I need your input! I asked this question on Facebook and only got one person to answer, which was rather disappointing. I find myself at a crossroads. This is my third summer of working on this project, and I am just a little less than halfway complete. I honestly didn't figure on it taking this long. It's not to say that I'm bored with the project, but rather that there are other culinary areas that I would like to explore. I have grown a lot as a cook in the last three years, and have developed new interests. The biggest issue is that I am starting to feel unchallenged by this project. Initially, I started this blog to document my learning process as I started to work with charcoal grilling. Formulating, analyzing, and writing down my thoughts and reflections helped me tremendously, and I am now in a much better place because of that process. I am no longer intimidated by charcoal, which was the point of this exercise.
So, please let me know what you think I should do...there is a survey at the top of this blog. I would highly appreciate your honest opinion.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
In an effort to keep knocking as much of this project out as possible, I picked out three recipes today. The Bride sent me a text stating that she needed cheese today. I obliged by having an appetizer ready to go when she got home, the Mini Grilled Blue Cheese Bites on page 64.
The first thing to do was thinly slice the red onion.
Top it off with parsley, red wine vinegar, and black pepper. Red onion can be somewhat potent, but the red wine vinegar helps to neutralize that. The acidity calms the pungency quite a bit.
Melt some butter, and brush it on one side of your bread slices.
Flip the slices over so that the non-buttered side is face up. Add on a thin layer of your onions (or a thick layer..do what makes you happy).
Weber calls for blue cheese crumbles. I changed that to blue cheese slices, because I wanted to use Danish Blue cheese. This stuff is very moderately priced compared to most blue cheeses, but still tastes great. If you are in Cincinnati, you can find it at Gibb's Cheese Shop in Findlay Market. It's easily one of my favorite cheeses.
Lay on the slices, close up the sandwich so that the buttered side is facing out on both sides of the sandwich, and you are ready to make TRUE grilled cheese sandwiches.
Corn is starting to come into season, which is why you are about to see me cook it again in the same week. I figure that I may as well take advantage of it! Thus, our side tonight was the Cajun Corn With Louisiana Butter on page 334.
Soften, not melt, some butter and add in your spices.
Basically, you are going to do the same thing I did a couple of posts ago. Soak the corn, pull back the husk, remove the silk fibers, and you are ready to go. I didn't take pictures of that, so if you need a reminder just keep reading more posts after this one.
Our main dish tonight actually comes from the Starters section, the Zesty Garlic Shrimp on page 75.
Begin this one with your marinade.
Throw those sea roaches in! I was fortunate to find tiger shrimp from Hyde Park Fish Market that had already been deveined.
Back to the corn! Here we are, all prepped and ready to make friends with the butter.
Butter up the cobs, and then tie them up again for roasting on the grill.
The Bride came home, and the grilled cheese sandwiches went on the grill, only two minutes per side. The tricky part is to get the cheese to melt without burning the bread.
Although not shown, it should be noted that I cut each sandwich into four triangles to make it appear more like finger food appetizers.
The corn was on the grill, and as they approached completion I skewered the shrimp. Weber says to shell the shrimp, but in my opinion, it is better to leave the shells on while grilling. I've done both methods, and find that leaving the shells on helps retain much more moisture. Try it, your shrimp will be much juicier!
Two minutes per side on the hottest setting possible, and they come off looking super tasty!
A simple plating later, and The Bride and I had our dinner.
Let's start with the Grilled Blue Cheese. The Bride said that they were delicious, and I think they helped fix her cheese craving. I liked them as well. I would rate them as a success, but not something that I will cook for company. Still, I can now say that I've REALLY made grilled cheese sandwiches.
The corn was also good, but is for Louisiana weenies. I expected some sort of kick, but really there was no "heat" to this at all. It needs some adjustments to be called Cajun. With those modifications, I think you could have a real keeper of a recipe. This is also just a good technique to know, because you could easily switch out the spices and have whatever kind of compound butter your heart desires. This technique will give you a diverse cooking method that can suit many occasions. This technique, but not this exact recipe, will be seen by company.
Finally, the shrimp was finger-licking good. Personally, I think it could have used more garlic, but that's often the case with many recipes that contain the word garlic in the title. When I see a recipe that says "garlic" in the title, I expect to be smacked around with that flavor and find myself saying afterwards, "Now THAT'S garlic!"
Unofficial Standings:
186 recipes cooked
187 recipes to go
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