama Crow who keep me full and happy all weekend long.
Last night was a return to the nest for the Cock (male crow people) and I and we celebrated with a delcious summer meal of:

Thai Lime Marinated Tilapia
Ginger and Sesame rice (from the box)
Citrus and Fennel Salad

accompanied by:
Raspberry Lemonade Gin Drinks: Hereby dubbed the "Citrusberry Chiller."

The fish was delicious, although not much to brag about since I used Drew's Organic marinade. The rice, which was NearEast Brand went well with the meal, but was overall too sweet.
But the salad, my friends, was delicious. A last minute inspiration upon realizing that my collard greens had wilted over the weekend and I had no other fresh veggies in my house save a fennel bulb and half a red pepper. It was simple, fresh, bright-flavored and an excellent accompany to marinaded white fish. I look up similar recipes for inspiration, but this salad and the dressing are ultimately my own.

And here it is:

Vbar's Citrus and Fennel Salad (serves 2-3)

½ of a Large fennel bulb, with the core cut out and sliced thin
1 orange with peel cut off and sliced into wedges
small amount of very thinly sliced red onion
thinly sliced ½ of red bell pepper
a good handful of fresh curly parsley, roughly chopped

Dressing:
Juice of 2 limes pharmaceutical
zest of ½ a lime
1 ½ tbsp. olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
tsp. of fresh grated ginger
Dash of red pepper
Toss all together and serve. So good, So good!

Citrusberry Chiller:
tanquery
raspberry lemonade
slice of lime


Pictures to come when I am not in the office!

Grilled Chess

Eek, it was a very nice weekend here in the Bay Area.

Although... you'd be hard pressed to find a native to agree with me. 90+ and sunny! Woohoo!

Last night billy and I had a mini grill-session that included Burgers, eggplant and garlicy asparagus, and 3 games of intense chess.

I have little new to share recipe wise, except, that 1.5 lbs. of meat = exactly 4 patties!

In case you are ever unsure of how much meat to get for a party.

The Cock's in the Kitchen

Paul and I thought this was pretty funny:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_male_crow_called



Q "what is a male crow called"


A "male crows are called cocks"


Anyways, our good friends Steph and Jeff Spicer just moved into their first house out on the west island of Montreal and we finally got to go check it out! Upon seeing the diesel new grill on the back porch, Paul immediately suggested grilling (the grill master was in)


He marinated kebabs made with huge chunks of sweet onion, green and red pepper and chicken with his sassy homemade teriyaki marinade and grilled them to perfection.







Teriyaki Marinade


1 bunch of green onions, minced, whites only
3 large crushed garlic cloves
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
Another interesting technique, compliments of Mr. Jeff Spicer, is scoring halved zucchinis. Take a small to medium sized zucchini and cut it in half length-wise. Next, take a sharp knife and score the flat side in a criss-cross pattern. Jeff adds salt next and lets them sit for a few minutes, to get the juices flowing, then olive oil and season to taste. You can throw these puppies on the grill and let them roast away. They only need to be grilled face down.


And perhaps my favorite of the night, trout sausage, or as I called them, trousage. I must admit I was skeptical at first, but they turned out to be quite delicious. They were simply a mix of fresh trout, parsley and chive, made into a sausage, but they were flakey and delicious and I will definitely pick them up if ever again I get the chance.

Riane's Mom is here! Let's eat shrimp!

Major mowing last night in honor of Riane's Mom's arrival!



After plans for the Lady Crows to fly downtown for the night fell through we decided to pull together some last minute snackbites to satisfy our (and the accompanying gentlemen's) hunger.

Because we started brainstorming so late we didn't actually eat until almost ten, but this meal made for a fabulous but casual late-dinner nosh, with all of us standing around the table chatting with Riane's fresh-off-the-plane Mama.


The Menu included:


-Cajun Lime Tiger Shrimp, skewered and grilled
-Veggie pouch!
-Fresh Bruchetta with Grilled baguette



And to wash it all down:

-A few well chosen wines, picked by Mr. Fresh

-HollyCollins Cocktails: Holly's take on the very seasonal TomCollins (which I will leave for her to explain, with pictures)



We cleaned the shrimp ourselves and marinated it for about an hour in:

-2 heaping tablespoons Cajun seasoning
-Juice of 1 lime
-Olive oil
-salt and pepper



The seasoning was bought by Riane at the Saturday (or Sunday?) Market in Portland, OR and brought the heat to the meal. I am personally an enormous fan of blow-your-face-off spicy and I was totally satisfied, and even Miss. Riane who often likes her spice on the milder side was lovin' it.

After the shrimp was done marinading we put them on skewers with wedges of lime. Grilling lime really brings out the flavors and the juices and those grilled slices were absolutely wonderful to squeeze over the cooked shrimp before eating. Plus, the Cajun seasoning helped to perfectly blacken the shrimp and when combined with the outdoors flavor from the grill was total perfection.


For the bruchetta we used chopped fresh tomatoes mixed with basil, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic. We served this on top of fresh iggy's baguette, which we sliced in half, brushed with olive oil, salted and grilled before cutting up.



