Technically, grilling season is almost over. But I’m not ready to start cooking inside just yet…you’ve never been in my kitchen in the summer. It is just too hot! So I spent a lot of the summer in the yard cooking. I figured out that meat and chicken aren’t the only thing you can cook on the grill. I decided to change it up a little and make some salmon using cedar planks I picked up from Whole Foods. I’ve never actually eaten plank salmon, and I don’t really like strong smokey flavors…talk about an impulse buy. But since I bought the planks, I had to try it. Turns out, the salmon was great! It wasn’t too smokey, but definitely tasted different and stronger than if it was just cooked in the oven. There was no fishy flavor, and the simple topping imparted the perfect amount of spicy sweetness. I’m definitely going to be using these planks a lot this grilling season. Continue reading
Author Archives: jessica
Engagement Cake
I mean, chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting!
Happy wedding day Helen and Joe!
This is the cake we made for their engagement party, our first ever attempt at a tiered cake. Helen requested chocolate, so when we found a recipe for deeply chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting, we knew we had to try it. Of course, since it was such a special occasion, a simple layered cake was not enough. We decided to make it tiered, with a flowery cake topper and everything. Continue reading
Meatless Monday: Roasted Corn Salad
Summer corn is here! That means that we eat lots of corn and get it stuck in our teeth. Yuck! This corn salad is a better way to eat that same corn without getting anything stuck in your teeth!
This recipe has quite a few steps, but ones that you can skip and have the store do for you, like roasting peppers and shucking corn. I did it all myself, but no one will know if you buy roasted peppers and use canned or frozen corn that you just roast in the oven for a while. Actually, what a great way to make this recipe in the winter when fresh corn isn’t available. As long as you don’t skimp on the fresh cilantro, I won’t tell anyone.
The flavors just get better when this sits, so make this ahead of time. Having company? Make it the day before and let it sit in the fridge. It’ll make your life much easier and it will make the salad taste better. I was going to add some black beans to this, but didn’t have any in the pantry. Turns out, I think it was perfect this way, but add the beans if you want to (a great Meatless Monday way to get some protein). Then let me know how it is. Maybe I’ll add those next time.
Ingredients:
- 3 ears white corn
- 1 red pepper
- 1 shallot, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Chili powder
- About 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro.
Directions:
1. Season the corn with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Roast or grill the corn for about 15 minutes. Let cool.
2. Roast the red pepper over an open fire, rotating when the skin is black. When blackened, place in plastic bag and let steam for about ten minutes. Remove from bag, peel the black skin off, and cut into strips. Cut the strips into small pieces (about the same size as the shallots).
3. Combine the shallots, roasted peppers, salt, pepper, chili powder, and cilantro in a bowl.
4. Remove the corn kernels from the cob – using a sharp knife, hold the corn so that it is standing, and cut downwards. Don’t worry about all the kernels separating from each other, that’s part of the fun of homemade corn salad!
5. Add the corn to the bowl, and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like cilantro as much as I do, add more!
See the bowl I used? It’s my favorite! I have it in three sizes. They make it in red, too, but I haven’t seen it since Adelaide’s closed.
Blueberry Ice Cream
It’s blueberry season! Even though I can eat whole pints of these plain, I love to experiment with them and see what great desserts I can make. This time, I decided on ice cream. I love strawberry ice cream, so why not try to use blueberries instead? This would be amazing over a summer peach tart. Continue reading
Leftovers – Dill Sauce
Like Lori said, this recipe makes way too much dill sauce! So here’s my not-as-fancy version of eggs benedict. Okay, so it’s nothing like eggs benedict: no hollandaise, no canadian bacon, and a sunny side up egg instead of a poached one. At least there’s a toasted English muffin involved. Continue reading
Baked Eggs With Cheddar Dill Sauce
I’ve never really thought of baking eggs in the oven, but it turns out they’re fluffy and creamy, and definitely easy when feeding a crowd. This is the perfect Sunday brunch food, and much more interesting than making a giant pan of scrambled eggs.
I actually ate this in Napa, and decided the second I came home that I just had to try the recipe for myself, in my own kosher kitchen. It took six months, but I finally tried it, and immediately regretted not making it months ago. Continue reading
Grilled Lemon Chicken
People always say that chicken on the grill is hard, tough, and dry. Well, they never tried butterflying a chicken, marinating it for a day, and grilling it with a brick weighing it down!
So remember when I told you that I successfully butterflied a chicken? It’s because I wanted to grill a whole chicken! Now that summer’s here, it’s actually too hot to turn on the oven, and I’m trying to use the grill as much as possible. Hamburgers and steaks get boring, so I’m giving some different types of dinners a try, including Ina’s Tuscan Lemon Chicken. Not only was it an impressive dish, it was actually quite easy. After marinating for 24 hours (yup, I prepped the dinner the night before, while cooking that night’s dinner), I just put the chicken on the grill and waited, flipped, and waited some more. The result? A VERY juicy chicken dinner.
Banana Cream Pie
…with cinnamon pastry cream and chocolate cookie crust.
Sounds amazing, huh? That’s why we’ve been waiting to make it for over a year. We finally had a chance. Most people who see me every day thought we were out of my mind for talking about it for a week straight. Too bad they didn’t get to taste it! Yes, this is the same pie that got comments on our giveaway post. Sorry. It took us months to post because we just couldn’t figure out how to describe to you how awesome it really is. Just take our word for it. Make this pie ASAP! Continue reading
Mejadra, or Rice and Lentils
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It is customary to eat lentils in a time of mourning, based on the food that Yaakov cooked when Avraham died. (Another customary mourning meal is a hardboiled egg with a loaf of bread, which symbolizes the circle of life.)
Rice and lentils is a popular Syrian dish. It’s often served as a weeknight meal along with jibben or a light fish, but that’s not why we’re posting it now; it is a one-pot meal and is it’s our custom to eat this on the night before Tisha b’Av (which is tomorrow!). Serve it with some plain yogurt and you have a pretty balanced (and simple) one-pot meal. Serve it alongside a million other dishes, like pizza, jibben, salad, knishes, sambusak, etc, and you have yourself a typical Syrian dairy meal. Continue reading
Inside Out Grilled Cheese
Note: Don’t forget to enter our birthday giveaway!
You might think that this recipe is boring, but it really is the best grilled cheese. Ever. I make it in my mini cast iron skillet with pita bread, butter, and two kinds of cheese.
The most important part of this sandwich? To put the cheese on the outside of the pita bread. The pocket side gets all buttery, crispy, and delicious, and is just so much better when it’s outside the sandwich! Don’t believe me? Try it! Continue reading
