It is peach season and the Farmers’ Market is full of delicious looking peaches. Granted they are no Fredricksburg peaches out here in Vegas, but California peaches still make tasty summer treats. I love simply grilling peaches on the bbq, or even putting them in a pan to form a crisp layer of caramel from the natural sugars of the peaches. This recipe for Roasted Peaches is another great option to enjoy. This recipe feeds four at $1.08 per serving.

As with most recipes, you need to start with great produce. Pick the juiciest and ripest peaches that you can find because these roast a lot easier than hard peaches, and taste better too.

Halve the peaches and remove the stones. Mix together the sugar with cinammon in a small bowl. In another bowl, toss the peaches with vanilla extract and Grand Marnier until they are thoroughly coated. Add the sugar and cinammon mixture to the peaches and toss.

Put the peaches in a roasting pan skin side down and pour the mixture over the top of peaches. Place the roasting pan into a pre-heated oven of 450 degrees. Peaches take a bit longer to roast than apricots, so expect your peaches to be in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until they fork tender.

Once the peaches are roasted, put them in a bowl and I poured some heavy whipping cream over them (or you could make the dulce de luche that the recipe calls for. I just didn’t have any condensed milk on hand to make some). The juices at the bottom of the roasting pan turn into a delicious caramel which I scraped up and poured over the roasted peaches and cream.

As I said last week, one of the new cookbooks I recently picked up was a new one from Argentine chef Francis Mallmann. He’s a big proponent of open-flame cooking, and I think he deserves special recognition for including a recipe that lists “one cow, butterflied (about 1400 pounds)” as an ingredient in his book. Anyhow, for my first effort at making some of his food, I skipped the cow and went for calamari instead. This one feeds 6 people as an appetizer at $2.55 per serving.

Ingredients, from Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, by Francis Mallmann:
4 lemons, halved
4 medium Hass avocados
8 ozs cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 small red onions, very thinly sliced
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves removed and minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
coarse salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 lb cleaned baby calamari, tentacles separated from the bodies

First, make the salad: peel and cut your avocado into 1/2-inch cubes, then put them in a bowl with the tomatoes, onions and parsley. Then add the dressing ingredients (the lemon juice and the oil) and mix. Do this bit by bit, rather than all at once, to make sure you get it right for your taste. Then season and add the chili flakes.

Next, cook your calamari. Mallmann says to use a chapa, a flat piece of metal over a high-heat fire. He recommends a griddle if you don’t have any chapas laying around, so I used one. It worked fine, but I think next time, I’d be inclined to use a grilling basket. The calamari parts were too small just to put on the grill, so the basket would be good. I also think it would cook a little better and char a little more nicely than when cooking it on the griddle.

Once your calamari is cooked, put the salad on a serving platter, and then put the calamari on top and dig in. I’d also recommend squeezing some lemon directly over the calamari while it’s hot!

Even though I’ve been around the grill a lot during my many years with Carlo, the extent of my grill participation has been just watching Carlo cook, or at most helping turn meat or veggies over on his request. Somehow the grill has always remained within Carlo’s domain of our cooking adventures, but I wanted to change that last week by cooking a meal all by myself on the grill.

To prepare for my debut, Carlo explained how to turn on the grill and work all the knobs. After seeing my sister lose far too many eyelashes and arm hairs in her grilling experiences in high school, I’m a total wuss when it comes to flames. He also found some helpful chicken grilling tips in the Steve Raichlen book, How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques. If you are a grilling newbie or just want to improve your ‘que, I would definitely recommend this book. Not only does it go over the basics, Raichlen proves his bbq guru-ness with tons of recipes that he has found by traveling the world in the pursuit of the grill.

Since I’m an amibitious cook (not always a good thing), I decided to jump right into grilling and cook everything on my dinner menu on the grill. Carlo wanted me to make this delicious looking Publican Chicken that was published in the New York Times food section last week, and I added the sides of Grilled Bread Salad and Grilled Corn.