After a long winter, tomatoes are starting to taste good again! The ones we got from harvest and Boston Organics were sweet and juicy.



Sides of veggies pouches with zucchini, mushroom, onion and broccoli....





A delicious meal, perfect for sharing and mowing with friends and family.




If any of you kiddos are going to be around JP tonight, keep an eye out for the lady crows burin' off these meals on the dance floor of the MilkyWay; we're making our debut at the new location and plan on establishing our status as Queen Crows!

Also worth mention, there was an impromptu grill and eat out session in my backyard tonight. Totally basic all the way with burgers, hotdogs, and fresh skin-on sockeye salmon marinated simply in olive oil and lemon juice with salt and pepper.

Sides of leftover pasta salad and lettuce from boston organics with sliced fennel and holly's homemade balsamic dressing. Light and satisfying summer meal, great for outdoor mowing.

Adventures in Grilling!

Yes! If this beautiful weather continues I may swear off my oven!

Riane, Holly and myself pizza-planned tonight, graciously welcoming the start of grill season. What was on the menu tonight? Check out this biddy...



Grilled pizza is one of my favorite summer dinners...It's so easy and delicious! Trader Joe's makes great pre-made pizza dough. It's super cheap and works really well on the grill. We typically pool our resources to maximize on yummy toppings. Tonight's scrounging of the fridges provided us with mushrooms, artichokes, tomatoes, fresh basil, mozz and a reserve can of fire roasted tomatoes for the sauce. Add a veggie pouch you've got yourself a mighty fine dinner.


Once your dough is all rolled out you should brush a s-ton of olive oil on one side-this should keep it from sticking. Just place the dough on the grill (oil side down!) and cook for 5 min or so. Lift a spatula under to check for those nice grill lines...When it's done, oil up the other side and flip! Add your sauce and toppings and cook until cheese is melted or the crust is at the preferred crustiness.

Quick pic before we dig in!

The weatherman promises blue skies and 90 degrees tomorrow. Riane and I will be heading back to our beach hot spot-who knows what sorts of goodies we'll be packing in our cooler! :)

Transcontinental BBQ

Its good to hear it is finally warm enough to go to the beach in New England!

Yesterday Billy and myself attended our community Pot Luck, where all of the eccentric adults who live in our building show off their bbq-ing skills. It is a time to meet your neighbors, drink, and eat good food. There is, however, and underlying tone of competition among the grillers. Below is what I brought to the table!

Veggie skewers

Marinade
3 tons* minced fresh ginger
2 tons minced fresh garlic
1/2 cup Korean Chili sauce Sriracha
4 T mustard of your liking
4T Hoison Sauce (although plain soy would be good too)
Enough grapeseed oil** to cover the veggies and thin out the sauce
Red wine vinegar- I also think Balsamic or rice wine vinegar would work
Salt, and pepper

Veggies!
Green Pepper
Red Pepper
Eggplant- Cubed with skin left on
Mushrooms- any and all the mushrooms soak up the marinade the best!
Onions

On some of the skewers I put shrimpies, but I didn't marinade them with this-just the traditional S&P.

I let the veggies marinade almost 24 hours, and it was worth it! The chili sauce was grabbed up by both the eggplant and the mushrooms. But the sweetness of the mustard and hoison made the peppers delicious too!


*as per hollys instructions. However, here I felt there needed to be some specification as to how much garlic/ginger we are talking about
**which I have switched to for most occasions unless of course the olive oil is the star of the show!

Successful bbq last night to ring in the summer weather. Winter has finally ended.

With honorary chef Mark at the helm of the grill we fired up: burgers, dogs, veggie burgers and chicken with a veggie pouch.

Veggie Pouch:

-onion, garlic, zucchini, green beans and a roma tomato.

-Chopped veggies and threw them into a tinfoil pouch with lemon juice, olive oil salt and pepper.

-poked holes in the pouch and threw it on the grill.

Ultra fresh and yummy.

Holly, you need to share your excellent chicken recipe; thyme, lemon....?

Tomorrow is our first day at the beach! Can't wait to taste the yummy Sangria being whipped up by Mo and Holly.

I made pasta salad- with lots of... what else, fennel. I've been talking about fennel (anise? whatever.) all week, because, as I keep saying it is super cheap at Harvest right now. $1.50 a bulb, and they are big and white and crisp; not the $4 each droopy browning bulbs they often have. Fennel is my favorite- it reminds me of Sicily, because I ate it every day there and came to absolutely love it. This lady Lana, who was from Rome and lived in the house with us always made fennel this way, and it is truly delicious.

Roasted Fennel with Breadcrumbs and Parm

-Slice up fennel bulb (a good sized on goes pretty far- maybe 4 good serving) into slices , reming the tough core and separating apart

-spread the fennel out on the bottom of a casserole dish and drizzle olive oil on top

-dust with a good sized handful of parmesan, and then dust over with breadcrubs. A little salt and a lotta pepper

-bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until fennel is soft