hurricane bbq

Hey everyone. While I was holed up surviving Hurricane Irene, I was thinking about this blog and all the delicious yummy things that I've cooked this year that have yet to make an appearance here. This blog is supposed to function as a way for me to remember all my culinary experiences, so that I might look back for ideas, inspiration and to learn from less successful endeavors. And if other people like what I'm writing and cooking, all the better! Obviously, at my current blogging pace, I am not doing a very good job of any of that, but I still hope that can change.

The other thing I've been thinking about this weekend, is how much I am going to miss the summer, and how much I wish that we hadn't wasted the last weekend in August on a big fat hurricane. So unfortunate.

But that doesn't mean Nathan and I didn't try to make the best of it. This afternoon, as the rain came to an end and the sun even made a fleeting but welcome appearance, we cooked up a little barbeque:




Of course, when I say BBQ, I fully realize that any Southerner worth his salt would shoot us on sight for daring to call a hot dog cooked on the stove barbeque, but let's be real, I grew up on Long Island. A barbeque means hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on the grill, maybe some baked beans, coleslaw, corn on the cob, pasta and/or potato salad. So for me, a little tomato salad, deviled eggs, corn and a hot dog on a toasted bun is just what I think of when someone invites me over to a barbeque, and was the perfect way to fight cabin fever and the end of summer/hurricane blues.

Hope everyone has survived the rough weather, and that there are only sunny blue skies in store for our Labor Day Weekend!

Love,

Sarah

reruns are delicious + a new twist

Today's entry features three things I have already made for you here on the blog, although one of them is a bit of a new take. That being said, all of these dishes are delicious, and I guarantee they will make you a very full and happy camper should you choose to make them!


the tried and true

Nathan and I cooked dinner over at his place last Wednesday before Top Chef and it was really great. There's a reason I've made lime cilantro coleslaw and dry rubbed ribs before— they are delicious!


orzo in pesto with yellow squash

I also gussied up some pesto sauce by serving it with orzo and summer squash sauteed with garlic and parsley in olive oil. I was initially planning on making a soup with squash, zucchini and the pesto, but I forgot to bring over my immersion blender to Nathan's so I had to improvise. If the soup sounds intriguing, you'll be pleased to know that I ended up making it a few nights later— and it was even better than I had imagined. As I learned from my makeshift orzo squash pesto dish, basil and zucchini make very good bed mates. It's a delicious combination I encourage you to try.

As for the ribs and coleslaw, I didn't really change anything this time around. I added too much salt to the coleslaw, but after an hour in the fridge, the salad mellowed, thankfully. Since we don't have a grill, we cooked the ribs in the oven at 350° for an hour. They were awesome. Bursting with flavor and nice and tender. We had plenty leftover, which made for tasty rib and coleslaw sandwiches. Mmmm.


moist and flavorful dry-rubbed ribs

I'll leave you with one last shot of glistening ribs. I'm getting hungry just thinking about them. It's going to be far too long before I can sink my teeth into a nice healthy chunk of meat. I hate my life right now.


ribs glorious ribs

homemade mayonnaise for a summer potato salad

So I finally did it: I made my own mayonnaise! This is one of those things that only professional chefs and food bloggers do anymore, and now that I count myself among the latter, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I joined the ranks of the mayo makers.


freshly made mayo

Look how gorgeous! Watching the unlikely combo of egg yolk and olive oil come together to form a delicate and creamy mass was oddly satisfying, but I have to say that I probably wouldn't try to pull this off on my own.

I started off whisking the yolk vigorously with my right hand, and trying to slowly drip in the oil with my left. My parents have a nice olive oil bottle with a small spout, but if left unchecked it still was more of a small but steady stream rather than a series of oil droplets. I soon tired, and called in my dad from the sidelines. We teamed up, taking turns with the more exhausting whisking and easier dripping. It came together beautifully, and was lightly seasoned afterward. I suspect it could have held even more olive oil, but we were both getting tired and I decided it was good enough.

As cool as I felt making mayonnaise from scratch, the primary reason I decided to try my hand at it was that I was making potato salad, and I didn't have nearly enough Hellman's. This potato salad was part of the ribs and zucchini meal I posted about yesterday, and immediately followed my gigantic coleslaw. As such, I had already used most of my parents' stock of the condiment in question. Enter the handmade variety!


macaroni and cheese

My parents weren't too crazy about this potato salad. I guess it was tasty enough. Boiled potatoes cut up and mixed with mayo, diced celery, minced parsley and basil. I added salt and pepper, and possibly a little dijon. This was just a quick and dirty potato salad, (labor intensive mayo aside), as the real star of the meal was the ribs. I'd like to try making a more interesting potato salad later on this summer.

dry rubbed ribs/zucchini and yellow squash with tomato sauce

dry rub barbecue

So couple of weeks ago I went home and my dad and I made dinner. My parents had ribs in the fridge, but we decided to try something new and try a dry rub recipe.

