Yes, my mom is a grill mistress. She loves the smell of charcoal in the morning. Or in the Afternoon, or anytime, really . . .
Recently she prepared an entire main course on the grill. Time and temperature (it was about 95 degrees outside when she did it) prevented her from cooking the appetizer and the dessert on the grill, but the main course was real grill deal!
First - the meat dish - bacon wrapped chicken with raspberry chipotle sauce. The chicken breast were wrapped with thick cut bacon and then coated in olive oil. Once fully cooked, they were transferred into a casserole dish, covered in raspberry chipotle sauce and set aside to rest.
The sides - corn on the cob and radicchio peach slaw. Folks, nothing is as easy or as delicious as grilled corn on the cob. Simply get the coals hot and put the corn - still in the husk - on the grill. Cook for at least 30 minutes, and turn after 15. Shuck and enjoy!
The radicchio peach slaw was inspired by watching a Gordon Ramsey restaurant show. Mom said she was tired of the same old side dish with steaks and that combined with a dose of watching chefs making outrageous dishes caused inspiration to strike. She took a head of radicchio, cut it into fourths, coated it in olive oil, and then did the same thing with some white peaches. Both when on the grill until the radicchio was wilty and the peaches were tender and had some good grill marks. The radicchio and pears were then sliced up, tossed with berry balsamic vinaigrette, some crushed red pepper, blue cheese crumbles and some asagio cheese. It presented a complex variety of tastes and textures and I drooled enough to make Pavlov proud!
The bread - grilled sourdough loaf with raspberry butter. Mom got a loaf of sourdough, sliced it into thick pieces and buttered the crap out of it. It was then tossed on the grill until done - the butter, as it melted caused some flame ups, but that only gave a nice smoky taste to the bread. Then she took a stick of butter, softened it to room temperature in a bowl and mashed in some fresh raspberries and brown sugar. She also sprinkled some brown sugar on the bread to enhance the toasty, smoky flavors in the bread.
Callie, Sophie and I were three very happy dogs after tasting all that! It was accompanied by a 2007 Rio Seco Torrontes from Mendoza, Argentina. I'm not much of a drinker but even I could appreciate how the slight sweetness and stone fruit flavors complemented the smoky, spicy flavors of the food.
It was tail wagging, backing up against the wall good folks!
And stay tuned for my upcoming blog about mom's "magic" ice cream. No rock salt, no ice cream freeze needed! Just 5 ingredients and a freezer!
So until next time,
Bone Appetit!
Sammy
Sammy, a nine year old border collie mix shares his views and musings on human cooking with a dog's eye view. He also shares his thoughts as he and his human attempt to become a canine therapy team.
