bbq salmon

• boneless, skinless salmon fillets
• prepared bbq sauce

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place salmon fillets in casserole dish and cover with bbq sauce. Bake for 15 minutes or until desired doneness is reached.

The dish: I was at a party recently and a friend of mine that I've known since high school called me a "car geek". I guess the label holds true as I've always had a fondness of our four wheeled friends and spent a large chunk of my life wanting to design them (that dream of course died when I realized I was too dumb to earn an engineering degree). It's not surprising that one of my all time favorite jobs was driving for a huge auto auction. This was the largest dealer to dealer auto auction on the east coast and every Wednesday we'd sell thousands of cars to dealers that came in from as far away as California. There were seven auction blocks that were ranked in order of the quality of the cars sold; lane one had Porsches and BMWs, lane seven had Pintos. Since it was a one day a week job (I had two others at the time) we had a lot of retirees driving for us. It was explained to me that the older gents were assigned to the better lanes because they might not be able to handle some of the trickier cars that came through the bottom lanes (I drove a car that exploded once, but that's a different story). Naturally, I was a lane seven driver. My job was to hop in a car parked in our area of the massive auction's property, drive it to the block to be sold, drive it back to our area, park it, and hop in the next car to repeat the process all over again. I would drive about 100 cars a day which was a rush for a car geek like myself. One Tuesday a month we hosted the Ford, Mercury, Lincoln sale where every single car returned from a lease or a rental company was sold on our property. There weren't as many of us working on FML Tuesdays and it wasn't uncommon for your cars to be parked on a pretty remote corner of the massive lot. One such morning the auction van dropped me off in front of my row of cars at the absolute far reach of the yard, way out of sight or sound of anyone. We started pretty early and I was shot so I drove through the first part of my shift on auto-pilot. I was a few hours into it when I had a revelation and looked at the line of cars I had already driven, and then turned and looked at what I would drive for the rest of my day. I was so tired that I hadn't noticed that I already navigated 25 or so of the absolutely identical Ford Taurus through the auction block. White, with tan cloth interior, alloy wheels, the premium sound system (which back then meant a CD player) and just feet shy of 30,000 miles. I looked at the long line of them that vanished into the horizon and felt like I was trapped in the twilight zone. There was no one around for miles; just me and 100 or so of the identical mid sized sedan. I felt a little freaked and thought about asking my boss to be switched, but the only way I could get to him was to hop in a white Taurus, so I decided to just rough it out and try not to think about it. I bring this up only because posting salmon recipes one right after the other has a slightly similar effect on me. Although they're all different, they all basically start with the same ingredient and it does tend to feel the same when writing about them. At least at the base of the recipe is a fish that I enjoy; now if I could only say the same of the early 90s Taurus.

bbq peach turkey tenderloins

• turkey tenderloins
• 1 bottle of bbq sauce
• 2 jars baby food, peaches

Combine baby food and prepared bbq sauce. Brush liberally on all sides of turkey and grill until done.

The dish: If you believe the theory of birth order, then Kim and I are doomed. A relationship of the two last born children will spiral out of control as it will seem like no one is in charge, and even the youngest can only take chaos for so long (would it be a bad time to mention that we had zebra cakes for dinner tonight?). I bring this up only because being the youngest child means that you grow up with limited experience in matters like diapers and baby food. I've never had to feed a younger sibling baby food who promptly spit it up or threw it on the floor, so it doesn't mean much more to me than just being that generic mush in the little jar. I wanted to try something new and yet easy with traditional bbq sauce, so I figured I'd give this a try. It gave a really great taste without adding too much artificial flavor or sweetness. Just for kicks I still cut my meat into little pieces and pretended my fork was a locomotive heading toward the tunnel of my mouth, but I do that at least two nights a week, so I don't think there's much of a connection.

grilled asparagus

• fresh asparagus spears
• olive oil
• coarse salt
• fresh ground pepper

Drizzle asparagus with a little olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Grill to desired doneness over an open flame. Cut off bottom of stalks before serving.

