Grilled Corn

Whether it is a side dish for hamburgers or part of a salsa, grilled corn is the essence of summertime. Here are a few grilling tips that will make your corn delicious:

- First soak the corn in salt water for 15 minutes. The ensures that the corn will not burn when it is on the grill.

- Remove the inner husks and silk linings. Peal the outer husks back like a banana and remove the inner linings. Refold the outer husks over the corn and twist the top. This allows for the corn to steam within the husk.

- Grill the corn on a medium/medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes. If you grill it at too high of a temperature, you will sear the corn.

- When you take the corn off the grill, season it with salt and butter. You don't have to douse the corn in butter to get the great taste. Just brush it!

Grilled Chicken

There is a fine line between well cooked chicken and over cooked chicken. The fear of undercooked poultry has led to chicken dishes often being dry and tasteless. Here are a couple of tips on grilling chicken properly:

1. Lightly pound the chicken prior to placing it on the grill. Be careful not to pound it too much. You are trying to create an even cooking surface for the meat. Obviously, if only a portion of the chicken is touching the surface of the grill, it will not cook evenly.
2. The internal temperature for the chicken should be around 165 degrees. You can tell whether the meat is cooked by touching it. If it is spongy, the chicken has not fully cooked.
3. Be liberal with the salt and pepper. Too often people under season meat on the grill. The salt and pepper season the entire piece of meat, not just the outer surface.
4. Let the meat rest! 10 minutes is a good rule of thumb. If you cut into the meat too early, you will lose all of those juices that keep it moist and delicious.
5. Sear the outside on a higher grill temperature and then cook the rest on a lower grill temperature. You want to create a nice crust for the chicken, but continuing to cook the chicken on such a high temperature will dry it out.
   

Angel Food Cake

Angel food cake is a simple dessert that is light and fluffy. It can be made fairly quickly.

This was my first attempt making the dish, and I thought it turned out pretty well. I used Alton Brown's recipe which calls for: sugar, salt, cake flour (I used all purpose flour), orange extract (I used vanilla extract), egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar.

First you combine a little water, tartar, vanilla extract, and egg whites in a bowl and whisk by hand for a few minutes. Next, move this to a mixer (set it to a very high speed). Slowly pour in half of the flour and sugar and mix until the mixture looks like sand dunes (around 7-8 minutes).

Once, as Alton Brown says, the mixture reaches medium peaks, remove it from the mixer and gently fold in the rest of the flour and sugar. Spoon the mixture into an angel food cake pan and let it cook for 30-35 minutes.

Let it cool upside down for an hour before removing it from the pan.

Serve it with sliced strawberries and whipped cream (which can be made easily from scratch by mixing heavy whipping cream and a little salt in the mixer for 5 minutes).

Enjoy!

BBQ Ribs

There are few things Southerners take more seriously than ribs. Being from the South, this is a dish I have long wanted to perfect. These ribs are my second attempt. My first try tasted okay, but were "slightly" blackened. Let's just say the first were not "blog" worthy.

The most traditional way to prepare ribs is to use a smoker. If you do not have one, you can either use a grill, your oven, or a combination of the two (which is what I do).

Ribs usually start with a dry rub (a mixture of ingredients combined in a bowl). You can be creative in making a dry rub or follow a recipe - I used Alton Brown's recipe for these ribs. It contained brown sugar, salt, chili powder (I used ancho chili powder), black pepper, cayenne pepper, jalapeno seasoning (I did not use this ingredient), Old Bay seasoning, thyme, and onion powder (I used garlic salt).

With many of these recipes, you don't have to follow ingredient list to the "T." Any recipe is open to interpretation.

Rub the dry rub thoroughly on both sides of the ribs (don't be afraid to use too much, the ribs will absorb the spices). Let the ribs rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

After the ribs have rested, put them in the oven at 275 degrees for 2.5 hours.

This recipe called for a braising liquid containing white wine, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, honey and garlic cloves. Thicken the ingredients by simmering in a sauce pan. About 1 hour and 15 minutes after the ribs have cooked, pour half the liquid on the ribs. When the ribs are ready to take out of the oven, pour the rest of the braising liquid on top.

At this point, transfer the ribs to the grill for the final 20-30 minutes of cooking. The key for this is that you do not want to cook the ribs at too high a temperature. You will want to either create a hot zone and a cool zone on the grill (by arranging most of the coals on one side and just a few on the other) or using only a few coals on the grill.

Turn the ribs in 15 minutes. When it reaches the rich brown color that we associate with ribs, their done. Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Benedict

I do not know of a more delicious sauce in the world than holland- aise. What can be better than butter, egg yolk, and lemon?!? It is the base of one of my favorite dishes, eggs benedict.

In addition to the eggs, benedicts will have another protein such as ham, bacon, or even crab (which is very popular in San Francisco). The recipe pictured is a smoked salmon (or lox) benedict.

For the sauce: For many, hollandaise is intimidating. In reality, it is quite simple. 3 egg yolks, 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 1 stick of butter (it makes four servings). You can either use a double boiler or a blender (or immersion blender). I use the latter and find it to be much easier.

The most complicated aspect of preparing the sauce is separating the egg yolks from the whites. This is done by cracking the egg in half and transferring the yolk back and forth to either half while letting the whites drop into another bowl (you can use the extra egg whites for an omelet).

