It’s not a secret that I love avocados. I buy 4 or so a week on a regular basis, and then I add chunks of them to salads, I spread them on burgers and sandwiches, and I love them as guacamole and chips. It’s no surprise then that when looking for a twist on chicken salad, I naturally just used all the ingredients I’d put in guacamole into the chicken and topped it with the avocado slices.

Start with a roasted chicken. You could make your own, or if you have a good deli near you, feel free to grab a rotisserie chicken from them. Better yet, you could just collect some leftover chicken from a different meal or add a few breasts or pieces next time you’re grilling. However you procure your chicken, you’re going to need to shred it.

I prefer shredded chicken in my chicken salad to chunks. It sticks together more, provides more surface area for the dressing to stick to, and if you’re using all chicken breasts, it ends up drying out less because the chicken is fully coated. Note: Those are Ole’s bear claws. He wants to tell you about them, but that’s for a different post.


We used sweet peppers that we had in the fridge for this. They needed to be eaten in short order, but you could also substitute with the bell pepper of your choice.

Meet my spring onions. Aren’t they cute? I knew you’d love them.


I did add cilantro to this because, well, I add it to my guacamole whenever it’s available. This came directly from my garden, but it can easily be left out if you’re a hater of cilantro.

Tomatoes, diced finely, also make an appearance.

You can add additional or fewer jalapeños to match your heat tolerance. I probably could have added two more for me, but I’m not sure the kids would have appreciated it as much.

Mix all the shredded and diced ingredients into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together your mayonnaise, lime juice and spices. We went with garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and a bit of cayenne.

Stir this into your chopped ingredients and set aside to let it rest. Salads like this are always better if they rest and marinate for a bit. This one is no different, and feel free to make it ahead.

Salad just wouldn’t be salad without a bit of crunch on the side, so croutons are a must. Use whatever day-old bread you have lying around that needs to be used up, but an artisan loaf or heartier bread will work best. Start by heating olive oil in a pan.

Toss in bread cubes and stir to coat.

Sprinkle salt and pepper, cayenne and garlic over the bread cubes and continue cooking until edges brown. You could also make these in the oven, but I don’t see why you’d turn your oven on. It’s plenty warm without it, thank you.

Serve over a bed of lettuce. Whatever you have available will be just fine. We happened to have butter lettuce on hand.

Chicken salad over lettuce, croutons and avocado slices. Delightful on its own. Not pictured? The limeade-infused iced tea that we had with this, finishing off a perfect hot weather meal.

We try to maintain active social lives, and even though the O6 are a busy family, we usually are able to cram all of our family commitments in and still have time for the occasional show at First Ave. , movie with the gang, or random gathering at a local dining establishment.  This was not the case last week.  We were invited to a happy hour at The Lyndale Tap House, a bar in Uptown Minneapolis which specializes in a classic Baltimore cuisine (yeah, I know, that sounds like an oxymoron) – pit beef.

Sadly we had to bow out.  The schedule was full.  A request for the event to be moved to the following week produced the following terse email “Pit beef waits for no Scandinavian”.  Fair enough.  So, in the true spirit of the O6 I decided that if I can’t go to pit beef, I’d just have to bring pit beef to me.

A quick side note.  Some of you may not be familiar with pit beef. I wasn’t either until I caught an episode of Diners Drive-ins and Dives featuring this delicacy.  The Lyndale Tap House sums it up as well as I can: “This preparation involves rubbing a high-quality piece of meat with a special spice mixture and allowing the meat to marinate. The meat is then seared on a specially installed pit grill which chars the meat on the outside and cooks it juicy and tender on the inside. Finally it is sliced paper thin and served on a kaiser roll.”

That is all I need to get started.  I’ve seen the video, read a few recipes, and am now ready to share my experience with you.

First, I’m throwing out fancy marinades and special grills.  We’re going back to basics with this one.  In my opinion, all beef needs is salt and pepper, and as far as grills go – a basic charcoal number is the perfect hardware.


