A (mostly) make-ahead meal

Tonight's Menu

• oven-cooked beef brisket
  
• fresh bread
  
• tangy coleslaw
• grilled apricots
  

My day today was such that my afternoon and early evening were insanely busy, but my morning was relatively calm. So 90% of the work for this meal was done well before the after-school frenzy, and I was still able to get dinner on the table at a decent time. YAY for mostly make-ahead meals!

The brisket was my usual. I made a dry rub of sugar, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, dried oregano, salt and freshly ground pepper. Then I rubbed it all over the brisket on both sides and put the meat fat-side up in a roasting pan. You could put it on a rack but I no longer have one, so I wad up some tin foil into balls and line the bottom of the pan with those, then place the meat on top. Works great! Add a bit of water to the bottom of the pan, then cover tightly with heavy-duty foil.

The cooking time and temperature can vary quite a bit, depending on the size of your hunk o' meat, the amount of time you have to work with, and how you like your meat cooked. We like a very tender, melt-in-your-mouth brisket with crispy fat; my roast was about 2.5 to 3 pounds, and I had all day, really. So I cooked this at 225 degrees F for about five hours, then uncovered it and boosted the heat up to 400 for 15 minutes or so to get the fat nice and crispy. Then I let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing it thinly across the grain. You could do this same size roast for maybe two hours at 375, as long as there's water in the pan and it's tightly covered. It won't be quite as tender, but you can make up for that by slicing it nice and thin.

The bread was plain boule from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I am STILL loving that book! The authors have a blog where they share recipes, too!

For the coleslaw, I whisked together 1/4 cup each of sugar and apple cider vinegar until the sugar was mostly dissolved, then whisked in a tablespoon of canola oil and about a teaspoon of celery seed. Pour it over half a head of shredded cabbage, toss to coat, and stick it in the fridge for several hours or overnight. I like this version of coleslaw over the creamy mayonnaise type when I'm serving a fairy rich, fatty meat -- the acidity really helps cut the richness.

The apricots could not have been easier -- just cut a few in half, make sure to oil your grill grate, and grill them cut-side down until they pick up some grill marks and get SLIGHTLY soft. Don't overcook these or they will go mushy. I really like apricots with spiced beef -- something about that flavor combination just works for me!

Okay, so here was the timeline I followed:

1. Make the bread in the morning (or the day before)(or just buy some damn bread, already!).
2. Prepare the brisket and stick it in the oven (I did this five and a half hours before I planned to serve it -- see above).
3. Make the coleslaw and stick it in the fridge (you could do this the night before).
4. Thirty minutes before serving, uncover the brisket and turn up the heat to crisp the fat.
5. Wrap the bread in foil and slice the apricots in half, removing pits.
   
6. Light the grill for indirect heat (for my grill this means two burners on, one off).
7. Put the foil-wrapped bread on the unlit burner to warm it as the grill heats.
8. When the grill is hot, take brisket out of oven, re-cover and let rest.
9. Put apricots on grill; remove bread from grill.
10. Slice bread and re-wrap in foil to keep warm.
11. Take apricots off grill, cover to keep warm.
12. Slice brisket and put on serving platter.
13. Remove coleslaw from fridge and give it another toss or two.
14. Soup's on!
    

More grilling! I know!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled garlicky pork tenderloin
  
• grilled zucchini
  
• leftover coleslaw
• leftover fruit salad
  

I know. I KNOW. We had pork two nights in a row, and it wasn't even leftovers. I don't usually do that, but ... well, there is a long, involved story behind why this happened. It basically boiled down to the fact that it rained/stormed off and on all day, so I had to plan something that could be cooked in the oven if need be, and ALL of the beef in our freezer was the "grill or slow-cook ONLY" variety. And it was a busy day, so slow-cooking in the oven was out. I don't know what to tell you, dudes. WE HAD PORK TWICE, OKAY?

Anyhoo.

What I did was take my huge mortar and pestle, smash up some garlic cloves (about four) with some kosher salt, add some olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and the juice of one lemon, then smear that all over the tenderloin and stick it in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for about 4 hours. I grilled it over medium-high heat for a total of about 25 minutes, turning it maybe four times (to get all the sides). Then I let it rest for about five minutes before slicing diagonally into medallions. It was delicious and perfectly cooked.

The zucchini was from this week's CSA share. I'm the only one who likes it, so I only did ONE zucchini, but you could do as much as you want. All I did with that was cut the stem end off the zucchini, slice it lengthwise (the long way) into maybe quarter-inch slices, brush both sides with EVOO, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then I grilled them for a total of about 5-6 minutes, turning halfway through. They were tender and delicious, and I am perfectly happy with being the only one who will eat them because MORE FOR ME.

