Food for My Family » Main Course

Cordon Blucy Burgers to Tailgate To: A Juicy Lucy Twist

Ole — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:45:13 +0000

Prosciutto and Gruyère stuffed and grilled into the center of the cheeseburger, creating an oozing center of delicious to your Juicy Lucy tailgate eats. Try this along with a side of Bush’s Boston Recipe Baked Beans for a complete tailgating meal.

Tailgating in the summer is easy. It’s often done in t-shirts and flip-flops, and the variety of food available is vast. Nothing more than a few hot dogs or a thin cheeseburgers are required for a main course and they can be casually ingested on a balmy afternoon.

The same cannot be said for late fall or winter sports. To tailgate a football or hockey game your preparation needs to be a bit more tactical. Wimpy hot dogs can turn into meat-sicles in a matter of minutes and that puny quarter-pounder can turn into a hockey puck before you sit down. Luckily, however, there is a little known Minnesota specialty that just so happens to be the perfect fit for a crisp autumn tailgating session.

As the story goes, two bars on the same street in Minneapolis both claim to be the original inventor of what’s known as the Juicy Lucy (or the Jucy Lucy). It consists of a generous portion of cheese pressed between two uncooked hamburger patties and then fried on the flat top until the cheese transforms into a molten core. A trip to Minneapolis is not complete without consuming at least one of these.

It turns out, this technique lends itself perfectly to outdoor, cold weather cooking because the volcanic cheese will keep the burger hot for an extended period of time, even when the air temperature is quite low. This translates to a more pleasurable and leisure dining experience in the presence of cold air. Another plus is that all of the hard work can be done before hand thus making it easier for the cook on game day. Add a side of baked beans, and your tailgate meal is complete.

Today, we’ll be making something we like to call a Cordon Blucy. This borrows flavors from the classic cordon bleu palate, by using a slightly sweet and savory Gruyère cheese and salty chopped prosciutto on the inside and a topping of tangy Dijon mayonnaise and baby arugula, which pair perfectly with the sweet and rich Boston Recipe from Bush’s. All the steps prior to grilling can be done beforehand in the comfort of your own home and packaged for later use in the parking lot of your choice.

For each burger, slice up about 1 ½ ounces of cheese, chop about 3 slices of prosciutto and gently form out two quarter pound patties, being sure to make them fairly thin. Place the cheese and prosciutto on top of one patty, and then cover with the other. Here is the important part. Lovingly press the edges of the patties together making sure to completely seal in the cheese. Any breach between the pocket and the outside will result in your cheese being lost as an offering to the grill. Nobody wants that, so take care when sealing the burgers. And they’re ready for the trip to the big game.

WARNING! When you pull the burger off the grill, it is not time to eat. Your burger needs to rest for a good five to ten minutes, although the outside air temperature will determine the exact rate of cooling. Nobody wants a mouthful of burning cheese. Give it a minute to come down to a reasonable temperature.

So take a few minutes, breath deeply, and prepare to enjoy a big bite of Minnesota food heritage, a hearty burger that will stay warm, and keep you warm during the cold months of the year.

This post was sponsored by Bush’s Beans. Their Baked Beans make a great side dish for your tailgating session. Opinions, recipes and photos are my own. You can get more tailgating in with these sweet and sticky chicken wings and a few tailgating tips.

Cordon Blucy Burgers

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2 pounds ground beef
8-12 thin slices prosciutto
6 ounces Gruyère cheese
salt and pepper
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil mayonnaise
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
baby arugula
4 soft French rolls
butter

For each burger pat out two 1/4-pound patties of ground beef. Finely chop 2-3 slices of prosciutto and spread in the center of one patty. Cover the prosciutto with Gruyère cheese and place the second patty over the first. Seal well, pressing the edges of the burger together. At this point you could refrigerate the burgers until ready to grill.

Add patties to a preheated grill and grill for 4-5 minutes, sprinkling with salt and pepper once on each side. Flip and continue grilling 3 more minutes. Flip twice more, grilling 3 additional minutes for each flip. Remove from grill, tend with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

While the burgers are resting, butter and toast the rolls on the grill until golden brown. Mix together mayonnaise, garlic and Dijon mustard. Place the burger on a toasted French roll and top with Dijon mayo and baby arugula.

