Satan’s Eggs

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:40:56 -0400

...better known as eggs in purgatory. I guess that refers to the eggs simmering away in a red, hot soul scorching sauce. Or maybe it’s that beautiful blue flame below the plan - I imagine hades cannot be hotter than that. Anyway, to make a long story short, and to get to the punch line, I’m saying that if you want a comfort food-type easy dinner (or simply a satisfying hungover breakfast) of eggs, you can go “straight to hell”. Haaaa haaaa haaaaa. Thank you...I’ll be here all week.

This is a good one for a newbie cook. If you understand
the physics of how a sharp knife can cut through various
vegetation, the intricacies of a can opener, and finally
how heat transfers from flame to saute pan, you will
do just fine and be rewarded with a tasty dish that will
amaze and delight your friends and family. Or, in my
case, you will please your bad self, since the wife is
again in some remote location and I cannot torture you
or myself with another frozen pizza post. This dish
fits the bill when you really don’t feel like cooking a
damn thing but want something tasty that comes from
your own sweat and tears. Forewarning you that the
bread is key in this dish. Cook it as instructed, or at the
very least have some decent bread on hand to sop
up all the goodness...to contrast the hellishnessssss.

This dish was originally placed in our lap when my brother in law gave us “The Soprano’s Family Cookbook” for some occasion. To be honest, at the time (since I consider myself a semi-serious cook) I half turned up my nose at the idea. Turns out it was a great gift, ‘cause there’s a couple recipes we cook on a regular basis. The Soprano-part is kinda campy and perfect for Soprano lovers (which we are...were?), but the recipes are solid. This dish is one that has been committed to memory more or less, tweaked on a seasonal basis. Serves 1 (namely me).

uova in purgatorio (that’s italian folks...try to keep up)
2 large eggs
1 fourteen ounce can diced tomatoes
1/3 of a french baguette, cut in thirds lengthwise
1.5 T unsalted butter, divided
2 garlic cloves (1 whole, 1 minced)
1 tsp dried oregano
8 basil leaves, divided
Handful of chopped chives
1/4 C grated parmigiano reggiano
salt & pepper

cook the hell out of it
Melt 1T butter over medium heat in a 10” pan and saute garlic for roughly 90 seconds until beginning to soften. Add tomatoes and juices from can to pan and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, oregano and 4 whole basil leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes until sauce is reduced and some of liquid has boiled off.

In the sauce, form 2 “pools” and carefully crack and egg into each pool. Crack some salt & pepper on top of each egg, cover dish and cook roughly 5 minutes for soft yolks. Meanwhile, heat 1/2 T butter over med high heat in separate pan, add salt and pepper to the pan, and add your bread pieces. Quickly coat both sides of bread in the butter, then saute each side for 2 or 3 minutes until browned to perfection. Chop remaining basil leaves and chives.

You are essentially done now. Turn heat off of pans. Top egg dish with cheese, basil and chives.
Tuck bread pieces into the side of the pan and dig in. You’re all alone like me? Just eat it straight outta the pan. Why dirty another dish? Don’t burn your forearm.

Warning: you will eat it all.

Go ahead, treat yourself, pour your favorite glass of white.

D’oh...and I didn’t even have wine tonight. My dish washing skills were wreaking havoc.

Cappellini Pomodoro w Lemon Meatballs

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:05:05 -0400

That got your attention, right?...lemon meatballs? Crazy, right?...I’ll show you the magic in a few moments - it’s not what you think. First let me tell you a story about Cappellini, a.k.a. Angel Hair: 1 score and 10 years ago (I’m guessing I was about 10 yrs old), my family went to dinner at what seemed at the time to be a “fancy” restaurant. It was Italian (i’m already getting bored with this story), and in my youth I was so damn finicky about what I would eat. If it wasn’t a hamburger, typically I wasn’t gonna eat it. Let’s cut right to the chase. So I whined and whined about the fact that there was nothing on the menu I wanted to eat, and my mother went ahead and ordered the angel hair with red sauce for me. It dried my tears and that dish opened my eyes to the world of good pasta. All these individual strands of pasta, so fine that they tend to stick together. And the simple practice of physics means the finer the strand, the less space between the strands, hence the more pasta you get in every bite. Wipe the tears from your eyes and let’s get back to the matter at hand.

