Summer Pasta

Seemed like a good night for summer pasta. I have all kinds of zucchini in the garden so I made up a linguine pasta with zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, basil, thyme, and garlic. This is a great summer time pasta.

Clam Pizza

Well this was my first attempt at a seafood pizza. The crust was great. Super thin and crispy. But I am not sure about the whole seafood thing on pizza. I love seafood. I love seafood pasta. But somehow it just does not make it on pizza. This kind of reminded me of my attempt at poutine pizza. I love poutine but it just does not go with pizza. Anyhow here are a couple of pics.

Perch Rolls

It was a beautiful summer day here. Seemed like a perfect day for perch rolls, fries, and a Stella. It's lift off weekend here and we were treated to about 15 hot air balloons going directly over the house.

Coleslaw for Hot Dogs or Pulled Pork

Here is the recipe for the coleslaw for hot dogs or pulled pork. It is quite tasty.

1 head cabbage, shredded


1 large carrot, shredded

2 to 3 tablespoons minced onions

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice



Shred cabbage and carrots and place in a very large bowl. A food processor works well for this. Mix in onions.



Stir together the rest of the ingredients until smooth and toss with the cabbage mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Slaw Dogs

Maple Leaf Top Dogs with homemade coleslaw. These were really good. BBQ,d on the charcoal grill with just a nice char, served on super fresh buns with my homemade coleslaw, a little salt and pepper. And of course an ice cold Stella. Even hot dogs can take on gourmet status every now and then.

Pork Chops

For the longest time I always had trouble making decent pork chops. When I BBQ'd them they were often dry and if I pan fried them they were almost like shoe leather. I finally found a simple recipe that makes delicious moist and wonderful tasting chops. First start with good thick pork chops. Line a baking dish with tinfoil (makes clean up easy). Put the chops in the baking dish and pour over one small bottle of Kraft Sundried Tomato and Oregano dressing. Put in the oven at 350F for about 1hour and 10 minutes. It doesn't get any easier than this.

Rhubarb Snack Cake (From Something Edible)

I don't often make cake or any sweets for that matter but I had a lot of rhubarb from the garden and came across this recipe from Something Edible. Usually I just eat the rhubarb with a little salt. Yes, I know most people would rather use sugar but a friend of mine told me to try it with salt and since then I have been hooked. Today though, I decided trying my hand at making a rhubarb snack cake. Turned out very well. Here is the recipe as posted by Something Edible.

Ingredients:


The Cake

•1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar Packed tight into that measuring cup, of course.

•1/2 cup butter That's one stick; room temperature.

•1 egg A big one.

•1 tsp salt

•1 tsp cinnamon Fresh-ground if you can.

•1/4 tsp nutmeg Fresh-grated of course.

•1 tsp vanilla

•1 cup buttermilk

•1 tsp baking soda

•2 cups all-purpose flour (10 oz by weight for the persnickety.)

•8 oz rhubarb Fresh; sliced 1/8 in thick (Around 2 cups by volume using 2-3 stalks if i had to guess).

•2 Tbsps demerara sugar For garnish.

The Sauce

•8 oz rhubarb (Again, around 2 cups by volume).

•4 oz strawberries 1/4 inch dice; about 6 medium berries.

•1/3 cup sugar •1/8 tsp salt •2 Tbsps blush-style wine (Cranberry juice would do too.)

Instructions: For the cake, preheat oven to 375F. In a stand mixer cream butter and brown sugar, then add egg, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla and continue to beat on medium speed until the mixture lightens in color and in texture (about 2-3 minutes). Slow mixer to a stir; add buttermilk, baking soda and flour. Stir until integrated, then add the fresh rhubarb. Once the rhubarb is mixed in, spread the batter evenly into a lightly-greased 13x9 inch pan. Top with the demerara sugar and pop into the oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.



For the sauce (and you can do this while the cake bakes), combine all ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture just comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally so as to make sure it doesn't burn. Sauce will thicken as it cools.



To serve, cut you a big ol' slice of cake, set it next to a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and top it with the sauce.



Notes: If you're a saucy person, you'd better go ahead and double that topping recipe. No worries if you got extra. It's swell by itself on ice cream on stirred into yogurt.

First BBQ with Charcoal

Bought a little Aussie charcoal grill. It is portable and has a pretty good cooking surface. At the price if I need more room to cook I will buy a second one. The first thing I made was my Ultimate Burger. Burgers turned out fantastic. The recipe for these burgers can be found on this site. Thanks to my friends at Serious Eats who put me on to cooking with charcoal.

New BBQ

Off to buy a new BBQ today. I think I am going to go with a charcoal BBQ. After doing quite a bit of research it seems coals are the way to go. I will post a picture of my first BBQ on the new grill.