We Will Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Program . . .

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. . . when I return in a few weeks.

I know.

Just when I start rubbing my hands together, thinking Summer!  I'll have more time to cook, more time to

invent recipes, more time to blog . . .

Then I leave.  Then I come home for

all of one day, 

then I leave again.

I'm a bad blogger.

Sigh.

The recipe that goes with the photos will be revealed when I return. It's a fun way to grill fish.

See ya.

Copyright © 2005-2010, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Grilled Lamb Burgers Stuffed with Chevre, Kalamata Olives and Herbs

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I don't know about you but when I think of lamb, Mediterranean food images pop into my head: Olives, chevre, oregano, rosemary, sun-warmed citrus.

Ground, local lamb was on the menu recently, juicy and hot off the grill. With all the flavors of those Mediterranean images infused into each burger. No catsup is needed here.

As I'm rather fond of stuffing burgers, this is what I came up with.

Surprisingly enough, the juice from this half of a blood orange helped to blend the chevre mixture and bring all the tastes together.

Chopped, pitted kalamata olives mixed with pure white goat cheese (chevre), herbs, blood orange juice and a pinch of kosher salt.

Spread the chevre filling onto one of the lamb patties, then top with the other patty; pinch, shape, and it's ready for the grill.


Grilled Lamb Burgers Stuffed with Chevre, Kalamata Olives and Herbs
Christine's Original Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound ground lamb, preferrably locally raised, grass fed, divided
1/3 cup (heaping) chopped, pitted kalamata olives
4 ounces good chevre
1 teaspoon (heaping) Italian herb blend (see Cook's Notes)
pinch kosher salt (depending on how salty the olives are)
juice from 1/2 of a blood orange

Preparation:

In a bowl, combine the olives, chevre and herbs and mash with a fork to blend.
Add the orange juice and continue mashing until it is fully combined and of a spreadable consistency.
Season with the kosher salt if necessary.
Divide the ground lamb in half, weighing if necessary so that each piece is 1/2-pound.
Divide each of those pieces in half again so that each now weighs 1/4-pound. (I guess I could have said that in one sentence and with fewer words, hmm?)
Pat each piece into a ball then flatten into a patty, keeping the edges rounded, 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Make each two patties the same size and shape, as you will be putting one atop the other.
Decide which patties will be on the bottom and spread about half of the chevre mixture onto that patty, spreading to within 1/2-inch of the edges.
Top with the other patty and pinch the edges together, going round and round the patty, shaping as you go along so the edges are smooth and rounded. The finished burgers can wait for a few minutes at room temperature while you start the grill.
The following grilling instructions are for a gas grill:
Heat your grill to high (450 to 500-degrees). When the grill is very hot, put the burgers on, not crowding them, and cover with the grill lid.
Immediately adjust the heat to medium-high (375 to 400-degrees). Do not open the lid, nor move the burgers, for the first 4 minutes. This allows the meat to sear and caramelize on the surface and develop sear marks, and will prevent the burgers from sticking to the grill when you flip them.
After 4 to 5 minutes, using a large spatula, loosen the burgers and give them a quarter-turn. Do not flip just yet.
Replace the lid and grill for an addional few minutes to develop those great grill marks.
Now you can flip the burgers. Repeat as above for the other side, grilling to the degree of doneness you prefer.
Transfer the burgers to a plate or cutting board and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving.
When you cut into the burger, the chevre-olive mixture, hot and melting, runs over the cut edges, melding with the lamb and tickling your nose with the bouquet of a hot Mediterranean summer's day.

Cook's Notes:

> Yes, sloth that I am, I used organic, dried herbs this time. But I highly recommend a tablespoon of finely chopped fresh oregano and a few teaspoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary as a better substitute. You do have both of those growing in your garden, right? Of course you do.

> There may seem to be a lot of chevre mixture for each burger, but it does melt down considerably during grilling.

Copyright © 2005-2009, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Grilled Oysters with Garlic Butter Oil and Basil

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One of our very favorite spring through fall dinner starters is grilled oysters. We prepare them very simply so as not to muddy their fresh-out-of-the-water salty-sea taste.

That's right.Harvested on Wednesday afternoon and delivered to our door on Thursday morning. These oysters are as fresh as fresh can be.

We usually order Kumamotos and small Pacifics. Mr CC likes his kumos raw with a squeeze of Meyer lemon juice and a small grind of black peppercorns. He says they're superb. I myself will never know. A terribly traumatic run-in with a raw oyster when Mr CC was courting me left me with - dare I say it - a bad taste in my mouth.