For those of you who may not have been here before (read “for everyone”), this Pomodoro sauce was a quest that I was on earlier this year (to figure out how to actually make it) that was eventually accomplished after a little searching on the interwebs. Suffice to say, if you’ve been striving for that truly delicious tomato sauce?...this is it, and the beauty is that it is so damn simple. You could do this with just pasta and the sauce. It’s that good. So for the goodness, and the backstory go to this original post. Meatballs, below.

i’ve never made meatballs, and my wife who is the meatball maker said “I done real good”, or something like that. We were both very pleased with the meal, and I am consistently my own worst critic, so I think it’s safe to say you can have every confidence making these meatballs if you need something tasty on top or your pasta and sauce.

These meatballs have a nice dense meat content, tons of flavor, and a real nice lemon accent...more than I was expecting, but welcomely so. Delish. Serves 2.

lemon’d sausage & beef meatballs
1/3 lb ground 85% beef
1 sweet italian sausage (approx 1/3 lb), casing removed
handful of fresh fine breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 sage leaves, minced
microplaned zest of 1/2 organic lemon
1 tsp dried ground onion
salt-n-pepper
1/2 T non-salted buttter
1/4 C grated parmigiano reggiano
2 T diced basil

prep
In a medium bowl, combine first 7 ingredients plus some salt and pepper. Mix with your hands until adequately mixed with ingredients evenly dispersed (don’t knock yourself out - that sausage is tough to separate). Separate into golf ball sized meatballs. In a 10” skillet, heat butter over med high heat. Saute meatballs until browned, rotating occasionally, for a total of 5 minutes. Place meatballs (and if you don’t mind a little fatty goodness, the juices as well) in the pomodoro pan while the sauce still has 5 to 7 minutes remaining. They will finish cooking through in the sauce. Once finished, place meat balls atop the pasta and sauce. Top the meat balls with a dusting of parmesan and basil.

Cumin Dusted Sea Bass w Caprese-Corn Salad & Croutons

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:10:26 -0400

P is home again...for 48 hours...then she’s off again. I can’t remember where. So she’s been satiated with the heavier restaurant food and wants something on the lighter / healthier side. I’m all for it...with some butter of course. Heh heh heh... Using all the top notch produce that I’ve acquired over the weekend, plus the Chilean Sea Bass we procured tonight at Whole Foods (fish monger not a great fish cutter). Fish was real easy.

cumin dusted chilean sea bass
3/4 to 1 lb chilean sea bass (ours was 0.95),
cut into 2 steaks
1 T cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper
1.5 T non salted butter

prep
Heat butter and garlic in 10” skillet over med high
heat. Meanwhile, coat fish with a dusting of
cumin, salt and pepper on all sides.

Add fish to skillet and cook roughly 2 to 3 minutes
(depending on weight) on each of four sides until
cooked through. Let rest for a few minutes and
plate with salad below.

corn caprese salad
1 ear of corn, kernels removed
12 grape / cherry tomatoes, halved
handful of (lemon) basil leaves
1 slice from large ball mozzarella, chopped
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T balsamic vinaigrette
handful of french bread cubes
1.5 T butter
salt & pepper

prep
Start with the croutons: heat butter in saute pan
over medium heat and saute bread with salt and pepper until golden. Place in med to large bowl. Add tomatoes, corn (saute in pan w butter if needed), cheese, oil and vinegar. Season w salt and pepper.

Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:16:38 -0400

Who loves the olive oil? You better if you’re going to take on these bite size cakes. I stumbled across these gems on Leah’s Spicy Salty Sweet blog (scroll about halfway down her page). I am not a baker, but somehow I could not resist making these golden morsels. The dish reminded me of an olive oil apple cake I had once that was unspeakably good, so I figured this was the closest I would get with my non-existent baking skills.

The last time I baked was probably about 2 years ago, which means for this recipe I had to go buy this muffin tin, baking soda, pastry flour. I simply don’t bake. For some reason we had baking powder on hand (maybe my wife uses it to make pasta?). So, it all reminded me of why I don’t bake: precise measurements and lots of hard work. I am just not cut out for it. Although I realize there are many that enjoy baking as much as I enjoy cooking so I’ll leave it at that. I will say that whether you do or don’t get a kick out of baking, you will be pleased to pieces either way because the results are delicious. Can you see the man-in-the-moon-esque face below?

