Crunchy Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

Crunchy Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

Since the weather actually got nice here in Portland I have been doing a lot of entertaining and also have been getting invited to cookouts. Lately I have been focusing more on side dishes and salads. While growing up I have to admit that I wasn't a big potato salad or cole slaw guy. As of late I realized that both of these dishes have a broad flavor and taste profile.
I now understand what I didn't like about cole slaw was the mayonnaise/sugar based dressing.
Once I found you could dress cabbage with an oil and vinegar dressing I have broken out of the box and been playing with all of the tastes humans can discern: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and that late addition to the taste game, umami .

For this dish I use thin sliced Red and Green Cabbage along with some Napa Cabbage for fun. A thin sliced red onion with scallions to taste. The dressing is a 3:1 mix of canola oil and sherry wine vinegar, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of dijon mustard, a few minced garlic cloves. Dress the salad then add a scant cup of crumbled gorgonzola and toss again and refrigerate until ready to serve (this is best cold). This dish looks great and is a simple to make, looks tremendous and it is a great foil for anything you can grill-Enjoy

Soyccotash

Soyccotash

I have been having these primal urges to eat more vegetables this past year. Maybe I am a latent vegetarian?.......(yeah, that's it, that's the ticket). Nah, I think it is just the fact that I have been seeing (and buying) better and better vegetables.
To paraphrase Julia Child-"You only eat the rabbit food while waiting for your steak to cook".
The mixed grilled salads I have been doing this summer all have one thing in common, they taste good! I love the idea of being a locavore, but as you can see I am putting together salads that have frozen ingredients (edamame) or out of season ingredients (asparagus...good grief, where are these babies in season....Peru?). Well I never claimed to be a purist and dammit when I see some big, fat, succulent asparagus that pleads to be oiled and grilled, who am I to deny that request (heh, I'm a giver)?

Dinner tonight was simple-Chicken, roasted potatoes, asparagus and soyccotash

Soyccotash
Ingredients:
1 cup Edamame
1 cup Corn
1 heirloom tomato
1/2 Red Onion-chopped
2 Scallions-chopped
Parsley-minced
3 Patty pan squash-chopped
1 pat of butter
Salt & Pepper

Cook the edamame for 3 minutes and shock in cold water, the corn can be cut from the cob or just pan sauteed if frozen. Grill the squash and toss in the raw onions and parsley. Add or subtract vegetables to your hearts desire.

Bon Appetit!

Succotash vs.Macque Choux

Succotash or Macque Choux

Summer is winding down and Fall is definitely in the air. I had been over to some friends house for dinner and since they were leaving for a short vacation they gave me a bag full of produce from their garden. This Summer I think I grilled more than Bobby Flay on "Boy meets Grill" and with the added cornucopia of produce was trying to figure out how to "sex" up a weekday meal.
I love grilling vegetables and had been playing with mixed raw and grilled vegetable salads all Summer long. I had adapted a Ratatouille for a grill prep and tonight I decided I wanted to make a Succotash. Corn, lima beans, tomatoes, celery, scallions, red onion, fennel bulb, serrano peppers and a little parsley for color. I grilled the corn inside the husk and even grilled the scallions and the celery for a couple of minutes. Was this an "authentic" recipe? Hell, I don't know, it is probably more authentic than the frozen Succotash I ate growing up. This salad can be tweaked a hundred different ways and

Grilled Tri-tip w/Chimmichurri, Bacon wrapped jalapenos, Asparagus & Succotash....er Macque Choux?

It wasn't until I was done with dinner and starting to sit down and write this post that I realized my Succotash might also be considered a Macque Choux (pronounced "mock shoe"). My guess is that Macque Choux had its roots in Succotash and the Cajun/French/Spanish/African influences of Louisiana transformed that dish into a regional specialty. Succotash comes from the Native American Narraganset Indians and it appears to be almost any vegetable medley that uses corn and lima beans. I added a vinaigrette to mine, but in the future I would probably go with a pat of butter and just salt and pepper

2006 Altano

This "bad boy" of a wine has been a favorite Summer pick from Trader Joe's. This sells for around $7.99/bottle and it fights well above its weight.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic pairing with beef, but to be honest the "good" Cabernets have an entry price point of $15-20 dollars and the lower end wines tend to have so much oak that all I taste is the vanilla. Don't get me wrong, if someone is opening a bottle of Joseph Phelps Insignia I am all over it. On the other hand, if I am buying wine for a Monday night dinner, I am stocking up on this wine by the case.
Do yourself a favor the next time you are at TJ's, skip the purchase of the $2 Buck Chuck. Spend a couple more dollars and get a wine that has a lot more heart and soul and at this price point this is almost as good as finding a $10 dollar bill in the parking lot.

70% Tinta Roriz and 30% Touriga Franca. Spicy aromas and a hint of coffee and chocolate on the nose. This opens up to a much more meaty complex wine and it shows off a core of dark purple/black fruits. This wine has no apparent oak (yeah!) . Tannins are rounded but clearly present and make this a great wine for a grilled piece of beef. Just enough acidity to provide some freshness and liveliness on the palate as well.
Cheers!

This is leftovers?

Mixed Greens with Smoked Lamb & Spiced Pecans

Well dinner tonight I think can only be described with a quote that Bill Murray used in the movie Caddyshack.

