Pasta with Fresh Snap Peas

We were at Cookbook and they had fantastically sweet Sugar Snap Peas. First of the season. We decided to make Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots. This is a delicious pasta. It makes me think I could be a vegetarian. You can find this great recipe on our blog of: April 28, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. Make it!

Pressed Chicken

We had some left over chicken and we decided to try something different. We wanted to really crisp up the chicken skin by making Pressed Chicken. We placed a flat iron griddle on the stove and heated it up. We then placed the chicken on the griddle and placed a heavy pan on top of the chicken and pressed down. We cooked over a high heat for about 5 minutes and the chicken was hot and crispy! Success!

We started with Asparagus topped with Brown Butter, Hazelnuts, and Burrata Cheese. We are so happy that Asparagus is coming back into season!

Rotisserie Chicken

We cooked the chickens over a pan of potatoes and shallots and let the chicken drippings flavor the potatoes. Cathy stuffed the two chickens using the recipe for Roast Chicken for Two and from The Balthhazar Cookbook by Keith McNally, Riad Nasr & Lee Hansen. This is a great recipe that keeps the chicken very moist. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 23, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Salmon Patties

I know fried food is supposedly bad for you, but we couldn't resist. We had lots of left over salmon. We made Salmon Patties using a recipe for Salmon and Dill Fish Cakes from The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater. They were crispy and very tasty. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 4, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe. This was a huge chunk of salmon and it definitely provided a bunch of dinners. We also made Salmon Tartar with some of the salmon.

With the Salmon Patties we served one of our favorite potato recipes: Roast Potato Salad with Rosemary and Garlic from Tender also by Nigel Slater. I love the taste of the mustard with the Roasted Potatoes. Super Yummy! You can get the recipe on our blog of: June 2, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Smoked Salmon Cauliflower Puree

Tom stopped over to lend us a book. We invited him to dinner. I was Smoking a Salmon that we had purchased from McCall’s Meat and Fish. Salmon smokes so good in the Green Egg. The idea is to cook it at a low temperature, I try to keep the temperature between 175 – 200 degrees. In addition I throw Apple Wood Chips on the fire to flavor the smoke. Actually I don’t throw them directly on the fire. I soak them in water first, then I drain them, then I wrap them in aluminum foil leaving an opening at the top for the smoke to escape. You can get the recipe for the salmon on our blog of: January 15, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We started with a Salad made from Apples and Young Greens. It was a very refreshing salad.

We made a Cauliflower Puree that I just loved to go under the salmon. We boiled Cauliflower and Garlic in salted water. When the Cauliflower was soft we drained it and then pureed the mixture adding Truffle Butter, Salt and Pepper. It was better than mashed potatoes. You could serve this anyplace you would normally serve mashed potatoes. Great discovery by Cathy.

Pork Roast

Rotisserie grilling is so forgiving. Place a fire under the meat and let it happily turn on the spit. We always place a pan of Potatoes under the meat, to cook and catch the drippings. All you need to do is make sure the meat is cooked by indirect heat (the pan with the potatoes insures there are no coals directly under the meat). This way the drippings don’t cause the coals to flame up. Occasionally check there are sufficient hot coals, add more wood or charcoal as needed. We use an instant thermometer to check the meats internal temperature, although you can pretty much tell by looking if it is properly done.

The recipe we use is was to apply a dry rub of Fennel Pollen, Diced Garlic, Olive Oil, Sage, Thyme  Salt and Pepper to the meat a few hours before placing the meat on the rotisserie. When the meat revolves most of the rub will stay on the meat and that which falls off will only season the potatoes making them even better.

The Bone-in Pork Roast was from McCall’s Meat and Fish. We had several dinners of leftovers and I had pork sandwiches for lunch. It was a meal that kept on giving.

We had dinner at Pizzeria Mozza. One of the vegetables we ordered with our pizza was a Oven Roasted Sweet Potato. It was roasted then pureed and returned to its skin. It was delicious and huge. We brought the left over sweet potato home. We made Bruschetta  by toasting Bread and topping with the Sweet Potato Puree and Feta Cheese. It was delicious and a great use of the leftovers.

Get Your Meat On!

We returned from India, where you can't eat beef. Our first dinner out was for a Hamburger. The first meal we cooked was a Dry Aged Rib Eye STEAK with Baked Potato. The meat was from McCall's Meat and Fish. It was tender and juicy and perfectly grilled with a great char. Perfection!