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More Savory, Less Sweet

Adventures in Food - Taste, Explore, Inspire and Share

Black Bean and Corn Salad, BBQ Chicken and Ribs, and Peach Cobbler

08/24/2013 by Laura 1 Comment

Last Sunday, we had a mini family reunion.  My Mom and Dad drove over from Kennewick and my cousin Keith, his wife Monique and son Carl were here from New York.  The New York cousins were on a stop-over in Seattle, prior to their 7 day Alaska cruise!  Like every good family reunion, the food was delicious and plentiful.  Because we were so busy visiting and eating – I don’t have a lot of “finished” product shots.  I did want to share a couple of the recipes anyway.

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The Menu

Dave’s Smoked Baby-Back Ribs

BBQ Chicken (see previous post)

Laura’s Potato Salad (see previous post)

Tomato, Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Salad

Black Bean and Corn Salad with Cilantro and Citrus Vinaigrette

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler with vanilla ice cream

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For the Black Bean and Corn Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

4-5 ears of corn, shucked, cleaned and grilled

1 pound dry black beans*, soaked overnight, cooked with 2 cloves of garlic, rinsed and thoroughly chilled (*yes you could use canned beans)

1 large purple onion, chopped finely

2 jalapeno peppers, minced finely

1/2 cup finely minced fresh cilantro

salt and pepper

For the Citrus Vinaigrette

Juice of 3 limes, about 1/3 cup

1/4 cup orange juice

3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 Teaspoon cumin – or more to taste

1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder – or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt

Place all in a jar and shake well.  Pour over salad.  Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Helpful hint!  When cutting corn off a husk, place a small bowl upside down inside a bigger bowl.  The kernels will stay in the mixing bow!

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For the BBQ ribs

Prepare the ribs a day ahead to allow the rub to soak in.  Use any bbq rub you like.  The most important part is removing the silvery membrane from the back of the ribs, first.  Rub both sides of the rib with your seasoning of choice, place in pan and refrigerate overnight.  Bring the ribs to room temperature prior to smoking.  Dave smokes the rib racks about 4 hours.  We then cover with bbq sauce and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

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For the Tomato, Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Salad

Slice large, ripe tomatoes.  Slice the same amount of fresh mozzarella.  Arrange on plate by alternating a tomato slice and a cheese slice.  Top with sliced basil.  Sprinkle with fresh, fruity olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

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For the Peach Cobbler

I used Palua Deen’s recipe, with the addition of blueberries from the garden. (I omitted the water as the peaches were really juicy.)

4 cups peeled, sliced peaches

2 cups sugar, divided

8 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup blueberries, for my version

Ground cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.  Add in one cup of blueberries, if desired.

Put the butter in a 3-quart baking pan and place in oven to melt.

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Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

To serve, scoop onto a plate and serve with or vanilla ice cream.

Filed Under: BBQ, Memorable Events, Pork, Poultry, Salads Tagged With: beans, corn, peaches, ribs

Summer Harvest: Peach and Roasted Beet Salad, Garden Bruschetta and Half Sour Pickles

08/10/2013 by Laura Leave a Comment

This week, I tried to keep pace with everything the garden was throwing at us!  There were pickles to be made, raspberries to be preserved, green beans, beets, peaches that had to be eaten.  What can I say, it’s a tough job and somebody’s got to do it!

First up is a wonderful, refreshing Peach and Roasted Beet Salad.  Yup – you read that right!

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The recipe is inspired by one I found on our local co-ops website, PCC Natural Markets.

Ingredients

  • 10 to 12 small beets: red, yellow and Chiogga
  • 3 green onions, sliced in 1/4′ slices on the diagonal
  • 2 yellow peaches or nectarines, peeled, seeded, grilled, cooled and sliced into chunks
  • 5 ounces baby arugula
  • 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese

For the Dressing

  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Scrub the beets.  Place in a roasting pan, toss them in a generous dash of olive oil.  Roast them at 350′ for about 35 minutes or until you can easily insert a knife tip into the largest one.  Put the beets in a zip lock bag and place them in the refrigerator.  Once cool, the skins will slide right off.

