Grilled Brussels Sprouts

1 pound Brussels sprouts, as uniform in size as possible

2 tablespoons olive oil

thick cut bacon
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat a grill to medium.

Cut off the stem end of the Brussels sprouts and remove any yellowing outer leaves. Place the Brussels sprouts into a large, microwave safe mixing bowl and heat in the microwave on high for 3 minutes. Add the olive oil, garlic, mustard, paprika and salt and toss to combine. Allow the sprouts to cool until you can handle them. Skewer 4 to 5 Brussels sprouts onto each metal skewer with the stem ends facing in the same direction, leaving at least 1/2-inch in between each sprout. 

 

Place the skewers onto the grill with stem end closest to the flame. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Turn the skewers over and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Serve as is or for additional flavor, remove the sprouts from the skewers, return them to the original mixing bowl and toss with any of the remaining oil and garlic mixture before serving.

Creamy Gazpacho

We saw this on America's Test Kitchen a week or two ago and thought it looked delicious, so we gave it a try.  Let me tell you, it's amazing.  Our guests thought so too!

3 pounds (about 6 medium) ripe tomatoes , cored

1 small cucumber , peeled, halved, and seeded
1 medium green bell pepper , halved, cored and seeded
1 small red onion , peeled and halved
2 medium garlic cloves , peeled and quartered
1 small serrano chile , stemmed and halved lengthwise
Kosher salt 
1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread , crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil , plus extra for serving
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar , plus extra for serving 
2 tablespoons finely minced parsley , chives, or basil leaves
Ground black pepper

Roughly chop 2 pounds of tomatoes, half of cucumber, half of bell pepper, and half of onion and place in large bowl. Add garlic, chile, and 1½ teaspoons salt; toss until well combined. Set aside.

Cut remaining tomatoes, cucumber, and pepper into ¼-inch dice; place vegetables in medium bowl. Mince remaining onion and add to diced vegetables. Toss with ½ teaspoon salt and transfer to fine-mesh strainer set over medium bowl. Set aside 1 hour.
Transfer drained diced vegetables to medium bowl and set aside. Add bread pieces to exuded liquid (there should be about ¼ cup) and soak 1 minute. Add soaked bread and any remaining liquid to roughly chopped vegetables and toss thoroughly to combine.
Transfer half of vegetable-bread mixture to blender and process 30 seconds. With blender running, slowly drizzle in ¼ cup oil and continue to blend until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Strain soup through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl, using back of ladle or rubber spatula to press soup through strainer. Repeat with remaining vegetable-bread mixture and 1/4 cup olive oil.
Stir vinegar, minced herb, and half of diced vegetables into soup and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours to chill completely and develop flavors. Serve, passing remaining diced vegetables, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and black pepper separately.

**note, while this recipes does have a lot of chopping, etc involved, we did find that the precise dice that ATK is notorious for is key in the vegetables that get stirred in and that are used for a garnish.  We used flat leaf parsley for the herb. 

Fresh and Delicious Green Beans

We grew green beans in the garden last summer, so we had plenty of FRESH green beans to go around. They were delicious! As I was looking for different ways of preparing them, I decided to give one of those grill baskets a try.

If you have never tried one of these, run to Ace Hardware or http://www.cooking.com/ and get one! You'll be happy you did. Ours doesn't look this shiney and new anymore, because it has been used often! We use this for everything! green beans, aparagus, potatoes, onions, zucchini, etc. any vegetable you'd saute on the stove can be cooked on the grill in this thing.
So, we made our beans in this all last summer. These don't take more than 5 minutes on a pre-heated grill, so I would prepare the beans while any meat that was just cooked on the grill is quietly resting under tented foil.

1-2 pounds fresh green beans
olive oil
kosher salt
1-2 cloves of garlic minced (optional)
soy sauce

Place the grill basket on the preheated grill. Toss the washed and dried green beans with olive oil and put into the hot basket. They'll sizzle and smoke. Using your grill tongs, keep tossing them in the basket. Sprinkle with kosher salt and toss some more. Continue to cook on the grill for a couple minutes, until the beans are cooked, but still crisp; you do NOT want limp beans.
Depending how hot your grill is, this should take about 4-5 minutes.
Just before removing from the grill, generously sprinkle the beans with soy sauce and thoroughly toss. At this point, if you also want to toss in some minced garlic, do it. Be VERY careful to NOT burn the garlic if you do choose to add it. Burnt garlic = blechhhh!
Remove the basket from the grill and transfer the beans to a serving bowl. Pass them when they are hot off the grill. So delicious!

**pictures will follow, making these tonight with grilled pork chops....


NOTE: you can also make these in a large non-stick skillet, on the stove.

PW's Simple Sesame Noodles, Pelletier style

A while back The Pioneer Woman had a recipe for Simple Sesame Noodles. I thought the recipe sounded delicious, I love sesame anything! The only problem was that I wanted to make a whole meal out of them....So, I added a chicken breast and fresh broccoli and voila, we had a meal and a huge bonus is that it is now Emily and Louie's favorite meal!


And so, without further adieux:

Ingredients

12 ounces, Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained  (we use whole wheat pasta)
Whisk together:
¼ cups Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil
½ teaspoons Hot Chili Oil
4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
2 Tablespoons Hot Water

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips and then into bite sized pieces
2-3 tbsp corn starch
2 heads of broccoli, stalks removed and cut into bite sized florets
2-3 tsp canola oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced

In a bowl, toss the chicken pieces with the corn starch. In a large skillet, over medium heat, add 2-3 tsp canola oil. Once the oil shimmers in the bottom of the pan, add the chicken in a single layer. Leave it and let it cook for a minute or two. Stir so that the chicken cooks evenly.
When the chicken appears to be almost done, about 5 minutes, add the broccoli pieces and stirfry. Add 1-2 tbsp of water and cover to steam the broccoli. In a couple minutes, it should be bright green, but slightly crunchy.
Add the noodles to the pan and toss thoroughly with the chicken. Pour the sauce over the noodle and chicken mixture and toss. Sprinkle with the green onions. Serve hot.

Enjoy, we do!

Butternut Squash Gratin

A few years ago, Dan and I ate dinner at Forepaugh's. One of the sides that came with out entree's was Butternut Squash Gratin. It was so good, Dan and I practically licked the serving dish out when it was gone (in about 45 seconds).

Since then, I've been searching the web for a recipe for Butternut Squash Gratin and have never found anything that I felt would suffice. So, tonight I took matters into my own hands and decided to take care of business myself. I know how to cook for gosh sake....and now that I've got a cast iron skillet, life is good.

Let's get this party started, shall we?

Butternut Squash Gratin

1 butternut squash; peeled, seeded and cut into cubes (about 4 cups)

5 tbsp butter; divided

1 onion; chopped in large chunks

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp fresh sage, minced

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

fresh ground nutmeg

In a large sauce pan, with the steamer insert, bring about 3 cups of water to a boil (enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer basket). Add the cubed squash, cover and steam for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a 10 inch cast iron skillet, melt 3 tbsp of butter, add the chopped onion. Saute on low to medium heat until soft and carmelized, stirring occasionally. This takes about 20 minutes. Add the squash to the onions in the skillet and stir until combined. Sprinkle with salt, fresh ground pepper, sage and fresh ground nutmeg.

Heat the heavy cream in microwave for 1-2 minutes until warm. Pour over squash.

In a bowl, toss the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese with the remaining 2 tbsp of butter (melted). Sprinkle over the squash mixture in the skillet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes, until bubbly.

Season with salt and pepper when serving.