Grilled Sirloin Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

If you are going to eat beef, make it grass fed. And serve it with a great sauce!

Chimichurri Sauce

This is a very flavorful cold sauce from Argentina, fantastic for grilled foods or to spike up bean and rice dishes. Make it as hot as you like.

Palmful fresh cilantro leaves
2 palmfuls fresh parsley leaves
2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp ground cumin
1 small red chili pepper or ¼ tsp red pepper flakes, or dash red pepper sauce
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
juice of ½ lime

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process to desired consistency.

Eggs in a Nest

This is a really fun, novelty presentation of an egg - for those with nothing better to do :-) ! Similar in ways to the 'oeufs a la neige' desert our mother used to make, it is an egg yoke baked in a beaten egg white nest. But its savory, not sweet. This is adapted from Egg Nests by Elise Bauer in her wonderful blog, simplyrecipes.com

Elise found it in a book "La Cuisine est un Jeux d'enfants" - "Cooking is Child's Play" - our daughter and I can attest that this is true! 

2 eggs
¼ cup grated Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Prepare a jellyroll baking sheet with either a silicone baking pad or by heavily buttering the sheet - we used the butter approach. Carefully separate the yolks from the whites and place each yoke carefully in a small ramekin or cup without breaking them. Whisk the egg whites (preferably with a blender) until whites are stiff. Gently fold in the cheese.

Carefully divide the egg whites in two and make two mounds on the jellyroll sheet. With a spoon, make a crater in the center of each for the yoke (that goes in later). Bake for 3 minutes. Gently tip one yoke into each crater and bake another 3 minutes. Gently remove egg nest from sheet and transfer to a plate.

Cook's Note:   We did not use any salt in the egg white, as we found the cheese was salty enough.

Gateau au Fraises - Strawberry Cake

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp granulated Castor sugar
Scant 1 lb strawberries, sliced
Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter a 9-inch cake pan (I use a spring-form pan). Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, blend together the sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes, until smooth (I use a Kitchen Aid blender for this). Add the egg and blend to incorporate. Add the milk and vanilla just to mix. Slowly pour in the dry ingredients as you mix with the blender, and mix just until smooth – about minute. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out evenly. Top with the strawberries, evenly, laid out. Sprinkle with the Castor sugar (use regular sugar if you only have that).Bake at 350 for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 325 and bake for another 60 minutes or so, until the cake and fruit are set. Remove from oven and cool in pan about 15-20 minutes. When cool enough, remove cake from pan and place on platter for serving. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.

Or you can do the same thing with raspberries.

Brown Rice Bulgur and Pinto Pilaf

1 cup diced onion
1 cup short grain brown rice
¼ cup bulgur wheat
2½ cups water
½ tsp salt
1 zucchini, finely diced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can pinto beans, well drained

In a medium pot, sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the rice and bulgur and continue3 cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the water and salt to the rice, bring to a boil, stir, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, sauté the zucchini, jalapeno and garlic in a separate sauté pan, and keep warm. After the rice has cooked about 15 minutes, tip the beans on top of the rice and cover the mixture. Allow to simmer another 5 minutes. Fold in the zucchini mixture into the rice and serve with a nice Tsatsiki yogurt dressing.

Roasted Garlic Herb BBQ Chicken au 'Jean at the Reservoir'

Ever fight the unavoidable flare-up while grilling chicken? My father had this 'Father Knows Best' thing about aluminum foil for grilling chicken without all those flames, which left the chicken deliciously moist and juicy, but still with that distinctive grilled surface finish and taste. His weapons were a wood or charcoal grill, aluminum foil, salt and pepper; that's it. Here I take a certain license on his grilling method for delicious summer afternoon chicken, by adding garlic, fresh herbs and red pepper to his preparation. I am sure he would approve.
1 roasting chicken, cut up into individual serving pieces
6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
palmful of fresh herbs such as oregano, tarragon and mint
Dash red pepper flakes

Salt, pepper and lightly spray the chicken with canola oil. Grill for 15 minutes, turning 2-3 times over a medium flame to brown and crisp up the surface quite well. Place each piece of chicken on a large piece of aluminum foil and sprinkle each piece with garlic, herbs and red pepper flakes. Salt and pepper to taste. Wrap chicken very well with foil and place on grill. Grill for about 30 minutes turning at least 3 times. Unwrap chicken and serve.