Comfort Meal "Cole-Style": Pesto with Green Beans and Grilled Lamb Chops

Growing up, my mom had a lot of "go to" comfort meals:  Chicken with Mushrooms and Olives, Veal or Chicken Picatta, Chicken Cacciatore with "mushy" Polenta, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Italian Sausage, Tuna Noodle Casserole...  I could go on.  I loved them all and when I make them at home with Marshall, I'm transported to my mom's kitchen, sitting at the heavy kitchen table feeling warm and happy.  One of my absolute favorites was homemade Pesto with Pasta and Grilled or Broiled Lamb Chops.  This was a popular dish during the spring, when lamb is freshest, using pesto my mom made and froze the previous fall.  While we didn't eat this all the time (lamb can be expensive), it was wholeheartedly welcomed.  When I got older, my mom started adding green beans to the pesto.  This is something my mom's grandma used to do when preparing pesto for the family.  The sweet crisp green beans, boiled for just a couple of minutes with the pasta, blends beautifully with the garlicky pesto and the creamy Romano cheese.  Of course, during the summer, when the pesto is made from freshly picked basil this is a fantastic meal to eat outside.  When I think of summer, I get aromas of the charcoal BBQ, lamb and basil.  

When I moved into my first apartment my sophomore year of college, I inherited my grandmother's electric skillet.  It's this huge round fry pan that plugs into the wall.  The reservoir just under the cook surface is filled with something and an electric coil.  The great thing about this electric skillet is that the heat is always constant and even.  My grandma used this for making Chicken with Mushrooms and Olives, and...pan-fried lamb chops.  Whenever I would visit my mom during breaks or weekends, I sometimes would be sent back to school with frozen plastic containers of homemade pesto.  I remember specifically one night feeling extravagant and bought myself a few lamb chops from the Italian market in downtown and cooked myself pesto with pan-fried lamb chops.  I sat in front of the TV and devoured everything I made, sucking loudly on the lamb chop bones, which thoroughly bothered my vegetarian roommate, and slurping up my pasta.  I was at home again.

My sister even used to make this same dish when she and her, then, boyfriend (now husbands) were living together in college.

Luckily, I introduced lamb early to Marshall and he loved it.  I can always make lamb without much issue in our house and pairing with pesto has become a favorite in our home, too.  I took advantage of some pesto I had whipped up with some extra basil I had from another meal.  I bought green beans and lamb chops.   The green beans get trimmed and thrown in the pasta pot when there are only a few minutes left cooking time.  The lamb chops are prepared just as simply; seasoned with just some salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil and thrown on a hot grill, cooked medium-rare.  This is a meal known for not having any leftovers.  The pesto is devoured and the lamb chops are stripped clean to the bone.

This is true comfort food.  This is a meal which reminds me who I am and where I come from; it's family.

Bubba Blue Be Proud: Southern Shrimp Burgers

I'm not sure if I said it any time before this, but I'll say it again and again and again:  I love shrimp.  I will eat it cooked in any fashion, too:  boiled, broiled, grilled, sautéed, baked, stuffed - as long as it's is cooked, I'll eat it (not sure if raw shrimp, even for sushi, is OK).  One of  my favorite cooking magazines, Cooks Illustrated, came out with a Summer Grilling issue last year and I've found more than a handful of successful and delicious recipes in it, some of which made it onto my blog already.  One of those recipes was for Southern Shrimp Burgers.  Funny enough, I had never eaten a shrimp burger.  I've had tuna burgers, salmon burgers and crab cakes (which are kind of like burgers, right?), but never a burger made of shrimp.  The headline in the magazine stated "In most versions of this coastal classic, the shrimp flavor is all but buried beneath excessive amounts of binding and spices.  We wanted shrimp burgers that tasted like shrimp."  They certainly succeeded.

Making the shrimp burgers was similar to making any other kind of burger, although there is a little bit of binding, since shrimp tends to be wetter than most other proteins.  What's great is that the only binding is a slice of sandwich bread (I think we used sourdough, since that's what our home considers "sandwich bread").  The rest of the mixture includes fresh herbs, mild spices, mayo and shrimp:  the perfect combination of flavors to enhance and showcase the sweetness of the shrimp meat.  They held surprisingly well on the grill, which is where we cooked them.  You can easily cook these in a pan on the stove, if you're interested in having a summery light meal in the dead of winter.  The burgers were tender and juicy, sweet and delicious.  I would definitely make these again.

