Grilled Pesto Bread

Grilled Pesto Bread

We had this bread at Reef restaurant, here in Houston. If you watched "The Next Iron Chef" last season, Chef Caswell was one of the contestants - and Reef is his restaurant. We went there last May with my mother-in-law and her husband while they were visiting.

The bread basket they had at Reef had this delicious ciabatta bread with some pesto smeared on top and then lightly grilled. At the time, I was planning a birthday bash for my friend and new instantly that I wanted to serve this bread at the dinner.

So, I bought a baguette (mistake #1) and covered it with pesto then hubby grilled it (which could be mistake #2 - just cause he was entertaining friends at the same time, and a little distracted.) The bread turned out a little hard and crunchy. Not the way it was at Reef.

And then I sort of forgot about trying to make it again (definitely mistake #3).

Last week I made some Mashed Potato Soup and thought, "OOOH, I should try to make that pesto bread again!"

This time I bought ciabatta bread. I grilled it myself and I will not wait 6 months to have it again!

Here's what you need:

Ciabatta Loaf, sliced thin

Pesto (I used Classico Pesto, yum.)

BBQ or grill pan

Heat your grill pan or BBQ to a pretty high heat. Smother a few slices of bread with the pesto and place on grill. I grilled both sides of the bread - and because your pan or BBQ are hot, it will cook fast.

I love the smokey flavor the BBQ gives - so I recommend using it!

It's so easy and so flavorful and so cheap!

Chili Chicken

From Adrianne Campbell (from Cuisine at Home magazine)

1 1/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 T. brown sugar

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 T. olive oil

Combine above ingredients with chicken and toss to coat. Just grill them for a few minutes. Recipe calls for cut chunks of chicken on skewers, browned on the stove top then finished in the oven at 400 for a few more minutes. Adrianne just grills the chicken out on the grill without the skewers.

I got this recipe off the This Week For Dinner website : http://thisweekfordinner.com/

I loved how easy this recipe was - and very flavorful. I also grilled on the BBQ them instead of the cooking on the stove top.

Burger Throw down!!

Last weekend, my husband's work friends came over for a BURGER THROW DOWN!

It was so much fun, and such good food - there were all kinds of burgers... but our camera was (always is) on the fritz ~ so I am posting the pictures that are actually focused.

There were burgers stuffed with portobello mushrooms, sauteed white onion and marscapone cheese (one of my favorites...)

Another burger was blended with steak sauce and smeared with a jalapeno ranch secret sauce and topped with spicy pepper relish and sat on a hawaiian bread sandwich roll.

The winning burger (I know, I can't believe I didn't get a good picture of it) was made with ground rib-eye, smeared with a horseradish cream sauce and topped with sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheese. The rib-eye was so rich and delicious and the sauteed mushrooms were very flavorful.

I hope these burgers inspire you to make something a little different...

The health-nuts of the group made this one. It was a bison burger - with some dried cranberries in the burger (sounds weird, but was really good), topped with spinach, sprouts, avocado, red onion... They cooked it perfectly, it was very tender.

These were lamb burgers/sliders. Mixed inside the meat was chopped mint and some garlic. They were cooked over a charcoal BBQ instead of the gas grill. Then topped with feta, rosemary and more mint, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. The marble rye bread was brushed with olive oil and lemon zest and broiled. Again - cooked perfectly and so many fresh flavors.

This was one of my husbands burgers -- inspired by a Cricket Burger he had on his trip to Denver, CO recently. It was a half pound burger of lean ground beef, seasoned with tapatio sauce, salt & pepper. Then topped with (gulp) cream cheese and fresh diced jalapenos! The spicy hot was cooled by the creamy cream cheese... good job babe!

ok, this is the other burger entry by my husband - inspired by our favorite appetizer at our favorite family restaurant, Outback Steak House.

Again, a half pound burger made with lean ground beef seasoned the same way. Then topped with (drum roll, please!), CHEESE FRIES!! French fries fried to golden perfection (by me), then smoked cheddar and crumbled bacon were piled on top. He popped them under the broiler to melt the cheese a bit... ooohhh -- heart attack on a plate, but so good!

Spicy Grilled Tilapia with Aioli

• 2 lbs (or 4) Tilapia Fillets
• 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon  Cajun or Creole Seasoning, I use Emeril's.
• 1 teaspoon  Old Bay Seasoning

Aioli:

• 1/2 cup Mayo
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice, I add some zest in there too
• 1  tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Tarragon
• Note: Tarragon has a strong flavor.  It's lemony and rustic. I love to use fresh Tarragon, vs. dried. It's not as strong. I also imagine that using Dill in place of the Tarragon would be really yummy too!
• Prepare Aioli by combining all ingredients and place in the fridge. The longer it sits, the better.
• Preheat and oil your grill. You'll want it fairly hot to give the fish a good sear and not fall apart.
• Rub both sides of the fish with the olive oil.
• Sprinkle seasonings on both sides of the fish, rub it in and place on grill. Cook for 2 1/2 minutes, turn once and cook another 2 1/2 minutes.
• I stink at grilling fish. It never comes out right for me, sticks to the grill, flakes off.. ugh. So, I have a grill pan that has holes in the bottom of it (Bed, Bath and Beyond). You can also use a sheet of aluminum foil, sprayed with cooking spray, with small holes poked in it, to ensure your grill doesn't eat your fish before you do.
• serve with Aioli. Makes 4 servings

Kebabs? or Skewers?

