It has been over a month since I posted an article on my blog. Why? some are asking. June was an incredibly busy month. For the first part of June I had family visiting. There were 9 of us having a hell of a great time. We ate, drank, went to the beach, saw the Marlin’s loose to the Atlanta Braves, shopped and laughed, laughed, laughed. A real highlight of the week we were together (at least a highlight for me and Jim) was our Frisbee throwing day at Holiday Park. What a RIOT!!! The greatest part of Frisbee in the park was my 82 year old Zia Angie getting out there on the field with the rest of us. She was amazing. I can’t wait to do that again.
After the family left, Jim and I went to New York to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We started to make it a food and museum specific trip but abandoned the food part. Odd, I know, for us to do that, but there were so many restaurants and we had only 3 days. We ate some great food but didn’t visit any of the “popular” or “trendy” places. We pretty much stuck to the well known: A late night dinner at the Plaza, an anniversary dinner at Balthazar, pizza at John’s (an old popular pizza place serving traditional NY style pizza. Soooo Good!!!!) The rest of the food involved two meals at Eataly (The joint venture of Mario Batali and Lidia Bestianich), Stage Deli, lunch at The Museum of Modern Art and a hot dog cart. So we did eat good and with no pressure of making the wrong restaurant decision.
Eataly was a true food experience. There is so much to Eataly and the best way for you to understand what it is all about is for you go to their great site. http://www.eataly.com
The concept for Eataly started in 2007 with stores opening in Italy then on to Japan and now New York City. Take a look if you like by going to the links listed below.
Once we returned from the city I immediately reported for Federal Jury Duty. A truly enlightening experience. Seeing our judicial system at work was amazing and so reassuring to me knowing we have a system such as ours. There is none other equal.
The trial ended just in time to celebrate the 4th of July weekend. And what a great weekend it was. This is the first year in five previous we did not have a 4th of July BBQ. It felt pretty good to have the weekend to party and not have to work the whole time. Jim and I spent the weekend at home, barbecuing, watching movies, throwing the Frisbee around and just generally having a great time together. I cooked two tremendous meals: Beer Can Chicken and Grilled Whole Maine Lobster. I also made a delicious blueberry bread (Perfect time of the year for this sweet delicacy).
So there you have it. In a nutshell, I am having a great summer.
I want to share a few of the recipes I wrote and made this holiday weekend. My hope is that you will try them. If you do, please let me know how they worked for you, as I need the feed-back to how I am doing with my recipe writing.
Oh, yes, one other question people have been asking is “How is the the book coming?” This past Tuesday I sent all of my original recipes to legal for copyright. This is one step closer to the finished product. I am looking for all kinds of possibilities for publishing. The one possibility that looks the best is on-line publishing. I will keep you all posted.
Beer Can Chicken
Beer Can Chicken
Chicken cooked over a can of beer is the most succulent chicken I have ever tasted. I doubt if I will ever cook a roasted chicken in any other manner.
1 Can Imported Beer, Pop Top Pulled
1 5 LB. Roasting Chicken
1/4 Cup XVOO
1 Tablespoon Coarse Sea Salt
1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon McCormick’s Montreal Seasoning
If using a charcoal burning grill, build a split fire. Light the fire and when the coals turn white and you can hold your hand over it by 5 inches for only a few seconds you have a medium hot fire. Place the grill over the coals. If using a gas grill, heat the grill to medium high leaving the center burner off.
Meanwhile, rinse the chicken with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the olive oil all over the chicken and sprinkle the salt, pepper and Montreal seasoning inside and outside of the chicken. Place the chicken over the OPENED can of beer. Place the chicken sitting on the beer can onto the grill. Place the cover on the grill (or close it if using a gas grill) and cook the chicken for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 185 when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh and 165 when inserted into the thickest part of the breast. Carefully remove the chicken and beer from the grill onto a platter. Lift the chicken off of the can and let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving.
I served the Beer Can Chicken with Vegetable Couscous. It is a perfect summer side dish and, even better, you can prepare it in advance.