Besides the great olive oil and rosemary flavor, this dish also has lemony goodness, and you also get to create that great sweet & savory juxtaposition that I love. The saltiness comes from the sprinkling of fleur de sel, or in my case flor de sal (from Portugal),

If you’d like the recipe, use the link for Leah’s site above, or you can also go the original publication in the LA Times. Big thank you to Leah who was very helpful in answering my novice baker questions leading up to this project. It was definitely worth it.

Thanks for visiting. Check back in 2 years for the next baking post.

Killer (Bee) Strip Steak w Corn Crudo Salad & Lemon-Basil Pesto

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:51:48 -0400

There was a small incident today while mowing the lawn. Well...a few actually. We haven’t had any real rain all summer. Hot as Helena and Humid as humus, it’s been. But for the last 12 days or so we’ve been getting some thunderstorms that blow through, some longer lasting than others. Thankfully the longer ones seem to be at night, so the daytime weather is still all good. In fact it’s been the best daytime weather in a long time as the storms seem to have stripped SoCo of all that hot & humid weather (see above). However, along with the sky water and the decent temps, there seems to have been a return of creatures big and small. Okay, actually just small.

So, I’m mowing the lawn, and since I haven’t had to mow the lawn in 2 weeks from the previously dry climate; in that time a grist of bees has taken residence in a particular indentation in the back yard. I was alerted to this shortly after I had mown over said indentation. The alert came in manner of a bee sting to my right ankle. I’m allowing one guess as to the first word out of my mouth...okay I’ll give you a hint - it started with “F”. In addition to the bees, it seems spiders and garden snakes have come to life as well. No big deal except that I was so on edge from the bees that I was constantly flinching at the last second moments before I would walk into a web or a snake would slither beneath the surface of the grass in front of the mower. Plus, I didn’t want to cut up any snakes, so I was overly sensitive to the landscaping process.

Oh...you wanted to read about food? Steak & corn below serves 1 plus some leftovers. Add another 1/4 lb to the steak and another ear of corn if you want to serve 2.

It was essentially National Olive Oil Day today in our house. Went through about 3 cups of it. Put it to use in the pesto and steak I made for dinner, as well as heavy use in the dessert that will be appearing in the next post. Here’s the deal on the dinner.

lemon-basil pesto
2 handfuls lemon basil leaves
1 handful pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T butter
your best olive oil
salt & pepper

prep
In a small food processor, combine first 4 ingredients and process to a fine mix. Slowly add oil until it looks like (you guessed it) pesto. Should be very smooth, so don’t be afraid to use more oil that you think is appropriate for someone your age. Season with salt & pepper and pulse once more to combine.

corn crudo salad & pesto
1 ear corn
pesto
salt & pepper

prep
Cut kernels from cob and place in small bowl. Add pesto, salt & pepper to taste. Easy-peasy, right?...smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. If you don’t have access to super fresh corn that is tender right off the cob and able to be eaten raw, then saute it with a T of butter for a couple minutes until barely cooked and edible. Salad should look vaguely like this:

rosemary-garlic strip steak w farmer’s market pearl onions
1 ny strip steak (0.77 lb tonight)
2 stems of rosemary, leaves removed and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
2 fresh pearl onions (these weren’t technically “pearl”; they had some crazy name, but they were pearl in size), skins intact
Squeeze of fresh lemon or lime

prep
Remove steak from fridge and allow to come to room temp. Preheat grill to med high (about 450). Meanwhile, combine rosemary, garlic and oil to form loose paste. Heavily season steaks with ground salt and pepper. Coat each side with rosemary-garlic-oil paste. Place steaks and onions on grill. Cook 4 minutes each side for med-med-rare. Remove to cutting board and let rest 5 minutes. Slice steaks and hit with a little more salt and a squeeze of lemon or lime. Squeeze onions out of skin, and plate both along with corn salad.

tip of the year
This is not necessarily the best tip of the year. I was going to label it in the traditional manner of “tip of the week (or day)”, however I have not issued a tip to date, so I think it’s safe to say it may be my only tip this year. It regards removing the smell of garlic from your fingers (or any other part of your body I imagine...??...).

After cutting the garlic, simply rub your fingers on any piece of stainless steel. Your knife makes the most sense to me, but I imagine you could rub them all over your fridge or dishwasher if you were so inclined. Voila...garlic smell removed. Don’t believe me?...try it. You can thank me later.