Whatever you call them, they are always GOOD!

Skewers are so easy - the hardest part is actually putting them on the stick without stabbing yourself! (please tell me I am not the only one who does that?)
At a MOMS group a couple of weeks ago, we had a speaker share about healthy, easy recipes. In one of her meal suggestions, she lists out a page full of skewer meal ideas. And it made me so hungry for a shish kebab dinner!!
Start off by giving those wooden skewers a good soak. You want to make sure they soak in water for at least 15 minutes. It just helps them to not catch on fire when you put them over the BBQ flames.
Basically, you choose your meat - I chose steak (oh, yeah!) We cut the steak into chunks and then we marinated it for about 30 minutes in lime juice, chili powder, garlic, and evoo.
Then, choose your vegetables/fruit - I chose the basics -- Green & Red Bell Peppers, Mushrooms and Red Onion. Cut these into chunks (leaving mushrooms whole).

After those choices are made, start assembling the skewers. However you like - whatever you like. You can make a pattern, you can make them all meat, all veggies, etc.. We threw some shrimp alone on a few...

Then BBQ over a medium-hot grill. Flip often, to make sure all sides are getting cooked evenly.

And SERVE!

You may also have seen the avocado we threw on the grill -- if you haven't tried this, you NEED to! Cut an avocado in half, remove the pit and then brush the insides with evoo and sprinkle with S & P. Place them face-down on the grill and let them get warm and a few char-marks.
Remove from grill -- and serve. We often serve these with a spoonful of salsa in the middle, or a dollop of sour cream. I recently tried it with some chicken salad in the middle with some cheddar on top! Delicious!! and of course, a handful of tortilla chips...

Chopped Salsa

Some friends of ours make this 'salsa' at most of their BBQ's. I stole it and made it my own!
I believe they said they got it from Sunset Magazine -- and I searched for it, but couldn't find the official name for it. I try to give credit where credit is due, in this case, I just can't!

So here's what you need:
1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)
1 avocado, diced (but since avocado's turn brown, try not to cut yours up until you are ready to serve!)
1/2 red onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 jicama ( i love jicama!! if you don't know what it is, click here)
2 ears of corn, shaved -or- 1/2 bag frozen corn, thawed

Dressing Ingredients:
a handful of cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 large lime or 2 small limes
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup evoo
cumin, toasted (heat a small skillet, pour a couple of teaspoonfuls of cumin and let it heat up... getting it nice and fragrant)
1 T honey
1 tsp garlic salt
-and if you like it to have a little kick, add a couple of drops of cayenne sauce)

Place all veggies on a platter, separated. Then, with a spoon, pour dressing over the top... use as little or as much as you want! (we also use the dressing for a marinade - it is especially good with chicken and shrimp.)

You can pretty much used any 'salsa' ingredient. If you like cotija cheese, I imagine it sprinkled on top is pretty good!

Serve with tortilla chips, in a salad, over steaks, chicken, etc... It's a really easy recipe and looks amazing all laid out of the platter.

Turkey Burgers by JoAnna

My sister, JoAnna, made these burgers some time last summer. They looked so good, that I asked her if I could share them with you!!
Here's her post:
"I have to brag a bit. I made these awesome turkey burgers last night. I felt like Bobby Flay would be so proud of me! I made burgers as though we were making turkey meatloaf, and instead of heating up the oven, we heated up the grill--ohhhhh. We used a french loaf as the bun and instead of lettuce, I used some yummy cilantro. Yummy to my tummy!"

BTW: This is our 100th post!! Yay for us!!

My 4th of July Menu

When I think about the 4th of July.. I think American. When I think American.. I think burgers and potato salad. This year for the 4th of July we are going to a park where they have a festival and firework display. We are packin up the neighbors, all the kids and the BBQ. Here is what I am fixing:

Burgers by Bobby Flay. I'm taking his recipe for a basic burger and creating a "burger bar" with all kinds of wacky toppings sure to make me fat. My neighbor, Lori works for Guy Fieri... So we'll have a little burger throwdown.. cuz his are good too.
Bobby's Burgers



Then there's the potato salad. My ultimate favorite potato salad is the Warm Dijon and Green Bean Potato Salad that is on this site. But I'm thinking more of an American style potato salad complete with eggs, pickles.. onions.. the works. So I'm going to try this one and hope its good.

This is Tyler Florence's recipe for Potato salad from his Ultimate Tailgate episode. It has eggs, pickles, onions.. mayo.. I'll let ya know how it turns out. I love to test new recipes on my neighbors, haha. Well if anything- the hundreds of kids we have will eat it.
Tylers Potato Salad

And then there is this:

Strawberry Pretzel Squares. Have you ever made these? They are sooo good. We have a Farmers Market right by our house and this is a perfect way to use up all those delicious strawberries. I think I'll add a little dollop of whipped cream on top of each square and plop in a blueberry.. for the red, white and blue.

Whatever is on your menu for the 4th of July.. I hope you are all surrounded by your friends and family! Happy Independence Day!!