I had everything prepared in the kitchen, the grill heating outside, and was only waiting on Carlo’s phone call to tell me that he was on his way home from school for me to put all of the food on the grill. I had even memorized Raichlen’s tips on how to grill chicken quarters properly. I first started by putting the bread on to grill for the Grilled Bread Salad, and all was going well until I flipped the slices over and the other side would just not toast.

Turns out the grill had run out of gas, or at least that is what I thought, even though in the back of my mind, I wondered if I had somehow broken the grill. I turned it off and waited for Carlo to get home where he confirmed that the grill was indeed out of gas (man, was I relieved that I was not a grilling idiot!). He got a new tank and eventually took over on the grill while I observed and helped out a bit. So my grilling debut turned out to be a bit more collaborative than I had intended, but I’m ready to face the grill solo soon!

We used chicken legs for the Publican Chicken recipe to make 3 servings at $1.37 each. The Grilled Bread Salad made 4 servings at $2.12 each, and the Grilled Corn cost 50 cents per serving for a total dinner cost of $3.99.

To make the marinade for the Publican Chicken, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, brown sugar, hot paprika, oregano, garlic and salt and pepper. The marinade is a nice combination of sweet and savory, which works great with the dark meat of the chicken legs.

Our favourite way to marinate meat is to put it in a large ziploc bag and then pour in the marinade. Close the bag and shake the bag to get the marinade all over the chicken. By putting it in a bag, you are able to really massage the marinade into every nook and cranny of the meat without getting your hands dirty and making a mess. I highly recommend that you marinate the chicken for a few hours in the fridge to fully allow the marinade to flavor the meat.

After a few hours in the fridge, the chicken is ready for the grill, where you should place it skin side down first over medium to high heat. Grill the legs for a few minutes until the skin is beginning to brown and then move the leg to a cooler section of the grill and cook until the skin is fully browned. Repeat the process on the other side for perfectly cooked chicken quarters.

To make the Grilled Bread Salad, start with some really great tomatoes. I got some more from the Farmers Market since they were so good in the Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Basil Vinaigrette. They were supplemented by one for our own garden, the bigger red one in the middle–sadly, my tomato bushes right now only seem to be ripening one tomato per day which isn’t ideal for using them in recipes!

Another key ingredient is good bread. I used some leftover ciabatta that I got from the Farmers Market as well. Ciabetta is a good choice for the bread salad because it toasts well and the airy slices help soak up the juices of the tomatoes better. Cut the bread into thickish slices and then put them on the grill and toast them on both sides until the bread browns and chars slightly.

As for the tomatoes, I cut the cherry tomatoes in half and then put them in a large bowl and mixed them with olive oil, lemon juice, red onion, and finely grated garlic. Be sure to taste the mixture and adjust to your liking. This tomato mixture forms the basis for the salad, so you need to make sure it is seasoned well and tasty.

After the grilled bread cools, cut into up into large chunks and add them to the tomatoes along with a handful of cut parsley and basil. Mix everything together so all of the flavors meld together. I prefer a crunchier bread salad, so I serve mine fairly quickly after I add the bread cubes. Incredible!

BTW: If you love bread salad and ever find yourself in Marfa, Texas, check out the Pizza Foundation. Not only are their pizzas to die for, but they have an incredible Tomato Bread Salad on the menu too.

My preferred way to eat summer corn is grilled with a smidgen of butter and a sprinkle of salt. Grilling corn is really easy: just shuck the corn and put it on the grill over medium heat. Keep an eye on the cobs so they don’t burn, but just have some nice charred parts on them.

Last week Carlo stated that he was done with the oven, and was only going to be using the grill for the rest of the summer as a way to beat the heat. He has done a good job grilling outside more, but I just can’t seem to stop using the oven. Even though temperatures in Vegas have been in the high 90s and low 100s, I’m still in the mood to braise. There is something very satisfying to me about putting a bunch of disparate ingredients into a big pot and with a couple of hours of cooking and a little love, you get this incredible new product that is greater than the sum of its parts. I’m sure there must be some twisted Freudian way to interpret my braising addiction, but nothing suggests comfort food to me more than a braised dish. And considering the uncertainty in our life, it is no wonder why I keep on finding new recipes to braise despite the mercury slowly rising.

