Grilled Romaine Salad

Last month, I hosted the May meeting of the Atlanta Chapter of USPCA (US Personal Chef Association). We cooked on the Big Green Egg and one of our chefs made a grilled romaine salad. I had never had it before and it was delicious! And now I can't get enough of it.

Admittedly, I had never prepared this myself, it always just sounded a little odd to me. Lesson learned: don't knock something until you try it. Sometimes now I crave it!

Here's how to do it: Get your grill hot, slice an entire romaine lettuce lengthwise, brush lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until slightly charred.

Add homemade bleu cheese dressing (recipe follows), crumbled bacon, and tomato. I found Maytag Bleu Cheese at the Buford Highway Farmer's Market....look for it!

Dinner this night was grilled pork chops and assorted vegetables. Simple and delicious.  Here's the recipe for the dressing:

Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 cup milk, more as needed
2-3 ounces Bleu Cheese, crumbled
3/4 tbsp shallot, finely grated
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Thin with milk if needed.

Enjoy!

Great Week!

I've had a busy week, cooking for clients and also knit night Wednesday and Book Club on Thursday. And all were filled with trying to use up all the fresh and wonderful vegetables coming my way.

I picked up my CSA box on Thursday and I can't tell you how thrilled I am with this CSA!

This week's box from Dillwood Farms included blueberries, fennel, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, carrots, basil, kale and radishes. Everything is so lovely and I can't wait to cook up some great food this weekend.

From our own garden, I've picked a lot of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and green beans. I planted the small French style green beans from seed. Just when I thought they were done, the plants are blooming again and it looks like I'll have another round of green beans.

I'll probably include a stop by the Brookhaven Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, just to see what's new....enjoy your weekend!

Atlanta Food Truck Park

Over the weekend, we visited the Atlanta Food Truck Park http://atlantafoodtruckpark.com/. 

We got there about 6:00 or so, and it was only a little crowded, but became more crowded as we were there. This day, there were maybe 6-8 trucks, with a good mix of food choices. All the vendors inside the trucks were working really, really hard and some had long lines.

We tried bangers and mash and fish and chips. Both were really fresh and well-cooked, but we were with my neighbor who is from Wales and he declared the bangers and mash to not be very authentic. But, I thought it was really good.

We also tried tacos from the barbecue truck....mine was brisket and was delicious! I liked the addition of the dill pickle slice.

We finished with gelato....also delicious. We tried key lime and cinnamon. Both were yummy and refreshing.

If you get a chance, check out the new Atlanta Food Park Truck....I think you'll be glad you did.

Santa Monica Farmer's Market

I just returned from a visit to Los Angeles to visit my son who lives there. I timed my flight arrival on Wednesday to make sure I could make it to the farmer's market at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

This is one of my favorite things. It was one of my favorite things when I lived there. If you go to Los Angeles, go to the 3rd Street Promenade on Wednesday mornings. You'll be glad you did.

Enjoy!

Things To Come

Wow, I am really amazed at how well our garden is doing! I think we just picked a great spot in the yard....it's getting lots of sunshine and apparently is very happy!

Soon we will have yellow squash. The tomatoes are also blooming like crazy...can't wait to have a tomato sandwich. There's nothing better in the summer, right, than a tomato sandwich with mayo and salt and pepper.


I have picked lettuce about 6 times now and there's still a lot still to go. I've shared with neighbors too and I'll need to pick again this weekend. But the spinach....it is delicious! We had some in a salad again last night. This I planted from seed and love how a pack of seeds that cost $1.29 produced so much spinach. I'll definitely plant spinach again. Who wants some?

In-Home Cooking Parties

I have been working with a client to develop monthly in-home cooking parties. Last weekend we had our first one, and it had a French theme. My client sent out an e-vite invitation to about 30 people and within minutes, the 15 available slots had been confirmed!

I developed the menu, which included appetizer terrines, French brie soup, sole meuniere, haricot verts, potato/fennel gratin, and chocolate pots de creme.

I prepared the appetizer terrines ahead of time so that when the guests arrived they'd have something to munch on. One was a layered vegetable terrine, the other a gorgonzola/fig/pecan terrine.

Once everyone arrived, we chatted a little about what we planned to prepare, then divided into groups and everyone got busy.

The soup group prepared the French brie soup....onion goggles helped since this needed lots of chopped shallots and we were doubling the recipe. The soup turned out great!


The haricot verts team was also busy. Success also!

The sole meuniere team prepared the fish at the last minute, since it doesn't take much time. It was also delicious and everyone did a great job.

Everyone did such a good job cooking and the food was fantastic! In the works for upcoming months are many more cooking parties with themes including Healthy Southern, Italian, Mediterranean and lots more!

This really is lots of fun and everyone enjoys being in the kitchen and learning new techniques and sharing the cooking experience.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

So glad we put in the vegetable garden this year! I love watching it grow.

The lettuce is going crazy! I think the two big ones are ready to become part of a salad.

And the spinach now has little spinach leaves....this I planted from seed.

Also from seed, I planted French Green Beans....two have popped up!

We also have squash, cucumbers and tomatoes, and Brussels Sprouts.

It really is the little things that make us happy.