Sometimes you get a craving. Sometimes it is for something that you know you shouldn't have. Sometimes it is something you know your imaginary internet food friends would disapprove of.

Today it was a Big Mac.

But it is a summer Sunday and you have a grill. So what do you do?

You make your own Big Mac. But this one is so good you name it after yourself and call it a "bigrus".

Your wife makes fun of you until she tastes it.

Bill that looks delicious.

Last night:
Skirt steak and chicken breasts marinated in olive oil, lime juice ground cumin & coriander, chile powder and garlic. Grilled and served with hot tortillas.
Avocado salsa.
White and yellow corn on the cob with lime/chile butter.
Tomato salad (7 varieties, very pretty) lightly dressed with olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt & pepper, and basil that Mrs B brought me on Saturday.

Guests brought a chocolate cake, so we did not grill the peaches from the market.

Mexican is far and away my favorite "summertime, guests are coming and I want to grill" cuisine. It is easy, flavorful and almost everyone likes it.

Indeed, Saturday was beef fajitas with my sister and nephew.

Charcoal grilled chicken marinated in lemon, rosemary and roasted garlic

Fresh cranberry beans stewed with aromatic vegetables

New Morning Silver Queen corn off-the-cob, stewed in sweet butter

Charcoal-grilled broccolini, lemon olive oil

Dessert: roasted sweet cherries and fresh figs, drizzled with macadamia oil, honey, balsamic vinegar, marsala wine and lemon zest, served with sweetened creme fraiche

Kir-Yianni Akakies rose


The roasted fruit compote was da bomb--one of the best things I've ever made. Before he tasted it, my husband looked at it and accused me of trying to feed him beets for dessert.

Cobb salad.

That salad looks oh so yummy and delicious. It's 7am and wish I could eat it for breakfast.

That bacon's talking to you, isn't it?

Grilled flank steak w/ a salad of heirloom tomatoes, fresh picked basil and mozzarella cheese

Home-Smoked Turkey Breast Sandwiches, Two Ways:



w/ barbecue sauce and w/ lettuce, tomato and mayo

Instead of Greggory Hill's Three Little Pigs we have Bil Russell's Two Little Gobbles.

Pork chops marinated in lemon juice, garlic and evoo with
roasted golden new potatoes with fresh herbs and Maldon sea salt

Washed down with a vodka-pomegranate lemonade

Leftover slices of "Mr. Stripey" tomato (Gigantic yellow and red striped monster from the Dupont farmer's market) with Lillet vinaigrette.

Two types of heirloom tomatoes (yellow and red), cilantro and fresh mozzerella with pan-fried sausages (tequila, lime and black bean) and the Toigo "better than chocolate" corn.

2 ears.

Burp....

Homemade guacamole, chunky like at Rosa Mexicano.

First time! Loved it.

Larb!
Tomato Salad a la Power

I made a mix of Middle Eastern salads, add some oven roasted chicken breast, a little toasted pita...dinner is served.

Click to view attachment

Clockwise from 12 o'clock
Chickpea Salad
Taboulleh
Cous Cous
Roast Chicken
Pita
Hummus (top middle)
Baba Gannoush (bottom middle)

Yes, dinner. Summer fruit crêpes with Aunt Penny's peach jam.

Grilled ham steaks with a molasses dijon glaze, and disappointingly tasteless corn (from a stand in Anne Arundel county) and tomatoes (from the Sterling farmers market).

1 out of 3 would be great for Cristian Guzman, but not for a dinner in the middle of the summer.

But they are nice to look at.

Pork and eggplant stir fry.
Peanut really liked it!

No pictures, but I did cook last night for the first time in a while: pounded floured chicken breasts in a lemon caper pan sauce. Served with braised fennel from the freezer and some sauted zucchini.

Tried a new trick of salting the cubed zukes and leaving them in a colander to drain, weighted with a bowl. Worked out great. Zuke browned up nicely in olive oil, and with a little lemon to round it out, tasted just right.

(Note: if you salt it before cooking don't salt it during or after. At least that's what my cookbook warned.)