Breaking in the new grill!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops w/mango salsa
  
• whole-grain tortilla chips
  
• coleslaw
• fruit salad
  

Oh, dudes. I keep meaning to post, I SWEAR I do, but lately by the time I've dealt with all the end-of-school frenzy, the homework, the making/eating/cleaning up of dinner, and the NIGHTLY COCKTAIL, HELLO, I am just too darn pooped.

HOWEVER. We have been eating some swell stuff lately, including lots of CSA goodies, and for Mother's Day DH and the kids gifted me with a new gas grill! So I will try REALLY HARD to start posting more from now on. Swearsies!

Anyhoo, tonight I broke in the new grill with some boneless pork chops. I just sprinkled them on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then whomped them on the grill for about 4-5 minutes per side. The new grill leaves MUCH sexier grill marks on meat than the old one, and it has about twice the surface area. LOVE! The chops were excellent.

I have previously discussed mango salsa, coleslaw and fruit salad.

Oh, and the girl child TOTALLY eats coleslaw now! I KNOW! It only took TWO YEARS of having to Make (Her) Own Damn Dinner for her to start eating the food I cook. I thought it would never happen. Look for an update on the original purpose of this blog soon, along with tips for using up all that CSA produce!

Spring grilling

Tonight's Menu

• grilled ham steak
  
• ciabatta
  
• grilled asparagus
• fruit salad
  

After a week of really crappy weather, it was GORGEOUS today. Perfect for grilling!

Grilled ham steak is the easiest thing ever. You don't even have to DO anything to it. Just take it out of the package, give it a rinse if you're not into all that brining liquid (I LOVE brine, so I don't rinse mine), and slap it on the grill for 3-5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the steak. SO yummy. You will never fry your ham steaks again, y'all.

The ciabatta was store-bought, warmed up in the oven while everything grilled. Easy.

The asparagus was likewise easy. I had a bunch of really skinny spears so they didn't take long to cook at all. Just give them a rinse, snap off the woody ends (this is the most difficult/time-consuming part of the process, which tells you how easy this is), then layer them on a grilling screen (mine is a flat metal sheet with holes in it -- you could also use heavy-duty foil with some holes punched through). Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, toss them on the grill and just stir them around every few minutes with some tongs until they're crisp-tender. This is officially my favorite way to eat asparagus. It's kind of the summer version of oven-roasting, which I also love.

The fruit salad was STUPID easy. All I did was drain some canned mandarin orange segments, toss them in a bowl, then add green grapes and quartered strawberries. No sugar, no dressing, just fruit. We really like this combination -- the flavors and textures compliment each other well.

I don't know if it's because I'm such a die-hard minimalist or what, but I swear my easiest dinners are the most tasty. Simple ingredients plus simple preparation equals YUM.

Spicy!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled spiced pork tenderloin
  
• fruit salad of cantaloupe, strawberries and blackberries
  
• green salad
  

Okay, so it's supposed to rain for the next several days, thanks to Tropical Storm Erin. I figured this was the last night I'd be able to grill for a while, so I busted out the spiced pork tenderloin. It was VERY yummy and a little more spicy than the last time I made it, probably owing to the fact that I didn't bother to measure anything.

The fruit salad is pretty much self-explanatory. It only had the fruit in it. Cantaloupe was cubed; strawberries were halved. Easy.

Ditto the green salad. Bagged greens, chopped carrots, wedged tomato (the VERY last of the garden tomatoes).

Kick-ass dinner

Tonight's Menu

• barbecued baby back ribs
  
• coleslaw
  
• nectarines with mint
  

Every now and then I hit a home run. This was one of them, if I do say so myself.

I mixed together brown sugar, dry mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and rubbed it all over a rack of baby back ribs. Then I put the ribs on a rack in a roasting pan, added some water to the pan, covered it tightly with foil, and cooked it in the oven at 225 degrees F for an hour and a half. Then I stuck the ribs meat-side down on the grill over medium-high heat for about five minutes, just to give them some color, before flipping to meat-side up and turning the grill down to low. After 10 minutes at low I basted them with some bottled Carolina-style barbecue sauce, then basted them again 10 minutes later and took them off maybe 2-3 minutes after that. They held together but were wonderfully tender and SO DELICIOUS. Unbelievable. I think this is the best rack of ribs I've ever made.

For the coleslaw, I shredded (with a knife) three parts green cabbage to one part red, then tossed it with a mixture of mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip), equal parts each white vinegar and sugar, and celery seed. Refrigerate for at least an hour, and toss again before serving.

