Grilled Peaches and Cream and Nutty Shortbread Biscuit (with Optional Corn Ice Cream)

We combined a few recipes from different sources to make the ultimate grilled dessert.

Part 1 (Prep prior to Part 3):

Nutty Shortbread
Source: (Amy Marie Joh’s Family Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, 12 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts

2 cups flour

half and half (or whipping cream if you want it to be extra rich)

Directions:

Cream the sugar and the butter together.

Add in the chopped walnuts and flour.

Mix dough until you get a crumbly texture.

Add just enough half and half (or whipping cream) to make the dough stick together.

Roll out the dough and cut it with cookie cutters

Place cut dough in a glass baking pan or pie dish.

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes or until done (depends on thickness).

Part 2 (Optional):

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

Source (Epicurious By Claudia Fleming; www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sweet-Corn-Ice-Cream-102304)

Ingredients:

4 ears fresh corn, shucked

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

9 large egg yolks

Directions:

Using a large knife, slice the kernels off the corn cobs and place in a large saucepan. Break the cobs into thirds and add them to the pot along with the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, then turn off the heat. Using an immersion mixer or a blender, puree the corn kernels (not the cobs). Infuse for 1 hour.

Bring the mixture back to a simmer, then turn off the heat. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Add a cup of the hot cream to the yolks, stirring constantly so they don't curdle. Add the yolk mixture to the saucepan, stirring. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spoon, about 10 minutes.

Pass the custard through a fine sieve, pressing down hard on the solids, discard solids. Let the custard cool, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Part 3:

Grilled Peaches and Cream

Source: (www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grilled-Peaches-and-Cream/Detail.aspx)

Prep Time: 15 Min

Cook Time: 8 Min

Ready In: 23 Min

Recipe Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:

4 peaches, halved and pitted

2 tablespoons clover honey

1 cup soft cream cheese with honey and nuts

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat a grill for medium-high heat.

Brush peaches with a light coating of oil.

Place pit side down onto the grill. Grill for 5 minutes, or until the surfaces have nice grill marks. Turn the peaches over, and drizzle with a bit of honey.

Place a dollop of the cream cheese spread in the place where the pit was. Grill for 2 to 3 more minutes, or until the filling is warm.

Serve immediately with ice cream and shortbread cookie.

Atún Asado con Salsa Mexicana a la Antigua

"A grill, which is, in short, but a roast on an open fire, stands, in my opinion, as the remote starting-point, the very genesis of our art."

— Auguste Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire

Suggested Pairing:
Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc or Oregon Pinot Gris

Serving Size: 6 servings

• 8 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
• Fresh hot green chiles to taste (roughly 2 Serranos or 4 Jalapenos), stemmed
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
  
• Salt
• 6 5 oz. to 6-oz. fresh tuna steaks or skinless, meaty fish fillets, about 3/4-inch thick
• 3 cups chopped (1/4-inch diced) heirloom tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
• 1 small, red onion, finely chopped
• 2 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, plus a few sprigs for garnish
• Olive oil or vegetable oil for brushing or spraying the fish

Preparation Notes:

• Or Rather, Non-Prep. There is little in this recipe that can be done in advance - except the marinade, which will hold for a day or so in the refrigerator if well covered. If the fish spends more than three or four hours in that limey marinade, it will get pickled. Beautiful tomatoes with salt and lime on them also begin to wilt after an hour or two.
• Atún Alternatives. Other substitutions for tuna might be snapper, grouper, wahoo, marlin, or salmon
• Herb Amounts. The intensity of the herb(s) you choose will dictate quantity. Cilantro is predictably delicious, a touch of mint is springy, a little lemon thyme or lemon balm or lemon verbena adds sunshine, and basil - well, who doesn't like basil?
• Evaluating Heirlooms. Think about a variety of heirloom tomato colors and flavors, from Black Prince to Green Zebra to Sun Gold to Brandywine

Preparation:

Prepare the Marinade/Flavoring. In a small dry skillet, roast the unpeeled garlic and the chiles over medium heat, turning occasionally, until soft (the skins of both will have blackened in spots, which is okay as long as the flesh doesn't burn), 5 to 10 minutes for the chiles, 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool, then peel the garlic. Place both garlic and chiles in a food processor or blender along with the lime juice. Run the machine until the mixture is as smoothly pureed as possible. Season highly with salt, usually about 3/4 teaspoon.

Marinate the Tuna. Scoop two-thirds of the marinade into a large, non-aluminum, baking dish. Lay the fish in the marinade and smear the mixture on all sides of each piece. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the salsa.

Make the Salsa. Scrape the remaining marinade into a medium bowl. Mix in the chopped tomatoes. Scoop the onion into a small strainer, rinse under cold water and shake off the excess; and add to the tomatoes. Stir in the herbs. Taste and season with additional salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon.