The dish: Every now and again I love a little vino, but I've never paid too much attention to those "wine snobs" that turn the pleasurable act of sipping a glass of Cabernet into a chore full of using big words and making funny faces, and worst of all, ultimately spitting out the drink. I feel I should let them know that even "bad" wine is pretty good once swallowed, but it's just too much fun to watch them act like tools. White with fish and red with beef is pretty basic stuff, but after that you get into grey area with other meats and veggies. Everyone seems to have their own opinion about what works with what, but they all pretty much agree, there is no wine to pair with asparagus. To listen to the most snobby of them, you'd think they were talking about kryptonite and superman, not Pinot Grigio and spring's favorite green stalk. I'm not even that huge a fan of asparagus and I think it gets a bum wrap. To combat this bias I suggest first grilling asparagus, as there is no more delicious preparation of the green. Don't be afraid to let it sit on the bbq a little while and get some char-color to them. While that's going, find the cheapest and lightest dry white wine (bonus if the cap screws off) you can and stick that puppy in the freezer for awhile, letting it get almost ice cold. Between the taste of the grill and the lightness of the freezing wine, the flavors work together like Clark and Lois at the Daily Planet. While this method may be looked down upon by the most dedicated students of vinology, it works and is a great treat for the warm months.

Bob Mac

• all beef patty
• special sauce
• lettuce
• cheese
• pickles
• onions
• sesame seed bun

Start singing stupid song repeatedly while grilling hamburger patty to desired doneness. Use yellow American cheese, shredded lettuce, finely diced white onion (not typical yellow), and dill pickles. Assemble sandwich in following order; bun, sauce, onion, patty, cheese, pickle, lettuce, bun.

The dish: When it all boils down, Ray Kroc isn't known for much else other than his persistence. Failing at a number of jobs from paper cup salesman to jazz pianist, he was a quasi-successful milkshake maker rep when he met the hamburger selling McDonald brothers. He had nothing to do with establishing the popular restaurant, but did recognize a good thing in it. Kroc inked a deal with the brothers allowing him rights to franchise their concept and began working tirelessly and sometimes ruthlessly (he's quoted as saying that if he saw his competition drowning he'd stick a hose in their mouth) at building Mickey Dee's into the largest restaurant chain on the globe. Eventually the namesake brothers asked to be bought out and return to running their own independent place. There was enough bad blood in the situation that Kroc forbade them from using their own name in conjuncture with their restaurant, and when the brothers were established Ray opened a McDonald's directly across the street from them and put them out of business. Kroc had such a relentless commitment to quality customer service that when he owned the San Diego Padres, he once apologized mid-game to the crowd for the team's "stupid" playing and refunded everyone the price of their tickets. For someone with such business acumen, he certainly didn't recognize opportunity when a Pittsburgh McDonald's owner came to him with the idea of selling a double decker burger for $.49, a full $.09 more than two individual sandwiches. Kroc wasn't keen on the idea, but did give the franchisee permission to sell the Big Mac at only one of his restaurants, and without the middle bun. After only a few days the enterprising franchisee realized two things; 1. without a double cut bun, eating the sandwich proved to be a mess and 2. the burger was a hit. Defying his bosses orders, he began selling the Big Mac with a middle bun at all 9 of his McDonald's. Normally going against Kroc would be enough to be kicked out of the McDonald's family, but the owner ushered in what would become the iconic hallmark of the McDonald's menu, and all was forgiven. The kicker of it is, that franchisee didn't even invent the sandwich. As a matter of fact, he wasn't shy about copying it, ingredient by ingredient from its original creator, Bob's Big Boy. Years later, you can't find a spot on the globe to hide from the glow of the arches, yet Big Boy is at best a smaller regional chain. Naming this take on the famous burger the "Bob Mac" wasn't done as an act of narcissism, but rather a nod to its rightful creator.

grilled balsamic salmon

• salmon fillet
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• garlic cloves
  

Marinate salmon, vinegar, olive oil and garlic for at least 3 hours. When ready to cook, wrap salmon in tin foil, discarding marinade and garlic. Grill over a low flame for about 10 minutes or until cooked. Don't be fooled, cooking it in foil won't yield the prettiest salmon, but it will taste great.