The nectarines were one of those spontaneous things. I just chopped two of them and tossed them with a chiffonade of fresh mint and a TEENY bit of superfine sugar. I was hoping the sugar would macerate them a bit, but I didn't want them too sweet. It turns out they didn't really macerate at all, but they didn't oxidize either so it was all okay. They did a fantastic job of cutting the fat and spice of the ribs, and were the perfect accompaniment.

My only regret is that DH and I pretty much porked it all down in one sitting, so there's not much in the way of leftovers. Whoever gets to them first tomorrow gets to have them for lunch. Mwahaha!

Easy leftovers

Tonight's Menu

• garlicky grilled flank steak
  
• leftover grilled onions and potatoes
  
• leftover salad of baby spinach and strawberries
  

Um, yeah. Not much to say about this one.

I've already told you how to make the steak. And the onions/potatoes and salad.

Way easy.

Perfect summer supper

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken leg quarters
• grilled onion and potato packet
• salad of baby spinach and strawberries
  

Oh y'all. This was SO GOOD.

The chicken was easy. I just sprinkled each leg quarter with some Jane's Krazy Salt and freshly ground pepper, then grilled them skin-side down over medium-high heat for five minutes or so to get the skin nicely browned and crisp. After that I flipped them to skin-side-up, turned the grill down to low, and let them cook for another 20 minutes or so. They were tender, juicy and delicious.

The onion and potato packet was likewise easy. I just thinly sliced some onion and some little red-skinned potatoes (because that's what I had; do use a waxy vs. mealy potato, though) and layered them in a piece of heavy-duty foil with some butter, salt and freshly ground pepper. I sealed it all up nice and tight and stuck it on the grill when I turned the chicken. It was done when the chicken was done, and it was SO YUMMY. The onion got all sweet and slightly caramelized, and the potato was nicely tender. Mmmm!

The spinach salad could not have been easier; just dump a bag of pre-washed baby spinach into a bowl and add halved (or quartered or sliced) fresh strawberries. I served it with a bottled raspberry vinaigrette.

I washed everything down with a nice glass of white sangria. Earlier today I combined a bottle of pinot grigio (it's what I had; just use whatever white wine is laying around) with some cognac and a can of peach nectar. Then I sliced in a couple of fresh nectarines and let it all kind of get happy for a couple of hours. To serve, fill a collins glass (that's the tall one) with ice and then pour it about half full of the wine mixture. Scoop out some nectarines and drop those in the glass, add a couple of fresh raspberries, then top it off with club soda (or if you like it sweeter, use a lemon-lime soda). It's kind of like a homemade wine cooler, but NOTHING like that pre-bottled crap you buy in the store. So good, and excellent with grilled chicken!

Cooking disasters: haste makes waste

Tonight's Menu

• grilled tilapia fillets
  
• citrus salsa
  
• big-ass green salad
  

Oh dudes. When will I ever learn?

Tonight's dinner went wrong in a number of ways, not the least of which had to do with timing. Like I realized at 6:00, when I was just beginning dinner prep, that we were getting together with our neighbors at 7:00. Which did not allow a lot of time for sectioning citrus fruits (two Rio Grande grapefruits, two Valencia oranges, and one ill-advised lime). I ended up just tossing the sections with some sliced green onion and chopped cilantro, doing absolutely NOTHING to cut the acidity of the citrus, and it was, shall we say, VERY TANGY. Ugh.

And also, I don't know why I keep trying to grill stuff like tilapia. I have never managed to grill skinless, lean (i.e. non-oily) fish fillets with any degree of competency whatsoever, so why do I keep trying? Give me some tuna steaks or skin-on snapper fillets and I'm fine, but tilapia? Um, no. It turns to mush. I'm a moron.

Everything TASTED okay, except for the overly acidic salsa, but still. Bleh. That's what I get for rushing, I guess.

DON'T try this at home!

Grilling again, hooray!

Tonight's Menu

• barbecued shrimp
  
• grilled apricots with mint
• a salad of new potatoes, cherry tomatoes (from the garden!), mozzarella, marinated artichoke hearts and basil
• sliced tomatoes (from the garden!)
  

It FINALLY quit raining down here so I was able to grill again. Yay!

Okay, for the shrimp I just cleaned and shelled (down to the tails) a bunch of biggish shrimp and stuck them on bamboo skewers (which I soaked in water, but they burned anyway). Then I combined some bottled barbecue sauce with some apricot fruit spread and a wee tot of bourbon and brushed that mixture on the shrimp while they were grilling (about 6 minutes total over high heat). Yum!