I served the shrimp burgers without buns.  I would think buns, or any kind of bread-like product, would totally ruin the freshness of the burger and weight the meal down.  They were perfect fork-and-knife burgers, although you didn't need a knife at all to cut through the burger.  I made a home-made tartar sauce for dipping.  A simple mixture of mayo, capers, and fresh chopped dill.  You can certainly buy tartar sauce from the store, but when it's this easy to make, why would you?  The picture in the magazine showed the burger alongside some fresh greens.  I remember making a Tuna Steak au Poivre a long time ago that had a bitter greens salad on the side, which was great.  I figured that kind of super light salad would be perfect and it was.

I hope you give these burgers a shot.  I highly recommend using fresh, unfrozen, shrimp if at all possible.  They really aren't expensive, comparatively speaking, and you get a MUCH better flavor.  Also, again if possible, buy as local as possible.  Unfortunately, for Californians, local shrimp comes from the Gulf of Mexico, which is definitely more local than Thailand or Vietnam.  Like with all fish, wild-caught is infinitely better, both in taste and nutritional value, than farmed (shrimp aren't supposed to eat corn).  I know that when I first started preparing raw fresh shrimp myself, the deveining was the most worrisome.  It is so easy, I can't even tell you:  take scissors (kitchen shears and desk scissors work equally well) and snip the shell along the back of the shrimp (not the side with the legs) stopping right before the tail (if you want a handle) or all the way through the tail (if you just want the meat).  The snipping allows you to peel the shell easily from the shrimp meat and will cut just enough of the flesh to expose the vein.  Under running cold water, clean out the groove you made with the scissors and you're done!  Your shrimp are now ready to cook and enjoy!

Light & Refreshing: Grilled Chile-Lime Salmon

I remember when I found this recipe.  I knew I wanted grilled salmon.  However, since my fish-cooking knowledge is rather limited, I wasn't sure how to season the salmon.  At the time, I had a handful of limes on-hand from another meal I had made recently and I didn't want them to go to waste.  When I searched for "grilled salmon" on epicurious.com (I love epicurious.com because they have all the recipes from pretty much all recent issues of Gourmet, RIP), it yielded a whole slough of different recipes and I couldn't really get into any of them.  I was definitely looking for a recipe which was simple and quick, but, of course, tasty.  One recipe stuck out above the rest:  grilled chile-lime arctic char.  I had had arctic char before and I remembered it was very similar to salmon; same fatty and pink fish with similar flavors.  It helped that the recipe included some substitution options at the bottom, including swapping out the arctic char with salmon.  Perfect!

One thing I look forward to during the summer is asparagus.  Yes, and lets get this out of the way to get our giggles out beforehand:  asparagus makes your pee smell.  In some ways, I find this reassuring that my body is working the way it should.  But yeah, depending on the asparagus, it can be rather embarrassing in mixed company.  However, when it's just Marshall and I - who cares?  So, Marshall and I made a trip to our local farmer's market and picked up some really awesome, super thin, asparagus - totally perfect for grilling.  I simply drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and they went on the grill until tender.  You'll also see a tiny pile of sautéed spinach on my photographed plate.  This did not appear on our plate with leftovers, but I had some baby spinach I bought for my sandwiches the week before and I wanted to use it before it went bad.  I really love sautéed greens.  The spinach went into a pan with olive oil and chopped garlic.


All in all, it was a satisfying and light meal, perfect for a hot summer evening!

Ya Mon! - Jerk Chicken with Grilled Banana and Onion Salsa

Let's quickly address the rather large pachyderm in the room:  Yes, it has been a while since I last posted.  There, issue addressed; let's move on, shall we?

