Grillin' in the Rain

I had really high hopes of utilizing my apartment complex’s charcoal grill; however (and ironically I may add for Arizona) during the heat wave throughout the entire country, it rained all weekend here.  Even I don’t think it’s right to complain about 85 degrees, even if it is colder than usual.  So I waited until the last possible minute before deciding the grill was not going to work.  One thing I have learned about cooking, adding rain water consistently to cooking food is hardly ever a good idea. 

Dinner: Turkey burgers, potato salad, and “grilled” squashes with goat cheese

Emily’s assessment: Tastebud scrumpfort food

Beverage Selection: Boonyville ESB for preparation; M. Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone Red. 

I’m not even sure if that’s the winery that makes the wine or the name of the wine itself.  I am atrocious at French.  When I was in grad school, I was consistently trying to pronounce the names of French authors.  After several unsuccessful tries, my professor forbade me to attempt to speak French in front of her because I was so bad.  I now understand why the French knew so quickly I was not a native speaker when traveling through Paris.  I chose this wine, because I wanted something light to go with turkey and I like wines from Cotes du Rhone, because it’s like the bastard child of French wine regions (I would say red-headed step child, but one of my best friends has red hair and takes quite a bit of offense to such statements).  So what you end up with is some really decent French wine at half the price.  Caveat: I know hardly anything about French wine, but it does tend to be lighter than California cabs on average. 

One thing I did hear this week that I thought very helpful about wine was a chef talking about the “oakiness” or “woodiness” in wine.  He compared that flavor to salt in food.  He was saying how the right amount of salt makes all the flavors pop, but if you use too much, you say it’s salty.  It’s the same thing with oak in wine.  Just the right amount and it makes all the other flavors explode, too much, and it’s something between cardboard and Welch’s.  I thought that was a interesting. 

I realize the dinner list does not sound horribly exciting at first glance.  I’m trying to get away from the Puritan habit of titling the menu in such a long way, that there really is no need to even write about the experience.  My grocery store/farmer’s market had all the main ingredients on sale this week.  I was probably the only person at the store having an ethical dilemma about whether to buy 99% fat free ground turkey or 93% ground turkey.  My trainer grills me about my diet and has the ability to hurt me through excessive workouts if I am not good.  He doesn’t really grill me about my diet, but his workouts border on insanity.  I worked out my legs with him July 4^th weekend.  Two days later, I literally could not walk.  Sitting down that day was a decision that took an extraordinary amount of critical thought and weighing the advantages and disadvantages. 

I decided to go with the 93%, because you have some fat when you’re making burgers…it’s the American way.  I still had some sundried tomatoes and fresh rosemary from last week’s adventure, so those got cut up and thrown in with the meat.  I added some roasted garlic and white pepper. 

Yep, that’s how I roast my garlic – the toaster oven. 

So after my assistant and I formed our burgers, we discovered we had made a burger family.  Clockwise from upper left: Papa burger, Mama burger, Child burger, and midget burger. 

In the final photo, you’ll notice a mint green colored substance on the burgers.  That is a lemon-artichoke pesto to add a little zip to the burgers.  That’s actually why I roasted/toasted the garlic in the first place, I just had extra, so I threw it in the turkey. 

The green is from all the fresh basil I put in and blended in the mix.  It’s actually a little too smooth, because I think most pestos have “bits” of basil instead of paste, but when you throw on a top bun so you can’t see it and just taste it, it’s delicious. 

As much as I would love to claim the genius of this potato salad, the method was given to me by a dear friend from long ago.  I think it’s really reminiscent of the Ohio heartland from whence it came.  You actually bake the potatoes after you’ve diced them so they keep a decent shape.  I used red and gold potatoes to add a little color.  All it is the baked potatoes, bacon, mayonnaise/Greek yogurt mixture, green onions, and sugar.  It’s the sugar that really sets this off…an odd ingredient, but it makes it really unique.   I’ve found that if you need to use mayonnaise for something, if you use like 2 tablespoons and the rest yogurt, you still get the creamy consistency of mayo, but with way less nastiness and guilt, which you can use on the bacon. 

Ah, and finally, what I consider to be the crown jewel of the meal, the side vegetable.  I used Italian squash and zucchini mixed together for color.  I sliced them so they wouldn’t fall through the grill.  Turned out that was unnecessary.  I kept them as dry as I could, I put just a tiny bit of olive oil over all of them, but not much.  Once they were grilled, we layered them, drizzled them with good olive oil and balsamic vinegar and tossed them with chopped basil and goat cheese. 

I was most excited about this side dish.  It was simple, healthy, and I think it looked great too.  My trainer will be upset about the goat cheese,  but I think with everything else, I should be able to walk after my workouts this week. 

I know it's late this week, but here is a preview of next weeks' meal. 

That is a vat of homemade lemoncello, a sweet, strong Italian beverage, recipe courtesy of the aforementioned red-headed "non" step-child friend.  Obviously, I will need to make something Italian to go with that, and it will be gluten-free.