Let them eat....Grilled Vegetables?

My mother just celebrated her XX^th birthday (she would kill me if I put the number) at the end of July.  To celebrate my aunt hosted a BBQ at her house.  A majority of the cooking was done by said aunt as well as a dear family friend both amazing cooks.  

Various dishes were, however, assigned to different members of the family to bring.  So being the one with the baking blog I was assigned the….grilled vegetables?  I mean I thought I would make a cake or cookies or something but alas I became in charge of the veggies.  So I decided to take on the veggies with avengence.  I wanted to do roasted vegetables like Phoebe Buffay did cups and ice in that episode of Friends.  

The vegetables were actually pretty perfect for the party.  Easy to transport, delicious served at room temperature, and perfectly light for a day when the temperature soared into the 90’s.  I decided not to marinate the vegetables before and to dress them with a simple vinaigrette, courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis, after they were grilled.  I prepared the dressing beforehand so that the flavor of the herbs would have time to blend into the balsamic vinegar.  For the platter I used: eggplants, red peppers, asparagus, green and yellow squash, scallions, brussel sprouts and cremini mushrooms.  I thought for sure there would be brussel sprout objections but they were some of the first veggies to go. On the grill the vegetables got a nice char and developed a really sweet flavor.  The brussel sprouts and asparagus still had some of their crunch and the scallions were amazing.  I suggest you grill some scallions right now and try.

Another of my aunts requested that I prepare the same platter again for another BBQ a week later.  The photos below are a culmination of both platters.

A selection of the vegetables: Eggplants, scallions, squash(yellow and green), asparagus, brussel sprouts and cremini mushrooms

Chopped all the vegetables and coated with olive oil, salt and pepper

Most I chopped into long strips, easier to manage than large circles I think

Scallions right on the BBQ watch them closely they finish very fast but are super delicious

Grilled Red Bell Peppers

Eggplant dressed with the dressing after they were done.  A little bitter on the first try so for the second I sliced them much  thinner (thanks Juanita)

Finished product dressed with Balsamic, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, parsley, basil and thyme

Being there were many green veggies I alternated a green veggie with a nongreen veggie

I grilled some onion rings to make a flower for the center with basil as the leaves. A nice garnish

Pop over for a Popover!

On many occasions a coworker of mine suggests places that she thinks I will enjoy going to for a meal.  Consistently she would bring up one place on the upper west side of Manhattan that specialized in what she called a “popover”.  I had never heard of these “popovers” before but her description peaked my interest.  She described them being served with a small portion of strawberry butter and at this point her hands go in front of her mouth and fingers swipe down her face to show the deliciousness of a hot “popover” smothered in melting fruit butter.  You have to see her hand motions along with her description and you will understand how good she makes this place sound.

So one day a friend of mine from the neighborhood, out of the blue, suggests that we visit The Popover Café, on 86th and Amsterdam, for brunch.  Having heard so many great things from Ms. K, I jumped at the opportunity to go.  I have to say that the menu seemed typical of your local diner at brunch.  A bunch of egg things, a bunch of pancake, french toast things and the fruit platter and oatmeal things (does anyone ever order these?).  The food was good but each plate we ordered came with the legendary popover and strawberry butter.  They were definitely the highlight of our brunch.  The butter was outrageously good and melting over the eggy popover of course I had to order another. 

The popover at The Popover Cafe

So I figured, how hard can these things be to make.  I found a simple recipe for popovers on allrecipes.com and soon learned that a special pan known as a “popover pan” was needed for the recipe.  I would not be stopped by mere cookware so I prepared the recipe using a regular muffin pan instead.  I definitely did not get the height that all the photos of popovers I saw had.  However, I was able to get some pretty good results and because of the muffin pan I got double the amount of popovers the recipe called for. 

At this point I realized I did not have the required strawberries for the butter.  Really I can’t imagine eating these things without it.  So I simply substituted blueberries for strawberries in Martha Stewart’s strawberry butter recipe and I think it tasted better.  Very few, basic ingredients, really simple recipe, fantastic results it’s a win-win situation. 

I have to admit that although I did share some of them...I ate most of them myself!

Mix milk, flour, eggs, salt and melted butter 

Until it appears like heavy cream

The recipe says to cut chilled butter into six even pieces. However, for a muffin pan with 12 spaces I cut into 12

After popovers are in oven set timer for 20 min and start butter preparation

I halved the butter recipe and used blueberries instead of strawberries

Combine butter ingredients into electric mixer and blend

Blueberry Butter!

Popovers growing high ready to be removed from oven

Eat hot with blueberry butter

Eggy, Airy and Delicious!!!

Smoked Cheddar Souffle....My Way!

Summer time, Oh summer time!  For many, summer entails beaches, BBQ’s, sun and tan.  For me summer means vacation and travel.  During time off from school I have had the opportunity to visit places like Australia, The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and most recently Puerto Rico.  For the past two summers coworkers and I have traveled to San Juan, PR for a great time on the beach and of course eating our faces off.

In a cookbook that highlighted chefs from the island, we discovered a restaurant owned by Wilo Benet in San Juan called Pikayo.  We booked a reservation and decided that for this night only money would be no object.  The meal was probably one of the most incredible meals that I have ever had and included my first taste of Soufflé.  Actually we had ordered two: a cheese soufflé and a chocolate soufflé.  The cheese soufflé actually blew my mind.  It was light, fluffy, salty and was served with this amazing guava sauce.

   

Pikayo's Cheese Souffle

Pikayo's Chocolate Souffle

                                                   
This being summer again, I am spending the vacation home in New York City.  However, to get back a taste from my time in Puerto Rico I have decided that I need to make a soufflé to remind me of the treasure that is Pikayo.  Hearing how difficult a soufflé can be to make had me a little nervous.  I did watch some online videos of Julia Child to see the methodology of making it.  Then it was just to find the recipe that I wanted to use.  I came across a recipe for a Smoked Cheddar Soufflé at chow.com.  Not having a large soufflé ramekin I divided the mix into four individual ramekins.  The results were better than I expected and I will be definitely using this recipe again. 

 Instead of using the breadcrumbs to dust the ramekins, I used parmigiano cheese, just to give more cheese and salt flavor

Preparing the roux

After milk, flour and butter cook, add salt, pepper and nutmeg

 Stir in a portion of the milk mixture into egg yolks so as not to scramble them

 Instead of using chives as the recipes says I substituted cilantro

 Beat the egg whites to firm peaks in an electric mixer

 Fold in egg whites gently to yolk, cheese and milk mixture

 Fill ramekins to just below the top and bake

 Finished results after 40 minutes

Inside: light, fluffy and delicious!