Make 4 burgers.
Copyright © Food for My Family.

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Sweet and Sticky Barbecue Chicken Wings

Ole — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:05:22 +0000

These barbecue chicken wings are the perfect burger or brat accompaniment served with a side of Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans for your tailgate, kissed with homemade barbecue sauce and caramelized on the grill.

Tailgating is a true American pastime. Whether it’s before a baseball game in the summertime, football in the fall or even hockey in the wintertime, spectators love to gather in parking lots and have something to eat before the game. Now, just because you’re away from the kitchen there’s no need to compromise food quality or taste. With a little planning, you can easily prepare five-star food in a one-star environment.

When the subject of tailgating comes up, most folks think about big time professional sports or serious college athletics events, but around our house the family favorite tailgating opportunity is a St. Paul Saints baseball game at Midway stadium. We’ve spent the better part of a decade perfecting our tailgating techniques in the parking lot of this very minor league stadium.

These barbecue chicken wings top our list of favorites. Not the rubbery, dripping, crock-pot-born wings that pop up at graduations and uninspired potlucks. I’m talking about crispy, sweet and savory chicken wings worthy of any highbrow sports bar. These wings can be yours with minimal effort in the preceding days or hours leading up to the event.

The secret is in the oil. All real chicken wing joints use fryers to cook the wings to crispy perfection before tossing them in sauce and serving them. Out in tailgate country, fryers (while becoming more popular with the turkey crowd) are still hard to come by, but we can improvise.

Before you leave you need to do two things. First, throw all your wings in a zipper bag with salt, pepper and olive oil. Whether they are thawed or frozen doesn’t really matter, just make sure you work them around so that they’re all coated well.

Next you’ll want to make up a quick barbecue sauce. Yes, you could buy some, but there is no need. You can make it yourself and feel better about the ingredients, as well as rake in the praise when people find out it’s your own “secret” recipe. Mix (homemade) ketchup, molasses, vinegar and spices in a sauce pan and simmer for ten minutes, and you’re done. Grab a foil pan and a quality pair of tongs and head to the game.

On a hot grill spread out your wings and turn every 4-5 minutes until they are golden brown. The seasoned oil will make the skin all salty and crispy, just like a fryer. At this point, some in the group might want to eat them plain, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but to boost the flavor, put the foil pan on the grill, transfer the wings to it and add a light coating of your BBQ sauce. Stir and turn the wings every minute or so for 5 minutes until they are all well coated and the sauce begins to caramelize.

Pull the pan off the grill and cover it with foil until it’s time to eat. These wings go great alongside burgers, brats or beans and chips. They’re a great fit for the tangy bite that Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans deliver. Just make sure you bring enough, as they’ve been known to fly off pretty quickly when you’re not looking.

These pair nicely with a side of classic baked beans from Bush’s and plenty of paper towels from your tailgating kit. Have you entered to win the Bush’s Beans Tailgate package yet? Hurry up and get over there!

Sticky Sweet Barbecue Chicken Wings

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3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh black pepper
3 pounds chicken wings

Barbecue Sauce:
2 cups ketchup
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon fresh black pepper
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Combine oil, salt and pepper in a 1-gallon zipper bag and squeeze the bag to mix. Add the chicken wings and seal and agitate until they are thoroughly coated.

Combine sauce ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cook wings on a hot grill for approximately 15 minutes, flipping every 5 minutes until they are golden brown. Transfer them to a foil pan on the grill and lightly coat with sauce. Stir and flip the wings frequently until the sauce has caramelized. Cover the pan with foil, remove from the heat and serve.

Makes 5-6 servings.

This post is sponsored by Bush’s Beans. They’re pretty fantastic. The recipe and opinions all belong to yours truly, however.

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Easy School Lunch Macaroni and Cheese for Sliding into a New Routine

Shaina — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:54:46 +0000

This 15-minute macaroni and cheese is one of the school lunches I fall back on easily. I only make it once in a while, but it’s a kid favorite, the creamy cheese sauce keeping the pasta hot until lunchtime.

