Category Archives: Side Dish

Jul 08 3 comments
Main Dish, Recipes, Side Dish, Vegetable, Vegetarian

Panzanella

panzanellaindish

Ah, panzanella. I’ve wanted to make you for so long. Ideally when I have just let a boule cool on my counter, but the oven is dead to me.  The temperature keeps rising and the weather is trying to coax us into calling an air conditioning company. Yet, we survive with our oscillating fan I purchased several years ago. It has become a dear friend and we’re very close to giving it a name. Instead of baking bread, I went to the Farmer’s Market and picked up fresh cucumber, tomato, onion, peppers, basil and a sourdough boule. I did have to use the stovetop briefly to crisp up the bread cubes for this recipe and I am happy to report that it was worth it. This is the Barefoot Contessa’s famous recipe with some minor tweaks. It made a huge batch that you can take to a barbecue or nibble on all weekend. It’s light and full of vibrant vegetables. A light summer dinner during these steamy times in the Midwest.

panzanellavegetables

Panzanella

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Serves 12 as a side

3 T. extra-virgin olive oil

1 small French boule, cut into 3/4 inch cubes (6 cups)

1 t. coarse salt

2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 cucumber, unpeeled, seed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (your choice of colors, I used orange and green)

1/2 red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced

8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3 T. capers, drained

Vinaigrette

1 t. finely minced garlic

1/2 t. Dijon mustard

3 T. aged balsalmic vinegar (or your favorite)

1/2 C. extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 t. coarse salt

1/4 t. freshly ground pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large saute pan or cast iron skillet and add the bread cubes and salt. Cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently for 10 minutes or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

breadcubes

2.  Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients together.

3. In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, red onion, basil, mozzarella and capers. Add the vinaigrette and stir ingredients together. At this point you can add the bread cubes, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately or alternately, add half of the bread cubes and refrigerate for 1 hour. Add the rest of the bread cubes right before serving and season with salt and pepper.  This gives you some bread cubes that have soaked up the vinaigrette and some crisp bread pieces. This recipe originally called for 1 inch cubes of most of the vegetables and at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I found that a bit large and thought 1/2-3/4 inch is better for enjoying this dish.

Jun 29 4 comments
Recipes, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetarian

Grilled Corn Salad

grilledcornsalad

I first discovered this grilled corn salad last labor day and it just tastes like summer. The corn is nutty from the grill, the fresh vegetables are crisp and the easy lime dressing adds a tangy sweetness. Now that summer is here and the barbecue is getting fired up regularly, I’ve made this twice already. Sometimes I have trouble finding a side dish that will please everyone, but this is great for that purpose. My husband loves this salad, even though he doesn’t care for cilantro and red onion. I made it for my parents, brother, sister-in-law and recently for friends of ours and it always disappears quickly. The vibrant colors entice even the pickiest eaters to give it a try.

Grilled Corn Salad

Recipe slightly adapted from RecipeGirl

Serves 6

6 ears corn on the cob, shucked

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 small red onion, minced

1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1 medium jalapeno, seeded and minced

1/4 C. mayonnaise

1/4 C. rice vinegar

3 T. sugar

3 limes, zest and juice

coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Put dry corn on a high-heat grill with oiled grates. Watch the corn carefully and turn corn frequently until some of the kernels start to blacken. Place on a plate or rimmed baking sheet to cool until you can handle them. When corn has cooled, use a sharp knife to remove kernels from the cob and put in a large bowl. Add red pepper, red onion, cilantro and jalapeno.

2. In a separate small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, lime juice and zest. Whisk to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Pour about half of the dressing over the vegetables and toss. Determine whether more dressing is needed.

This salad is great if made the day before. If I know I’m making it, I’ll make sure we grill something the night before and grill the corn with that meal. I make the rest of the salad and stick it in the refrigerator until its debut.

Apr 10 2 comments
Main Dish, Pasta Entree, Recipes, Seafood, Side Dish, Vegetarian

Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta with Grilled Asparagus

asparaguspastaAsparagus seems to be everywhere I go lately and two things come to mind when I see asparagus. #1 is grilling asparagus with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and #2 is this recipe for creamy goat cheese pasta with roasted asparagus. I decided to bring my two asparagus loves together and grilled the asparagus instead of roasting it and combined it with the creamy goat cheese pasta. Oh yes, these two were made for each other. The smoky asparagus contrasts nicely with the creamy goat cheese and pasta. I usually make this as an easy weeknight entree with a salad, but we picked up some beautiful salmon at Whole Foods and I turned the pasta dish into a side. We marinaded the salmon in a butter rum sauce and it was quite tasty, but I sadly didn’t taste much rum once it was cooked. I’ll include that recipe here, too. If you cannot grill the asparagus or salmon, roasting works great.  I first fell in love with this creamy goat cheese pasta dish when I made the roasted asparagus version. It’s quick and delicious.

rawasparagus grilledasparagus

Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta with Roasted (or Grilled) Asparagus

Adapted from Everyday Food

Serves 4 generously for an entree and 6 as a side dish

I’m going to share the roasted asparagus recipe below as I make it. Grilling works great if you are already grilling your protein. Place the prepared asparagus in a single layer on the grill for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally to prevent burning. It works out well to start the water boiling right before you place the asparagus on the grill. Let cool and cut into 2 inch pieces before adding to pasta.