In the interest of time and preserving my dignity, I will not divulge when this meal was cooked and eaten.  What I will tell you is that it was a delicious meal.  I will, though, apologize for the lack of chicken-prep photos, which were Marshall's responsibility and in the joy of grilling the chicken, he forgot.  We also grilled the chicken a night ahead, due to an even or something.  We have a schedule when we eat.  We are creatures of habit and keeping a "cook Monday and Wednesday; eat leftovers Tuesday and Thursday; figure out something Friday through Sunday" is easy for us to make sure we're eating more at home than coming up short on what to eat and ending up going out.

Anyway, all that aside:  this was exactly how the editors of Cook's Illustrated described this chicken:  easy, as well as being very tasty.  It also wasn't really super spicy, which anything labeled "jerk" tends to be.  The marinade/rub does contain habenero peppers, but they aren't there in the forefront.  What you get is an extremely flavorful and juicy chicken with a very nice warmth, which only suggests the pepper's presence.  What really stands out in this meal is the side dish:  grilled banana and red onion salsa.  We treated this more like a salad, rather than a salsa.  But, it's a great dish and it packs so much flavor and it's a refreshing counterpart to the spicy and warm chicken.  The grilled bananas and red onions are sweet, but not too sticky.  The dressing is minty and with just a spark of rum ties everything together.  Considering I've never been to Jamaica before, I can't say how this stacks up to what you would find on the island, but I can only imagine it holds its own against the authentic birds being fired up on the street.  Is it bad that I wanted to construct my own charcoal grill out of a discarded oil drum and cook my chicken just to get that close to authentic?  :)

Best Grilled Chicken Ever: Thai-Style Chicken with Spicy Sweet and Sour Sauce

I first must apologize for the lack of photos for this entry.  If I remember correctly (which is a horrible thing to say and I should be able to keep up with this thing!), I started preparing this chicken and halfway through realized I needed more limes.  For some odd reason, my local market has been having horrible luck with limes.  They end up being dry and hard as rocks.  I go to use them and I can barely get two drops of juice. This happened while trying to get the spice mixture, which is placed underneath the skin, for the chicken and I ran out of limes to juice.  What was funny, in a sad way, was that Safeway ended up having much better juice-laden limes than my local Italian market.  Anyway, while preparing this chicken, which ended up taking forever due to the marinating time and running out of limes, I said to Marshall, "This better be the best @#!$ing chicken ever, because this is ridiculous!"  Well, my friends, it was.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this chicken as much as I did.  For one thing, the spice mixture contains a good deal of coriander, which my body does not like.  My stomach actually turns at the smell of coriander.  I can take it in small doses, but anything with a strong coriander flavor or contains whole coriander seeds, I cannot eat without feeling sick.  I never cooked much with coriander before, but I remember my mom went through this kick.  She and my dad found this restaurant down the street from them, which is no longer there, called Asian Fusion.  Essentially, it was a restaurant that infused all sorts of Asian cuisines onto one menu.  They had a little Chinese, a little Vietnamese, a little bit of Indian, all rolled into one.  They had a side dish simply called "Coriander Rice".  It was regular white steamed rice, but they threw in a bunch of whole coriander seeds into the rice cooker.  This infused the rice, so you could have a "scented" rice with your main dish.  My mom was all over this.  She even learned to make it at home.  She served it with everything for a while, it seemed, and I just couldn't stomach it at all.  It wasn't the flavor, but more the aroma which just didn't agree with me.  Luckily, this chicken wasn't very CORIANDER-y, but it had an underlying flavor of that spice.  Most of the coriander was in the spice rub, which was cooked with the chicken in such a way that it could be scraped off.  Now, I don't like admitting when I'm a picky eater, but I just had to do this a few times with my chicken.  This being said, though, it really was some awesome grilled chicken.  Having the breast with the skin and bone-in locked in all the juices and the meat remained tender and extremely juicy.  The rub penetrated the meat, so the flavor went past the surface and into the entire piece of chicken.

The spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce was an excellent addition and added an almost refreshing flavor contrast to the aromatic chicken.  The spicy red pepper flakes were perfect, too, adding just enough heat to compliment all the other flavors in the spice rub.  I took advantage of the side dish recipe, provided with the chicken:  Sesame Noodles with Sweet Peppers and Cucumbers.  I didn't get any pictures of the side dish, quite simply because it wasn't photogenic.  Although it tasted great, it didn't look all that lovely.  I think it was the brown dressing, which made the dish look like a big bowl of chunky peanut butter.  However, the flavors were wonderful and the meal as a whole was delicious.