Grilled Bangers & Potato-Tomato Salsa

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:54 -0400

It’s just real difficult to take a flattering picture of sausage, so I figured it’s best to put it in a soft focus at the back of the plate...but let’s not get into it. Okay, so we’ve done this before. This time we’re doing it with a slight variation. Last time it was hot Italian sausage - this time it’s bangers. Last time it was a potato salsa - this time it’s potato salsa...with tomatoes instead of pepper. Yup, yup...crazy, right? Last time P called this “the man’s meal” (due to the grilled sausage). This time she’s still out of town on business (on a Friday night...sucks, right?) so she can’t comment. If you are so inclined to be influenced by her previous comment, don’t be. As mentioned on the previous similar post, this is a great summer version of bangers and mash. I never think about grilled sausage and potatoes, and then all of a sudden it will hit me, and I’ll be craving it for dinner (actually that’s only true since this past June - I don’t know why). Been thinking about this one since Wednesday.

So go ahead and click on the June 26 post if you want to attempt this recipe and tweak it how you will. And since at this point I believe you can be trusted with some inside information, I am going to let you in on my latest late night sweet tooth pleasure. Keep it to yourself. A ridiculous $1.79 at Balducci’s or just $0.97 at Whole Foods. Never woulda thought WF could be the better economical choice. So, if the Stop-n-Shop carried this, I’m guessing maybe 69 cents?...but for some reason I don’t think you’ll find it there. Anyway...addictive...in fact maybe it’s best that you don’t start at all. That’s right...butterscotch.

Rolled Grey Sole & Prosciutto w Organic Tomato & Lemon Basil Salad

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:26:03 -0400

...Sorry...I was distracted there for a moment...the men’s team volleyball match between the U.S. and Bulgaria had my attention. 24 to 24 currently. It’s been probably 8 years since I’ve seen a men’s volleyball match, but this particular one has pulled me in. Currently at commercial break..back to food stuff. So I was at ye olde Whole Foods yesterday buying my scallops and what not, and there was a big heaping display of all this fresh produce....hold on, be right back.
.
.
.
okay, we won 26 to 24 on the third match point. So, as I was saying, a big heaping collection of kick ass looking produce bearing this real home-made looking packaging, like you’d see at the farmer’s market...which to me says L-O-C-A-L ...that’s right, local. Like this:

There were some great looking teeny peppers (which I didn’t know what to do with) and some phenomenal looking mixed grape and pear tomatoes, comme ca:

So, that was yesterday, and I had no use for them then, and wasn’t sure what I’d be doing tonight. So as you have surmised by now, I went back this evening and picked up those goods, and turned ‘em into a salad. Turns out this stuff was as good as it looked. The tomatoes, especially the orange ones just burst in the mouth. And the lemon basil??...fuggedaboudit. Like nothing you’ve ever had. So exotic, fragrant and flavorful. After I picked the leaves off the stems for the salad, the stems were so darn fragrant, I felt like I should find a use for them. But whaddayado with basil stems? Anyone? Anyone?... Bueller? That’s what I thought.

Turns out this stuff is from Urban Oaks Organic Farm in New Britian, CT. That’s about 70 miles from me, but as circumstance would have it, there’s a chance I’ll be doing bid-ness about 5 miles from there next Friday (when they’re open for retail), so maybe I can stop by.

Okay, let’s get on with it. I cooked this for myself, but frankly you could cook this for 2 people if you were both looking to eat a lighter meal. Seriously. If you added a starch side to this, I guarantee it’s good for 2. King Cole was a merry old sole and a merry old sole was he who loved rolled sole with prosciutto di parma. Grey sole works perfectly on this dish as it’s a very thin filet. So thin in fact, that mine were both 1/4 lb each and I’d consider that pretty big for a piece of grey sole. If you’re substituting some other type of sole, you’re going to want to change the cooking times.

rolled sole redux
2 grey sole filets (roughly 1/4 lb each)
2 paper thin slices of prosciutto di parma
2 cremini mushroom, thinly sliced
1 small shallot, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T unsalted butter, divided
1/2 T olive oil, if needed
cracked pepper (no salt needed ‘cause of prosciutto)

prep
In a non stick 10” skillet over medium heat, melt 1 T butter and cook mushroom, shallot and garlic until soft. Remove from pan and reserve. Add 1/2 T oil (if there is not enough “grease remaining in pan) and heat over medium heat. Add one piece of prosciutto and saute until beginning to crisp, about 1 minute. Then flip and crisp the other side. Remove 1st piece and repeat process with second piece.