Vegetable Couscous
Vegetable Couscous
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Small Red Onion Diced
1 Sweet Red Pepper Diced
1 Lb. Asparagus Trimmed and Sliced Crosswise into ½ Inch Pieces
2 Ears Fresh Corn Shucked
2 Cups Couscous
2 Cups Water, Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Fresh Herbs, Chopped (Such as Basil, Oregano, Flat Leaf Parsley, Tarragon, Dill, Your Choice)
Heat the oil in a heavy Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onion and sauteé until wilted and transparent, about two minutes. Add red pepper, asparagus and corn and sauté sauteé for two more minutes. Add salt and pepper and any herbs you like. Add liquid and bring to a rolling bowl. Take the pan off of the heat, add the couscous and stir until well blended. Cover for 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir with a fork to loosen. Serve immediately or cool completely and serve at room temperature with a touch of Balsamic vinegar.
Grilled Maine Lobster with Herb Butter, Corn on the Cobb and Tiny Potatoes
Grilled Lobster
Serves 4
4 Whole Live Maine Lobsters Each Weighing 1½ Pounds
½ Cup XVOO
1 Tablespoon Coarse Sea Salt
2 Teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 Lemons Cut in Half Crosswise
1 Pound Tiny Red and Yukon Gold Potatoes
4 Ears of Corn on the Cobb, Husk and Silk Remove and Each Cut in Half Crosswise
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, Slowly Melted
1 Tablespoon Fresh Chives, Finely Chopped
1 Tablespoon Fresh Cilantro, Finely Chopped
1 Tablespoon Fresh Basil, Finely Chopped
1 Teaspoon Fresh Oregano, Finely Chopped
1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme, Finely Chopped
Make a charcoal fire and when the coals are mostly white with ash, hold your hand 5 inches above the coals. You will know the coals are ready when you can no longer keep your hand over the coals after 3 seconds. This is a medium to medium high heat. This is perfect to cook everything without having to reload the fire. If using a gas grill, heat to medium high.
Meanwhile, as the coals are getting hot, place the corn on a double sheet of foil and the potatoes on their own double sheet of foil. Bring the foil up around the corn to make an open packet. Do the same with the potatoes. In each packet pour the rest of the XVOO over each, add ½ cup of water to each packet and sprinkle each packet with the rest of the salt and pepper. Bring the foil up each packet and crimp but leave it partially open.
Place the potato packet on the grill, cover grill and cook the potatoes for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes place the corn packet on the grill and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes test the potatoes to be sure they are done by inserting a thin bladed knife into a potato and if the blade goes in and out of a potato easily when pierced they are ready. Remove the potatoes and corn from the grill and tightly close the packets to keep warm.
While the potatoes and corn are cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add lobsters to boiling water one at a time. You may be able to fit only 1 or 2 lobsters in the pot. Bring the water back to a boil and cook the lobsters for 3 minutes. Remove the lobsters from the water and pull off the claws and gently remove the tails. Cut the lobster tails in half lengthwise and, with a mallet, crack the claws slightly (this will make it easier to cook the claw meat and remove from the shell). Put the lobster pieces and the lemons into a large bowl and toss with ¼ cup of the XVOO and half of the sea salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.
Place the lobster on the grill with the flesh side of the tails facing the grill and cook for about 2 minutes to lightly char. Add the lemons flesh side down. Turn the tails flesh side up, turn the claws over and cook for about 5 or 6 minutes.
Remove all from the grill and place lobster, lemons, corn and potatoes in to a very large bowl. Pour the melted butter over everything and add the fresh chopped herbs. Toss to combine and place decoratively onto a large platter.
That’s it. This should keep you busy. I think I will save the Blueberry Bread recipe for a later time. Enjoy!!! And please leave a comment on this blog. It helps me realize who is reading it. I have made it easy for you to leave a comment: No signing up or joining anything. If you prefer not to leave a comment on the blog and still want to make one you can also e-mail me at camille@camillecooksforyou.com