Step one:  Light your coals.  Charcoal is fine, but over the last year I’ve been turning into a coal snob.  I’ve switched to lump coal – an all wood charcoal.  The flavor is better and there’s less clean up, but it burns faster and hotter than regular charcoal, so it does need a little more attention.

Step two:  Season your meat.  I rubbed this cut (2.5 lb sirloin tip roast) with around one tablespoon of kosher salt and fresh black pepper.

Step three:  Prepare your coals.  Add the hot coals to an even bed of new coals and allow them all to heat up.
Step 4:  Lay the meat on the grill.
Step 5:  Tend the meat.  Give it a flip every five or eight minutes.  You are looking for an even sear/char but not a burn (obviously).

Step 6:  When it’s done (looking for a medium rare core about 135F) loosely wrap it in foil and let it sit for ten to fifteen minutes.

Step 7:  Slice and serve.  An industrial meat slicer would be perfect for this, but last time I checked, I wasn’t on Iron Chef, so a carefully guided large knife would have to do.  Slice as thin as you can.

Pile the result onto a Kaiser roll, top with raw onion and horseradish and be transported to a Baltimore parking lot, where apparently, all of the best pit beef is served.

Our initial reason for gardening, before we even owned our own home, was to make pesto. We had always enjoyed pesto, and at the time with Ole in graduate school, buying the often expensive jar of it at the supermarket wasn’t something we were willing to do. And the “pesto pot” was born. The pesto pot is nothing more than a pot planted with Genovese basil and flat-leaf parsley. If you don’t have basil and parsley already growing in your garden, fear not. Parsley is cheap and easy to come by fresh. Basil is also available fresh in the grocery store; however, it may cost you a bit more. Try checking out your local farmer’s market. We have a vendor at ours that sells 2 cups of packed basil for $2.00, quite the bargain price.

The other thing that drives up the price of pesto are the pine nuts. We buy ours at Trader Joe’s or from a co-op; both are the cheapest prices we’ve been able to find. If you can’t find reasonably priced pine nuts, try substituting walnuts.


I pack my leaves on the bottom of the food processor or blender and top it off with all the heavier ingredients (hold the olive oil for now). This helps to weigh down the leaves and feed them towards the blade.


After a good mix and chop, I add half of the olive oil and blend again. The last half of the olive oil won’t be added until I’m ready to use each individual serving of pesto, and sometimes not at all.


Because we went light on the olive oil, this pesto is easy to work with. It doesn’t pour well into containers, but it will scoop onto sheets of plastic wrap or into tightly-sealed containers. If using a container, make sure you fill to the top to avoid freezer burn. For the plastic wrap, just pull the corners together and twist. Fold the end under the pesto ball and you’re done.


Into the freezer bag and into the freezer for these. When I am ready to use, I remove from the freezer an hour or two before and thaw in a bowl on the counter. Just before serving, I stir in the extra olive oil I left out, reviving the pesto and making it instantly easy to work with and use.


What to do with the pesto? Try mixing it into a pasta.


Or make pesto cheese bread for a twist on traditional garlic cheese bread.


You could also mix with a bit of butter, spread on salmon and bake in the oven. Mix it into steamed vegetables or even top a steak with it. Whatever you do, enjoy it. And because you froze it, you can enjoy a bit of summer freshness in the dead of winter on those really, really cold days when the sky is gray.

Smoked salmon.  The words get the kids running towards the table no matter what time it is.  We like it with bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, mixed with mayo for a lunchtime sandwich or hot off the smoker with rice for a dinner time entrée.

For most people, smoked salmon my just be a little out of reach.  Surely it must be hard to make, why else would it cost $20 or more per pound at the super market?  Don’t you need a smoker to make it?  I don’t have the time to do it.  Nonsense.  There is no reason why you aren’t smoking a thick slab of salmon right now.

(Use your best Billy Mays voice here) If you have a smoker – great!  No smoker?  No problem.  The very first smoked meat I made was salmon and trout, smoked in my gas grill, and it was so easy, and so delicious too.  We’ll talk hardware later.  Right now, let’s get a fish ready.