I really don't think I'm missing out on much. Swimming in their own little teaspoon of butter and olive oil with minced fresh garlic, grilled just enough to heat them through, then topped with a few drops of hot sauce - could there be anything more sublime?

Grilled Oysters with Garlic Butter Oil, Basil and Cholula
Ingredients:
fresh oysters in their shells
olive oil
butter
garlic, peeled a minced
fresh basil, chopped
Cholula hot sauce
Preparation:
This is more technique than a recipe and the foremost thing you need is to have an accomplished oyster shucker in your midst. One who doesn't fear the knife. More to the point, one who is quite handy with an oyster knife.
That would not be me.
That would be the intrepid Mr CC who does a damn fine job of shucking oysters.
So, you open the oyster's shell (I'll try to get Mr CC to do a video to show you how) and discard the top shell, reserving the oyster in its bottom shell with the liquor.
Place each oyster on this very cool rack and when filled, put on the grill over high heat.
Meanwhile you will have placed several tablespoons of good olive oil, along with a few teaspoons of unsalted butter, in a small saucepan over low heat.
Add about 4 cloves worth of minced garlic and heat until it's simmering gently.
Spoon a small amount of this delectable elixir over each oyster as they are cooking.
The oysters are ready when their edges begin to curl slightly.
Remove them from the grill, sprinkle with a bit of chopped basil and serve immediately, in the half-shell, not forgetting to pass the oh-so-important bottle of Cholula.
Pure heaven.

Copyright © 2005-2009, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Grilled Lamb Kebabs (Kebobs, Kabobs)

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Mmmmm. Lamb. I love lamb. Tasty on its own with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, lamb takes to marinade like a duck takes to water. Which is what you will find out for yourself if you prepare the recipe below.

Lamb is a lightly marbled, lean meat with most of the fat blanketing the outside, which is easily dispatched with a sharp knife. Inner fat is mostly along the connective tissues between muscles, also easily removed, leaving luscious, lower fat, healthful meat. Yep, I said healthful. Take a look here to read why that is.

I recently received an 8-pound boned and butterflied leg of lamb courtesy of the American Lamb Board. The lamb came from Superior Farms in Dixon, California, a mere 8 miles from where I grew up in Davis.

"At Superior Farms we pride ourselves on not only the quality product we offer, but the superior care with which we give our animals," Angela, a representative from Superior Farms, told me. "Not only do we follow and exceed the requirements of the Humane Slaughter Act," she continued, "we are inspected throughout the day, every day by USDA Food Safety Inspection Service personnel. We are audited annually by an outside third party - specifically addressing animal welfare prior to and during harvest. Our management team, as well as the on-line workers have all gone through animal welfare and humane handling training and a refresher course is given annually. We have even had Dr. Temple Grandin, the leading animal behaviorist concerning humane treatment of livestock, visit one of our plants to further improve our handling practices."

That was encouragement enough. My lamb arrived and I quickly divided it into sections that will allow me to share with you at least 4 delicious ways to prepare this tasty and healthful meat.

Grilled Lamb Kebabs

Click here to print recipe
Christine's Original Marinade Recipe
Ingredients:
(Marinade - measurements approximate)
1/4 - 1/3 cup cup good olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Turkish oregano (mine is from Penzey's, courtesy of the American Lanb Board)
generous pinch of Kosher salt
generous grindings of good black peppercorns (I only use Tellicherry)
1/2 cup dry red wine

(Kebabs)
18 to 24 pieces lean lamb, from a boneless leg, cut into 1-inch x 2-inch rectangular chunks
1 large sweet onion cut into 10 or 12 wedges
1 large red bell pepper cut into 1-inch square pieces
2 portobello mushroom caps cut into 10 or 12 wedges
1 basket juicy red grape tomatoes or any tasty cherry tomatoes

olive oil

Preparation:

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a deep glass bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Add the lamb chunks, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or longer or even overnight if possible. Turn the lamb to make sure it gets fully coated with the marinade.

Prepare all the vegetables.

Have 6 skewers ready.

Remove the lamb from the marinade. Discard the marinade.

Beginning and ending with a piece of onion, thread the lamb and vegetables onto the skewers, making them fit snugly against eachother. I threaded the lamb through its 2-inch dimension and the tomatoes longwise, through the stem end.

Place the kebabs in a roasting pan and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. You can sprinkle them with kosher salt and black pepper if desired.

Grill the kebabs over medium-high heat until the lamb reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees.