Our day starts as the sun rises. Alarms blare. (To my neighbors, I apologize for Ole’s alarm. He leaves the windows open and then takes a good 20 minutes for the blaring to awaken him from his comatose state. It’s obnoxious, I know.)

The smallest member of our household usually wakes with the alarms, victorious over the nighttime potty training demons. Cheers of encouragement and pride are heard, and then a small amount of work is attempted.

In no time, bleary-eyed children start to emerge from the warm covers, slowly dragging their pajama-clad bodies to the living room, a final stretch and then collapsing onto the couch, ready(?) to start a new day.

By 7:30 a.m. we have reached crunch time. Pajamas are replaced with t-shirts and jeans – skirts for the kindergartener, though you’d think with all the scrapes and scabs she has on her legs, she’d start to see the practicality of pants. The next 30 minutes is a whirl of breakfast, brushing teeth and hair, repacking backpacks and then moving to the business of lunches. Then the door is opened, and out they run to wait for the school bus at the end of the driveway, which leaves the youngest in tears, heartbroken he can’t join his older siblings and go off to school.

Four days in, I can tell you that while the adjustment for the kids has been rather easy, happily running off to school and coming home with stories to tell, the shift has me feeling a bit scattered and tattered.

Trying to get back into the swing of things yesterday, we made one of our favorite school lunches. It takes only 15 minutes, and while the pasta is cooking, I stuffed garden fresh tomatoes, cherries and dried mangoes into lunchboxes, filled the water bottles and made sure teeth were brushed and children were presentable. Plus, the kids came home, all with empty lunch boxes, and that is what I define success as these days.

Early morning cooking with the kids. Melt butter and whisk in flour to make a roux.

Cook it a bit and then slowly add milk and then cream cheese.

Cheddar cheese hits next and is stirred until melty. All that’s left is adding our cooked pasta and filling the Thermos containers.

Little Lene’s lunch. She makes me smile with every kindergarten story she tells, and I’m still a bit sad to have lost my daytime cooking partner.

Warm and fuzzy lunch feelings are sent off with the kids, and one is tucked away at home for a very lonely little Magnus, who saw me editing the photo of the kids’ first day of school up above and started telling me how they were gone and how he wants to play with them in a very sad little boy voice.

What have you been packing for school lunches so far? Check out some of our methods to curb the madness in The Art of Packing School Lunches.

Easy Macaroni and Cheese

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1/2 pound small pasta
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat until bubbly. Slowly whisk in the flour and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes, whisking continuously, until the roux turns golden. Slowly whisk in the milk until all is incorporated. Cook until thick, 1-2 minutes.

Stir in cream cheese until melted. Remove from heat and stir in grated cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to melt. Season to taste. Serve immediately or pack into preheated insulated containers to enjoy at lunch.

Makes 4 servings.
Copyright © Food for My Family.

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Rosemary Grilled Scallops and Creamy Gruyère Polenta

Shaina — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:26:56 +0000

Grilled scallops are covered in fresh rosemary and placed atop a pillow of creamy Gruyère polenta. This is backyard barbecue at the next level. For the seafood haters, we’ll have grilled lamb chops to grace the polenta, too. Don’t you fret.

There’s this panic that’s sort of lurking in the background, almost like a lump in my throat. The house that never seems to be picked up is, and yet I still focus on all the things that still need to be and should be done like vacuuming up a stray crushed peanut, spread through the living room by small, unexacting hands.

The lull of summer is coming, I can feel it, if only I can make it through the week.

Then after this week there’s camp and baseball and a parade the kids will walk in looking sweet and wearing their matching t-shirts. The next week is full, too, and I’m starting to wonder where the lull is running off to.

One day at a time.

It’s dinnertime, with a to-do list still mounded on the desk and several projects all in some state of completion but nothing quite there yet. Rather than being planned and prepared, I’ve been pondering all day about the food in the fridge. A neighbor stops in to say a quick hello that lasts more than the five minutes we both probably thought it would, the light is waning and the night slipping away.