For this session I used half (about 1.75 pounds) of a rather large fillet that we bought at the local Costco about a month ago (don’t worry, I froze the portion in question).  If I remember correctly, the price was about $6.50 per pound – what a steal!

The first thing to do is prepare a salt pack to wick off some of the moisture.

Mix together

½ cup pickling salt

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp onion powder (I didn’t have any so I ground up the chopped onions)

1 tsp dill

¾ tsp garlic power

Zest of 1 lemon

Pack all sides of the fish with the mixture and place it in a zip top bag for two to four hours in the fridge.

What you want to see at the end is a noticeable quantity of fluid collecting in the bag, maybe a few tablespoons.

At this point remove the fish, rinse it, then dry it thoroughly and place it on a wire rack.

The fish needs to sit and air dry for 30 to 45 minutes, a fan will speed this process.  As it dries, it will develop a tacky surface, this is good for the introduction of additional flavors such as herbs and smoke.

While the fish is sitting, it would be a good idea to get a fire going in your smoker or grill.  I’m not going to get into this too much (I promise a dedicated post about smoking in a gas grill soon) but no matter what you’re using you’re going to want a low and even temperature.  I usually aim for 200 – 220 degrees.  If you have a grill, wrap some hardwood chips (oak, maple, hickory or fruitwoods) in a few layers of perforated foil and place directly on a low fire.  If you have a smoker, get a nice even hardwood coal fire going with a few chunks of the various woods mentioned above.

Back in the kitchen as your fish is drying, mix together the following:

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/3 tsp chopped dill (I used fresh, but the jar variety is fine too)

A few leaves of tarragon chopped

Spread this on the fish and head out to your cooking device.

Place the fillet on the grate, cover and walk away.

Cooking time will depend heavily on the size and thickness of your fish, the goal is to reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees.  I let this one go for about an hour and twenty minutes.  When it’s done, you should see the edges becoming red and the fillet will take on a distinctly striped appearance.  When you decide that doneness has been achieved, remove it from the grate and wrap it in foil.

If you’re serving it hot, let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes.  If you’re saving it for later, let it cool down for a half hour or so before you put it in the refrigerator.

This particular fish traveled up north with us to a family vacation to be consumed with cream cheese on bagels.  The sweet salty fish was the perfect foundation for a long day of hiking along the north shore of Lake Superior and at a fraction of the price of the store bought variety.

So the next time you have a pot luck brunch or high end wine party to attend, show up with this and let the praises roll in.

A Philly cheesesteak isn’t something to mess with, so we didn’t. Instead, we created our own variety of steak sandwich, topped off with a mound of fresh grilled vegetables and a simple chipotle mayo for a bit of kick. It is the combination we keep coming back to. The vegetables balance the steak and cheese and serve to lighten things up a bit. I even topped mine with some iceberg we had sitting around taking up space to give a little crunch.

For these we’re using leftover bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin steaks. We have actually started grilling more of these than we eat so that we have enough to make this meal and Ole has one or two to bring to work for lunch, but we also use leftover chunks of steak from other meals. If we don’t have enough steak to feed the whole family, we’ll pair these with other leftover items from the week on a Saturday evening or add leftover chicken to the vegetable mix. If we’re really short on things, we may even feed the kids grilled ham and cheese.


Mushrooms are one of those like it or don’t types of ingredients. Just ignore them if you’re not a fan. These got a few extra onions added that we had sitting in the fridge from a few nights earlier.


The bacon on the tenderloin will grease the griddle to prevent anything from sticking, and because we cook our steaks to a medium they can withstand another heating without becoming tough like a piece of Bubbalicious you’ve had in your cheek all afternoon while you rode your three-wheeler up and down the block, your Star Wars’ ewok strapped to the back.


Give your buns a bit of butter so they brown while they’re toasting. These are ciabatta rolls from Costco again. The first time I attempted this post I had some lovely bollilo rolls, but then I somehow managed to come out of that sans photos of final product.


And then stick them right on that same griddle.