Remove the skewers from the heat and allow the kebabs to rest in a warm place for 5 to 10 minutes. The lamb will continue to cook and raise in temperature to at least 145 degrees which is medium-rare. Grill lamb longer if you prefer it to be more done.

Cook's Notes:

Because I started late in the day, I marinated the lamb for just one hour and it was flavorful, juicy and succulent.

I served these kebabs over a bed of crisp salad greens that had been tossed with my golden balsamic viniagrette.

I used a Saint Joseph 2000 Rhone Table Wine for the marinade and for drinking with the meal. I purchased it at Kermit Lynch about 5 years ago and it was delicious.

This makes a great low-glycemic meal for two or three people allowing 2 skewers apiece.

I'd like to extend my appreciation to the American Lamb Board for their Summer Grilling Kit and thank them for this opportunity to showcase lamb, one of my favorite meats.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Marinated, Grilled Pacific Salmon at the...

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Ready for HOTM #5? Joanna and Ilva have been building a heart-healthy databank of recipes from food bloggers around the globe. I love this growing collection of recipes for the inspiration it gives me and for the reminder that adapting heart healthy eating habits is, indeed, a diet for life. Now in its fifth month, the theme is Waterlife and it's not just about fish, but anything that swims. Go to their blog, The Heart of the Matter, and read all about it. If you'd like to join in, send your post to them by July 23rd.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of heart-healthy seafood is salmon. Pink-fleshed, moist, firm, delicious wild-caught Pacific salmon. Marinated and grilled in summer or poached in an herb-y white wine stock in winter, it's one of my favorite foods.

Salmon is packed with healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, known to reduce inflamation, reduce blood clots, lower bad cholesterol and strengthen the immune system.

What I offer here today is not just any salmon, but salmon out of our local, cold Pacific waters. Straight from our neighbor's boat and into my freezer this past May, we shared the last of it recently when Mr CC's family came to the wilds of northern California to camp and spend a week visiting with us.

Asian-Style Marinated, Grilled Salmon

Christine's original recipe

Ingredients (approximate, as I don't measure):

1 large shallot, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup peanut oil

1/4 cup lightly seasoned rice wine vinegar

juice from 1 lemon, 1 lime and 1 orange

1/3 cup (packed) cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons organic, wheat-free soy sauce

6 salmon filets (about 2 pounds), skin left on

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients except the salmon, whisking well. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. I sometimes add a touch of kosher salt and a few grinds of black peppercorns. If the citrus is sour, I might add a pinch of sugar.

Lay the salmon filets in an oblong glass baking dish and pour the marinade over to cover.

Seal with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, no longer than 45 minutes as you don't want to "cook" the flesh, turning the filets over halfway through the process.

As we use a gas grill, the following instructions are for that beast only.

Remove the fish from the marinade.

Spray a fish holder (I know it has a name, but I'm forgetting it at the moment) with olive oil and lay the marinated salmon filets in side by side, fitting them snugly. We had to use several of these for 6 filets.

With the grill set at about 425 degrees, lay the salmon skin side down and close the grill lid for about 4 minutes. If flareups occur you can lower the heat but not below 375.

Open the lid and check the salmon. You want the flesh to yield a bit when pressed with a finger.

Flip the fish and place sunny-side down on the grill for 3-4 more minutes, depending on the thickness of the filets. You want those great grill marks but you don't want to overcook the fish. The flesh should be very moist and just cooked through.

Remove from the grill and allow to sit for just a few moments, where it will continue to cook until perfect.

Cook's Notes:

My notes from this dinner tell me that we served the salmon with a bulgar pilaf made with sauteed, chopped portobello mushrooms, red bell peppers, zucchini and sweet onion, a green salad with garden-fresh (ok, farmers market-fresh)tomatoes and cucumbers, and corn on the cob. For dessert we had homemade, low fat, sugar-free Tahitian vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries swimming in raspberry wine, which will be the subject of another post.

People said, "Yum!"

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Grilled Lamb Burgers With Black Olive Sauce

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Mmmmm. Lamb. Even though I've been cutting back on my consumption of red meat, this lamb is worth the occasional lapse.

Our lamb comes from our neighbors across the fence. Gently raised, grass fed, this is organic lamb like you've never tasted. The word succulent barely begins to describe. I had a bottled sauce that I'd been dying to try so I decided to gussy-up the ground meat in a Middle Eastern-type fashion, which covers a large area, including my culinary imagination.