¡Que Sabor! - Grilled Baja-Style Fish Tacos

Before I say anything else, I want to get this out there:  I love fish...but I'm afraid of it.  The problem comes from not being familiar and comfortable with preparing fish.  I've been on the wrong end of bad fish before and it is NOT pretty.  I would hate to do that to Marshall or myself or any guests for whom I cook.  I'm comfortable with chicken and lamb.  I've gotten continuously comfortable with red meat (I used to hate the blood-factor).  I just never worked on strengthening my relationship with fish.  Of course, it all comes from how you were raised, right?  Unfortunately, we never got to eat a lot of fish when I was growing up.  My dad is deathly allergic to all types of fish.  He'll even start coughing if there's even the smell of fish.  When he was little, his parents fed him fish, unaware of his allergy, and he ended up in the hospital not being able to breathe.  Since then, he's steered clear of fish as much as possible.  This meant, of course, that my mom and I couldn't cook fish for dinner.  We did, however, take advantage of the nights my dad worked late or when he volunteered at my elementary school's weekly bingo night.  My mom and I would pop over to the store, pick up some fish and cook it up.  Normally it was marinated catfish, which was easy to throw in a fry pan.  I remember eating salmon a few times, but nothing really elaborate.  Since then, my repertoire has been skimpy on the fish.  Marshall and I try to eat healthily and what's more healthy than fish, right?  I've worked hard to get over my squeamishness over fish.  I'm learning more and more with every dish I make.  I've gotten to the point where I'm consciously searching for new fish recipes to add to our menu each week.

A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for one of my favorite things:  fish tacos.  They're so easy, but so easy to screw up.  I definitely do not care for fried fish tacos; I really like grilled fish.  Thanks to my trusty friend in the kitchen, Cooks Illustrated (I really should just bite the bullet and order a subscription already!), I found a great recipe for Baja-style Fish Tacos.  The recipe overall was easy and prepared not only the fish, but also a spicy spread and cabbage salad to garnish.  The page also showed a recipe for a Mexican-Style Marinated Tomato Salad.  Sure, it was just the salad version of guacamole, but it was really delicious and paired well with the tacos.  Plus, it photographs really well!  Both dishes were delicious and perfect for the warm weather.

The recipe also called for mahi-mahi, but unfortunately the fishmonger I frequent did not have any when I went shopping.  Luckily, the recipe provided some helpful replacements, if mahi-mahi could not be found.  I love when recipes provide options for main ingredients.  Since I'm unfamiliar with fish, I don't really know what substitutes can be made.  It's not like picking out substitutions for cuts of beef or chicken.  Each fish has its own distinct flavor and texture, which play well with different flavors and cooking methods.  One of the fish they suggested was red snapper, which my fishmonger had, so I used that.  The recipe also suggests using halibut or swordfish, as well, in case mahi-mahi and red snapper cannot be found.  Just be careful of the swordfish, since high levels of mercury is found in swordfish.  A helpful link is Seafood Watch, which is prepared and constantly updated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Seafood Watch provides helpful suggestions and tips for which fish to buy at certain times throughout the year, as well as whether or not to buy farmed or fresh and how the fish is caught.  Normally, fresh-caught fish is best, but the sticky bit is how it's caught.

Grill Time: Giant Pork Chops with Adobo Paste

You know the sounds; you know the smells.  The sun warms the grass; the days are longer; the air is light and sweet and what's that other smell?  That's right:  the smell of spice and flame-kissed meat.  We would have actually fired up the grill much earlier this year, had it not been for the rather cold and wet May we experienced. Luckily, things started warming up recently and we could finally unfurl the cover on our Weber Q and start the gas.  Yes, we have a gas grill.  It is illegal in our city/county to use a charcoal grill in a multi-family building.  Technically, we should actually be using a much smaller gas tank than what we have, BUT since no one can see it...  Anyway, enough about the technicalities.  Marshall and I have been learning to grill and mostly rely on well-written recipes with explicit grilling instructions.  For a wedding gift, we got a probe thermometer, which has helped us rely on the meat and not the recipe to tell us when its done.  But, we have been learning fast and been more adventurous with our grill.