The apricots were dead easy -- I just halved some fresh apricots, removed the pits, and grilled them cut-side down for about five minutes. Then I gave them a rough chop and tossed them with a bit of superfine sugar and some chopped fresh mint. Yum, again!

The salad was my usual favorite summer salad. Way yummy.

We are DROWNING in tomatoes but I am not complaining! Is there anything better than a tomato right off the vine, sliced and salted and wolfed down with abandon? I think not.

In other news, the sidecar is the official cocktail of Make Your Own Damn Dinner, Summer 2007! Sunshine in a glass, people!

Father's Day dinner

Tonight's Menu

• citrus grilled shrimp
  
• HUGE spinach salad with oranges and toasted almonds
  

In addition to blueberry muffins for breakfast, DH requested "seafood" for dinner tonight. He didn't give me many guidelines beyond that, but I happened to spy some nice big gulf shrimp for a decent price at the grocery store, so grilled shrimp it was!

I made a little marinade for the shrimp with pineapple juice, fresh-squeezed orange juice and fresh lime juice. I also tossed in a smashed garlic clove and a sprig of fresh rosemary, along with a smidge of EVOO. Then I marinated the shrimp (after peeling them down to the tails and de-veining) for about an hour before grilling them for 3-4 minutes per side on a grill screen over high heat. They were really yummy -- citrusy with a hint of sweetness, and a bit of bite from the garlic and rosemary (which didn't overpower since I tossed them in whole).

The salad was just baby spinach tossed with fresh orange sections and slivered, blanched almonds that had been toasted in a dry skillet and allowed to cool (so as not to wilt the spinach).

We washed it all down with one of DH's favorite cocktails, the pina colada! Yeah, he likes the girly drinks. You got a problem with that?

Yep, still grilling

Tonight's Menu

• grilled ham steak
  
• grilled stone fruits (nectarines, peaches and some weird apricot/plum hybrid that was NOT a pluot)
  
• sliced tomatoes (locally grown, but not from my garden)
  

Yeah. Um. I don't know what to say about this one. I grilled a nice thick ham steak for 4-5 minutes per side. I put the peaches and nectarines (halved, more or less) on, cut-side down, when I put the ham on, then added the apricotty things when I flipped the ham (they were a little more ripe and would take less time to grill). Then I, you know, sliced a tomato. And served some spiced (coriander and citrus zest) Mediterranean sea salt alongside.

That's about it. Easy-peasy, as my boyfriend Jamie Oliver would say.

Fruit salsa

Tonight's Menu

• leftover spiced grilled pork tenderloin
  
• peach and mango salsa
  
• leftover green salad
  

My sucky supermarket had ataulfo mangoes again, and we have all these damn peaches to use up, so I made a salsa to go with the leftover grilled pork.

Badger's Peach and Mango Salsa

2 ataulfo mangoes
2 ripe peaches
juice from one large lime
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced

Dice the mangoes thusly: cut them in half vertically, working around the large pit in the center. Make diamond cuts with a knife through the flesh but NOT the peel, then scoop out the diced mango with a spoon. Put in a glass or other non-reactive bowl.

Peel the peaches (I used a little paring knife and it was a total pain in the ass, but worth it) and cut them into a dice the same size as the mangoes (again, working around the pit). Chuck them in the bowl as well.

Add the lime juice and toss with a non-reactive (plastic, wood, whatever) spoon.

Add the diced onion and chopped cilantro and toss. At this point, if you're cooking for wimpy types who don't like the heat from the peppers, you can set a bit of salsa aside.

OTHERWISE, stir in the minced serrano and serve. It gets hotter as it sits and will keep for a few days in the fridge. Also great with any sort of grilled fish, chicken or pork, or just scooped up with tortilla chips.

More grilled pig

Tonight's Menu

• spiced grilled pork tenderloin
  
• grilled peaches
  
• green salad
  

Yep. Still grilling. Get used to it.

Tonight's pork was a variation on a Weight Watchers recipe, if you can believe it. Mix together chili powder, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and some cayenne, then dredge a pork tenderloin in it, seal it in a plastic zipper bag and let it hang out in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Preheat a gas grill to high, oil the grates and grill the pork for about 20 minutes, turning every five minutes or so. Let rest for 5-10 minutes, then slice thin. Way yummy and very low fat!

The peaches were from my mom and dad. They have two trees in their yard that have only just this year really started to produce. Mom brought over two HUGE bags of peaches for us today; I suspect a cobbler is in our near future. But for tonight, I cut a couple of them in half, removed the pits, and grilled them cut-side down alongside the pork. I briefly entertained the thought of chopping them up and drizzling them with honey and chopped mint, but in the end I took the lazy way out and served them as-is.