Grill the Fish. Heat a gas grill to medium-high or light a charcoal fire and let it burn until the coals are covered with gray ash and very hot (the fire feels almost intolerably hot to most cooks when they hold there hand 4 or 5 inches above the grill grates for 5 seconds). Set the cooking grate in place, cover the grill and let the grate heat up, 5 minutes or so. Remove the fish from the marinade, brush or spray with a generous coating of oil and lay on the hot grill. Cover the grill and cook 3 minutes. Uncover, flip the fish over, cover once again and cook until the fish is as done as you like - 1 to 2 minutes more is all that's needed for medium-rare tuna.

Transfer the fish to dinner plates, spoon on the beautiful salsa and decorate with herb sprigs - and you're ready to eat.

Recipe Source:
Website: Rick Bayless
Rick Bayless is chef of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, and Xoco in Chicago, creator of Frontera gourmet foods, cookbook author, and host of Mexico - One Plate at a Time.

P.S., I'm happy to say that we are now the proud owners of a gas grill, which came with our new home, which closed last week...homework, here we come!

Grilled Lime-Curry-Rubbed Hanger Steak with Fresh Melon-Cucumber Chutney

Melons and cucumbers have a real affinity—they're related, after all. Here, they come together in a cool, uncooked chutney, which cuts the robust richness of thinly sliced hanger steak.

Ingredients

For chutney:
2 cups chopped firm-ripe honeydew melon (10 ounces)
1/3 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 to 2 teaspoons minced fresh jalapeño including seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

For steak:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 pounds (1-inch-thick) hanger steak or chuck blade steaks

Preparation

Make chutney: Stir together honeydew, cucumber, onion, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeño, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle with spices and let chutney stand while grilling steak.
Grill steak: Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium heat

Stir together lime juice, oil, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Coat steak with curry mixture.

Oil grill rack, then grill steak, covered, turning once, 9 minutes total for medium-rare. Let rest on a cutting board 5 minutes, then slice thinly across the grain. Serve steak with chutney.
Serve with: basmati or jasmine rice

Cooks'note: Steak can be cooked in a lightly oiled 2-burner grill pan, 14 to 16 minutes total for medium-rare.

Recipe from Gourmet, June 2009

Grill Appetizer: Mexican Street Corn and Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Mexican Street Corn

Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson

Ingredients

• 4 ears sweet corn, husks removed
• 2 tablespoons corn oil
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lime, quartered
• Special equipment: grill pan

Directions

Preheat a grill pan. Rub corn with oil and place on the grill pan, turning corn so all sides are charred, about 6 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together mayonnaise, chili powder, garlic salt, and black pepper. Remove corn from grill and brush with the mayonnaise mixture. Serve with lime quarters to squeeze over corn.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Ingredients

Marinade:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 20 wooden skewers, soaked in water 30 minutes
• Vegetable oil, for grilling
• Butter lettuce leaves
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Peanut sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Combine the yogurt, ginger, garlic, and curry powder in a shallow mixing bowl, stir to combine. Place the chicken strips in the yogurt marinade and gently toss until well coated. Cover and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at up to 2 hours.

Thread the chicken pieces onto the soaked skewers working the skewer in and out of the meat, down the middle of the piece, so that it stays in place during grilling. Place a grill pan over medium heat and brush it with oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Grill the chicken satays for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until nicely seared and cooked through. Serve the satays on a platter lined with lettuce leaves and cilantro; accompanied by a small bowl of peanut sauce on the side.

Peanut Sauce:

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons red chili paste, such as sambal
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts, for garnish

Combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, red chili paste, brown sugar, and lime juice in a food processor or blender. Puree to combine. While the motor is running, drizzle in the hot water to thin out the sauce, you may not need all of it. Pour the sauce into a nice serving bowl and garnish with the chopped peanuts. Serve with chicken satay.

Yield: 3 cups

New Orleans Dinner

Awesome Meet Up #2 New Orleans Lunch at the Yens (thanks again Andrew, Yurah and Baby Quinn for hosting!). I think everyone agreed, that other people's dishes tasted better than the ones they had made themselves. At least that felt like the case for us!

Another thing we agreed on was that the new meeting time for Sun lunch was a much nicer way to celebrate. Felt more leisurely and relaxed than having a formal dinner minus a long drive back at night when you're tired. The only thing we have to figure out is how to justify drinking so much during the day =p

Looking forward to the next theme...Grill time at the Hsu's on July 25th!

Congrats to the new parents!

Pre-dinner drinks

Where am I and when will the food be ready?

One of many drinks poured that day

Enjoying lunch in full swing (babies and all)

Oysters Rockefeller

Louisiana Deviled Crab Cakes

Crawfish Etoufee

Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie

Oysters Rockefeller Re-cap

Not to be outdone with the last minute blog posting, here's a recap of our original attempt at P&J's Oyster Rockefeller. (and Sazeracs!)

Ei-Lun and I had decided to team up with John and Lee and cook all of the homework at once (except the Étouffée) at their place in the south bay. There was also a concept where John and I were supposed to be working on a few of my wedding to-do list items, but I seem to mostly recall shopping, drinking, cooking, and eating... a lot; and not exactly checking any items off the wedding list. (website, tux rental) Here's my best effort at recalling that day's activities, with the help of John and Ei-Lun's photo logs!