I remember seeing a photo of Beef Rib and Sausage Ragu with Whole Grain Spaghetti on the front cover of the May 2009 issue of Bon Appetit, and thinking, yes, I need to make this. I kind of forgot about it for a couple of months until I found the issue in a pile of magazines next to my bed. Since I’m now in charge of weeknight dinners due to Carlo’s summer school schedule, I thought I would try it out because I don’t really mind a hot kitchen as long as it is full of good cooking music and a little bit of wine.

I’ve posted about my standard spaghetti recipe before, Jamie Oliver’s Spaghetti Bolognaise, but I have to say without a doubt that this is my new favourite meat sauce. It is decadently rich and meaty, but because you don’t need too much of the sauce, it somehow works, even on a hot summer’s night.

Be forewarned: the recipe takes a few hours to make between prep work, browning, and then of course, the magical braising process, but it is WELL worth the effort. I made the full amount which serves 12 people, even though I was only cooking for the two of us. We ate the ragu for dinner and then had some leftovers the next day. I put the rest into smaller containers and placed them in the freezer, so I can whip one out for a lunch or dinner on the fly, or use it as a pizza topping. Obviously, I’m a firm believer that you should only braise if you make enough food to enjoy on multiple occasions. If you make the ragu on a Sunday afternoon, you will not only have dinner for that night, but should be able to have a couple of other meals set for the week.

This recipe for Beef Rib and Sausage Ragu with Whole Grain Spaghetti makes 12 decadent servings at $1.93 each.

The ragu recipe calls for beef shanks, but Whole Foods was sold out of beef shanks, which they normally sell for $2.99 a pound. The butcher suggested that I use short ribs, but those were $6.59 a pound, so I decided to find a cheaper solution. I ended up buying some great looking beef ribs at Von’s for $1.99 a pound. The lady at the checkout raved about how good they were, and how she stocked up on them throughout the year when they went on sale, so she could have a freezer full ready for her summer bbqs. This lady looked like she would make great ribs, so I knew we had found a winning substitution.

Brown the sausage meat in a large pan and break up the sausage with the back of your cooking spoon. Remove and place the beef ribs in the pan and brown on all sides. Once they are done, place them with the cooked sausage, and saute the diced onions in the sausage and beef fat. I also threw in a couple of diced carrots and celery stalks to up the veggie quotient in the recipe.

Return the meat to the pan and add a bottle of red wine, 2 large cans of diced tomatoes, garlic, and spices and bring to a simmer. Here is what the ragu looks like after it has simmered for a few minutes and is ready for the oven:

Cover the ragu and place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. Braise the sauce until the beef ribs are tender, around 2 1/2 hours. After the braising magic:

Remove the beef ribs from the ragu and take all of the meat off the bone. After braising for so long in the tomatoes and wine, this is a pretty easy task because the meat just falls off the bone. Shred the meat and return to the stove top and reduce the sauce for around 10 minutes or so until the ragu is nice and thick like this:

Boil some whole wheat spaghetti and top with the ragu and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and then get transported to braising heaven!

A few years ago, Carlo and I did the South Beach Diet when that was all the rage. Most of the recipes included in their cookbook were fairly nasty, which anyone who has been pranked at the dinner table by their Surprise “Mashed Potatoes” recipe definitely knows! However, one of our favourite recipes in the first South Beach cookbook was for Tuna Nicoise.

We have long gotten rid of the cookbook, but we still love to eat this for lunch. Of course, since it was a South Beach recipe, it has no potatoes in it, which of course are the hallmark of a true Tuna Nicoise, but with all that crunchy veggie goodness, I can skip the potatoes. Our remake of Tuna Nicoise serves 2 large lunch portions at $2.78 per serving.

Tuna Nicoise is full of great vegetables: The basics include steamed green beans, cucumber, red pepper, tomatoes, and black olives. Cut everything up into bite size pieces and throw in a can of diced water chestnuts for some extra crunch. You can also mix in some red onion or scallions, but use a light hand so you don’t overpower the other veggies. You could add pretty much any other veggies that you like in the mix and it will still taste good.