Fresh, tender oregano from the garden, a few chopped sweet onions and Narsai's Assyrian Pomegranate Sauce, which gave it just the right amount of moisture and spiciness, brought this already excellent lamb to its pinnacle. The topping is a combination of mayonnaise, or Vegenaise, black olive paste and lemon juice. So simple and so satisfying.

And so perfect for Weekend Herb Blogging. WHB, the blogosphere's longest-running food event, owes its existence to my blogger buddy Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. Being hosted this week by Ulrike of Kuchenlatien, by Monday morning you will be able to read herb-y posts and get delicious recipes from food bloggers around the world. Click here for more information about WHB and how to join in the fun.

Mr. CC did the grilling and added the "fixin's" to his plate (that's our beloved local Brio Whole Wheat Walnut Bread), while I ate my burger with my fingers, breaking off one piece at a time and dipping it in the sauce before popping it into my happy mouth.

Grilled Lamb Burgers with Black Olive Sauce

Christine's original recipe

Ingredients
For the burgers:
2 pounds ground lamb
1/3 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
1/2 cup

Assyrian Pomegranate Marinade
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
several grinds good black peppercorns
For the mayonnaise:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise or Vegenaise
1 tablespoon black olive paste or tapenade
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

Using your clean hands, mix the onions, oregano, pomegranate sauce, salt and pepper into the ground lamb until fully incorporated.

Shape into 1/4-pound patties and place on parchment paper.

Grilling instructions are for a gas grill. If you have a charcoal grill you'll have to get directions elsewhere.

Heat your grill to 400-degrees. On placing the patties on the grill, allow them to sear for about 2 minutes then turn the grill down to 375 and cook for 5 more minutes. Flip the burgers over and finish cooking for about 10 minutes more or until they reach an internal temperature of 145 for medium rare.

To make the sauce, simply combine the ingredients well, adjust to your taste and serve. You can see a dollop of it in the "fixin's" plate photo above. It really wasn't photogenic enough to show on its own.

Have a great WHB weekend!

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Celebrating Humboldt Bay Oysters

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Minutes from being pulled out of the bay, you can buy these beauties, harvest-fresh and tasting of briny salt water, from Humboldt North Bay Oyster Company (sorry, no web site) on Saturday mornings at the Arcata Farmers Market .

These are plump, sweet Kumamoto oysters, a specialty of Humboldt and Arcata Bays (actually one very large body of water stretching from Arcata in the north, past Eureka to the National Wildlife Preserve in the south.)

Interesting reading about how this strain of oyster came to be grown just 1/2 hour's drive from my kitchen may be found here.

And did you know that Arcata is host to the annual Arcata Bay Oyster Festival which attracts 10,000 to 15,000 oyster-loving revelers each year? Yes it is. And this year the event is being held on June 16th which also happens to be our 23rd wedding anniversary. You can bet we'll be there.

Mr CC likes to serve these babies hot off the grill, dribbled with melted butter and sauteed garlic slices. That's the way I like them best.

Not at all fussy when it comes to libation pairing, oysters go well with Champagne, a zingy white wine or a good microbrew.

Slurp!

4/28/07 - Cook's Notes:
Now here's a lesson in shoddy research. The oyster pictured above is not a Kumamoto, it's actually a Pacific oyster, also originally from Japan. We got Kumamotos at the Farmers Market this morning. Photos coming.


Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Grilled Stuffed Turkey Burgers

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I try to keep packages of ground turkey in my freezer at all times. It's so handy for a quick meat and tomato sauce, a low-fat meat loaf, or these cheese and avocado stuffed burgers.

Because ground turkey doesn't have much fat, I usually mix something into the meat to help it retain moisture while cooking. With meat loaf it can be egg, milk, rolled oats or good bread crumbs. But for grilling, I like to mix in a spicy jam to kick the flavors up a bit.

For these burgers I used a red onion confit, spiced up further with NapaStyle's Toasted Spice Rub. Now you can use my red onion confit, Sher's onion jam, or The Girl and The Fig Red Onion Confit, which is what I did, with these burgers. Any of these choices will have you pining for turkey burgers at odd hours of the day and night.

Grilled Turkey Burgers Stuffed with Avocado and Swiss Cheese
Christine's Original Recipe (with inspiration for stuffing ground turkey from Cuisine at Home Magazine)
Makes 4 to 6 burgers

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup red onion confit (or a spicy jam of your choice)
1 tablespoon Toasted Spice Rub
1 teaspoon kosher salt
generous grindings of Tellicherry black peppercorns or other good black pepper
1-2 ripe avocados
1/2 pound Swiss or Swiss-like cheese or Gruyere (I used French Madrigal, called a 'baby Swiss')

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, jam or confit, spice rub, salt and pepper and mix with your clean hands until fully blended.

