Summer
Barbecue Chicken with Fresh Mango Salsa
On my way home from work yesterday, I noticed something: there were yellow leaves all over my neighbor’s lawn. I looked up, and sure enough, their huge elm tree is starting to change colors. I’ve noticed that the morning have been cooler — prompting me to grab a cardigan and even consider a light jacket — so I knew that fall was imminent, but I’m not ready for it to come on in full force! Where has summer gone?
We still have a few weeks of decent weather left so, before pumpkins start taking over my kitchen, I’m going to take every opportunity to get in a few more summery dishes. Like this barbecue chicken with mango salsa that I served with an avocado, bacon, and goat cheese salad. While you could theoretically make this dish any time, the fresh, bright flavors are perfectly suited for a hit, summery day. I love the contrast between the tangy barbecue sauce, the touch of spice from the jalapenos, and the juicy sweetness of the mango.
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{Tazo Cookoff} Iced Ginger Tea with Honey-Macerated Fruit
For the third and final week of the Tazo Cookoff, I faced a bit of a dilemma: the pears that I had been presented to use in my recipe weren’t as ripe as I would have liked them to be. They would have been fine in a few days, but I was headed out of town and only had one night to get my recipe done. To make matters worse, the only thing I felt like eating was a sandwich — which put a quick end to my idea of poaching the pears in tea and making them into a chutney to eat with lamb chops and polenta (I mean, I like to cook, but I’m not about to make something like that when I’d be happier with a simple panini!)
As I tried to think of ways to incorporate the tea and pears into my sandwich or a side dish, I remembered the sangria-like iced tea that I had at Radiance Tea and Bookstore this spring. It seemed like the perfect accompaniment to my sandwich as well as a great way to use up some other fruit before I headed out of town.
The resulting tea was a nice change of pace from my standard unsweetened black tea, and I plan to make it again often. I especially loved the way that the ginger flavor infused the fruit — it was unexpected and extremely refreshing. Eating the fruit at the bottom of the glass was just as much of a treat as drinking the tea!
This is your final chance to win a great Tazo gift pack including a one year supply of tea and a selection of tea-brewing essentials! You’ll be entered one time for every comment you leave on one of my Tazo recipes. This is recipe # 3 of 3. Previous recipes included
Vanilla Rooibos Quinoa Pudding with Cherry & Pistachio and
Tea-smoked Salmon with Lavender and Honey Glaze. On September 1, I’ll randomly pick a winner from all of the comments left on those three recipes. (Only commenters with valid US addresses are eligible to win) Every comment you leave will also help me win a $1,000 gift card to Williams Sonoma.
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{15 Minute Dinner} Porcini Dusted Ribeye with Green Bean Salad
These past few weeks have been crazy. Between being out of town every weekend for the past month, to seriously overcommitting myself on several blog projects, to general insanity at the office, I feel like I’ve barely had time to catch a breath, let alone plan a menu or go grocery shopping. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I love being busy and everything has been 100% worth it. But I’m exhausted and I haven’t really felt like cooking. But a girl can only eat so much takeout before she starts to feel sick, and I knew that, despite the fact that I felt like collapsing onto the couch and not getting up until bed, it was time to cook a real dinner.
I came up with this porcini dusted steak with red wine sauce and a summery green bean, corn, and tomato salad on a whim, and I couldn’t have been happier with it. The steak was rich and flavorful, with a perfect crust of powdered mushrooms. The salad was light and fresh, featuring some of the best that August has to offer. And the whole thing was on the table in under 15 minutes. Which meant I could get back to the couch and put my feet up in half the time it would have taken to get a pizza delivered.
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Zucchini and Summer Squash Gratin with Herbs de Provence
Yesterday – August 8 – was “National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbors Porch Day.” It sounds like a joke, but think about it. If you have a garden (or know someone who has a garden) chances are you’ve been up to your ears in zucchini and summer squash for a few weeks already. You might be sick of them. And looking for an excuse to sneak some on an innocent neighbor under cover of night. But this gratin might just rekindle your love of the ubiquitous summertime vegetable.
As delicious as my tea-smoked salmon with lavender and honey glaze was (Have you seen it yet? Entered to win some tea?), this gratin held its own. Served together, dinner was an event. I half expected fireworks to go off as I finished my plate. The squash bakes in their own juices until they are soft and delicate. The tomatoes begin to dry from the heat of the oven, leaving them sweet and intensely flavored. The sharp Parmesan and crisp breadcrumbs lend classic comfort. And then, there’s the unexpected. Instead of using italian seasonings, you take a little detour through the south of France thanks to fresh thyme and herbs de Provence (a mixture of savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and lavender).
Sure you may be reluctant to turn your oven on in the height of August. Wait for a rainy day if you must. But I wouldn’t wait. Really, it’s already so hot that having the oven on doesn’t seen to make it any worse. And even if it does, it’s totally worth it.
Click through for the recipe for Zucchini and Summer Squash Gratin with Herbs de Provence –>
{Tazo Cookoff} Tea-Smoked Salmon with Honey & Lavender Glaze
I’ve been in something of a cooking rut lately, struggling to find inspiration and ideas for new dishes. Apparently all l needed in order to get back in the groove of things was a good challenge! When I received an invitation to take part in the Tazo Cook-Off, I almost declined. Somehow, in the bat of an eye, my schedule for August has filled up and I couldn’t imagine how I would find time to participate in a challenge that would require me to come up with three new recipes over the course of three weeks, each involving both tea and a mystery ingredient that would be disclosed to me the cook-off progressed.
But, if you know me you know I love a good culinary challenge — of course I ended up saying yes! And boy am I glad I did, because I never would have thought to create this amazing tea-smoked salmon with honey & lavender glaze otherwise. And that would be sad, because this recipe is so good that you should just go ahead and cancel whatever dinner plans you have for tomorrow and make this instead. (And if that’s not enough to get you to keep reading this post, what if I told you there’s a fantastic giveaway opportunity if you keep reading?)
So I spent the past week thinking about all of the great things that I could make with tea, when a package arrived for me on Monday with my first mystery ingredient. Lavender. Right. There go those ideas! I have to admit, I was a little stumped. I was stuck on the idea of shortbread cookies for a while, but that just seemed so obvious. No, I was determined to go savory with this dish. And I began to think about salmon.
The most recent issue of Fine Cooking had an article on tea-smoking that had intrigued me, and this seemed like the perfect time to try it out. I played around with flavors and technique until I came up with the recipe you see here. Which is incredible. The flavors of the teas — orange, cloves, star anise, cinnamon — permeate the salmon and give it an amazing flavor. The honey and lavender give it a floral sweetness that just works. And smoking it gives it the most amazing texture — silky and smooth, yet still flakey and fully cooked. I’ve really never had anything like it before, but this is definitely a technique that I’ll be using again and again.
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