Full meal on the grill

On of the great things about summer is that it's so easy to sit outside and just fire up the grill.  For this dinner that's just what I did with a whole collection of food: kale, garlic heads, bread, scallops, steak & even twice baked potatoes!

I turned on the left two burners of the grill and left the right two off to enable me to use indirect heat on some of the ingredients and direct heat on others.

The bread and garlic cloves went on the top rack for about 25 minutes before the steak went on.  The kale was on the lower rack, but as far away from the heat as it could be.  The 25 minutes was spent with the lid closed.

After the 25 minutes were up, on went the steak and potatoes.  For the potatoes I put them in a roasting tray away from the heat.

The steak, a dry aged NY Strip, went on direct heat.  After five minutes of cooking I rotated the strip 1/4 and then flipped it after another five.

Once the steak was flipped, I added the scollops to the grill.  After five more minutes of cooking I removed the steak to a cutting board and covered with a light towel.  At this point I also flipped the scallops and allowed them to finish cooking (they should not be translucent except in the very center).

After the scallops finished cooking, everything came off the grill and then it was time to plate.




I plated with the kale as a base to build on and then plated the potatoes, steak, scallops and garlic head in circular fashion around the plate.  It tasted as good as it looks in the following picture, try it yourself and enjoy!

Stone Crab is a great crab!

Wandering around the seafood section in Whole Foods the other day, I noticed something that I don't see there very often ... Stone Crab Claws!  I love stone crab claws because they have a great meat to weight ratio.  The only downside to them is that they require a little force to crack ... luckily a metal meat tenderizer will do the trick nicely.  Now, I didn't want to make stone crab the entire dinner so I grabbed a couple of U10 scallops and shrimp as well.

I cooked my crustacean feast on the grill and then served it with baked potato chips and sautéed kale topped off with a poblano and queso fresco cream sauce.

There's a reason that everyone prefers to eat at an Italian Grandmother's house!

There's just something about Italian food that makes you feel all warm and happy inside.  Movies will tell you that for Italian chef's "food is love" or that you should "never trust a skinny Italian chef" ... I don't know about all of that, but I do know that when it was cold outside the other day I knew that only a nice filled pasta dish would do.

I thought about stuffing the pasta with the scallops I served for this meal, as well as the other fillings, but figured that might be over-kill for the simple, and classic, taste that I was going for.  The scallops therefore were relegated to the side!

For the filling I started with the traditional cheese base, ricotta, and then decided to add a non-traditional kale to the garlic and peppers.

Kale & Pepper Stuffed Manicotti
6 pieces dried manicotti pasta (cook in salted, boiling water, for 7 minutes then cool on a rack before stuffing)
2 bunches kale
1 large yellow bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic (feel free to add as much more as you'd like)
2 cups ricotta cheese
2-3 cups of pasta sauce (red sauce or vodka sauce; may not use it all)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Cook your kale however you prefer, I sauteed/steamed in a large saute pan to allow it to cook down (steamed) then ultimately removed most of the liquid via sauteing.  I diced it and then transferred to a large bowl to cool.  I then diced the pepper and the garlic and sauteed them until the pepper was just soft and then added to the kale.

Once the veggies had cooled to room temperature I added the ricotta and stirred until it was well mixed.  I then stuffed the manicotti with the mixture (don't worry if you have a little filling left over, it will be great in an omlette the next morning) and put them in a single layer in a baking dish.  I covered the manicotti with the sauce (I used vodka sauce for this dish), topped with a little shredded parmesan cheese and then popped it into the oven for about 25 minutes.  Once cooked remove and serve with a spatula, enjoy!

It's winter, that means soup!

Soup is one of my favorite things to make on a nice cold day.  The longer you let it sit and simmer, the better all the tastes come together and the better it will make your whole house smell.  Soup is also great because you can really make it to be anything you want by adding whatever catches your fancy.

My favorite winter time soup starts with a bean base.  I just grab whatever 12, 14, 15 (or whatever number the packaging calls out) bean soup mix I can find to start the soup.  When I cook this, I use my 12 qt stock pot, but you could easily use something smaller if you choose to.

Hearty Bean Soup w/ Sausage, Shrimp and Kale
1 pkg 15 bean soup mix (discard flavor package)
1 - 1.5 lbs sausage (cut into chunks)
3/4 lb 30-40 ct shrimp (shells removed)
1 bunch kale (roughly chopped to about 2 inch pieces)
1 box (26oz) Pomi chopped tomatoes
2 pkgs Goya Sazon
1 tsp salt
Additional Salt and Pepper to taste
Crusty bread and shredded parm for garnish

Before beginning you'll want to put the bean mix into a strainer and check carefully for any stones that may have made it into the packaging with the beans, and then rinse the beans.  To start I put the beans into my stock pot and then fill the pot about 1/4 full with water.  Some people like to soak the beans overnight to get them tender ... I find that this means you can't let them cook as long then and so you can't build up all of the flavor.  I add the tsp of salt and then bring the beans and water to a boil for about 5 minutes (stirring frequently) before turning down to a low simmer.

While waiting for the beans to return to a simmer, you have another choice to make in regards to the shrimp and sausage.  You can put both directly into the pot (uncooked) and they will cook throughout the process, but I find that this can sometimes make them feel a little water logged.  I like to cook both the shrimp and the sausage in a saute pan first, getting a bit of a crust on the outsides and keeping them from absorbing as much water.

Once the beans are simmering, add the pomi tomatoes, kale, shrimp, sausage and the seasonings.  Stir everything well.  Now this is the most important part ... partially cover the pot so that some liquid can evaporate, ensure the temperature is low enough that it will lightly simmer but not boil or burn, and WALK AWAY!

Feel free to check back every hour or so to make sure you're not losing too much liquid and give it a little stir.  This is also when you may want to take a little sample to make sure the sausage still tastes ok :-)  After about an hour of simmering the soup is technically ready to be served, but I like to let it simmer for at least 4-5 hours to make sure all of the tastes merge together perfectly.

When you are ready to serve, sprinkle a little bit of parm on top of the soup in a bowl, serve with crusty bread and enjoy!