Not wanting to give up on having a decent meal just because time is short and summer days have a way of getting away from you, there will be polenta and scallops tonight. Dinner will on the table in 25 minutes, small bellies will be full and sent to run in the yard with still a bit of light left in the day.

Start with the prep. It involves getting four cups of water boiling while you grate cheese and mince a bit of rosemary. Grating cheese by hand builds character. Once the water boils, slowly whisk in one cup of cornmeal. Mine happens to be yellow.

Lower the heat and simmer, stirring every once in a while for about 15 to 20 minutes.

While your polenta is cooking, we have the business of making scallops. First, toss them in some extra virgin olive oil and that rosemary you minced earlier.

Toss them on a searing-hot grill and flip them after 90 seconds or so to the next side. Another minute and they’re ready to come off, get wrapped in foil and rest for a bit. Your polenta should be about finished at this point as well.

To finish off the polenta, a bit of butter (Kerrygold, of course) and Gruyère are melted in.

Scallops top the polenta, and we’re ready to eat. Do you have any favorite last-minute summer meals for those days when the sun seems to make everything but time take longer than it should?

Rosemary Grilled Scallops with Creamy Gruyère Polenta

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For the polenta:
4 3/4 cups water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 sprig rosemary
1 cup cornmeal polenta
3 tablespoons butter
5 ounces Gruyère, shredded

For the scallops:
1 pound fresh sea scallops
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Preheat grill to 600° F. Place water, salt and rosemary sprig in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and remove rosemary sprig. Slowly pour cornmeal into the water, whisking continuously to remove any lumps. Once all the cornmeal has been incorporated, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.

While the polenta is simmering, remove tendons from the scallops. In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Add scallops to the bowl and toss lightly to coat. Place scallops on the grill using tongs. They should sizzle as they hit the grill. Let them cook for 1-2 minutes until they start to brown lightly. Flip and cook one minute more until just cooked through. Remove from heat and let rest covered with foil for 2 minutes.

Once the polenta has reached a thick and smooth consistency, stir in the butter until melted. Add in the Gruyère a small handful at a time, stirring after each addition to melt. If the polenta seems a bit thick, thin slightly with milk or half and half, adding only 1-2 tablespoons at a time. Serve polenta topped with grilled scallops. Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

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Smoked Pork Chops with Jalapeño Apricot Chutney

Ole — Fri, 27 May 2011 23:19:05 +0000

We recently hosted a barbecue for a group of our friends. On the menu that evening were applewood smoked pork chops with jalapeño apricot chutney to pair with Bush’s Texas Ranchero Grillin’ Beans. Ole’s here to show you how easy it is to transform your everyday charcoal grill into a smoker for the pork chops.

People who know me know that I live for cooking outdoors, and they are usually most curious about the ribs and pulled pork or briskets that I make on my smoker because it’s a technique that can be intimidating and requires specialized equipment. I’ve been asked what type of smoker I work with and how I prepare the meats and what kind of spices or sauces I use.

The bottom line is though, that’s it is not as hard or equipment intensive as you might think. Recently we had a backyard barbecue that illustrated that point perfectly where I smoked pork chops for a large group. This technique could also be used to smoke several different types of smoked meats.

Don’t stop reading! I know you’re thinking, “I don’t have a smoker, so clearly I can’t make this dish.” Not true! If you have a grill, you have a smoker. The only elements you need for smoking are low heat and smoke. We can do that in a plain old kettle grill without any fancy or expensive additions.

Now, these instructions are for a charcoal grill, but you could use a gas grill as well. However, that gets a bit more complicated. We’ll talk about setting up your grill first, and then we’ll get to the meat. It’s very easy:

You’ll have to play around with the bottom vents to get your temp right, but you are shooting for somewhere between 230 and 250. Now you’re ready to smoke.

It’s time to talk about the pork chops. This recipe takes a bit of forethought, but is not difficult. To enhance the flavor and seal moisture into the chop, we’re going to use a brine. Your brine should be made up about 24 hours ahead of time.