2 bunches asparagus (about 2 pounds), tough ends trimmed

4 T. extra virgin olive oil

3 T.  unsalted butter, but into small pieces

1 pound cavatappi pasta (or your favorite kind)

1 small log soft goat cheese (5-7 oz.), crumbled

2-3 T. snipped fresh chives for garnish

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cut asparagus into 2 inch pieces and place on a large rimmed baking sheet and toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, tossing occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. While the asparagus is roasting, generously salt the now boiling water. Add pasta and cook al dente, according to the package instructions. Set aside 1 1/2 C. of pasta water, then drain the pasta and return the drained pasta to the pot.

3. In a large bowl combine the goat cheese, 3 T. butter and 1/2 C. pasta water.  Season with salt and pepper and whisk until smooth. Add pasta and goat cheese to the goat cheese mixture and toss to combine. Add more pasta water if necessary for sauce to coat the pasta. Serve garnished with snipped chives.

salmonwithpasta

Butter Rum Grilled and Smoked Salmon

Recipe from about.com via frantic google search

I cut this recipe in half because we purchased 1 pound of salmon and not 2. I’m sure this cook be baked and taste great, too. I’d bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until if flakes easily in the center.

Serves 4-6

2 lbs. salmon

3 T. butter, melted

3 T. dark rum

2 T. olive oil

1 head garlic, peeled and minced

1 T. black pepper

2 t. salt

1. Set up a two zone fire in your charcoal grill (one cool side and one hot side). While grill is heating, soak your favorite wood chunks in water for at least 30 minutes.

2. Twenty minutes before you are ready to grill, lay salmon on a rimmed baking sheet and combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl. Spread mixture evenly over the salmon. Let sit for 15 minutes.

3. Add wood chunks to the coals and oil your grill grates. Gently place the salmon over the cooler side of the grill. Close the lid and let the salmon smoke for 30-45 minutes, depending on the thickness. When finished the salmon should flake easily in the center. The color should be light pink without any shine.

rawsalmon 1 rawsalmonwithmarinade

Sep 10 2 comments
Appetizer, Beef, Recipes, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetarian

The Tastiest Labor Day Weekend

sirloin with bleu-onion sauce and portabello mushrooms

I love how Labor Day just kind of sneaks up on me every year. I try not to think about it too much and then all of a sudden, it’s a welcomed surprise.  I do this kind of mental psych-out with my Netflix queue, too. I’ll put movies I’d like to see on my list and I do not revisit the synopsis of the movies so that it is almost a complete surprise. Hmm..not sure what that says about me.

Friday and Sunday evening we got together with good friends and really enjoyed the food and company. Friday evening we went to a restaurant with friends that are expecting a baby in about 4 weeks! The husbands took up half our table with their fajitas and giant beers, Lynn had a pasty (the Northern Michigan favorite) and I had grilled buffalo shrimp over rice. Everything was tasty and we were able to enjoy our meals outside because of the beautiful weather. Sunday evening we took a drive to another good friends’ house and had a tasty Labor Day barbecue with a pretty fruit and cheese tray to start. We also enjoyed rum and cokes and white wine on their deck and even got in a couple games of Ladder Ball. The mosquitoes also had quite the feast, compliments of everyone but Marc and we had to take the party inside. Is that weird that Marc never, ever, ever gets bug bites while I’ve had at least 40 bites this summer? At least.

Saturday evening we were on our own and I had a sirloin steak for 2-3 defrosting, 1/2 C. of bleu cheese left over and I had purchase baby portabello mushrooms a few days earlier that needed attention. Ree of the Pioneer Woman made the most delicious looking ribeye steaks with onion-bleu cheese sauce that I knew my husband would love. I thought it would be the perfect way to use the rest of my bleu cheese and if Ree was swooning over it, well then it must be made, right? I just had to pick up some heavy cream and I had the rest of the ingredients. LOVE that. Since my mushrooms were looking at me so sadly from the fridge, I decided to cook those up, too. So, if you can imagine…Marc grilled a 1 1/2 lb. sirloin to medium rare perfection and then this delicious steak was sliced and  perched on the silky onion-bleu cheese sauce and then I topped it with portobello mushrooms. Oh yeah, that’s right. And I did steam some fresh green beans, too, as some sort of “hey, there are still greens on the plate” moment. I told Marc that this dish is easy and impressive enough that it would be perfect for entertaining a few people. Oh so yummy. I also told Marc that I can’t believe I shut mushrooms out of my life for so long and that this meal made me very sad about that. Until, oh, 6 months ago, I would not let mushrooms near my plate. I’m still not a big fan of the plain white mushroom, but these baby portobellos sauteed up? Whole ‘nother story.