To make the dressing, whiz together some white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil to taste. Season the vinaigrette with a little bit of thyme, and salt and pepper. When I made the salad this time, I used some tuna packed in olive oil, so I drained that oil and used it as the basis for the dressing. Toss all of the vegetables with the vinaigrette.

Top the veggies with some canned tuna and a sliced hard boiled egg for a great and filling lunch.

Over the years, I’ve perfected how to best hard boil eggs (or at least how we like to eat them), so I’ll share my cooking method. Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover them with cold water. Put on a timer for 12 minutes and turn on the stove heat to high. Once the timer goes off, scoop the eggs out of the boiling water and place them in a dish filled with cold water. Stick the dish in the fridge and let the eggs cool off. By putting the eggs in the cold water, you stop the cooking process so the egg yolks remain a tad soft and fluffy, and you don’t get that gross green ring around the yolk from over cooking.

Pretty much every Sunday night, we make pizza at home (you can see lots of previous efforts here). Ever since we got a pizza stone as a wedding gift last year, it’s elevated our work to high art. Usually, we just buy the whole wheat dough from our local Fresh and Easy, since for $1.14 or so, it’s hard to beat, and it tastes pretty good. But this week, I thought I’d try making my own dough. I used a recipe from Jamie Oliver, and it worked pretty well. It was easy, and made plenty. It tasted good, although it was a little thicker and doughier than we usually like. The dough is easy, and cheap: each pizza makes 8 slices and can serve 4 people at 23 cents per serving plus the cost of whatever toppings you put on your base. I halved the recipe and had enough dough for two big pizzas. Next time, I might halve it again and try and wring two thin-crust pizzas out of it.

Like I said, the recipe was pretty easy. Following his directions (I used the regular/semolina flour mix), you sift the flour out onto a work surface, and make a well in the middle into which you pour your yeast and water. Mix it together gradually, then knead.

When it’s all kneaded into a ball, put it in a bowl and cover it with a damp cloth, then let it sit for about an hour, and it should roughly double in size.

Cut it into as many pizzas as you want to make (if you halve the recipe, I think you could easily get 3 decent-sized pizzas out of it, probably even 4), then roll it out and/or toss it. The dough was really elastic, which means it’s easy for tossing. Don’t hit the ceiling, though (not that I ever do that, Alex).

Onto sauce: I usually skip store-bought sauce, as it’s too sweet and doesn’t really taste like tomatoes to me. We’ll often use fresh tomatoes, or I make my own sauce. Just get a large can of tomatoes (crushed or diced, and if you’re feeling really flush, get San Marzano DOP ones, they’re the best), an onion and some garlic. Put some olive oil on to heat in a sauce pan, then add 1/2 a chopped onion or so, and some chopped garlic (as much or as little as you like). Let those color, then dump in your tomatoes with some salt, pepper, and dried oregano (and perhaps basil and red pepper flakes). Get it boiling, then turn down to a simmer and leave it for a long while, until all the water cooks out. If you don’t let it simmer long enough, there’s a good chance it will turn your pizza soggy. I find that one large (28-ounce) can usually makes enough for 4 pizzas, but your mileage may vary, depending on how much sauce you like.

This week, I made a BLT pizza — bacon, leek and tomato. I cooked four slices of bacon, then slowly cooked the leeks in the bacon fat (I did put both the leeks and bacon on paper towels to get rid of some of the grease ), and then put those on top with some mozzarella and sliced heirloom tomato.

We also did one with slow-cooked broccoli, inspired by Pizzeria Mozza in LA. I cooked the broccoli on the stovetop with some garlic and onion quite slowly, then added some water and covered the pan so it would steam and soften. I then added some mozzarella, and shredded a little bit of pecorino romano I found in the fridge. The dry, sharp taste of the pecorino goes really well with the broccoli on this one.

That’s the BLT one, cooked. And yeah, it tasted pretty awesome.

The broccoli one done… I think I might have to go fish out some of the leftovers now.