This is sliced havarti cheese from the deli section at Super Target. I don’t usually buy deli cheese because it’s overpriced (in my opinion), but THIS cheese happened to come free with my dry salame and turkey breast lunch meat purchase. Hello, pre-sliced cheese. Welcome to my home.


Then there’s the mayo matter. This gives the sandwich a bit of zip that it is otherwise lacking. You could use regular Tabasco sauce for a less “roasted pepper” taste, if you preferred. We happen to have Chipotle Tabasco because we marinate the burrito meat in it.


This is sort of the color my kitchen walls were when we bought the house.


Assemble.





And eat.

Tenderloin went on sale again and this time for $4.99/lb – what a steal!  So, even though I had some of these goodies already prepared and waiting in the freezer, I decided to make some more.  The deal was just too good to pass up.  So this time around I was able to take more pictures to better illustrate the process of preparing these carnivorous gems. (I know that doesn’t really make sense, but I said it and I’m not taking it back.  I stayed up really late last night watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and all I want to do is go to bed, so we will press on).

Let’s begin.  The hardware and software requirements are simple enough.

Whole (or trimmed) beef tenderloin

Bacon (about ½ lb per trimmed loin)

Sharp knife

Plastic wrap and freezer bags (if you’re making this for later)

Open up your bacon and separate it.  This way it will be easier to handle when it comes time to wrap it.  Then lay out your tenderloin and begin slicing.  Use the sharpest, largest knife you have. This will ensure a clean cut.  When you’re cutting the medallions, you will want to do it in a single stroke if possible; that way you will get a perfect surface on which to apply your seasonings, plus it makes a better presentation.

Use your bacon as guide for the minimum thickness of your medallions.  The second factor in determining thickness is your desired level of doneness.  I prefer a nice medium – this is easier to achieve with a thicker cut.  So cut them thinner if you like them medium well or well (say 1 to 1 ½ inches), or cut them closer to 2 inches for a more rare finished product.  I usually vary the size of mine to accommodate the smaller members of the O6.

After you’re done cutting, it will be time to wrap.  Pick one up and, starting with the widest end of the bacon, begin wrapping until you have circumnavigated the meat.  The fat in the bacon will act as a fairly decent binder.  If you are grilling them immediately, insert a toothpick where the two ends overlap.  If these are freezer bound, hold off on the toothpick until grilling time.

 

If you are planning on saving these for later, prepare a few squares of plastic wrap and make a tower of four medallions.  Then, lay them down and wrap them up like a Tootsie Roll and twist the ends.  Make sure to squeeze as much air as possible out of the plastic.  In the game of long-term storage, air is your enemy.

Once they are wrapped up, just put them in a freezer bag, label it with a Sharpie, read them a story and put them to bed.

Here’s a great idea.  Next time you want to do this make a double batch.  Prepare half for now and freeze the rest.  That way, next time you want to make them all the hard work is already done.  Score.

So there it is, a more detailed look at these tasty steaks.  Click here to read the original post that covers the entire process in less detail.  But wait!  There’s more.  Or there will be.  The next time I grill these up, I’ll be taking more pictures of them actually on the grill, and I’ll include a more detailed write up about that process in a future post.

If you have a whole beef tenderloin that needs to be trimmed first, here is a video on how to do it. Bobby Flay isn’t my favorite “Food Network Star”, but there isn’t a Hulu video showing Alton Brown doing this, so it will have to do.

Grilling Bacon-Wrapped Beef Tenderloin Medallions

A few years ago I found an easy recipe for teriyaki sauce, and since then, I have modified it, made it a dozen times and experimented with it on various meats.  Some have been successful, others have not, and as far as the O6 is concerned, this one I’m about to describe for you is the family favorite.  And since it is such a favorite, I decided to give you a two-for-one today and include a wickedly simple side that is a “can’t miss” with kids and adults alike.

This dish has been described as a chicken satay, although to be more technically Japanese it would be more appropriately called yakitori, or in other words “on a stick” which also happens to be the preferred serving method for any food item at the Minnesota State Fair.  I think you’ll find that this one is easy to pull off, great to make ahead of time and perfect for feeding a large group and the accompanying pineapple planks might make you a local legend.