Once the butter is melted transfer it into a mixing bowl and add the yolk and lemon. Blend together and that's it!

For the eggs: Before you start on the hollandaise, begin boiling water in a pot. When the water reaches a rolling boil, turn off the heat. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of white vinegar in the water (this is the key -- it keeps the egg white and yolk together. If you have tried to make poached eggs and found the whites to be runny or completely separate from the yolk, this is why).

Cook the eggs in the water for about 5-7 minutes (it really depends on personal preference). You are looking for the whites to not be translucent and the eggs to be somewhat firm. Be careful - you want a runny yolk and not a fully hardened yolk.

Toast an English muffin. Build two open faced sides by stacking the smoked salmon (or other protein), then one poached egg, and finally topping it with the hollandaise. Sprinkle a little paprika on top to finish the dish (optional).

If you are looking to impress friends or somebody special, try it out - they'll love it!

Batido de Mango (Mango Smoothie)

I saw this dish on an episode of Boy Meet's Grill with Bobby Flay. Bobby just threw the ingredients into the blender without going into detail about how much of each ingredient he used. Smoothies are very versatile in that you can try different fruits and bases and create delicious flavors.

This mango smoothie is perfect for the holiday weekend.

Ingredients:

1 Mango
2-3 scoops of Mango sorbet
1.5 cups of plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup of Milk
Sugar to taste (optional)

Place the ingredients in a blender and mix it. That's it! If it is too thick, just add more milk. It is easy, light and refreshing. Try it! If you want to make it into an adult beverage, the flavors would be great with rum.

Allegro Romano

Do you ever have a meal that makes you think, "why do I even try to cook myself?" I had one last night. Rachael and I decided it was high time for a romatic date, so we went to Allegro Romano in Russian Hill (San Francisco). I had been there once before on a hotel recommendation when my parents were in town. Because Italian cuisine is one of Rachael's favorites, I decide that this was the restaurant for us.

...it was a good call.

The setting for the restaurant could not be better. There are about 15-20 tables and it feels more like a large livingroom than it does a restaurant. When you walk in, you are greeted and seated by the owner - I question whether he ever takes off work.

Once seated, the staff was curteous and helpful, but never became over-involved with our meal nor so distant that they were not available. The restaurant placed fresh bread with a muted tomato-based dipping sauce on the table. The bread was good (but not mindblowing). The sauce was solid - it had a mild flavor that persisted throughout the bite, but never threatened to overpower your palate in consideration for the next course.

We decided to order bruschetta and beef carpaccio as appetizers. The bruschetta was spectacular. Two little pieces came with the order and we each savored every bite until it was gone. The dish had the perfect balance of olive oil, tomato and basil. The very slight flavors were a lovely way to start the meal.

Beef carpaccio is not for everybody. Some have a natural adversion to raw/mostly raw meat. I will never make this dish at home, I only order it at restaurants I know to be good and I am comfortable with. Allegro Romano's beef carpaccio makes me question how anybody can be a vegetarian. It was fantastic. The beef is topped with parmigiano-reggiano cheese (I think), which adds so much to the already wonderful meat. Each bite was incredibly fresh and delicious. I will definitely order it again.

For the main courses, we decided to share fettucini with a white truffle sauce and lobster ravoli. We decided to leave it up to the restaurant to pick the wine pairing with our dishes and they did a great job with this (it was not too expensive, but it was quite good). Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to make a note of what we were drinking - my bad.

The dishes were brought out (already split onto separate plates) as courses rather than all together. I loved this. It seemed as if we were having a five course meal. Timing, or a lack there of, is one of my biggest pet peaves when it comes to restaurant service. It is so frustrating when the server brings your appetizer and then the main course on its heels (or worse, at the same time!).

The fettucini came first. In-cred-ible. The white truffle sauce was light and airy. The pasta (obviously freshly made) was soft. Each bite was creamy and made us happier than the last. The lobster ravoli came next. It was a smart choice to lead with the fettucini because the ravoli had a vodka sauce (a heavier tomato-cream sauce). Biting into the ravoli forced me to close my eyes and enjoy the flavors. I cannot even put into words how delicious it was. We even dipped some of the bread in the remaining sauce when we were done (I know it is rude, but we made sure nobody was looking).

Finally for dessert, we had the tiramisu and chocolate gelatto. Before our dishes came, they brought port to the table and seemingly kept refilling it whenever I turned my head. It was about this time that a woman sitting beside us starting singing for the entire restaurant (I swear I am not making this up). Rather than go about their business, the restaurant staff stopped, turned off the lights in the kitchen and enjoyed the opera singing just as the patrons did.

Now, I am not a huge chocolate fan, but Rachael was very impressed with the gelatto. They dusted it with cocoa powder, which I thought was a nice touch. It was great. The tiramisu was like biting into a cloud. The coffee was not dominating (which I think is a typical mistake for this dish). Amazing.

After the meal, rather than hail a cab, we walked home. Before we could leave the restaurant they presented Rachael with a single rose - nice touch. It was a beautiful night, the moon was out and we were completely satisfied. It really made us appreciate our city and our neighborhood.

I would highly recommend checking this restaurant out. For what you get, it is a bargain - the dishes range from around $18-$28 dollars and the appetizers from around $4-$15. I have certainly paid more for much less.