Grilled Sirloin with Onion-Bleu Cheese Sauce

Very slightly adapted from the incomparable Pioneer Woman

Serves 2-3

1 1/2 lb. sirloin steak

salt and pepper to taste

4 T. unsalted butter

1 very large sweet onion (or yellow), sliced

3/4 C. heavy cream

1/2 C.  bleu cheese

1. Grill steaks to medium rare. We used our charcoal grill and it was about 4 minutes per side (depends on the thickness of your meat). You can also do this on the gas grill, in a cast iron skillet or in a grill pan (like Ree). Start making the sauce while the meat is grilling and let it rest for 10 minutes when it is done.

2. Saute onions in 4 T. butter over high heat. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the onion are dark and caramelized.

3. Reduce heat to simmer and pour in the cream. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until reduced by half.

4. Stir in bleu cheese until melted and transfer any accumulated juices from your rested meat to the pan.

5. Slice steak and serve over generous portions of the sauce.

Sauteed Baby Portabellos with Thyme

www.dulanotes.com (my recipe)

If you want to top your steak and onion-bleu cheese sauce with these, start cooking at the same time as you prepare the onion-bleu sauce.

16 oz. baby portabellos, washed, sliced and stems removed (I know many people say to just wipe with a damp cloth, but Jacques Pepin says that I can wash my mushrooms, so I do)

2 T. butter

1- 1 1/2 t. kosher salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 t. dried thyme

1. Melt 2 T. butter in 12″ cast iron skillet or other large skillet. When butter just melts, add your mushrooms to the pan.

2. When mushrooms just begin to wilt, add salt (start with 1 t. and add more, if desired), pepper and thyme (before you add thyme, rub it between your finger to release extra flavor). Stir. Check for seasoning, make sure it is to your taste.

3. Cook mushrooms until they have become brown and aromatic, about 10 minutes.

Now, you may be wondering what we had on Labor Day, itself. Well, I was in a motivated mood, so while I had Marc organizing his pile of papers in the office, I painted our large front window and a soffet that I’ve been itching to paint for about 2 years. Marc told me he needed to patch around the recessed lighting at least one more time, but I finally asked if  I could just paint it and success! In anticipation of getting some things done around the house, I made most of our feast ahead of time, but sadly, I have no pictures. By the time we got around to dinner it was late, it was raining and we were starving. Not a good situation for photo taking. I will attach links to the recipes I used and when I make these again, I’ll make sure to post the pics!

window painting

Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri (via Rox at Tasty Kitchen)

This was very tasty, but I thought that the 2 T. salt in the marinade made the steak a bit too salty and I love salt! I commented on her post to see if there was a misunderstanding, but other than that, it was very good. The steak was so tender and the chimichurri was a fun new experiment. I made a 1 1/2 lb. skirt steak and there was plenty of chimichurri left over. I’m going to try to pour the rest over pasta and see how that goes. The steak was medium rare after grilling it for 4 minutes per side and a 10 minute rest.

Jalapeno Poppers (aka Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies via Pioneer Woman)

Holy good! This was a lovely start to the meal considering we were starving. Well, we felt like we were. These are head and shoulders above any frozen jalapeno popper you’ve ever had and they are so easy. Not much harder than spending way to0 much for one of those party boxes. The jalapenos have a bit of heat, but they are not too spicy with the seeds removed. Instead of following PW’s oven directions, we put these babies on the grill for about 10 minutes and they were perfection!

Grilled Corn Salad (via recipegirl.com)

Over-the-top yummy and so easy. When Marc grilled our sirloin, I had him throw on 6 ears of corn (I used 6 and not 5 because the cute, older man that sells me his tasty produce sells them in bunches of 6 and I didn’t know what I’d do with the extra). I also subbed in sweet vidalia onion for the red onion because I had it on hand. When the corn cooled, I assembled the salad and let it sit overnight, as suggested, and my husband was very happy with this dish. Not only do bugs not bite him, he does not like eating corn on the cob. What?!? I know. Since he cuts the corn off the cobb every time I make it, I think he loved not having to do any extra work. A beautiful summer dish. Thanks Recipe Girl!