Jael

I find the same technique works wonders for eggplant. A totally different creature if you force out some of the water.

Half of my last block of leftover fresh pasta from the Tomato tasting (hey, I made a LOT), in a bowl with the last bit of Mr. Stripey tomato from Sunday, with a little olive oil, some sel gris, and reggiano.

Mmm...leftovers!

My summer comfort food: sauteed romas, garlic and basil over mini lasagna with a ton of parmesan washed down with some of Barbara's wonderful lemonchello

Dessert will be berries and cream

Summer salad with the last of the Saturday market green beans and tomatoes, baby yukon gold potatoes, olives, lettuces, Vidalia onion,herbs from my planter garden and a dijon vinaigrette. Erases the guilt from last night's dinner indulgence.
Click to view attachment

I made a Vidalia Onion Soup--a neighbor sent me the recipe--with one of my favorite salads: Endive with bacon, blue cheese and lemon.

I pureed the soup in the Cuisinart, but will run the leftovers through the blender before straining it. I'm planning on cooking some shell fish in it on Friday.

Trying to eat light to counteract the effects of recent dinner indulgences. (Obsession with Dino? What obsession with Dino?)

So, oven-grilled pork chops with a vaguely Mexican dry rub, peach/red onion salsa, and a really tasty cold black bean salad with yellow, red, and jalapeno peppers. Not much cooking, a whole lot of chopping.

Pan-seared skirt steak that had been marinating in garlic, EVOO and red wine vinegar (only for an hour - I was running late) with a side of sweet corn risotto. I love Sunday nights!

Mezze night

- pork kebobs
- yogurt with dried apricot and garlic
- tabbouli
- a veritable medley of olives
- some pita toasted on the grill

Purchased a Costco membership this past weekend. Nothing like bulk shopping to put you in touch with your own mortality. You think to yourself "hmm, I wonder if I'll finish this 55 gallon drum of anchovy paste before I die".

Anyway, bought a 6 lb boneless rib roast. Rubbed it with s&p, ground coriander and mustard seeds, and seared it on the grill. Finished it with indirect heat. Came out freakin perfect.

I'm trying to make my kitchen DC restaurant hip (this is to counterbalance the Voltron lunchbox) and made a really delicious beet salad last night:

Chiogga beets
Sungold tomatoes
Boucheron cheese
Mesclun salad

Dressing:

2/3 extra virgin olive oil
1/3 champagne vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon capers, minced
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

All the ingredients were either from Cinda Sebastian, the Eastern Market cheese guy, or Prego across the street from the market. The salad came out fantastic; the sweetness of the beets and the tanginess of the cheese were great in combination. Beets are my official food discovery of the summer. They are the bomb.

last night, made a pork chop with garlic-white wine pan fried sauce for the missus; i had baked mahi-mahi. we shared pan-roasted red potatoes (with thyme and rosemary), green beans and rice pilaf. washed it down with a chateau ste. michelle semillon.

chicken breasts stuffed with spinich, ricotta & mushrooms topped with a white wine and butter sauce

Haricots Vert with Gorgonzola, Walnuts and Bacon
Heirloom Tomato Salad w/Basil balsamic Vinagrette and Fleur de Sal
Delmonico Steak w/Green Pepper Sauce

Well, sheepishly enough I didn't make it, but my girlfriend made an excellent and refreshing panzanella last night. Very simple to make as well. Pan-frying the baguette might have been the most complicated step for her.

It was on par with the fresh sweet corn and tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad she made on Sunday evening.

We went on a Southern Maryland roadtrip on Sunday to try out a bbq shack (quite literally a shack) and stopped at a farmer's market around Hughsville on the way back. We picked up a couple of grocery bags, a weeks worth I'm sure, full of tomatoes, sweet corn, cukes, zukes, various onions and whatnot for less than $8! Now we have to use them all before they expire on us.

Which reminds me, it's now my turn to man the kitchen. Does anyone know here of a good recipe requiring fresh cayenne peppers? I picked them up at the farmers market, more as a novelty than anything else, but so far have failed to find a suitable recipe requiring them in the books at home or on epicurious.com.

