Summer Dinner

Yesterday was marathon picture hanging day so I served the left over lentils with pork chops.  I used Marion’s rub (blogged previously) and cooked them in the Speedcook oven.  They were the thick boneless chops from Costco, about 1 ¾” thick.  I used the beef fillet medium as the standard pork setting said well done.  I do not like cooked to death pork. 

My brother is arriving today and bringing Indiana corn.  So of course I made my standard Gilled Corn Lime Butter, from the Cooking Light Cookbook.  I blog this every summer. 

Ingredients:

1 ½ T butter, melted

¼ t lime zest

1 ½ T lime juice (1 lime)

¼ t salt

¼ t red pepper

8 ears of corn

Directions:

1.      Mix the first five ingredients together. 

2.      Place the corn on the grill and baste while turning.  Cook about 10 minutes. 

For salads I am making my favorites that are a twist on the traditional. 

The first salad is one I started making back in the 70’s as we had a friend that hated mayonnaise.  It is Cold Rice Salad from the classic NY Times Cookbook.  I alter it a little and it serves 6. 

Ingredients:

1 C raw rice

3T salad oil (what ever suits my fancy at the moment)

3 T vinegar (what ever suits my fancy at the moment)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 can of sliced water chestnuts

¼ C minced parsley

¼ C minced onion

Directions:

1.      Cook the rice until tender. I soak my rice one to one in water for a half hour to an hour and then bring to a boil. Immediately turn to low and cover the pot for 10 minutes. 

2.      Add the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and cool. 

3.      Add the water chestnuts, parsley and onion and mix gently. 

The next salad is cucumber salad.  I am using Penzeys Green Goddess Dressing base and mixing it with Greek yoghurt to dress sliced cucumbers with some onion and parsley.

The main course will be burgers.  I decided to make the buns.  I used the bread machine to make the dough and divide by 4 to form buns.  I have a special bun pan that keeps them round as the rise.  After rising again, I baked at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.   

Oatmeal-Applesauce Bread

Ingredients:

2 C bread flour

1 ¼ C oatmeal

1 T dry milk

1 T sugar

1 t salt

½ t cinnamon

¾ C water

½ C unsweetened applesauce

1 T butter

1 ½ t active dry yeast 

Finally the burger.  This recipe is from Weight Watchers.  It is called Greek-Style Cheeseburgers. 

Ingredients:

1 # uncooked lean ground beef

½ t dried crushed oregano

¼ t salt

¼ t pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

½ C uncooked, minced onion

5 t crumbled feta cheese

¾ C fresh baby spinach

Directions:

1.      In a medium bowl, combine beef, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic and onion.

2.      Preheat and spray the grille. 

3.      Grille for approximately 8 minutes. 

4.      Place the burgers on the buns and divide the cheese and spinach between them. 

For dessert we are having raspberry sorbet with the world’s best chocolate sauce.  It is from Cuisine Perel and is called Raspberry Pinot Noir Chocolate Sauce. 

All was good except my cold rice salad.  The fig vinegar that I used was too strong and I did not use enough salt and pepper.  Everything else was perfect.