Memorial Day "picnic"

Tonight's Menu

• bbq pork spareribs
  
• grilled garlic toast
  
• potato-artichoke salad
• coleslaw
  

Okay, so it was too hot to eat outside. But I grilled a lot of stuff! Does that count?

The spareribs were my usual, finished on the grill (meat side down over medium heat for 4 minutes, meat side up and slathered in Carolina-style barbecue sauce for 4 minutes, rest before cutting into riblets).

I grill everything from meat to veggies to fruit, but I think this might have been my first time grilling bread! We had some leftover boule (yes, from the book -- I SWEAR I don't have any relationship with the authors/publisher) so I cut that into half-inch slices, brushed it on both sides with olive oil (LIGHTLY -- you don't want to soak it), and grilled it over high heat until it picked up some grill marks, which didn't take long at all. Then I rubbed a cut garlic clove over both sides of each slice of bread. So easy, yummy and fresh tasting! The girl particulary loved this bread. Of course, she lives on bread, so take that with a grain of salt, maybe.

The salad was my favorite summer salad. It's finally summery enough to serve this again, yay!

And the coleslaw was my usual, except I used savoy cabbage because that's what I had.

Here's the timeline:

• Three and a half hours before serving, rub the ribs with spices and put them in the oven at 325 degrees F, TIGHTLY covered with foil.
• Make potato salad and coleslaw after putting ribs in oven; put both salads in fridge.
• Thirty minutes before serving, light grill and pull ribs out of oven.
• Grill ribs as described above.
• Remove ribs from grill; cover with foil and let rest.
• Grill bread and remove.
• Cut ribs into riblets.
• Pull salads out of fridge.
• Serve it up!

My favorite summer salad

Tonight's Menu

• grilled sweet Italian sausages
  
• corn on the cob
• potato-tomato-artichoke salad
  

The sausages were grilled the same way as always, working around my sausage-grilling handicap: simmered in water for about 15 minutes, then crisped up on the grill over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side or until nicely browned. Delicious!

I love grilled corn on the cob but NO ONE ELSE in this family will eat it. I know! So I cook it in the microwave. I remove the leaves and silk, give it a rinse, wrap each ear toffee-style in some wax paper with the edges twisted shut, then nuke them on high power for 10 minutes (for four ears). They come out just fine and all, but BORING.

It's finally time for my favorite summer salad! I've told you about this one before, but here it is again: just take some red-skinned potatoes, cut them into bite-sized chunks, simmer them in water until tender, then let them cool. Once they've cooled, whomp them into a bowl with some fresh mozzarella (you can buy the teeny balls, or get the larger ones and cut them up), some halved cherry tomatoes or larger tomatoes cut in wedges/chunks, and a chiffonade of fresh basil (that just means rolling up the leaves and slicing them into thin ribbons). Then take a small jar of marinated artichokes, drain and reserve the marinade, and mix the artichokes in with the potatoes and whatnot. Drizzle on enough of the reserved marinade to moisten everything up nicely, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, toss to coat, and chill it for about an hour.

This is SO GOOD! This time around, the potatoes and some of the tomatoes were from the CSA box, the other tomatoes were from my dad's garden, and the basil was from my own herb garden. And if I haven't yet tempted you to make this salad, here's a photo of tonight's version to tempt you further!

Yeah, you know you want it.

Mmmmm, beef!

Tonight's Menu

• NY strip steaks on the grill pan
• sourdough bread (frozen, heated in the oven)
  
• leftover steamed artichoke (re-nuked)
  
• leftover big-ass salad
  

Sometimes you need a little red meat, y'all.

Artichoke!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• steamed artichoke
  
• big-ass salad
  

Sometime last week, out of the blue, the girl child asked if we could have an artichoke for dinner sometime. I have no idea what put that into her head, but it prompted me to explain how I grew up eating artichokes steamed and dipped in lemon butter, and her dad grew up eating stuffed artichokes, and never the twain shall meet so I rarely make them.

But hello, my GIRL CHILD was ASKING for a VEGETABLE. So I made one. MY WAY.

I gave it a good rinse, cut off the stem and the very tippy top, then took kitchen shears and snipped the tips off the rest of the leaves (that's where the pointy spine thing is). Then I stuck it in a steamer basket and steamed the hell out of it for like half an hour. It STILL wasn't quite done (it was a BIG 'choke, y'all) so I stuck it in a bowl with a bit of water, covered it tightly with plastic wrap, and nuked it for a couple of minutes more. Finally the leaves pulled away easily.

I had forgotten how yummy they were. We only ate about half of it so we'll have the rest tomorrow and then I'll cut out the yummy heart and scarf it up all by myself. Well, I MIGHT share with DH.

Punchline: I don't think the girl even tried the damn thing. She put ONE leaf on her plate but I didn't see her eat it.