BBQ spiced shrimp with tomato salad

This is Week #31 of my 2011 cooking challenge! Click on the above graphic to view all P&TC recipes. All recipes created for this challenge come from the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2010: An Entire Year of Recipes.

I traveled far and wide to gather the ingredients for this salad. Ok, really it wasn't so far or wide, and this recipe was totally worth going to two stores for. Our local grocery store didn't have heirloom tomatoes or a good jumbo shrimp selection, but Whole Foods pulled through. Back to the totally-worth-it part. If I could be a salad, this very salad is the salad I would be. It has seafood and spice and tomatoes and onions and basil, which apparently when all put together makes The Perfect Salad. That, coming from the queen of salads, is saying a lot.

And lucky for me, my husband didn't seem too interested. I played it down. "Eh, it's pretty good." All the more for me! Guess what I'll be eating for lunch and dinner for the next couple days!

It's also super easy to make (30 minutes or less), which is always a selling point for me.

In a blender, puree the following until smooth:

1/3 cup packed basil leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

Season with kosher salt and pepper and set aside.

Light a grill.

In a small bowl, combine the following ingredients:

Mix together.

Brush 1 pound of jumbo shrimp with canola oil and coat the shrimp with the spice mixture.

Grill the shrimp over moderately high heat, turning once, until they are lightly charred and cooked through, about 4 minutes total. 

Arrange heirloom tomato slices on a plate (or maybe 2 plates if you are sharing) along with sliced red onions.

Drizzle the basil mixture over the tomatoes and onions. Top with the shrimp.

Garnish with basil leaves, if desired.

As I finished up photographing this salad, The Perfect Salad, the sun had just gone down which made the outside temperature tolerable. I sat outside by myself, devouring every last morsel on my plate while enjoying the peace that follows a setting sun. 

Click here for a printable recipe!

Cherry gazpacho with basil

This is Week #30 of my 2011 cooking challenge! Click on the above graphic to view all P&TC recipes. All recipes created for this challenge come from the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2010: An Entire Year of Recipes.

Bing cherries are the first things I see upon entering the grocery store. I almost always put a bag in my cart. Usually I end up snacking on them throughout the week and ultimately eating the entire bag by myself. My four-year-old tells me, "Mommy, you're going to turn into a cherry! And Sammy is going to turn into a blueberry!" It's true, I can see both things happening. Sam adores his blueberries and I adore my cherries. I rarely think to cook with cherries because then I would need to buy two bags every week! One to snack on and one to cook with. This week, though, I desperately wanted to try this cherry gazpacho. And I'm glad I did. Upon taking my first bite of this summery soup, the following words popped into my head: FRESH, cherries, cucumbers, FRESH, summer, basil, YUM.

You will need two slices of 1-inch-thick Pullman bread. Drizzle 1 slice of the bread with olive oil on both sides.

In a medium skillet, fry the bread over moderate heat, turning once or twice, until golden, about 4 minutes.

Rub the fried bread slice with 1 whole garlic clove. Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes and transfer to a medium bowl.

Add to the bowl:

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 pound bing cherries, pitted (reserve 12 cherries for later)

3 ounces tomato juice

1 1/2 ounces red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Let this mixture stand at room temperature for about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, remove the crust from the remaining bread slice. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch cubes and toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil.

Add the bread cubes to a skillet along with:

1 thyme sprig

1 whole garlic clove

Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until the croutons are browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer the croutons to paper towels to drain. Discard the garlic clove and thyme sprig and season the croutons with salt.

Working in batches, puree the cherry and bell pepper mixture in a blender until completely smooth. Strain the gazpacho through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Season the soup with salt, pepper and Tabasco.

Ladle the cherry gazpacho into shallow bowls. Garnish with:

Reserved cherries, diced

Croutons

Torn basil leaves

Serve right away!

Click here for a printable recipe!

Minted watermelon popsicles

This is Week #28 of my 2011 cooking challenge! Click on the above graphic to view all P&TC recipes. All recipes created for this challenge come from the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2010: An Entire Year of Recipes.

When I was in middle school, I can remember taking full advantage of the fruit trees we had in our yard (I haven't always lived in Minnesota). We had quite the selection. Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, tangerines, tangelos. In addition to eating and drinking large quantities of fruit, I would often do things like put together an elaborate fruit juice stand or come up with a creative multi-fruit popsicle. I miss those fruit trees! Now all I have in my yard is snow for half the year and grass for the other half. 