Rinse sole if needed and completely dry. Lay each piece sole flat on work surface and crack pepper all over up side. Lay 1 piece of prosciutto on to of each piece of sole (line up narrow end of meat with narrow end of fish, as the meat will creep towards the other end when you roll them). Top each fish with 1/2 of reserved mushroom mix. Starting with narrowest ends of filets, roll towards the wide end. Take 4 pieces of butcher twine, about 10” each, and tie both ends of each rolled sole to hold in place. Crack pepper all over fish rolls.

Wipe previous skillet clean with a cloth or paper towel. Heat 1T butter in same pan over medium high heat until hot and butter just starts to bubble. Add rolled soles and cook for roughly 4 minutes until browned. Flip and cook another 3 to 4 minutes until fish at interior of roll is cooked through. Plate, remove twine and serve.

organic caprese salad
2 handfuls of assorted cherry tomatoes (see halved tomato pic above)
1 handful of lemon basil (see above)
3 small mozzarella balls (like melon ball size) thinly sliced
2 T olive oil
squeeze from a wedge of lemon
salt & pepper

prep
Cut each tomato in half and place in medium bowl. Chiffonade 4 basil leaves and toss in bowl along with remaining whole leaves and sliced mozzarellla. To avoid soggy basil, wait until you are ready to serve your salad, then drizzle 1 to 2 T of your best olive oil over salad along with lemon juice. Crack with salt and pepper and gently toss together. Plate with fish and enjoy.

That’s it for the food. If you’ll indulge me quickly for another 30 seconds, I’d like to give you a side by side comparison of the dirty dish perspective from last night to this night. If you were with us yesterday I was mightily put out by the high dirty dish ratio and the inability to do dishes while the meal was cooked. Tonight was a great example of the complete opposite of that. Here’s a refresher of last night as well as the comparison.

last night

tonight (and a typical night at abadeeba)

It has become evident over the last 2 hours that I am much more verbose when my wife is out of town. That is good for nobody.

Fettucini w Bay Scallops & Lemon

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:40:07 -0400

This is some special lemon, huh? Apparently no one wanted it mistaken as red cabbage. I confess that I moved all the stickers onto one side of the lemon so I could get the shot, but 4 stickers on one piece of fruit? What gives? I can just imagine some bored store clerk standing there next to another bored store clerk, both of them mindlessly talking about the shipment of cilantro that just came in, and this one sticker-gun clerk thinks they’re still stickering all the lemons, but they are so mind numb to the task that they are really just stickering the same lemon over and over...and over...........and over.

So about this dish tonight. This post could have just as easily been entitled “How to Fill Your Sink with Dirty Dishes, and Clean them Up Real Clean”, but this is a blog about what I ate for dinner, not the dirty dish storm that is sometimes involved. More on that later...

So anyway, latest Bon Appetit arrived the other day. Finally got a chance to read through it the other day. Apparently there’s an Italian-American renaissance going on according to BA. The article is about how these great Italian U.S. joints are shifting from classic-rustic Italian to a more American inspired cuisine. Exciting, I know. Anyhoo, there’s a recipe in there for this Fettucini with Bay Scallops and Meyer Lemon. My’s wife ain’t crazy about scallops so I figured this would be a good time to cook it as she is out of town... and double perfect timing, she happened to make me some extra fresh pasta before she went out of town. It all came together real nice. She is a good wife, fer shur. And since I’m in such a talkative mood ce soir, I will remind you that she is in Texas this week for bid-ness, and coincidentally she will be dining at Nonna, where this recipe originates. I ask you, what are the gosh-dern chances?

So, we are not at the restaurant above this evening...it is just me, alone in my kitchen, cooking up a dish that I was sorta soon regretting. Here’s the rub...this produced an inordinate amount of effort and dishes in exchange for what the end product delivered to my palate. i get kinda pissed off when I have a sink full of dishes after I’m all done eatin’ (I really prefer to be able to clean as I go). If I hadn’t had to make bread crumbs, maybe it wouldn’t have been so much of an issue. I now have a freezerful, so if I decide to do this recipe again, that will cut down on some of the dishes I guess. With regard to the breadcrumbs...just not sure whether that added or took away from the dish. Not really sure what the purpose was. No real flavor in the crumbs, so that leaves texture (?). Just not sure they were needed.

So I’m gonna leave it up to you whether you have the gumption to tackle the recipe after all I said. Do yourself, and this recipe, a little justice, by at least reading the recipe, featured here on the BA site. Read it, then decide whether you want to tackle it. Here’s the end result for moi.