“I have to laugh, because I have out finessed

myself

"I have to laugh, because I have out finessed myself"
Carl Spackler, Assistant Greenskeeper, Bushwood Country Club

Left with nothing but a seemingly empty refrigerator I was able to turn a handful of mixed greens into a pretty, sexy, Summer salad. Okay, okay, before I hurt my arm patting myself on the back I guess I need to acknowledge that it wasn't like I was dividing bread up for the masses or turning water into wine (Though I did have a glass of 1998 Chateau Reignac).
Beside the greens I had some roasted/smoked leg of lamb that I julienned, a few oven dried tomatoes, some (quickles) and to add some extra crunch I tossed in the spiced pecans I used for appetizers yesterday. A little balsamic dressing and toasted baguette smeared with a triple cream brie (it almost looked like butter) and I would be happy to serve this to company-Bon Appetit

Panzanella

Panzanella

With Summer really in full swing and the produce overflowing my house I knew I wanted a great salad with dinner tonight. I had a phase of my life in the 90's where I was convinced I was part Italian (maybe I had been kidnapped by Gypsy's). I cooked peasant Italian, regional Italian, American-Italian, et al. It took me about five minutes of navel gazing for the light bulb to finally come on, but when it lit it really shown brightly.
Panzanella is a rustic Tuscan (peasant....I am guessing) salad. The ingredients are probably in your kitchen right now. Stale bread, fresh tomatoes, capers, olive, red onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar, etc. The variations are wide and I have seen recipes with the addition of tuna, hard boiled eggs and the like. Here is my version of this Italian classic.

Panzanella
Ingredients:
1 loaf of Italian bread (stale, and cut into 1" cubes)
1 lb. Tomatoes (plum, cherry, pear or what ever is fresh) course chop
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Red Onion, sliced razor thin
1 handful Fresh Basil, chiffonade
2 Tbsp. Capers
1/4 cup Olives (assorted)
1/2 handful of Italian Parsley, course chopped

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Combine all the above in a large bowl and toss. I personally like my bread a little firm, but I like when the bread acts like a small sponge and absorbs the oil and vinegar. This salad is best if you can toss it and let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two.
Buon Appetito-

Sunday Dinner

Porchetta Romana, Fresh Summer Salad & Roasted New Red Potatoes w/ Garlic-Lemon Aioli & Parsley

I was having company over for dinner and I wanted something fresh, seasonal and sexy. I have been playing with salads all Spring and Summer. I think this last weekend I had a "simple" salad that ended up with at least 10 ingredients. With all the produce available right now I seem to eyes bigger than my stomach and I hate seeing anything go to waste. The cool thing with these salads is you can get creative with using raw, grilled or even blanched veggies (like green beans or asparagus).
The other thing I like about these salads is it doesn't take a recipe.
The Entree for dinner ended up being an Italian Pork Roast.

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder w/Garlic, Fennel and Rosemary

This pork shoulder roast has been stuffed with garlic slivers then coated with olive oil, fresh rosemary and a liberal dose of fennel seeds. Anyone who needs a little more detail can see my detailed recipe of "Porchetta Romana". I have really developed a fondness for this slow cooked roast. The lean meat is well marbled with pork fat and this roast literally self bastes as it cooks. This roast is so fabulous that the only pork product that could top it would be a Heather Arndt Anderson's whole pig roast (hey, when are you doing that again?).

With a great roast and a fresh salad all I needed were some carbs to balance the plate. Since I had the grill already fired up for some of the salad ingredients I decided to grill some new red potatoes and then toss with a lemon aioli.

Grilled New Red Potatoes w/ Lemon-Garlic Aioli & Parsley
Recipe is courtesy of my alter-ego Bobby Flay
Ingredients:
3 pounds small new potatoes
1 1/2 cups best-quality mayonnaise. For the record, I can, and have made aioli before-this is just quicker (Heather, don't roll your eyes at me...)
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Place the potatoes in a stockpot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, season the water with salt, and cook until almost tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes, and when cool enough to handle, cut each potato in half.
Preheat the grill to medium. Add the mayonnaise, garlic, lemon juice, and zest to a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Brush the potatoes with oil on all sides and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill, cut side down, until golden brown and just cooked through. Remove the potatoes to a platter. Drizzle the aioli over the potatoes and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Patricia Green 2005-Ribbon Ridge-Bonshaw Vineyard

Since I was having company I thought I could pull out a nice bottle of Pinot Noir. Patricia Green is one of my favorite Oregon producers and I have been buying her wine for the past 5-6 years. Patricia is one of the second wave of wine pioneers in the Willamette Valley and she is a self taught winemaker. Pinot Noir is very expressive as to where it is grown, but I firmly believe that the personality of the winemaker shows.

To me these wines are much like Patricia (Patty), approachable, enjoyable, with levels of complexity and sophistication that start to show over time.

Patricia Green 2005-Ribbon Ridge-Bonshaw Vineyard
Dark purple color (heck, it is still a baby!), some earthiness, a bit of spice, mushroom/forest floor, concentrated cherry and raspberry fruit on the nose and palate. Tart cherry shows in the mid-palate (which makes this a fantastic food wine). Some good silky tannins on the back palate and a long finish. To me the fascinating thing about Pinot Noir is their ability to change in the glass. This wine showed a new scent every time I lifted my nose to the glass. Later in the evening this wine had a much more floral nose. This will be a great bottle to try again in 3-4 years.