The dish: Here's the deal: I love salmon, but I'm getting sick of saying the same things about it over and over, so today I'll do something different. Instead of touting the virtues of our friend who swims upstream, I'll give some insight into why this blog has been idle most of July. As I've said before, I love to ride my mountain bike but with all the rain we've had this year it's been tough to get on the trail. I've spent a fraction of the amount of time on my bike this years as opposed to years past, which is why I think I recently forgot a valuable lesson in riding; things go best when the rubber side stays down. The stretch of trail I crashed on is so familiar to me that I often will ride through it in my mind on nights that I have trouble sleeping. I have an intimate knowledge of every twist, every hill, and every obstacle, which is why I wasn't shocked when the trail crossed the path of a wet tree root, I had ridden over it countless times before. As is the case with such things, I'm not really sure what went wrong, but my front tire bounced in a way I didn't expect it to and I had an immediate yet brief sensation of soaring through the air, right over the front of my bicycle (impressive since my feet were still clipped to the pedals). I painfully landed face down a pretty good distance from both the trail and my bike. Without getting too graphic (you did come here to read about food after all) it was clear that my shoulder had popped out and just getting up was going to be a challenge. With the help of Kim and our friend Chris I began to roll over and miraculously (and quite audibly) my shoulder righted itself and 90% of the pain instantly went away. I was able to limp back to the car and decided to play it safe and go to the ER and have things checked out. Other than quickly dropping the bikes off, we went straight to the hospital and waited long enough to watch the movie The Minority Report (it sucked) on the TV that each emergency room bed now has (who knew?). As I suspected, nothing was broken and the hospital sent me home with my arm in a sling and a warning of pain to come the next morning. It was about 7 hours after the crash when I was finally standing in the shower and letting the hot water pound onto my traumatized joint. I didn't think much about all the elapsed time until two days later when I had an unbearable itch all over my body and my skin began to look diseased. Turns out it was a big patch of poison oak that broke my fall and I pretty much let it soak into my skin all day long. The subsequent reaction was bad enough to warrant my doctor putting me on heavy duty steroids and me trying every topical remedy I could find, which none really worked, which is good because the mind numbing itching took my focus away from my sore shoulder. Needless to say, I didn't much feel like blogging. If you want to be grossed out, feel free to check out my left leg and just picture the rest of me covered in similar bruises and red splotches. Things seemed to have turned the corner, I'm looking less like a leper with each passing day so expect to see more updates soon.

grilled zucchini

• fresh zucchini
• olive oil
• coarse salt
• fresh ground pepper

Cut zucchini in half lenghtwise, season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil, or better yet spay some on if you have a Misto. Grill over a medium flame for about 10 minutes, turning once.

The dish: So it finally happened, the rain stopped for about 7 minutes and I was able to unwrap my grill from its cover and fire it up. For those of you who don't know me, I have a beautiful condo (technically my wife has it, she's just cool about letting me crash here) with a balcony about the size of an unfolded newspaper. There's no chance of me fitting one of those behemoth grills that seem to be so popular, and here in sunny New Windsor our elected officials have nothing better to do than dream up inane laws that prohibit me from having any bbq. All grilling that appears here is done on the down low using a grill that's about the size of a large shoebox (hey, like Bob Dylan said, if you're gonna live outside the law then you have to be honest). If you don't like zucchini, then try it grilled, it takes on a whole new flavor. It becomes crisp and moist all at once and begins to taste like the flame without overpowering the natural taste of the zucchini. It's one of my favorite veggies on the grill and I recommend trying it even if it means chancing a visit to the local kangaroo court.

honey mustard chicken wrap

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce
• good quality honey mustard dressing

Grill chicken until fully cooked, set aside to cool then chop into small pieces. Tear or chop lettuce into medium sized pieces, or just open a bag of mixed greens. Assemble wrap with lettuce and chicken and a pass of the honey mustard dressing.