This wine was also used in the cooking as well
as the glass with dinner. I discovered it thanks to
the Noble Pig. She was right on with her
description and recommendation. Worked
just right for the spicy kick in this dish. We’ve
also been drinking a very tasty Spanish wine,
Naia, which has become pretty popular in chez
abadeeba.

Finally, lets get to the dirty dishes part of this
episode. I have a pet peeve about a sinkful of
dirty dishes still remaining after a meal is done.
I mean, the last thing I want to do after leisurely enjoying a fantastic sit down meal is heating myself up in front of a hot steamy sink and doing a ton of dishes. I prefer to do them on the fly while cooking if at all possible. That wasn’t an option tonight, so it added to the drama that I’ve already spoken about. We’re talking about a relatively simple pasta dish, right?? Look at the collateral damage that was involved. On this note, I bid you good night.

before after

ridiculous.

Primo Ultra-Thin Margherita Pizza

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:30:05 -0400

My wife left me...for 4+ days of business. Off to the Lone Star State to sell some stuff. Frees me up to cook with no boundaries I guess, so hopefully I’ll do something more interesting the rest of this week, but tonight I had no choice as I myself was working up to and through dinner-cooking time. Pizza is what you get tonight.

You’ve heard me talk about the greatness of this product too many times, so if you don’t know the greatness first hand, search for Palermo in my search box. In addition to being the tastiest, this is certainly one of the cheapest pizzas in the freezer case. Although...it is also the thinnest, so if you were to judge all the pizzas by cost per lb, maybe this would turn into the most expensive...I don’t know. It’s cheap and good in my opinion. And, as it says on the box, it’s “all natural”. They’ve got it all figured out over at Palermo.

Grilled Cumin Dusted Halibut w Tinned Potatoes & Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:31:21 -0400

Trying for something simple and healthy tonight (and of course tasty). Was originally going to cook this more elaborate Thai-inspired fish dish from the latest Bon Appetit, however wasn’t really sure where I was going to score banana leaves, and finally just decided I didn’t want to work very hard. I was in the mood for halibut, so I just hoped I could find some, then I figured I’d wing it from there. I was actually strangely craving some of those small mozzarella balls, so I figured we’d work a Caprese salad onto the plate as well (always a P favorite).

This dish was so darn healthy I figured we’d probably need some starch to help us fill up, so tinned and grilled potatoes came into this as well.

Start with the potatoes. While they cook, move onto the salad and then the fish. This all serves 2.

tinned & grilled potatoes
1 yukon gold potato, peeled
leaves from 1 stem of rosemary, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper

prep
Halve potato lengthwise and then slice each half crosswise in 1/8” slices. Throw ‘em in a small bowl with next 5 ingredients. Toss with a spoon or your hands to completely mix. Spread evenly on a double layer of tinfoil so taters are roughly in one layer on the foil (not all piled on top of each other). Wrap up in foil and grill (on your grill) over med high heat (about 450 degrees) for 10 minutes. Flip and cook 10 more minutes. Flip again and cook five minutes. Flip again for 5 more minutes. You’re done.

Once you first throw those potatoes on the gril, get to work on the salad. I bought these 3 tomatoes that I thought would be needed. Those funky green ones were so un-ripe and tart they tasted like a sour apple, so I only used the red tomato, and it was plenty of tomato for the salad.

caprese salad
1 medium heirloom tomato, cut in wedges
8 mini mozzarella balls, individually quartered
6 basil leaves, rolled and thinly sliced
1 to 2 T olive oil
1 to 2 T fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper

prep
In a medium bowl, combine tomato and
cheese with oil, lemon, salt and pepper.
Toss together. Just before ready to serve,
add basil, toss together, then serve.

grilled cumin halibut
3/4 to 1 lb halibut (divided into 2 filets)
1 to 2 T olive oil
1 tsp cumin, divided
1 T butter
salt & pepper

prep
Place fish on a layer of foil (see top pic). Brush/coat both sides with oil. Dust with cumin, salt and pepper. Make sure fish ends up flesh side down on foil (If your grill is ultra clean, you can skip the foil). Grill flesh side down on foil on med high grill for 4 minutes. Flip and cook another 3 to 4 minutes. When it comes off the grill, plate and top each filet with 1/2 T of butter. If you’re like P, you’ll also want a squeeze of lemon juice on the fish, as well as a little balsamic vinegar on the salad. You do watchya do.