Skewered

Tonight's Menu

• souvlaki-inspired pork kebabs
  
• potato-artichoke salad
  
• fruit salad
  

We had our annual Double Birthday Blowout today for DH and the boy child, whose birthdays are five days apart. It was windy and chilly but sunny enough to grill out, thank goodness!

For the kebabs, I combined a bunch of minced garlic, fresh lemon juice, fresh (not dried, but feel free to use that instead if you want) oregano, EVOO and freshly ground pepper and poured it over two pork tenderloins that had been cut into sizable chunks (I'd say about 1.5-inch or so cubes). I let it marinate for several hours in the fridge before assembling on skewers with yellow, orange and red bell peppers, onions and giant mushrooms. Just before grilling I brushed them with a bit more EVOO and sprinkled on a tiny bit of Jane's Krazy Salt. It took a while to get them done because of the freakin' 40 mph winds cooling down the grill, but they came out SUPER yummy.

The potato salad is my favorite summer salad from last year. It goes really well with any sort of grilled meat. Just cut some tiny red-skinned potatoes in half and simmer them in water until they're tender but not mushy. Let them cool, then toss in a bowl with halved cherry tomatoes, little balls of fresh mozzarella (use the cherry-tomato-sized balls, or larger balls cut in half or in wedges), and a jar of marinated artichoke hearts. The marinade from the artichoke hearts is your dressing, so you don't have to drain them, but if you like you can pour out the liquid into a little bowl or cup and then add it back in (so you don't accidentally use too much). Sprinkle on some freshly ground pepper and a chiffonade of fresh basil and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before serving to let the flavors meld a bit.

The fruit salad is the same super-simple one I always make. Just combine halved strawberries, green grapes and a can of mandarin orange segments (you DO want to drain these) in a bowl. That's it -- no dressing, no sugar, just fruit. It makes for a really tasty combination of flavors and textures, and it's really pretty! Very refreshing with anything grilled or spicy.

This being a birthday celebration, we also had two kinds of cake for dessert. German chocolate (from a mix) for DH, and triple-layer brownie cake for the boy, who actually made his own cake from scratch with very little help from me! It's absolutely delicious, too. I'm too exhausted to dig up the recipe tonight, but I'll post it tomorrow, I promise!

Spring has sprung, apparently

Tonight's Menu

• tilapia with mango salsa
  
• leftover quinoa
  
• leftover big-ass salad
  

The ataulfo mangoes have arrived at my local supermarket, and that means one thing: MANGO SALSA. Oh HELL yeah, bitches.

2 mangoes (ataulfo if you can find them, but the regular ones will do), diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 serrano peppers, minced (seeded or not, depending on how hot you like it)
fresh cilantro
lime juice

Combine the mangoes, onion and peppers in a non-reactive bowl. Snip some fresh cilantro into the mix (how much is up to you because some people love it and some people hate it -- I use maybe a tablespoon) and sprinkle on a bit of fresh lime juice (the juice from one small lime should do it). Toss to mix and refrigerate for a couple of hours to let the flavors blend before serving.

(Incidentally, if you've never worked with fresh mango there is an easy way to dice it. Just cut it in half vertically, working around the thin but wide pit in the center, so that you have two halves. Discard the center section with the pit. Then take each half and cut a crosshatch pattern through the flesh but NOT through the peel. Run a spoon between the peel and flesh and it should scoop right out in nice little cubes. Sometimes it takes a bit of practice, but it's about a thousand times easier than trying to PEEL a mango and then cut it up.)

It's weird -- I don't like mango by itself, but I LOVE mango salsa. In addition to tortilla chips, it goes great with grilled chicken, pork or fish. Tonight's fish was just seasoned with salt and pepper and then sauteed in EVOO (SO quick and easy!), but that worked fine with it, too.

Vinho Verde was a great accompaniment to this meal!

Burgers and fruit

Tonight's Menu

• grilled hamburgers w/fixin's
  
• multigrain tortilla chips
  
• fruit salad
  

I have dozens of recipes for fruit salad in my recipe file, most of them calling for some sort of sweet dressing. Our favorite version, born out of laziness like so many of my recipes (and this one hardly even qualifies as an actual recipe), doesn't have any dressing at all.

I just take seedless green grapes, halved fresh strawberries, and a small can of mandarin orange segments (drained) and toss them together in a bowl. That's it. The flavors/textures compliment one another very well, it'll keep for a couple of days depending on how ripe the berries are, it's plenty sweet because the canned oranges usually have some sugar added, and it's much more refreshing on a hot day than salads with goopy dressings.

Um, and also I'm lazy.