And if you like chiles (as I do) that farmer's market had a surprisingly nice selection, ranging in Scovilles from cubanelles to Jamaican Hots.

Cooked dinner for a friend a few nights ago to celebrate a couple of special occasions.

Broiled goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms
Prosciutto and melon

Cold tangerine heirloom tomato soup with creme fresche and basil-parsley oil

Marinated lamb chops on a bed of roasted crimini and shitake mushrooms
"Oven Fried" zucchini pecorino chips

Brownie topped with berries


Last night was my weekly roma tomato, basil and garlic over spaghetti

Bacon, eggs, and a beer.

I've saved up a few nights here -

Monday - BLTs - I've been lazy about getting up on Saturdays to get into the farmers market, but these are the best tomatoes I've had this year and they're from Wegman's.



Tuesday - Fettucini Bolognese



Tonight - Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Giant salad night here at Chez Dente.

photo would be here if I could figure out how to post the damn thing

Some lupini beans in harissa sauce, haricot vert with evoo and sea salt, baby plum tomatoes with evoo and balsamic, crunchy sprouts, olives, emmenthaler, another cheese the name of which I forget, mache with orange bell peppers, onions, and a tahini dressing.

last night was tomatoes straight from the garden w/ just a touch of salt, and eggplant, also from the garden, sliced, battered and fried......yum

Corn risotto with shrimp

For the kids: Bean burritos! whole wheat tortillas, refried beans with green chilies, tomatoes from the garden, nice crunchy iceberg lettuce, sour cream , salsa, and shredded monterey jack. One of their favorite meals.

For mom: Tanqueray & tonic with lemon.

Here is the previously mentioned gigantic salad.

GET in mah BELLY.

That looks so delicious! So summery.

Today I made dinner for my m-i-l, probably the 4th time in 30 years (she thought I couldn't cook and would never let me ). She's been very ill, so I expected her to take a few bites of some of the items I cooked. In fact, she tried every dish, and went back for seconds, and made sure I tucked containers of leftovers into her fridge before we left.

Our menu was:

Shrimp cocktail
Crab Imperial (recipe from O'Donnells, which used to be in Bethesda--I think it's gone now)
Pan fried chicken (combo of John Shields recipe and my favorite from Wolftrap Picnic cookbook)
Mashed potato salad
Corn pudding
Green Beans with Smithfield ham & peanuts

ScotteeM

Chilled tomato and bread soup-(from Mario's Molto Italiano)
I gladly took some over-ripe tomatoes from a friend who had way to many... This makes a pretty presentation, and is verry easy to make. Over-ripe tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Fresh Thyme, EVOO, day old bread, S&P. Garnished with fresh parsley (instead of scallions)

Fresh Corn-I grabbed a few ears on sale at Sniders--not fantastic, but still good. I knew it couldn't hold a candle to some of the corn I've had this season from the farm stands.

Pan seared Mahi-Mahi (from Upstream Seafood Market!)
with parsley-lime-butter sauce

Too stuffed for a real dessert, I grabbed a snicker-doodle that I bought on impulse from WFM.

Sunday night:

Grilled pork loin marinated in mojo (sour orange marinade)
Yellow rice
Grilled corn with lime & cotija cheese
Avocado & corn salsa
Fava beans sauteed in butter & tarragon


ScotteeM

White Castle burgers in Jersey! For my first (and probably last visit), I had:

6 Original
3 Jalapeno
3 Cheeseburger
A bunch of fresh, hot French Fries
Some fresh, hot Onion Rings
and a Diet Coke

I've now satisfied my craving.

Leftover crab imperial
pan-seared skirt steak
steamed (microwaved) corn on the cob
leftover mashed potato salad

The dogs had raw chicken wings, and they are very happy!

ScotteeM

Herb crusted pork tenderloin
Some nice bicolor corn that I picked up on sale at Whole Paycheck roasted in husk on the grill.
Steamed broccoli
2003 Chateau de Nages Costieres de Nimes (better than some of the 2003s I've tried recently, but nothing to write home about)