Sherbert Skys

Stuffed mushrooms and grilled pork chops... yum!  Add to that the lovely sherbet skys and you have a good night.  Last week, Wednesday night, my normal dinner with mom and dad. I have been craving a sandwich from a great restaurant in Palo Alto California. It is a Portobello sandwich with goat cheese and arugula.  Mom and I will be visiting family in Palo Alto the last week of june. I am so excited and we will defiantly have the sandwich in Palo Alto.  Tonight we decided to stuff the mushrooms with the same ingredients as  the portobello sandwich.

Sandwich:
4 portobello mushrooms
2/3 cup arugula
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 loaf sourdough bread
olive oil
2 oz goat cheese

Pesto Goat Cheese Spread:
3 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 oz parmigina-reggiano, coarsely grated (2/3 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
3 cups loosely packed fresh basil
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 oz goat cheese, room temperature
2 oz cream cheese, room temperature

With food processor running, drop in garlic and add nuts, parmigina-reggiano cheese, salt, pepper, and basil until finely chopped. Add in olive oil and blend until incorporated.

Clean and de-stem the mushrooms and slice into 1/2 inch slices.  Drizzle olive oil on the outside of the mushrooms. Grill the mushrooms about 2 minutes each side and slice into 1/2 inch slices. Wash and dry arugula and set aside. In a small pot, slowly cook down the balsamic vinegar until thick and syrurypy, about 10 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Slice the bread into medium slices, not to thick .  Pour a bit of olive oil on the bread on one side and place on a panni grill.  Layer slices of mushroom, arugula, and pesto goat cheese. Drizzle on the balsamic vinegar and top with a slice of bread. Grill in the panni press until golden brown and hot, about 5 minutes. Serve with extra balsamic vinegar.

 If you want to make stuffed mushrooms instead of the sandwiches, coat the mushrooms with oil and grill for about 2 minutes. Mix together the arugula, pesto, and cheese. Spoon this mixture into the mushroom and put back on the grill for another minute or two. Top with drizzled balsamic vinegar. 

Claws and Tails!

Lobster, all I can say is Lobster. One of my favorite foods and such a treat! This lobster was flown in all the way from Boston. After a visit to the family back east, my mom brought us this lobster as a treat. We decided that since everything is better on the grill, we would grill this lobster on the Green Egg Grill.  Good thought, not great in transition.   

First we boiled the lobsters, in salted water. I will tell you that this is the part that I hide from, running to the other end of the house, avoiding the shock of dipping the lobsters into the water.  But for my friends, and for myself, and for this blog... I had to stand and take pictures while the lobsters went into the pot.  

To grill the lobster we sliced through the tail  so it wouldn't curl up. (Please don't forget to take the rubber bands off the lobster before putting it on the grill, they will burn you and they melt to the lobster.) Along with the lobster we grilled corn sweetened with milk, sugar, salt and pepper and sliced vegetables with oil and salt and pepper.  

We soaked the 4 ears of corn in milk, for around half an hour with about 1/3 cup sugar, salt, and pepper. We grilled it without the husks, it was so sweet and juicy. Really good for early corn.  We cut up 2 bell peppers with onions and yellow and green zucchini. We mixed the veggies with olive oil and salt and pepper, this is our normal grilled veggie dish.

While the corn and vegetables were great, the lobster did not benefit from the grilling and it actually over cooked the lobsters.  They were still great, and I am so glad we got to eat lobsters, its been so long since I  had a lobster, maybe we can fly more lobsters out to Indiana. Yum!

Papa Flay?

Dinner at my parents house again and another Bobby Flay recipe.  I  have never really gave much thought to his recipes. When you live in a apartment, grilling isn't an option. But since we have tried  a few of his recipes, wow, I can't believe how great every recipe is.
 All of Boy Gets Grill, recipes are simple, quick, easy and full of flavor. There is nothing vanilla about this cookbook. My parents have really enjoyed everything from this cookbook.   My dad even dubbed himself "Papa Flay!" He is the grill guru on his Green Egg Grill. This new recipe is my favorite. Yum!

Parmesan-Crusted Portobello Mushroom Caps

Boy Gets Grill 

Serves 4

1/3  cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 portobello mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed

olive oil

4 teaspoons white truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil

Heat your grill to medium-high

Combine the Parmesan and thyme in a small bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. ( I thought this was much to much salt for me, so taste it as you go) Brush the mushrooms on both sides with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place the mushrooms upside down on the grill (cap up) and cook until golden, 5 to 6  minutes. Turn the mushrooms over and continue grilling until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes more.  When the mushrooms are cooked through, without removing  the  them from the grill carefully divide the cheese mixture among the mushrooms. Cover the grill and and cook just until the cheese  has melted, about 30 seconds.  Remove to a platter and drizzle 1 teaspoon truffle oil over each mushroom. Serve immediately. 

Yum!  

p.s. what will you eat if I eat all of these mushrooms?