Summer

Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Grilling, the most primal cooking method, is revered as summer sport by men everywhere. It's practically religion in one country, Argentina. This multicultural nation with a unique blend of nationalities, traditions, and customs can only have a renowned food culture. Known for tango, football, and Eva Perón among many other things, Argentina consumes the most beef worldwide and is the third largest importer. Argentinians pretty much grill anything to great effect. Steakhouses, called churrascaria, throughout the cities serve up meats straight from their spits and are sliced right at the customer's table. I can't imagine a better way to enjoy steak.

A popular cut of beef in the traditional asado (barbecue) is skirt steak, a grainy cut from the underside of the animal. In the States it's considered a cheap cut, but there is no more flavorful steak than skirt. It's appreciated throughout Latin America, especially in Argentina, Brazil, and in Mexico where it is commonly used in fajitas. Grill it just until medium-rare, it becomes tough past medium. What goes better with steak than a potent sauce? Argentina's answer to steak sauce is chimichurri, a concoction of fresh herbs, garlic, oil, and vinegar. No one really knows how the sauce got its name, but it's the most popular condiment for all things grilled. Use it also as a marinade. I can't think of a better pairing than steak with chimichurri this coming father's day.

Old Bay Cauliflower Salad

cauliflowersalad Memorial Day Weekend is quickly approaching, which means grilling season will officially commence. I say that with a smirk as the Pacific Northwest has been plagued with rain for the past week-and-a-half. Come back sunshine!!!

Old Bay seasoning is one of our favorites around here. Originally used to flavor crab and shrimp it is now widely used and popular in many dishes. The seasoning mix includes mustard, paprika, celery salt, bay leaf, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, mace, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger. In the United States it is found in every grocery store but I'm not sure what its availability is in other countries.

I decided to make a cauliflower salad, something similar to a potato salad but sans the potatoes. This is low-carb and a perfect side to accompany any grilled food you might be serving this summer.

Zucchini Noodles with Fresh Tomato Sauce

zucchininoodlesandfreshtomatosauce My love of pasta is no secret, but I’m cutting back. An article in the New York Times covering the latest research about the benefit of low carbohydrate diets has me rethinking my noodle consumption. I won’t give them up completely but now and again I can see trying something different. Something like zucchini noodles.

For a long time I’ve wanted one of those spiralizer type tools. But they are rather expensive and I just wasn’t sure how much use I’d get out of them. There is actually an easy way to make “noodles” out of zucchini or other vegetables using a box grater. You just lay the grater on its side like a mandoline! But I’ve just recently tried out the Microplane spiral cutter and it’s an even better option. At $14.95 it’s a lot less expensive than some of the other tools and takes up very little space. It also has two sizes so you can shred larger or smaller vegetables.

Plum and Toasted Almond Galette

plum6 I'm still thinking about the smell of the sweet Virginia hay - wishing there was a way to bottle that scent. We couldn't bring the hay home, but we did bring other treasures back to remind us of our trip: honey, old frames and fruit from various farmers markets.

On the drive home, the dark red plums were on my mind while they sat on the console of the car. Each time I glanced at them, I could almost taste them.

They were tart...so very sharp in that first bite and the bright red inside had a sweetness that was intensely satisfying - a perfect compromise to the sour skin.

We came home to rain and knee high grass and with too many things I needed to do to count. Yet again, those plums called to me.

Dane held them in her hands. I could see it was their size that excited her, as if they were grown just for her small inquisitive hands.

She played and I rolled dough beside her - a perfect way to be home.

One for the Table's Favorite Summer Salmon Recipes

Since over here we've been eating too many bbq ribs, hot dogs (yum), hamburgers, and mac n cheese, we thought we'd feature recipes of our other favorite summer bbq dish: salmon, bbq'd and otherwise, which was partly inspired by the graavlax and potato pancake recipe in Patricia Wells' new cookbook Salad as a Meal.