The dish: I love making anything in a wrap because by virtue of Kim's aptitude, I get off the hook without doing too much work. It's like not knowing how to fix the photocopier at work; no one even bothers knocking on my door when the thing jams because they know I'm useless. I'm fairly certain that if I devoted a small amount of time to either that blasted machine or the flat sandwich holder, I could learn the skills necessary to master each, but why bother when those around me are so good at these things.

white truffle mushroom cheeseburgers

• 1.25 pounds of chop meat
• provolone cheese
• good quality bbq sauce
• white button mushrooms, sliced
• white truffle oil
• sesame seed rolls

Form meat into four even sized patties, using your palms as sizing guides. Heat mushrooms over a medium high flame in a little olive oil. Cook until mushrooms have shrunk to about half their size, reduce heat to low and add a little bit of white truffle oil. Meanwhile, cook burgers to desired doneness (if you're older than 12 it should be medium rare at most- just sayin) on the bbq, adding cheese during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Assemble on bun with sauce on bottom, then burger, then mushrooms.

The dish: It's official, bbq season is among us and the redroom moves outside to the tiny balcony. Grilling is a great way to cook pretty much any food and you can expect to see lots of different meats and veggies on these pages over the summer, we just had to kick off the start of things with a good old fashioned cheeseburger. This was also a prime opportunity to answer faithful reader Rebecca's request for more recipes using white truffle oil. As a pound of truffles cost about as much as my car, white truffle oil is a great way to dress up some plain mushrooms and give the dish a great flavor without having to mortgage your house. Just be sure to look at the ingredients and make sure you're buying an oil that's actually made from truffles and not artificial flavors. If you haven't already, go out and clean your grill because we'll make sure it gets plenty of use this year. Enjoy these beautiful spring days everyone!

pulled pork sandwiches

• paprika
• cayenne pepper
• adobo
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• liquid smoke
• 2 chili peppers, seeded and chopped fine
• 1 bell pepper (I used half a yellow and half an orange), chopped
• 1 boneless pork shoulder roast
• prepared bbq sauce, or homemade if you need a hobby

Combine paprika, cayenne pepper (just a little), adobo and black pepper, spread mixture evenly on roast, cover (Tupperware or saran wrap is fine, but never tin foil) and refrigerate over night. The next morning mix together vinegar and brown sugar (over heat works best, but right in the crock pot will do), add a few dashes liquid smoke, peppers and roast, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Right before serving, drain roast in colander reserving a few drops of liquid on the meat, return to crock pot and shred with fork or wooden spoon and add some bbq sauce (I usually try to make my own, but went with Dr. Pepper flavored sauce this time and it worked quite nicely). Serve on your favorite rolls (Rockland bakery in the burgh if you're local) with extra sauce on the side.

The dish: I'm blessed to be 33 and have both my grandmothers still be alive. I could always tell when my birthday was 2 days away because I would get two cards, one from my maternal grandmother that had a bunch of scratch off tickets that were ALWAYS winners, and one from my paternal grandmother that would have a check for $20 inside. Usually the proceeds of both were spent acquainting myself with a host of designer inebriants, but I would always tell my grandmothers I spent the money on something more benign: no nan, I didn't get loaded with your birthday money, I bought a nice shirt. About three weeks before my 26th birthday I decided that I wanted a crock pot. "What a perfect idea" I thought, I can even tell my grandmothers I spent their bday money on it. By the time my day rolled around my pot already had some mileage on it and I was looking forward to telling my nans. I was shocked when the cards came but nothing was inside, apparently 25 was the cutoff for such things- who knew? I wound up telling both my grandmothers the full story and they got a kick out of it, but they also reminded me what being 26 meant, you've got to love the depression era. I've since used the hell out of my crock pot and have convinced many of my friends to buy one, becoming a champion of a kitchen gadget that probably reached the zenith of its popularity when I was in diapers. Pulled pork is always one of the first things I advise people to make. The recipe above is the advanced one, for ease you can just throw the roast in the cooker with some bbq sauce and be amazed at the results. If you're not down with the other white meat you can use beef, and if animals aren't your thing then lentils work well also, just cook them a little ahead of time.