Shopping
I'm pretty sure we hit at least four stores to complete the shopping, which was reasonable since we were cooking three of the four recipes for the cooking club. We ended up going to ranch to get the Oysters. We picked up one of the mesh bags full of Oysters; selection criteria was mostly about "buying whatever they had," vs. doing any inspection. We bought blocks of frozen spinach, the veggies, and Ei-Lun and Lee would later run to the store to pick up the Pecorino-Romano cheese for the oyster toppings.

Prep and drinking
Preparation was pretty easy, which included thawing out the spinach blog in boiling water, cutting up the veggies and grating the cheese. Also, a quick note about the Sazerac, which was attempted a few times that evening:

I first had this drink on the suggestion of my friend Lester, who kept sending me text messages about the "Sazerac happy hour" in SF, I think @ Epic Roasthouse... I didn't know the drink at the time, but looked up the recipe on-line and decided I would probably like it given the ingredients: Rye whiskey, some sugar, bitters, absinthe. Also the drink had a lot of history and is arguably one of the original cocktails, had a cool name, and had that mysterious "absinthe" in it.

The Sazerac is actually super easy to make. It's an all-alcohol drink so its fairly strong. The biggest surprise for me was that the absinthe is only used to coat the inside of the serving glass, and is then dumped out. (!!) We used a sugar cube, added bitters and muddled; then added the Rye Whiskey. Stir, then pour into the glass that was coated with the absinthe. Done! (check out this youtube vid from chow.com which now has me searching for Rittenhouse Rye...)

Ok where were we...

Shucking and Cooking
Shucking the oysters wasn't too difficult once I got the hang of it. The thing I remember most about this part of the recipe was that we didn't rinse off the oysters before shucking and there were these little bugs jumping out of the exterior of the shells while shucking which was kind of gross. Next time, we'd rinse off the oysters prior, or we'd get them from a place that had them in water!

The process was to shuck, save the nice looking shells, and deposit the oyster and its "liquor" into the pan for the stove. We did rinse off the shells before placing them down on the bed of rock salt.





Once the oysters were poached, they went back in to the shells, and got a topping of the cheese/spinach mixture.








Next the oysters headed to the oven. Before & After pictures, can you tell the difference?








Enjoying
And that was it! Out of the oven they were very hot. The melted cheese topping was very tasty and the oysters were quite nice as well. Note that we had 15 of these bad boys for only four people... Basically we wanted to use all the oysters in the bag, but I think one or two per person is more than enough. It's like an entire meal in one of these things.

Eating these, and having the Sazerac, reminded me of being in New Orleans, enjoying the food and the drinks. So I would say "mission accomplished." Looking forward to having them again tomorrow! (...today!)

Midnight craving for crab cakes and home-made tartar sauce...NOT.

Yes, we realize our 2nd meet up is tomorrow in roughly 12 hours but we got the homework done just in time. Isn't that what really counts? Knowing we were working today at the Burlingame store, we knew we'd have to plan when we would make this dish. Tim (thank goodness he can get up early because God knows I can't) woke up early and took Alia with him to Whole Foods. $90 dollars later he came home with the goods. I inquired as to why so much $$ (I mean we could feed a young child in certain countries for a year on that kind of money). The culprit turned out to be the pound of fresh dungeness crab he purchased. "Fresh! But I told you to get canned!" Oh well, it wasn't my *ss that got out of bed that early so really can't complain here.

After dinner, relaxed on the couch, half falling asleep, we knew there was an elephant in the room. The elephant called "let's make home-made crab cakes and oh yea, while we're at it, mess up the otherwise clean kitchen, countertops, load up the sink w/ dirty dishes , and make the tartar sauce from scratch while we're at it." After many futile attempts, we finally got to wandering into the kitchen around 11-ish (pm).

Proud to report however, that as the chopping and dicing progressed to sauteing and forming balls of panko-crusted crab cakes, we found ourselves enjoying the newfound second wind. Led to some nice quality time together interacting vs. doing our usual separate activities (Tim in the living room on the Xbox) me in the office on the computer.

Now on to the dish as I'm sure you don't want to hear all the nitty gritty details of our marital life (or do you?).

The dish was easy and hard. Easy in that the steps involved were nothing new in terms of learning a new skill per se. But hard (or rather, annoying) because there were so many ingredients and so much chopping of "things." I admit I hate chopping but luckily Tim enjoys it so we work well in the kitchen in that regard.

We decided that we would make the sauce and form the cakes in panko (like Andrew and Yurah did--great idea guys) and then pan-fry Sun morning before our meeting. Therefore can't really comment on the taste, will update with another post. Wanted to get this one out before we meet to capture the "moment." Too bad it was just a virtual midnight snack. Did get hungry after we made the cakes, but luckily for us, leftovers from our dinner out saved us.

Tartar Sauce pre-mixed (who knew so much STUFF went into this??)

Tartar Sauce post-mixed

Sauteing the celery and onions

Crab Cake mixture about to be mixed into patties

Umm...too bad we have to wait until tomorrow.