Summer Sides of Potatoes and Evil Vegetables.

Now that the warmer weather has finally made itself known here, time to get the barbecue grills and smokers primed and ready to work.  In the freezer I have already stocked up on Johnsonville brats (original and beer); slabs of ribs and mounds of brisket as big as babies.  Pork and chicken are still on my list, and that'll be taken care of on the next big shopping trip to Cortez, Colorado.  Now all that protein is a wonderfully beautiful sight to behold; but I still need some side dishes to help enhance the eating experience.

Oh yeah, got those cobs of corn waiting to be slathered with herb butter, wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked up on the grill alongside that meat.  Huge bell peppers to be cut in half, cleaned, oiled and roasted up with the corn as well, but it doesn't seem to be enough.  Potatoes!  Got to have a potato dish; and for those people yelling at me about a bigger assortment of healthy vegetables...the dreaded evil vegetables.

The first recipe is for my Nanny's Potatoes, Nanny as in my maternal grandmother.  She made a simple German style potato salad with only olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper; no bacon.  However, there are so many more options you can add to this simple recipe besides bacon; diced sweet pickles (not relish, but real pickles) or diced green onion are two.  Julienne up some tart green apple or sweet pear to give added flavors and crunch.  Well let me just give you the simple recipe, and let your own imagination take it from there.

Nanny's Potatoes
 

Nanny's Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 lbs red skinned potatoes, cut into wedges or chunks, washed and leave skin on
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp fine sea salt

Preparation:

Place potatoes in a large stockpot, cover with water and set on high heat.  Boil potatoes until fork tender, drain and place in large serving bowl.  Mix potatoes with other ingredients; add additional salt and/or black pepper is necessary.  Serve hot to keep oil from cooling and coagulating.

Makes 8 servings.

Now for the second recipe, grilled evil vegetables; either use an aluminum foil grilling bag, or wrap up the vegetables in heavy duty aluminum foil, not the typical kitchen foil.  You're probably wondering why I'm calling them "evil vegetables"; I'm referring to cauliflower and brussel sprouts which I think are the two most foul tasting and smelling vegetables around.  My husband and his mom love them though, so I make this for them; they're my family, I love them and want them to have good meals that they enjoy.  Yes, you can spice these veggies up a bit by adding chile powder or diced chiles; or give a more Italian flare with crushed, dried herbs.

Grilled Evil Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, broken up
2 lbs brussel sprouts, remove stem ends and cut in half; quarter if very large
1 small onion, diced
1 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp fine sea salt

Preparation:

Set barbecue grill to 350F; spray inside of large grilling bag with nonstick spray.  If using heavy duty foil, create a large bag by folding foil (32 inch sheet folded to 16 inches), seal short sides by folding ends three times; spray inside.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients; spread out evenly inside foil bag being careful not to puncture the foil.  Seal the long end of the bag by folding it three times.  Place on top rack of the barbecue grill and let it grill for 20 minutes.  Carefully open the bag by cutting a slit through the top of the foil, spoon out into a serving bowl and serve hot.

Makes 8 servings.

This recipe can also be made in the oven by spreading out the mixture into a rimmed baking sheet (jelly roll pan) or baking dish; sprayed with nonstick spray.  Set oven on 450F and roast for 20 minutes.

There you have it, two sides to serve up with your barbecued meats or poultry.  Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour

Frozen Beef? Roast It Anyway.

The scenario goes, suddenly in the mood for roast beef sandwiches; oh no!, all you have is a frozen solid roast in the freezer. What to do? Defrost in the microwave? Hate that, as it eventually begins cooking if you don't time it correctly. Defrost in the refrigerator? Then it won't be ready for roasting until tomorrow....you want it today! Calm down, you can have that roast beef ready in the same amount of time as if it was defrosted; just as tender and juicy as you like it too. Impossible?
 

Not if you use heavy duty aluminum foil, or one of those aluminum grill bags; roasting in the foil will help keep the moisture in, while maximizing the heat needed to have the beef cooked to the desired doneness in the correct amount of time. I took a frozen solid, three pound rump roast and seasoned it all around with a mixture of: 1 teaspoon each of onion and garlic powders, 1 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt. Placing it inside my aluminum foil pouch, I then surrounded it with an entire tray of ice cubes. Why the ice cubes? To create steam that would not just help the roast defrost properly, but mix with any beef juices that escaped to create an au jus; or a gravy if combined with a cornstarch slurry.

Preheating the oven to 350F; I sealed all the sides tightly to make sure no steam or liquid would leak out. I placed the package on top of a rack inside a roasting pan; again, if there was any leakage of liquid, the pan would catch it. After two hours I placed a food thermometer into the package at its thickest part which was easy to make out through the bump in the foil package. Now be careful when doing this that you don't push it in too far and puncture the bottom; you'll lose that liquid into the pan. At 2 1/2 hours, it was at rare; at 2 3/4 hours it was at medium; we usually enjoy medium-rare, so I was amazed at how it jumped from rare to medium within a 15 minute time period.

Carefully opening the top of the bag with the point of a knife, the steam escaped completely and left me with a fully cooked roast with a crisp seasoned coating; in the same amount of time as if it had been defrosted first. I removed the beef to a cutting board to rest before slicing. Inside the bag was a lovely brown liquid that I could serve over the roast as is, or as I mentioned earlier, make a cornstarch slurry and create a gravy with. Of course I strained the liquid before using it.

 

The beef was a medium doneness, tender, juicy, wonderfully seasoned; the scent of the garlic and onion was entralling. My sharp knife cut through it like it was butter; and I just couldn't keep a piece from jumping into my mouth now and then.

So don't panic next time you want to make a roast, but it's frozen solid and you're worried over time. Using heavy duty aluminum foil will get you done on time and with the same results.

Mary Cokenour

A lazy day calls for a grilling bag.

After Saturday's day of hiking and climbing, Sunday was most definitely a day of resting. There was a wonderfully cool breeze blowing, and I didn't get my lazy self out of bed till 10:30am. The pets must have known I needed the sleep too, as they didn't wake me early as is their usual way. There were no chores or laundry to do, as I'd done them earlier in the week, so watching movies, or catching up on television episodes was my goal for the day.

For dinner, I had salmon filets to cook up, but didn't want the typical teriyaki sauce marinade; something different was called for. I remembered I had purchased a couple of boxes of Reynold's "Hot Bags", aluminum foil cooking bags for the grill, so figured, "why not?!?"

Putting it all together was easy and so was cleanup; so my lazy day ended up being a perfectly lazy day.

Grilled Salmon with Vegetables

Ingredients:
1 each large red and orange bell peppers, cut into ¼ “strips
2 each small zucchini and yellow squash, cut into ¼ “slices
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
¼ cup olive oil
¼ tsp each salt and ground black pepper
1 tsp each onion and garlic powder
4 salmon filets, ½ lb each

Preparation:
Heat grill to 275F. Open up a Reynold’s large aluminum foil “hot bag” and spray insides with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together vegetables, oil and seasonings; spread evenly inside bag; leave 2” of empty space from opening. Place filets on top of vegetables, leaving space in between each filet; close opening with ½” folds until layered food is reached. Slide bag onto flat tray or board, then slide onto hot grill; close lid and let cook for 30 minutes.

Do not open lid of barbeque, and make sure temperature stays at 275F.
Remove bag from grill (it would have puffed up like a pillow) by sliding onto flat tray or board; let bag rest for 5 minutes before cutting an X in the top; be careful as hot steam will be escaping. Use a spatula to remove the filets; spoon vegetables and sauce over each filet.

Makes 4 servings.

Mary Cokenour