Peachy Grilling

It's officially summer! Though I'm pretty sure Georgia would be surprised to hear that because she seemed to think it has been for some time now with all the plus 90 degree weather since May...

I found a recipe that I think is perfect for summer since it combines both grilling and peaches. My husband wasn't so sure that he liked it. But try mentioning that you will be adding peaches, pineapples or the like in the meal, and it won't really excite him.  I liked it and thought it would be perfect for summer get togethers. Others, well, they may not agree.

We also tried a new wine that I picked up at Total Wine, Nobilis Vinho Verde. It's a white wine from Portugal. I liked that it was a tad sweet (but not overly so) and had a hint of carbonation to it - perfect for a 95 degree day! It was a random find but I may or may not have picked this one based on the pretty bottle. It was also less than $8!

Peach-Glazed Chops
Source: Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:

2 medium peaches, coarsely chopped

1 medium lime, juiced (2 Tbsp.)

1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce

2 cloves garlic

4 center-cut pork chops about 1 inch thick

4 peaches, halved and pitted

1 red sweet pepper, quartered

1 Tbsp. honey

1/2 bunch basil, chopped

 
 Steps:

1. In blender, combine the chopped peaches, lime juice, soy sauce, and Sriracha sauce. Blend until nearly smooth. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag set in a shallow dish. Smash garlic with the side of a wide knife or the bottom of a skillet. Add garlic and pork to bag; seal and turn to coat. Let stand up to 30 minutes at room temperature, or refrigerate 2 to 4 hours, turning occasionally.

2. Remove pork from marinade, reserving marinade. For a charcoal grill, grill chops on rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals for 14 to 18 minutes or until chops are slightly pink in center and juices run clear (160 degrees F), turning once halfway through grilling and adding the peach halves and pepper quarters for the last 7 minutes of grilling. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place meat on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as above.)

3. Meanwhile, pour marinade into a small saucepan. Add honey and bring to a simmer. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes, or until slightly reduced and thickened (discard garlic cloves). Remove pork, peaches, and peppers from grill and brush with reduced marinade. Chop peaches and peppers as desired for serving. Pass remaining marinade. Sprinkle with basil. Makes 4 servings.

 

 

Not My Cooking

A few of you Atlantans may have heard the name, Peter Chang. If not, you know how to use Google or Wikipedia but I'll save you some time, Peter Chang. He used to cook at a little known restaurant in Marietta called, Tasty China. They serve spicy Szechwan cuisine and people would line up to get it. Once upon a time, I worked right near this place. I can remember coworkers running there for lunch and inviting me. But at the time, I was a college student and not so adventurous in my tastes so I never made it there. I think I may have missed out. Apparently, there are blogs out there for people who follow this guy to various cities to see what kitchen he will pop up in next. Luckily, he decided to open his own restaurant in Atlanta very recently, http://www.petertasty2.com/.

I finally got a chance to dine there last night after anxiously waiting for a visit. And I was not disappointed! There were so many different things on the menu that I want to try. I will have to make my next visit with a meat-eater because I definitely cannot wait to try some of his non-vegetarian friendly dishes like: Steam Pork Soup Buns, the infamous "Duck", Hot and Numbing Beef, and the Steamed Chili Spare Ribs. But here is what I did try:

Scallion Bubble Pancake with Curry Sauce
This was soooo good. With the flavors of the sauce, I almost felt like I was sneaking dessert before my dinner.

Dry Fried Eggplant
There are no words for this one. If you like eggplant and spicy food, you must try this. There were so many great flavors in this, I think I had tears in my eyes.

Mixed Seafood in Clay Pot (shrimp, squid, scallops, fish slices, asparagus, dried tomatoes) 
Sorry for the crappy picture. But it was delicious!

They do have an Americanized section of the menu where you can find your favorites like Sesame Chicken but don't you go ordering from that side of the menu! Trust!

I also visited Wisteria in Inman Park over the weekend. Yes, I ate well this weekend. Wisteria serves contemporary cuisine with a southern flair. This place is great to take out of town guests for a nice meal to show off local dishes. For an appetizer, I had the Pimento Deviled Eggs with pickled okra and spiced pecans. I've been noticing these popping up on menus all over the south. They must be coming back as a new trend. I've never been a fan but recently I can't stop eating them (especially at restaurants where they tweak the traditional recipe a bit.) For my entree, I had the All Natural Iron Skillet Fried Chicken with bacon braised collard greens and sweet corn pudding with mushroom herb broth. The portions were generous and the food mouthwatering. The chicken was crisp, juicy, and didn't have much bone. And I ate every last bit of that corn pudding that was more like a dessert pudding than corn. So, somebody direct me to the nearest treadmill STAT. 

Steaks and Smoky Wine Sauce

This sauce sounds kind of fancy...okay, it IS fancy. I made it earlier this week to pour over steaks. We grilled NY Strips but it would also be delicious with a good rib-eye.

Steak Wine Sauce
makes enough to dress four steaks


Ingredients: 
1/2 cup port wine
1 1/2 cups red wine
1/2 cup cremini mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 canned chiles (Adobo Chipotle)
1 tsp. thyme
2 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp butter
kosher salt
steaks 

  
Steps:

In a large saucepan, combine wines, mushrooms, onion, garlic, chiles and thyme.  Bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Add the broth and repeat first step. 
Strain the liquid and throw away everything else in the pan. Return the liquid to the pan.  Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
Whisk in butter and season with salt. Remove from heat and serve over steaks.

Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage

Don't be turned off by the title of this post. (I know I probably would be.) I mean who really gets excited about cabbage or the effects it has on people...

But if you like thai food, this side dish is a must! I wasn't totally excited about making it because again it's cabbage but it was SO delicious. I actually could have eaten this as my meal. But, I love Thai food and this incorporated so many Thai-like flavors. If I hadn't made it myself and someone asked me what I thought was in this, I probably would have said things like lemongrass, curry, or coconut milk. I would have been wrong since it doesn't even use any of those ingredients. Give it a try!

Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage with Garlic, Fresh Chile & Basil
 Source: Fine Cooking

Ingredients:

1 head of napa cabbage
1 Tbsp canola oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp. fish sauce (found with the asian foods in the grocery store)
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
1/2 medium serrano chile, chopped but not seeded
1/4 cup freshly torn basil leaves
2 to 3 tsp fresh lime juice
2 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal


Steps:

Slice the cabbage in half lengthwise. Position one half cut side up and slice it across the middle at the point where the leafy top gives way to the white stem. Remove the core. Slice the stem end lengthwise into 1 1/2 in wedges and cut the wedges crosswise. Cut the leafy half in the same way. Keep leaves and stems separate.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add oil to coat pan.

Cook the garlic and stems for about 2 minutes.  Add the fish sauce, salt, chile, and sugar. Toss. Stir-fry another 2-3 minutes.

Add the leaves stirring quickly until barely wilted.  Remove wok from heat and add the basil and lime juice. Season with salt and garnish with scallions.
   

Grilled Rosemary Chicken with Sweet & Sour Sauce

I'm trying to incorporate more chicken in my life to get over my fear of handling raw chicken. I think I've done other rosemary recipes before that were good. This one was no exception. It was delicious. While I really liked the dipping sauce, the chicken is also good without it.

Grilled Rosemary Chicken

 Ingredients:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp. dark brown sugar 
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp canola oil

Steps:

Toss the chicken in oil to lightly coat.
Combine rosemary, pepper, salt, brown sugar, and red pepper.
Rub chicken with the mixture.
Grill chicken on medium-high on a gas or charcoal grill.
Cook until done and grill marks appear on both sides. The timing will vary per grill.
Dip chicken in sauce. 



Sweet & Sour Sauce

  Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/8 cup rice vinegar
1/2 fresh chopped rosemary 


Steps:


Heat marmalade, vinegar, and rosemary in a saucepan over medium heat until warm.  Whisk the marmalade and vinegar together and let sit on low heat until chicken is ready to be served.

 

Charleston

Once again, I was absent for a few days. This time it was because I got the privilege of traveling to Charleston with my mother. Charleston is a great place to visit for the history, shopping, and culinary delights. But it's definitely not a place I would want to go to for more than a couple of days which was perfect since that's all we were there for. We were lucky enough to find some great places to eat southern food. One such place was the famed Jestine's Kitchen as seen on the Travel Channel and Food Network. I won't bore you with all the details of my trip but I will share some food pictures from Jestine's. If you are ever in the area, be sure to check it out for lunch.

Jestine's Table Wine (Sweet Tea)

Fresh Cornbread with Honey Butter

Fried Green Tomatoes

Collard Greens, Green Beans, Fried Okra, Macaroni and Cheese

If you need any food recommendations for this area let me know. Some other great places to eat are 82 Queen, Poogan's Porch, and Anson.

Storms and Salmon

Those who know me well know that I do NOT like to make fish at home. The smell is too terrible to deal with after the meal is over. But I do like a nice fish when dining out. However, I decided to put on my big girl panties and make a salmon dish at home. I know enough to know that you should always buy wild salmon and not farm-raised. But I was having one of those days and ended up buying the farm-raised kind by mistake for more money like $24 more money. Oops. Why would farm-raised be more money anyways?! Anyways, the sauce that I made smelled so so good. It almost seemed like candy and I couldn't wait to eat it. But what happens as we are finishing preparing the salmon...a crazy storm (yes, again) starts out of nowhere and the power goes out. Greaaat. We were lucky that it was pretty much cooked at this point but we couldn't see to get the sauce correctly on it or eat it for that matter. I'm pretty sure this was a fabulous meal from the smells but it wasn't the most enjoyable dining experience eating in the dark. The asparagus that I had on the side wasn't quite done cooking so it was a tad crunchier than I like. I'm just glad this happened tonight and not last night (our anniversary.) Oh yeah, Happy Anniversary to me. That dinner was great with no flubs. We ate at Local Three  which was awesome.

Either way, I think this was a good recipe so I definitely wanted to share. Also, I thought the name that I gave it was kind of clever. Please humor me:

JD's Single Barrel Salmon

Ingredients:

2 large salmon filets, skin off
1/3 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp Jack Daniels Single Barrel Whiskey
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup chopped bourbon pecans (you can find these at Whole Foods but regular pecans will work as well)

Steps:

Preheat broiler.

Season salmon with salt and pepper. Broil on a lightly greased pan for 5 minutes.

While salmon is cooking, prepare sauce. Combine orange juice, whiskey, and syrup in a saucepan over medium heat.

Take salmon out of oven and brush both sides with the sauce. Put salmon back in over for 7 more minutes. (It should flake.)

Add nuts to the sauce and cook on high until it forms a syrup. Pour sauce over finished salmon.