One stand-by recipe we have turned to over the last couple of years comes from, where else, Gourmet magazine.  The July 2007 issue was the all-grill issue.  This same issue taught us how to grill a Caesar salad, too! Our inaugural grilling dish for this year was Grilled Giant Pork Chops with Adobo Paste.  I grew up in a house that didn't do much pork.  My dad was never a fan, so my mom tended to steer clear of it for everyday meals.  I've learned, though, that pork can be quite tasty and it's a great lean protein, too, like chicken.  The first time I made this dish, I fell in love with the adobo paste.  It's a simple mixture of spices, oil and lime juice, but the smell that arises from the paste is heavenly.  It's smoky, spicy and tangy, without being clawing.  I really makes your mouth water, just from the smell.  One thing I have done differently is I go with the thinner bone-in pork chops and not the giant pork chops.  We did the giant pork chops the first time and they're huge.  They're much bigger than either of us could eat on our own.  I don't change the amount of paste I make, which might be more paste than what I SHOULD use, but we love it anyway.

To go with these delectable chops, I went with a salad.  It was a green salad, but I wanted to do something complimentary to the pork.  My sister makes a cilantro-lime dressing which is really good.  I had planned to mimic this and make my own, but I ran out of time to make an actual dressing.  Instead, I made a salad with green leave lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, and white corn.  Then I loosely chopped some fresh cilantro and threw it into the bowl.  I dressed the salad with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, garlic powder, a few dashes of chili powder, fresh lime juice and olive oil.  It was surprisingly good and refreshing and definitely complimentary with the chops.

Finally, I wanted a starch.  I'm a total starch fiend.  I love my bread, pasta, corn and potatoes.  I think it comes from being in an Italian family.  Even with pasta, we always had bread at the table.  With just the two of us, Marshall and I haven't kept this with our meals.  We also agreed that we are more apt to fill up on bread before eating the actual meal.  Anyway, I went with potato for a starch, but I was at a loss to how to prepare it.  Then I got an idea:  grill them!  So, I took a couple of potatoes, rinsed them, then sliced them into 1/2-3/4" rounds.  I left the skins on because the skin of the potato is the best part, in my opinion.  I drizzled the slices with a little olive oil and sprinkled them with kosher salt and pepper.  I put them on the grill after finishing the chops and cooked them, flipping over a few times, until grill marks appeared and they were tender to the touch.  The result was fantastic.  I loved the crisped exteriors and the creamy insides.  Plus, the really browned, almost burnt, bits were so incredibly yummy.  I really liked this cooking method for potatoes and I'll definitely find another excuse to make them again!  Maybe next time, I'll sprinkle of a little cayenne to spice them up...

So, join the party and fire up that grill (and be safe)!


Grilled Giant Pork Chops with Adobo Paste
Serves 4 


2-1/2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Sweet Paprika
1-1/2 Tablespoons Dried Oregano, crumbled
1 Tablespoons Garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons of Red Pepper Flakes
1-1/2 teaspoons Lime Zest
1-1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1/4 teaspoons Black Pepper
4 Bone-in Loin Pork chops

1a.  (For charcoal grills) Prepare the grill for direct-heat-cooking over medium-hot coals.
1b.  (For gas grills)  Preheat all burners on high, covered, for 10 minutes.
2.  Stir together all ingredients, except the pork chops, in a bowl to form a spice paste, then rub paste all over pork chops.
3a.  (For charcoal grills) Oil grill rack, then grill chops over coals, turning over occasionally and moving if flare-ups occur, until browned, 2-3 minutes total.  Move chops to area with no coals underneath, then cover with inverted roasting pan (disposable is OK) and grill, turning chops over once, until thermometer inserted horizontally into the center of a chop (do not touch bone) registers 145F, about 8-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chop.
3b.  (For gas grills) Reduce heat to moderately high and brown chops, covered, turning over occasionally, 2-3 minutes total.  Turn off one burner (middle one if there are 3 burners) and put chops above the shut-off burner, then grill, covered, without turning, until thermometer registers 145F, about 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chop.
4.  Transfer to a platter and let stand 5 minutes before serving.