Grilled Garlic Bread

Grilled Chicken Salad with Garlic Bread

As we ease into the longer days of spring, I find myself stationed in front of the grill at least once a week. Tonight is grilled chicken salad and (for a new twist), grilled garlic bread.

Garlic Bread is my go-to use for leftover crusty French bread. We love fresh bread with dinner, especially a spaghetti dinner, but I am often left with 1/2 a loaf at the end of the night. Now here's a fun use for old bread!

To prepare, I simply sliced the bread lengthwise and placed it on the hot grill, cut side down. After about 3 minutes, I removed the bread, spread on some chopped garlic, drizzled it with olive oil and topped with a little mozzarella. Then returned it to the top rack of the grill to toast a little more and melt the cheese. A very simple presentation, but tasty in it's simplicity. This surely could be dressed up with some fresh basil and maybe a little chopped tomato? I think I will continue to experiment this grilling season.

A Summer Staple: Potato Salad

Why is it that we always like our mom's potato salad the best? More so than any other dish that I can think of, there seems to be a consensus that for this summer staple, mom's version is the one to which all others are measured.

I have not done any scientific research on this, of course, but every summer I seem to hear the refrain, "this is almost as good as my mom's." How often do you hear that said about baked beans? Maybe because most moms pop open a can for that!

I think the magic is in the dressing. Any dish that requires "from scratch" dressing seems to take on a special quality from the chef. (Even if that dressing is simply a combination of Hellmann's mayo and Catalina salad dressing.)

I once asked my mom to share her recipe for potato salad and this is what I got...

boil potatoes, peel, chop
4-5 hard boiled eggs
green onions (2 bunches)
celery seed (1 1/2 tsp.)

dressing: Hellmann's mayo mixed with Catalina. (approx. 1/2 c. mayo and 1/4 c. red dressing)

My response: that's it? There is no special, magic ingredient? No. Sometimes simpler is better.

Easy Macaroni and Cheese

The title says it all. You really can't find an easier recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese. It's not extra creamy or topped with a fancy crumb topping, but this dish is consistently good. On top of that, it only takes one dish to prepare. No precooking noodles or sauce.

This recipe is courtesy of my mother-in-law, Carole. As the mother of four, I'm sure she loved the simplicity of the dish and the fact that it is agreeable to most tastes. She was known to have many more than her own four kids at the table -- friends were always welcome.

Easy Macaroni and Cheese
3 Tbs. butter
2 1/2 c. uncooked macaroni
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1/2 lb. sharp cheese grated
1 quart milk

Melt butter in the baking dish. Stir in the macaroni to coat with butter. Add the salt, pepper and cheese and stir. Then, add the milk and DO NOT STIR. Bake at 325 deg. for 1 hour.

Note: If you are cooking something else in the oven at a different temperature, just adjust the length of time you cook the macaroni and cheese as needed. It is done when top starts to brown.

Southwestern Rice & Corn Casserole

My first taste of victory came last summer in a "people's choice" corn recipe contest at the Woodbury Farmer's Market. For my recipe, I decided to combine several of the ingredients I love into a "tex-mex" casserole. I guess the market patrons that voted enjoy the combination of corn, tomatoes, rice, beans and cheese, too.

In order to perfect my recipe I made the dish several times in the weeks leading up to the contest. First I tried starting with un-cooked rice. Unhappy with the results - the rice wasn't fluffy enough - I switched to cooking the rice in advance. I also started with plain diced tomatoes from a can, but switching to the Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilies made a big improvement in the tex-mex taste I was trying to achieve.

I had fun with this recipe and I hope you do, too. It's easy to modify to fit what you have on hand and what "tex-mex" tastes you like (or don't like). It might be fun to try kidney beans. Or, maybe macaroni instead of rice? (I'm not sure how that would work, but it might taste good!) You could even try adding ground beef or shredded chicken (with or without taco seasoning) to make this a main course casserole.

Southwestern Rice and Corn Casserole
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 Tbs. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilies
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. cooked rice
1 tsp. salt
4 ears of corn, kernels and milk removed from the cob with a knife
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 c. grated mexican blend cheese

Saute the onion in butter and olive oil until soft and starting to brown. Stir in chili pepper and cumin and cook, stirring, 15-30 seconds. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer 10 minutes. Add beans, rice, corn and cilantro; stir to combine. Pour mixture into casserole dish. Bake at 350 deg. for 40 minutes, adding cheese during last 10 minutes.

Summer corn salad with cilantro vinaigrette

This afternoon the Woodbury Farmer's Market hosted a corn recipe contest, judged by Dominic Polidoro, local chef-owner of The Spot. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have been eagerly awaiting this contest (especially since I originally thought it was scheduled for last Thursday).

It was a real challenge for me to develop a recipe I felt was good enough to impress the judge. At his restaurant, Chef Dominic uses seasonal ingredients to create a menu that is fresh and inviting. While I love some of the menu standards, I have found that it is hard to go wrong ordering one of the daily specials.

So, here it is. My award-winning (2nd place)...

Summer corn salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette
For the salad, mix together in a medium bowl:
3 ears corn, cooked and kernels removed
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 red onion, diced and soaked in an ice water bath for 5 minutes, then drained
*Note: my original version also included 1/2 cup black beans. Add them if you like, I think it's a nice touch.

In a mini food processor, blend together for the dressing:
1/2 c. cilantro
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. white wine vinegar
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice (approx. 1/2 lime)
1/4 c. sour cream
1 chili pepper (or less, depending on type of pepper and how much heat you like), ribs and seeds removed
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Add 1/4 cup of dressing to salad and toss. To serve, you will need 6 cleaned and dried butter lettuce leaves and 6 sprigs of chives. Wrap about 1/2 cup of salad in each leaf and tie with a chive sprig. Drizzle a little more dressing over the salad-filled lettuce wrap.