This turned out to be really easy. We used a lot of brown sugar mixed with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, nutmeg, mace and savory mix. Dad massaged the spice rub into the meat, let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two and then slowly grilled it to perfection.


that's the rub

Sweet, savory, spicy and delicious. No barbecue sauce required. I'm a girl who often hates ribs slathered in gloppy sticky sweet sauce, so these really were right up my alley.


zucchini in tomato sauce is a Cascone family favorite

We also made zucchini and summer sauce in tomato sauce. This is something my family has been making for years, and it's easy and delicious. Simply slice the zucchini and squash into centimeter thick rounds and simmer in your favorite tomato sauce. Serve with extra black pepper and grated romano cheese.


ribs, coleslaw, potato salad and slightly out of place zucchini in tomato sauce

Here's the whole dinner plate. As you can see we also had leftover coleslaw. You can also catch a glimpse of the potato salad with homemade mayo that I'll be talking about in my next post. I know that Nathan hasn't posted anything this month, but you'll all be stuck with me for at least two weeks longer. Boyfriend is off exploring Italy for the next two weeks, and I'm holding down the fort up in Harlem. Hopefully, this oppressive heat won't prevent me from keeping busy in the kitchen while he's gone!

cilantro lime coleslaw

coleslaw with a kick

This was my first foray into the world of slaws, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This mammoth bowl of coleslaw is only half of what I made. A head of cabbage goes a long, long way!


a brightly colored slaw

I decided to make this coleslaw because there was a big old head of red cabbage languishing away in the back of the fridge. Back when Nathan and I made our second bagna cauda pasta dish, I had been in charge of the grocery shopping. I was tired after a long day of work, so when I went to my local Key Food I half hoped/half believed that the red cabbage they had on display in the produce section was actually radicchio. When Nathan arrived he quickly set me straight, and was so kind as to head back out to try his luck at Fine Fare. We both feared the mission would prove fruitless, but he inexplicably found two lonely radicchio heads, sitting in the produce case as if they were waiting specially for us. Indeed, the cashier had no idea what they were, nor how to ring them up, and the manager was equally flummoxed. After much discussion, it was determined that they must be runty red cabbages, so they ended up costing about fifty cents collectively.

That worked out great for the bagna cauda dish, but it also meant that I wound up with a totally superfluous head of red cabbage. Fast forward to my first food co-op pick up a few weeks later, and I've got a fridge full of veggies and a barbecue to attend at my dear friend Christine Jones nee Flood's house. I know I want to bring something to eat, and when I remember I have the cabbage, coleslaw is the obvious choice. I also still have winter food co-op carrots that aren't getting any younger, so I'm thinking this is perfect.


coleslaw close-up

When it comes to finding a recipe, I turn immediately to the smitten kitchen, where Deb has a well established love for slaws. This basic Ina Garten recipe seemed like it would work well enough, but then I dug a little further and discovered this cilantro-laden variant. Since I had gotten a bunch of cilantro from the co-op, I decided to go in that direction.

I chopped up a full head of red cabbage, about half of a small red onion, and then I peeled and thinly sliced 7 or 8 little carrots. This took forever and a day, but I like to think my newly acquired knife skills would now speed up this process considerably. I also decided to add some garlic scapes, which I sliced into little rounds. Then I chopped up some of the cilantro. After all the slicing and dicing was completed, I packed all my chopped veggies into the biggest tupperware I had, which was fit to burst.

I brought this home to Long Island and dressed it the next day, about a half an hour before the party. I was in a bit of a rush, so I ignored the recipe's measurement and just mixed together some mayo, salt, pepper, sugar, lime juice, cayenne pepper and dijon mustard. This only lightly coated my slaw, which was actually what I was aiming for. At this point I realized that I had enough coleslaw to feed a small army, and that only about half of it was going to fit into the largest salad bowl my parents had. Needless to say, I had a lot of leftovers. This slaw is great, but it gets soggier and more liquidy as the days go by, so unless you're having a party of 20 people, stick to half a head of cabbage. That being said, cilantro and lime are a kick ass way to jazz up a typical slaw. It was a great take on a traditional summer dish, and I would certainly make this again.

The whole barbecue was awesome, although I'm sure any Southerner worth his salt would have had a few choice words with us for calling it that. Mrs. Flood served up a typically impressive spread, including amazing brats. Meaghan made some delicious orzo salad with chickpeas, grape tomatoes and basil which would have totally housed Jimmy Bradley's lentil version. It was a delicious dinner, and not bad to look at either— and neither were the lovely guests! It's always a blast to get back together with my high school friends, and I only wish it could happen more often.


it may not be real barbecue, but it still looks like summer to me!