Combine the salt, brown sugar, sage and thyme and four cups of water in a saucepan. Heat until all the salt and sugar are dissolved. Pour the mixture into your brining vessel, a bowl with a lid or a large zip top bag works well. Add in the crushed garlic. Then add ice and cold water to bring the volume up to one gallon. If the brine is not cold, refrigerate it until it is. Add the pork chops to the cold brine and let them sit and keep cold for 24 hours.

When it’s time to cook, prepare your smoker according to the directions above. Rinse and dry the chops and place on the grate on the side without the coals and close the lid. After 30 minutes, flip the chops and let them smoke for another 20 minutes. At this point, check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. Your target temp is 145.

The chops are great on their own and will have a wonderful salty, smoky flavor, and the brine will keep them from drying out. You can up your flavor game with your favorite sauce, glaze or chutney as an accent. We went with a jalapeño apricot chutney made with grilled apricots. Start by grilling your apricots.

The chopped apricots combine with red pepper, purple onion and plenty of jalapeños for heat, as well as white wine vinegar and thyme. Simmer until it thickens and you’re done.

Invite a group of friends over, serve up a buffet brimming with food: chops, chutney, beans, potato salad, chips, cupcakes, vegetables and dip, fruit salad and more. Then sit back and enjoy the company.

These directions will lead to great pork chops, but the smoking technique above is great for other cuts as well, try it with chicken thighs or drumsticks. You can even do it with ribs or more exotic meats. Your imagination is the limit here, and once you harness the power of smoking you’ll really learn the versatility of your plain, old charcoal grill.

If you haven’t yet entered the Bush’s Beans Grilling Kit Prize Pack, you have through the long weekend! Enter for a chance to win an Emile Henry Dutch Oven, $50 GC, Rosle Barbecue Tools and a Bush’s Beans apron and can opener.

Applewood Smoked Pork Chops with Jalapeño Apricot Chutney

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4 thick-cut pork chops
4 cups water
275 grams of kosher salt (weight really is the best method here)
250 grams of brown sugar
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon thyme
2 cloves garlic crushed
12 cups of very cold water or ice equivalent
1 1/2 cups jalapeño apricot chutney, recipe below

Heat 4 cups of water in a saucepan and dissolve salt and sugar, adding sage and thyme along the way. Add mixture to a bowl with a lid or a large zip-top bag and add garlic and enough cold water or ice to make one gallon. Refrigerate the brine if necessary so that the mixture is completely cold. Add the pork chops and allow them to soak in the cold brine for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, remove the chops from the brine, rinse with cold water and dry thoroughly. Place on a smoker or modified grill at 230° F for 30 minutes. Flip and allow to continue to smoke until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees (approximately 20-30 minutes). Remove from the grill and allow to rest. Serve with warm chutney.

Jalapeño Apricot Chutney
8 apricots, halved and pitted
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
4 jalapeños, seeded and diced
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt

Grill apricots over medium heat until golden brown. Cool slightly and dice. In a large skillet, heat olive oil and sauté red pepper, red onion and jalapeños for 2-3 minutes. Add in apricots, white wine vinegar, water, maple syrup, thyme and salt and simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens to a syrup. Keep warm and serve over smoked pork chops.

Makes 4-6 servings.
Copyright © Food for My Family.

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This post is part of a sponsored series of posts I’m doing for Bush’s Beans.

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Margarita Fish Tacos for Cinco de Mayo and Welcoming in Spring

Ole — Sun, 01 May 2011 01:27:42 +0000

Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner, and with the weather warming, it’s the perfect time to take out the grill for fish tacos and make yourself a margarita.

On our block, we joke with the neighbors that once the snow falls, we don’t see anybody for five months. People park their cars in the garage in an attempt to keep warm and stay dry and only poke their heads outside to get the mail or shovel the walk. Fortunately, every spring we emerge and get reacquainted with our friends from last fall, usually over a good meal, eaten outside if possible.

Our reintroduction to the neighborhood this year came in the form of weekly neighbor-hosted happy hours and then to head across the street to share a dish with the neighbors. So we packed up the essentials and took our dinner a few houses down to fix up some refreshing fish tacos to remember why we like living where we do.

