Even though I am a pretty creative cook (as in- show me your fridge and I could find a way to make a meal out of whatever is in there), I sometimes loose my inspiration or find myself stuck in a rut. That is when I pull out the cookbooks. Jamie Oliver is a favorite because his dishes are a bit different and he uses lots of herbs! This weekend it was beautiful weather so we were in the mood to BBQ. My boyfriend brought home some steaks and prawns so I knew part of what I had to work with. Since we were BBQ'ing I pulled out my "Real Grilling" book put out by Weber. We had also just gone shopping in the market at Granville Island and bought a ton of fresh herbs so I knew I wanted to use those. I found a recipe for a spicy pesto marinade for the steaks, a mango prawn salad and a fresh strawberry dessert.
Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Pesto
2 mediums heads garlic
You want to remove the loose papery skin from the outside of the heads of garlic and cut the tips of off the head (so that once they are roasted you can just pop the cloves out easily). The rub the heads with olive oil and either put them on a cookie sheet in an oven or wrap them in foil and throw them on the BBQ. In the oven I put them on broil for about 15 minutes or until the tops start to brown a bit.
Pesto
1/3 cups lightly packed rosemary leaves
2/3 cup lightly packed Italian parsley
1/2 cup of pine nuts
2 Serrano chile peppers - stemmed and roughly chopped (I couldn't find these so I just used another kind of spicy peppers they had at the market)
2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
(I found this was not enough liquid to make my blender work so I added a few teaspoons of lime juice and a few more glugs of olive oil until my blender would blend)
Put the rosemary, parsley, pine nuts and chile peppers in the blender until finely chopped. Pop the garlic cloves out of the skin and into the blender, add the olive oil, lime zest, salt and pepper. Blend until it forms a paste.
Spread the paste on both sides of the steaks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours before grilling.
You could use this paste for anything although the grilling book is using it as a marinade for the steaks. In fact, the next day I used the leftovers as a pasta sauce.
Shrimp and Mango Salad
Dressing
1 medium garlic clove
1 Serrano chile ,stem removed, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 small handful of fresh cilantro
1 small handful of fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Blend all the ingredients in the blender. It suggests adding 2 tablespoons of water but instead I used a few extra glugs of soy sauce and a little bit of white vinegar
(I didn't use the fish sauce and I used sesame oil instead of peanut oil.)
20 large shrimp (about 1 pound)
peanut oil
1 small head butter lettuce cut into mid size pieces
1 ripe mango (peeled and cut into 1/2" strips)
1 cup bean sprouts
(I also added pea shoots and roasted red pepper strips to the salad, you can add whatever you want)
Brush the shrimp with oil (which ever kind you prefer, this recipe uses peanut, I like sesame, grape seed or olive oil) then grill over medium heat until they turn opaque.
In a large bowl combine the vegetable ingredients with the mango and stir in enough dressing to cover. Put the salad on individual plates and add the shrimp. I put the shrimp on skewers and then added that to the side of the plate.
Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Pesto
2 mediums heads garlic
You want to remove the loose papery skin from the outside of the heads of garlic and cut the tips of off the head (so that once they are roasted you can just pop the cloves out easily). The rub the heads with olive oil and either put them on a cookie sheet in an oven or wrap them in foil and throw them on the BBQ. In the oven I put them on broil for about 15 minutes or until the tops start to brown a bit.
Pesto
1/3 cups lightly packed rosemary leaves
2/3 cup lightly packed Italian parsley
1/2 cup of pine nuts
2 Serrano chile peppers - stemmed and roughly chopped (I couldn't find these so I just used another kind of spicy peppers they had at the market)
2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
(I found this was not enough liquid to make my blender work so I added a few teaspoons of lime juice and a few more glugs of olive oil until my blender would blend)
Put the rosemary, parsley, pine nuts and chile peppers in the blender until finely chopped. Pop the garlic cloves out of the skin and into the blender, add the olive oil, lime zest, salt and pepper. Blend until it forms a paste.
Spread the paste on both sides of the steaks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours before grilling.
You could use this paste for anything although the grilling book is using it as a marinade for the steaks. In fact, the next day I used the leftovers as a pasta sauce.
Shrimp and Mango Salad
Dressing
1 medium garlic clove
1 Serrano chile ,stem removed, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 small handful of fresh cilantro
1 small handful of fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Blend all the ingredients in the blender. It suggests adding 2 tablespoons of water but instead I used a few extra glugs of soy sauce and a little bit of white vinegar
(I didn't use the fish sauce and I used sesame oil instead of peanut oil.)
20 large shrimp (about 1 pound)
peanut oil
1 small head butter lettuce cut into mid size pieces
1 ripe mango (peeled and cut into 1/2" strips)
1 cup bean sprouts
(I also added pea shoots and roasted red pepper strips to the salad, you can add whatever you want)
Brush the shrimp with oil (which ever kind you prefer, this recipe uses peanut, I like sesame, grape seed or olive oil) then grill over medium heat until they turn opaque.
In a large bowl combine the vegetable ingredients with the mango and stir in enough dressing to cover. Put the salad on individual plates and add the shrimp. I put the shrimp on skewers and then added that to the side of the plate.
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