Let’s get on with it, beginning with the marinade.

In a large zip top bag, combine:

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp freshly grated ginger

3-4 cloves of garlic

½ tsp white pepper

½ tsp fresh black pepper

While you’re doing this, put ten or so bamboo skewers into a vessel of water to soak.

A few tips on the above:

1. For the ginger, I peel it with a vegetable peeler and then use the garlic press to pulverize it.  This frees up a lot of juice, and reduces the solids down to nothing.  It saves time and releases tons of flavor.
2. You don’t need white pepper, but I like to use it in my pseudo-Asian dishes.  If you don’t have any, just use more black pepper (but promise me that you’ll grind it fresh)
3. Some recipes call for simmering the whole mixture to reduce it.  That is great if you have the time, but I’ve found that when you use it as a baste and marinade, it doesn’t matter too much.

To this bag, add about 6-8 boneless chicken breasts cut the long way into halves or thirds.

Give everything a good shake and let it sit for as long as you can.  Overnight in the fridge is perfect, but as usual, I can’t plan that far ahead so if I can get them in for an hour, I’m lucky.  It still works out fine this way.

Warm up the grill when you start getting hungry.  If you’re making the pineapple planks, now would be a good time to prep them.  This is probably the easiest thing you’ll ever find here.  You will need the following:

1 whole pineapple

Yep, that’s it.  All the work is in the preparation.  Start by lopping the top off, then peel the skin with a long thin knife.  Chop off the bottom and cut it lengthwise into quarters.  Cut the core out of the middle and then cut the quarters (again lengthwise) into three or four planks.  There.  Done.

Well, not totally.  Put them aside for later and find something to drink.  Here’s a little something I invented after a trip to Big Lots turned up a 60-cent bottle of “Spicy Ginger” made by Adina World Beat Beverages.  Add ice and rum and you’ve got a party for one.  The flavors are well suited to this meal as well, so give one a try if you can track down the mixer.

Your grill is probably hot by now.  It’s time to poke the chicken.  Retrieve the skewers from their bath, and grab the chicken from the fridge.  Then run the skewers through the chicken strips, putting one or two pieces on each skewer.  Pile them on a plate and head for the grill.

Once the grill is hot (400 degrees), turn the burners down to low/medium and lay out the chicken.  Stay close to these, they cook quickly.  Flip and twist every two minutes to produce a nice crosshatch pattern.  The nice thing about this marinade is that the sugars caramelize well and produce nice dark lines.  This makes for a great presentation.  As you’re flipping, use the leftover marinade to baste the meat.  I should point out that this is ok, but NEVER use leftover marinade as a sauce later.  It is fine for a baste because any nasty raw meat stuff will cook, but as a table sauce, since it hasn’t been cooked, you don’t get that protection.

Alongside the chicken, you will want to introduce the pineapple.  Bare.  Nothing else needed.  Although, if you wanted to, you could dust them with some cayenne pepper, or paint them with some hot sauce.  The sweet and hot combo is unbelievable.  I didn’t do it this time, but I’ve found that pineapple has a way of absorbing the heat and then balancing it with the sweet juice to result in a fantastic engagement of flavors.  I tend to find the hotter parts of the grill for these.

But back to the meal at hand.  Flip and turn your items until they have reached proper doneness.  The chicken should have nice lines and the inside should be white, no pink or anything like that.  The pineapple should be shrinking up just a bit, and it too, because of the sugars in it should develop some nice grill marks.

As usual, remove the chicken and the pineapple to foil lined pans and let them rest a few minutes while you get the table ready.  The marinade here helps keep the chicken from drying out too much, so if you overcook a bit, no one will know the difference.

So, is this authentic?  No.  Is it delicious?  Yes.  And that’s what matters.  This combo works equally well for salmon (minus the skewers) or beef (leave the skewers), but the chicken version always results in clean plates and plenty of requests for seconds.