Lemonaise

I normally don't buy pre-made sorts of things like salad dressing, special condiments, etc. But I've been eying Lemonaise by The Ojai Cook. So I finally caved and bought some. Yummy! I've used it with tuna sandwiches, egg salad, fish sticks, and steamed shrimp.

It imparts a lighter, lemony (obviously), slight mustardy tang that will be great with summer dishes. Definitely recommend.

A Familiar Dish

Tonight I made Garlic Chicken Scampi with Arugula out of one of my go-to cookbooks, The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook. It is a fairly simply dish that takes about half an hour to prepare. But as I was doing the prep work I realized that it was surprisingly similar to my standard "new school tuna casserole" (tuna, garlic, lemon, capers, pasta, whatever-else-is-on-hand).

The fact that it is so similar is a good thing because it gave me ideas about variations on my own dish. One thing I really liked about the scampi dish is that the chicken cooks in the oven with garlic, scallions, lemon juice and olive oil in the oven then is mixed with the pasta. Then arugula and the scallion greens are tossed in and slightly wilted.

The arugula is such a great addition. It adds a nice peppery bite. Cooking the garlic also helps mellow out the bite and spiciness.

I think this dish lends itself to some great variations. My first variation is going to be using shrimp and maybe lime in place of lemon. I think this is going to be a keeper.

Buffalo

I like red meat but I don't always like hamburger. However, what I've really enjoyed lately is buffalo burger. Tonight I made buffalo burgers seasoned with Worcestershire, liquid smoke, and pepper. Since we were out of propane, I cooked them in the grill pan on the stove. I topped them with a blue cheese mayonnaise (mayonnaise, blue cheese, red wine vinegar, hot sauce) and red onions sauteed in barbecue sauce. Delicious combination! Big J had his on a bun, I had mine sans bun. We both gave the meal thumbs up.

Potato Salad

Last night I was planning to grill bone-in chicken breasts for dinner and was thinking about what sort of sides to have. Generally potato salad seems to be reserved for picnics, get-togethers, holidays, but I see no reason why it can't be whipped up for a regular weeknight meal. It doesn't take that long and it goes with just about anything grilled.

I've never been a big fan of "mixed" salads. I don't think I've ever had a macaroni salad that I liked, I shudder at the thought of any salad that contains both mayonnaise and cheese. However, a potato salad done right can be a thing of wonder. There are literally hundreds of potato salad recipes out there. How to pick? My preference is to think about flavor and texture combinations and start mixing.

One key I have found is to add some flavoring to the warm potatoes before adding other ingredients. Depending on the flavor profile you are going for you could add sweet pickle juice, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or a combination of sweet and tangy. Let the potatoes cool and soak in the flavor for at least 30 minutes (refrigerated, of course).

While the potatoes are cooling prep the rest of the ingredients. I like sweet pickles, celery, parsley, red onion, and hard boiled eggs. But some recipes include black olives, capers, green onion, bread and butter pickles, peas, bacon...the options are endless.

Then the dressing. Again, here I like to go pretty simple with mayonnaise and good old yellow mustard. But you could use any combination of mayonnaise, any type of mustard, sour cream, yogurt, even horseradish which adds a subtle heat. I prefer to mix the dressing, tasting as I go, before I add it to the potatoes. Also, some people like lots of dressing, I prefer to go light and let the main ingredients shine through (plus, I don't like it mushy).

So there it is, the perfect potato salad. It truly is whatever you would like. Some people, like me, prefer the most straightforward and simple tastes, but there are definitely other options. When choosing what to put in the salad it is also a good idea to think about what your main course -- do you want it to compliment the flavors or provide a foil (such as a tangy potato salad to balance out a sweet barbecue sauce).

This post doesn't even begin to cover the other potato salads out there (French, German, sweet potatoes, etc.), but since we are headed into summer grilling season there will be plenty of time for those!

Easter Dinner

Other than coloring eggs and making Easter baskets we don't really celebrate Easter -- it's more of a "Welcome Spring" sort of day.

And for our dinner we are certainly welcoming spring:

Grilled Herb-Rubbed Leg of Lamb
Asparagus
Fingerling Potatoes with Saffron Aioli
Lemon Curd and Berry Tart

All I need to add is a couple deviled eggs made with horseradish (that deliciously spicy idea courtesy of Ms. S).

(More soon on the tart -- I've perfected this one over the years!)

A New Grill

Our gas grill was about 8 years old, and we have been due for an upgrade for about a year now. We decided that with our generous tax return we would buy a new one this weekend. Although we haven't used it yet, I predict that the grill will get much use (at least 4 times a week) over the summer.

In anticipation of our new grill, we bought some very good looking grassfed sirloin tips. Big J went buy the store and picked up some vegetables to grill. I anticipate a good dinner!