Using about 1/2 cup turkey blend per patty, roll and pat them out to a 1/4-inch thickness, shaping them into rectangles. Make all the patties a uniform size. The size you make them will determine how many patties the mix will yield.

Setting the patties in pairs on waxed paper (2 patties = one burger), place several slices of cheese on top of one of each pair of patties, then top with several slices of avocado.

Using the waxed paper to help you, flip the unadorned patty on top of the cheese-avocado patty and seal the edges by pinching gently.

Repeat this process with the remaining patties.

Cook patties until just done, using an outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan. Don't overcook or the meat will dry out.

One of these grilled burgers makes a nice low-carb meal with your favorite low or no-sugar coleslaw, salad or roasted vegetables as a side. You can kick the carbs up, if you wish, by serving your grilled burger on a toasted whole wheat bun.

Rotisseried Leg of Lamb With Rosemary-Garlic Paste Filling

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This group of recipes should be entitled Christmas Redux. Late in getting them posted, I try nonetheless to keep my promises--even though in the world of blogging, Christmas is SO past.

This post is dedicated to Mr. CC and son Josh who not only love a good leg of lamb but who also were a tremendous help in my kitchen over Christmas, keeping a close eye on the roasting lamb amidst the cacophany of company, laughter and merriment.

If I had to pick just three foods in all the culinary queendom to combine into a meal, they would be garlic, rosemary and lamb. Throw in a good red wine and I would want for nothing else, no matter the season:

Two boneless butterflied legs of local lamb, spread with a thick paste of garlic and rosemary, rolled, tied, or, in this case, encased in netting, and skewered to the rotisserie spit of our gas grill. Just writing these words brings back the taste sensations of Christmas dinner.

At about 3 1/2 pounds each, in a 350 degree closed grill, the legs were a perfect medium-rare in 1 1/2 hours. We let them rest for about 15 minutes then sliced and served them with a roasted winter vegetable medley of celery root, parsnips, whole garlic cloves, carrots and garnet yams, accompanied by another tray of roasted broccoli, cauliflower, fennel and more whole garlic cloves. Ya gotta have your veggies.

To make the paste, I used a golden balsamic vinegar dressing that I'd made for a dinner salad the previous night. This turned out to be the perfect vehicle for the garlic and rosemary.

Golden Balsamic Salad Dressing
Christine's original recipe
Makes 1 cup
Ingredients:
2 ounces golden balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard (I use Maille)
1/4 teaspoon sugar or Splenda granular
pinch kosher salt
several grinds black pepper
3 ounces toasted walnut oil
3 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
In a measuring cup, pour in the vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk until combined.

Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the walnut oil then the olive oil.

Keep whisking until the mixture has thickened and is fully emulsified.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Rosemary-Garlic Paste
Christine's original recipe
Makes about 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
1 medium head of garlic, cloves separated, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 tablespoons golden balsamic dressing
Preparation:
Place rosemary and garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Drizzle the olive oil then the dressing through the feed tube, pulsing all the while until emulsified. Mixture will be thick.

Rotisseried Leg of Lamb with Rosemary-Garlic Paste Filling
Christine's original recipe
Serves 8 to 10 with leftovers
Ingredients:
2 - 3 1/2 pound boneless, butterflied legs of lamb
1/2 cup Rosemary-Garlic paste
good olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper


Preparation:

Lay the unrolled legs on a cutting board, cut side facing up.

Spread 1/2 of the rosemary-garlic paste over the entire cut surface of each leg.

Roll each leg firmly into an oblong shaped log.

Tie with string or encase in an elasticized net bag (which was provided by my butcher.)

Rub the outside of each leg with olive oil and sprinkle generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Skewer the legs onto a rotisserie spit, leaving enough space between the legs to ensure even roasting.

Have the gas grill pre-heated to 400 degrees.

Once the rotisserie has been set up and the legs are turning over the grill, lower the heat to 350 degrees, cover the grill and allow to roast until the internal temperature reaches 135 to 140 degrees for medium rare.

Remove the legs from the spit and let sit, tented loosely with foil, for about 15 minutes. During this time the internal temperature will continue to rise 5 to 7 degrees.

Slice the lamb crosswise and serve hot.

Cook's Notes:

Preparing the leg of lamb above assumes that the cook has some knowledge of how to use a gas grill and a rotisserie set up.