These are great because the majority of the work can be done ahead of time which makes this a perfect dish for entertaining. They are also a nice way to ring in the spring season with light and fresh flavors of citrus, cilantro, and tilapia with the distinctive zing of a real margarita. Begin by marinating the tilapia fillets in a margarita mixture of tequila, lime juice, agave nectar, a little oil and a bit of salt. Overnight is the best, but anywhere over an hour is a good start.

The topping for this taco is an easy salsa fresca. Chop tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro and mix with lime juice, oil and salt. Follow the recipe below or adjust ingredients to suit your tastes. I like to add some fresh jalapeños and cumin, but you can do whatever you want. Why not go loco with pineapple or mango? The only other necessities are shredded lettuce and sour cream, perhaps a bit of cotija or asadero if you can’t have tacos without a dairy fix, and we love to add guacamole to ours.

All that is left is to fire up the grill for a bit and get the fish done and it’s time to eat. Here we want a hot grill somewhere around 450 to 500 degrees. With a thin fish like tilapia, which is what we used, it can get a little tricky on the grill. However, if you cook it hot and fast and properly lubricate your grill, you’ll be fine. Properly lubricate. Did you get that? Properly lubricate. If you don’t you will be eating vegetarian tacos and your next steak will taste like a tuna sandwich. So have a can of spray ready or some olive oil to brush, but please, please, don’t let the fish stick.

Okay, hot grill, check. Clean grill (scrape it now), check. Lubricated grill (in this order), check. Let’s cook. Quickly arrange the fillets, evenly spaced, across the grill. Close the lid and wait about two to three minutes. Gingerly flip and squeeze a lime on them and sprinkle with salt. After another two or three minutes they’ll be done. Remove quickly to a plate and loosely wrap in foil adding a few more drops of lime before you tuck them in.

Did your fish stick a little? It’s okay. The good news with fish tacos is that the fillets will be hidden inside a tortilla so no one will see if they are a little beat up.

Time for assembly. Fill a warmed corn tortilla (why not do it on the grill alongside the fish if you have room) with a few ounces of fish, a spoonful of salsa fresca, a smear of sour cream and top with shredded lettuce. Don’t forget the guacamole if you made it. Fold, eat and repeat.

To really complement the meal, serve with a just-mixed classic margarita. Want to go the other way? Those averse to alcohol can have this recipe too. Just substitute club soda for tequila and add a little extra lime juice and salt.

Make sure you have plenty of tortillas, after having three tacos myself, I really contemplated a fourth. Yes, they’re that good, so celebrate spring, celebrate Cinco de Mayo, or make them for no particular celebration at all. These tacos are a great way to wake up your taste buds for spring and the summer to follow.

Margarita Fish Tacos

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2 pounds white fish fillets (tilapia, cod, red snapper, mahi mahi)
1/3 cup tequila
3 limes, juiced
3 tablespoons miel de agave (or agave nectar)
1 1/2 tablespoon avocado oil (or any light oil)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Basting:
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Salsa Fresca:
1 large tomato diced
1/2 onion diced (yellow or red)
1/2 large green pepper diced
1 jalapeño, finely chopped
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
kosher salt, to taste

Assembly:
20 white corn tortillas
shredded romaine lettuce
sour cream
diced jalapeños
guacamole
cotija or a white cheese, shredded/crumbled

Mix tequila, lime juice, agave, oil and salt in a zip-top bag. Add fish and refrigerate from one hour to overnight. Grill fish on a hot, oiled grill (450 to 500° F) three minutes per side. Squeeze lime over fish after the first flip and sprinkle with salt. Remove the grilled fish pieces to aluminum foil and wrap to retain heat.

Prepare salsa fresca by combining tomato, onion, pepper, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Refrigerate if it is made ahead of time.

Warm tortillas on the grill or otherwise. Assemble tacos with fish, salsa and other additions of your choice.

Makes 6 servings

This is our neighbor Sara‘s margarita recipe. (Sara is pictured above.) We approve. In fact, I made them again 4 days later to make sure I had the right ratios for this post. Painful process that was. Painful.