I grilled the peaches for a few minutes to intensify the flavor.  I chilled them before assembling the salad.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar.  Shake well, and refrigerate.

To plate the salad:  Arrange the arugula, beets, peaches on a serving plate.  Add the diced onions.  Garnish with the crumbled goat cheese  a sprig of rosemary.  Drizzle with the dressing.

Sautéed Green Beans, Laura’s Way!

Green beans have been a part of summer my entire life.  My grandpa grew them, my mom grew them and I continue to grow them today.  I remember one summer driving with my mom, cross country for one of their West Coast to East Coast moves.   Every dinner, for two weeks, was served with green beans!  I’ll never forget the look on the server’s face at the restaurant in Springfield, MO, when I let out a big “OH NO” after asking her what the vegetable of the day was!   We explained our situation, and we all had a good laugh!

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Sauté a diced, sweet onion in a good amount of olive oil in a large sauté pan, that has a lid.  Add a desired amount of diced bacon (or not) and cook most of the way done.  Add the beans.  I had a combination of wax beans and Royal Burgundy purple beans (they turn green when they cook).  Saute about 5 minutes.  Add about 3/4 cup of DRY VERMOUTH.  Yup – an old restaurant trick. Bring to a slow simmer, cover, and steam about 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and fresh dill.

Garden Fresh Bruschetta

One of our favorite summertime treats is straight from the garden bruschetta. Diced tomatoes, finely chopped garlic and fresh sliced basil, all tossed with the best olive oil and placed on a toasted slice of baguette!  YUMM!  We had some fresh mozzarella on hand, so I added a pinch to each, glorious serving.

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Half Sour Pickles

I absolutely LOVE the fresh, bright green pickles that are served “all you can eat” style at any good deli!  I had no idea how simple they were to make!  Thanks to a very productive pickling cucumber plant, I now have my own  jar of half sours, bubbling away in my refrigerator.  I found the recipe in The Victory Garden cookbook.

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Ingredients

12 pickling cucumbers, about 3-4″

4-5 cloves of garlic (original recipe calls for 1)

6-8 sprigs fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon dill seeds

1 tablespoon pickling spices

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 1/2 quarts of water

Thoroughly clean the cucumbers.  Halve or quarter them.  Wash the dill.  Peel and flatten the garlic.  Pack the cucumbers, dill, garlic, dill seed and pickling spice in a large glass jar, a pickle crock or a big glass bowl.  You will want to make sure the pickles will be covered with at least two inches of the water.

Bring the salt and the water to a boil.  Boil a full two minutes.  Pour the brine over the cukes.  Cover the jar with cheesecloth and secure it with a rubber band.  Let the pickles sit on your counter for 2-3 days.  The brine will get cloudy as fermentation occurs.  Once fermented to your taste, add the 1/4 of vinegar, cover and refrigerate.  They will keep forever under refrigeration, but believe me, they won’t last that long!

Raspberry Jam

I am not quite sure what motivated me to purchase a flat of raspberries at the farmers market, with everything else going on!  I do have raspberries in the garden, but only enough to add to my morning yogurt or smoothy each day.  You can see, they were hard to resist.  I love using raspberry jam in my thumbprint cookies at Christmas.  This year, they will be extra special 100% home made!

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Raspberry Jam*

I used 6 pints of fresh raspberries, about 4 cups of sugar, and the juice of one lemon.  I mashed the berries a bit with a potato masher.  I cooked the berries, sugar and lemon juice to a temperature of 220′, per my candy thermometer.  I processed the jam in 12 1/2 pint jars, for about 20 minutes.  It is absolutely delicious!

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*Note – there are 100’s of fabulous step by step instructions on the internet, for canning jams.  I was in a hurry and did not shoot the entire process, just the final product.  It is fun and easy and I encourage you to give it a try with your favorite fruit or berry!

Filed Under: Gardening, Salads, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: basil, beets, bruschetta, garlic, green beans, peaches, pickles

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