BBQ Chicken

Yum! I tried out the New York Times style of watering down the BBQ sauce to 50/50 sauce vs water. This is supposed to make it so the flavor slowly concentrates and caramelizes without burning. It's great! I made my own BBQ sauce, but you can either make your own or just use store-bought. 

Ingredients:

8 pieces of chicken (ideally 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)

1 cup BBQ sauce mixed with 1 cup of water

salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat up half of a charcoal grill to medium heat and leave the other half without coals. (On a gas grill, leave one burner off.) Season the chicken with salt and pepper and put over the hot part of the grill. Cook for 15 minutes, turning every 5 minutes or so, and basting continuously with the watered down BBQ sauce. After they are brown, move them to the other side of the grill and cook them there for another 15-20 minutes until cooked. (Peek inside and make sure it's no longer pink.) Finish them up over the hot coals for another couple of minutes, basting with sauce. 

Raw Tomato Pasta Sauce

Tomatoes are so, so good right now, I'm eating them as much as possible. I usually make raw tomato sauce like this, but this time I took one big tomato and grated half of it on a box grater and chopped up the other half. The shredded part makes a nice, juicy base. I added some olive oil, a capful of balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of honey, fresh pepper, a big pinch of red pepper flakes, one grated garlic clove, and some basil. Mix it all up and let it sit for 10 minutes to a couple of hours. 

Nectarine Shrub

I tried the shrub recipe with nectarines (instead of blackberries) last weekend - yum! It's also the most beautiful color, a bright pinky peach. I topped these with a little soda water to lighten them up. 

Tomato, Watermelon, and Feta Salad

I had tomatoes and watermelon and thought they would make a great, light summer salad with a little feta to add saltiness and some dukkah for some extra flavor. This was super refreshing and light and would be perfect for a hot weather lunch.

Ingredients:

Ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced

watermelon, rind removed and thinly sliced

red wine vinegar

balsamic reduction

olive oil

salt

feta

dukkah*

Garam Masala Skirt Steak

After thinking of making Indian corn, I wanted some meat to go with it. Skirt steak is perfect for weeknights because you can quickly marinate it after work and it cooks so quickly. The mixture of garlic and the fragrant garam masala and dukkah was really great and unusual and went nicely with the corn. The steak was tender and tasty. 

Ingredients:

1 skirt steak

1 clove of garlic (more for a bigger piece)

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp dukkah

1 tsp kosher salt

olive oil

Directions:

Mash the garlic into a paste. In a small bowl, mix the garlic paste, remaining salt, spices and enough olive oil to form a loose paste. Smear it all over the steak on both sides. 

Curry Corn

This is amazing! Make this ASAP! I would eat this all summer. Wow. I don't know why I never thought of curry and corn before. The sweet corn and the spicy fragrant curry make a great mix. I cleaned out my cabinets this week and reorganized all my spices and when I saw all my curry and Indian spices, I thought I'd try them with summer food. I finished off the corn with a smattering of nigella seeds (an Indian spice that tastes a bit like toasted onion) but don't worry if you don't have any - it'll still be great. 

Tomato Sandwich

I was irrationally excited for my lunch today - a tomato sandwich. It sounds simple (because it is - only four ingredients: bread, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and salt) but it's heavenly. I know there are some crazy non-tomato-eaters out there (both of my brothers-in-law), but for everyone else this sandwich is the best thing to eat in the height of summer tomato season. Instead of a traditional sandwich, I made these like a tartine. Mayo on both slices of bread, topped with tomatoes, and sprinkled with salt. It was a little easier to eat this way because with a traditional tomato sandwich the tomatoes often slide out. I tried two ways here. One with grape/cherry tomatoes first topped with slices of bigger tomato, and one with bigger tomato slices topped with cherry/grape tomatoes. The first version was slightly less messy to eat. I want to eat this every day until October. 

Blackberry Shrub

This is such a great fruity but not-too-sweet summer cocktail. I saw the Bon App's Shrub Recipe and given my propensity for vinegar, I could resist. You can use any ripe summer fruit. I chose blackberries because they're Jamie's favorite. They were so light and delicious, and dangerous because you hardly taste the alcohol. Don't let the vinegar scare you. No one knew there was any vinegar in them until I told them how the cocktails were made. Can't wait to make them again, and try with another fruit! Maybe nectarines??