Agave Margaritas

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For each margarita:
1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 ounce miel de agave (agave nectar)**
1/2 ounce water, club soda or fresh-squeezed orange juice
2 ounces 100% agave silver tequila (Patron, Corazón)
1 lime wedge
salt for rim
ice

In a glass add lime juice, miel de agave, water/club soda and tequila. Run lime wedges over rim of glass and roll edge in salt to rim. Fill glass with ice. Shake margarita mix with ice and strain into the salt-rimmed glass over the ice. Serve with the lime wedge.

**You can substitute miel de agave and the water/club soda/orange juice for 1 full ounce of simple syrup.
**for virgin margaritas, omit tequila and add additional club soda

Makes 1 margarita.
Copyright © Food for My Family.

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Spring Orzo Pasta Salad with Asparagus and Artichokes

Shaina — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:35:58 +0000

This orzo pasta salad is loaded full of spring asparagus and artichokes. A bit of white wine vinegar and lemon juice make this the perfect salad for an early season picnic or a a springy Easter dinner.

Easter is less than two weeks away. It seems like it’s been coming forever, though, as it is so late this year. I’m not complaining, though. Too often there is still snow on the ground when Easter rolls around here in Minnesota, and a snow-covered yard does not make for good Easter egg hunts for the kids.

In preparation for a warm Easter this year, I made a bright and crisp pasta salad to go along with Easter dinner, a Virtual Easter Dinner, that is. I’m joining up with a group of fabulous women to bring you a full Easter Dinner menu, just as we did for Thanksgiving.

Virtual Easter Dinner Potluck

Monday ~ Laura from Real Mom Kitchen shares Orange-Glazed Ham
Wednesday ~ Tara from Unsophisticook shares Cucumber Salad
Thursday ~ Tiffany from Eat at Home shares Goat Cheese Biscuits
Friday ~ Aimee from Simple Bites shares Rosemary Potato Strudel
Saturday ~ Liz from Hoosier Homemade shares an Easter Dessert

I have a love affair with using orzo pasta for pasta salads. I love how tiny and slippery it is, and the dressing coats well. This one starts with thin and crisp asparagus, shallots and garlic.

We’ll also need the juice and zest from a lemon, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes.

Start by dicing the asparagus into 1-2″ sections. When choosing asparagus, choose the thinnest spears you can find. They are most tender and the least woody. Blanch the spears in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. This is just long enough to cook them so they aren’t completely raw but still retain their snap. While the spears are blanching, sauté the minced shallots and garlic lightly.

Mix up a simple dressing with white wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and olive oil.

Add all the salad fixings to the bowl: orzo pasta, quartered artichoke hearts, julienned sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, shallots, garlic and dressing. Mix it all together and let it cool and combine in the refrigerator.

I personally couldn’t help myself. I ate this for lunch, even though I was supposed to be saving it for dinner. It’s the perfect light side dish, and the bright flavor profile pairs well with the richer dishes at Easter like Aimee’s rosemary potato strudel.

Spring Vegetable Orzo Pasta Salad

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1 bunch asparagus, about 3 cups diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces orzo pasta, cooked to al dente and cooled
15-ounce can artichoke hearts
1-1/2 cups sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, julienned
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

Bring a medium saucepan full of water to a boil. Turn off the burner, add in asparagus pieces and blanch for 2-3 minutes. While the asparagus is in the water, heat one tablespoon olive oil in a small sauté pan. Add in shallots and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, just until tender. Drain the asparagus and rinse with cool water.

In a large bowl add cooked orzo pasta, asparagus pieces and sautéed shallots and garlic. Drain artichoke hearts and quarter them, adding them to the bowl. Add in sun-dried tomatoes with oil and lemon zest. Stir to combine.

In a small bowl or container, whisk together lemon juice, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. While continuously whisking, slowly pour olive oil into the vinegar. Once emulsified, stir the dressing into the salad. Move to the refrigerator for at least 5 hours for flavors to combine. Serve cold.

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