When this recipe popped up, I was taken back to those days of abundant fruit. I felt like a kid again as I filled up the ice cube trays and eagerly waited for the popsicles to freeze.  

In a blender or food processor, add:

1 1/2 pounds seedless watermelon without the rind, cut into 1-inch dice (about 4 cups)

2 tablespoons sugar

Puree until smooth.

Stir in:

1/4 cup mint leaves, minced

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Pinch of salt

Pour the puree into 8 popsicle molds or 2 standard ice cube trays.

Freeze until hard, about three hours. Insert popsicle sticks after an hour and a half of freezing.

I had no idea that watermelon and mint were such a great duo! If our fruit tree haven would have included a garden with watermelons, I may have already known about this.

These popsicles are a refreshingly delicious treat in this heavy, humid heat we are experiencing right now. Which, by the way, I refuse to complain about. Remember that pile of snow? I will never complain about heat again, and I'm standing by that! Pant pant..

Click here for a printable recipe!

Fruit cubes

First, I would like to thank you all for the sweet well wishes and prayers for my brave boy. His surgery was a complete success! We could not have asked for a better outcome. Here is a photo of him, ONE WEEK AFTER OPEN HEART SURGERY. Freakin' amazing, if you ask me. I'm so proud of this kid.

This same brave boy has always had textural issues with food. He has gotten much better about trying new things, but he still will not put a strawberry or blueberry (or any fruit, for that matter) into his mouth. I have always been a bit bummed about this because the kid is missing out! I love fruit. I always have. It is one of the many reasons why I love summertime.

So I love that my one-year-old adores fruit as much as I do. He could eat a tray full of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries at every meal. And oranges, bananas, pears...you get what I'm saying.

We have plentiful amounts of berries in our fridge these days. I always figure our chubby Sammy will certainly eat them. I peeked in the fridge yesterday morning and saw an overabundance of berries. I wasn't certain that Sam could eat that many berries, so my creative juices started flowing.

I squished blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries into the squares of an ice cube tray. I filled in the gaps with water and stuck the tray in the freezer.

Once they were sufficiently frozen, I plopped a few of them into a glass of water. They were so pretty! And they added such a nice fruity flavor to my cold, refreshing drink. Once my water was gone and the cubes had started to melt, I popped the berries into my mouth and enjoyed a few slightly crunchy yet delicious pieces of fruit.

This would work great with any type of fruit. Oranges, pears, pineapple, apples, lemons. Get creative! It's summer! And warm!

Isn't summer wonderful?

Redhead in bed

This is Week #23 of my 2011 cooking challenge! Click on the above graphic to view all P&TC recipes. All recipes created for this challenge come from the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2010: An Entire Year of Recipes.

I'm a day late with this post again this week. I'm not sure how much time I will have in the coming days to post, so please forgive me for that. (If you are interested in following the progress of our son's surgery, you can follow us here.)

So, drinks! Summer drinks! I love them. For me, lovely Minnesota weather = fun drinks, bbq-ing and family/friend outside time. When you endure an insanely cold and treacherous winter, these things all become really exciting. I was excited to mix up a fun new cocktail for my husband and me to enjoy in the 95-degree weather this week. It's the kind of cocktail you can't drink more than one of, or at least I can't. Its sweetness satisfied me after just one, and we are saving the rest for another day. I have placed the remainder in the freezer for a post-surgery indulgence.

In a medium bowl, toss together:

3 pounds strawberries, hulled and coarsely chopped

2/3 cup sugar

Let stand, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries release their juices, about 10 minutes.

In a blender, combine half each of:

The strawberries and their juices

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vodka

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup of ice

Puree and pour into a pitcher.

Repeat with the remaining strawberries, juices, vodka and lime juice and 1 more cup of ice.

Fill 10 glasses (or just 2, and chill/freeze the rest) halfway with ice. Pour into the glasses and top each with:

1/2 tablespoon chilled Riesling

Serve!

I hope you are all enjoying this hot summer weather as much as I am.

By the way, the pile of snow is gone. :)

Click here for a printable recipe!