Herbed Shrimp and White Bean Salad

This is your Tuesday night throw-it-together dinner!  This salad has so many good things going for it.  Arugula is the peppery flavor base.  Creamy cannellini beans mean you won’t miss the cheese.  Toasted pine nuts give you the crunch you need.  Finally, roasted red pepper strips for the color you eat with your eyes.  Fresh herbs are a must in this recipe don’t use anything else.

Saucy Tips:

*Roasting a red pepper is easy – follow the instructions in this recipe but use a zip lock bag for steaming them prior to removing the skin.

*Roasted pistachios or macadamias would be a great substitute for pine nuts

*The vinaigrette in this recipe (starting with the lemon rind through pepper) isn’t enough for the amount of salad you’ll produce. Double the lemon juice, olive oil, and add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a spoon full of the chopped herbs.
*If you don’t like chunks of raw garlic in your salad dressing, mince it and place it in a pile on your cutting board with a little salt.  With the tip of your knife, smash the garlic and salt to make a paste.  In this form, the garlic will mix into your vinaigrette evenly.

*You eat with your eyes first, so I layered the salad on the plate instead of mixing it together:

RayFactor: 7

Falling On The Swordfish

Grilled Swordfish with Lima Bean Herb Butter

Lima Bean Herb Butter???  You heard me.  The only thing better about butter is COM-POUND butter!  The swordfish is great but its merely a vehicle for this butter.  You don't even have to be a fan of the lima bean.

Recommendations:
Swordfish can be expensive and you can easily feed two adults with one steak.  Unless you're planning a dinner party you only need 1-2.  I dusted the steaks with salt and pepper but fried them in a corrugated grilling pan instead of using the grill.  This method worked great and produced a moist fish.
I doubled the lima beans in the compound butter and it was much better.  Don't compromise on the fresh herbs though, they are the main attraction.

Serve With:
Wild Rice
Sauteed Broccoli with Parmesan and Garlic

RayFactor: 8

'Q it Up!

North Caroline BBQ Pulled Pork



Mustard Slaw

Grilled Pound Cake & Peaches



There’s something about the open air, the hiss of the grill, and the smell of charring meat. Any time the rain stops is the perfect time for BBQ in the Northwest. Since we grill year round, it’s good to have a few stand-by menus to take advantage of when the mood strikes. Steven Raichlen is the Guru of BBQ. In his cookbook BBQ USA, he gives detailed instructions to walk you through the charcoal or gas grilling process of virtually every BBQ region and technique in the United States. I found a couple of my favorite Raichlen recipes online, very close to the cookbook version.

Before You Dive In:
This recipe calls for hickory wood chips. These can be found at any hardware store selling grills but smaller bags are often found in the picnic isle of your grocery store. If your grill doesn’t have a smoking box, you can easily make a smoking pouch with the soaked wood chips and some heavy duty aluminum foil (www.grillingcompanion.com).
Place 1 cup of the soaked wood chips in a sheet of foil and wrap like a burrito. Poke several holes in the foil with a knife and lay it on or to the side of a heat shield under the grate of the grill. When the pouch begins to smoke, you’re ready to grill. I also tried this without soaking the wood chips first but they burn too quickly and the amount of smoke just about choked me each time I opened the grill.
Time – the prep time is quick but cooking takes several hours so plan ahead and allow 4 hours before this roast is ready to eat.

North Carolina Pulled Pork

The recipe calls for a 5-7 lb. bone in pork shoulder. I used a 2.5 lb. boneless pork shoulder which cooked in about half the time but only yielded about 4-6 sandwiches. If you’re going to spend the time cooking this, make it worth your time by choosing the larger roast.
I used the rub Raichlen suggests but put it on the grill immediately instead of refrigerating. He tells you to cook to an internal temperature of 195°. This seemed way too high for pork, but trust him, it works! The sauce made with the Mustard Slaw is perfect for the pork as well.

Mustard Slaw
A perfect side dish for the pulled pork is this Mustard Slaw. If you like to “hit the sauce”, double this recipe so you have enough for the slaw and the pulled pork. Better yet, pile the pork and slaw on the same bun for a perfect sandwich!

Grilled Pound Cake and Peaches
Grilling dessert is just fun and it impresses the guests. This one is simple but the grilling process makes it so much better.

1 bakery fresh or frozen pound cake
6 ripe peaches – halved and pitted, skin on
Whipped Cream

Slice the pound cake. Place the pound cake and peaches, cut side down, on indirect heat on the grill. Grill slowly until the cake is a little crispy on the outside and the fruit has nice caramelized grill marks. Once removed from the heat, the skin of the peach slides off easily. Serve a slice of cake with 2 peach halves and a dollop of whipped cream.