The First Meal

We’re going to kick our food entries off with something we did a couple weeks ago. In fact you might say this blog is the result of that night in the kitchen. The previous week Dawn cooked me a phenomenal meal. She made millionaire mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus (one of my favorites), and roasted lemon chicken. The meal blew my socks off, then she rolled out dessert, a chocolate hazelnut crunch cake (Check out the picture in the post below!). For those who may not actually know me, I’m a wee bit competitive. So after stuffing myself on Dawn’s amazing food I accepted the challenge to top her cooking the following week. In all honesty I’m not sure I did, but it’s the first food we started taking pictures of, which won it the rights to be our first food entry.

I actually had a sandwich very similar to this for lunch the day of our dinner. I stopped at Dorothy Lane Market for lunch and liked the sandwich so much I decided to make it for Dawn that night. The sandwich is simply a Caprese salad grilled cheese. Pick up a loaf of your favorite bread; stuff a couple of slices full of fresh basil, mozzarella cheese, tomato, then drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Brush the outsides of the bread with a little butter and fry like you would any classic grilled cheese until golden brown.

As mentioned above I love grilled asparagus. It’s my default vegetable. If I have the time to marinade properly I like to let the asparagus sit overnight in the house dressing from my favorite Greek restaurant, Papapavlos in Stockton, California. It’s a wonderful blend of balsamic, olive oil and assorted herbs. When I am in a hurry, as I was on this occasion, I simply toss the asparagus in olive oil, a bit of balsamic and whatever fresh herb I feel like (usually either chopped basil, cilantro, or oregano), then salt & Pepper to taste. I prefer to grill the asparagus on the BBQ, but broiling in the oven works well. It doesn’t take long to cook. The smaller the diameter of the asparagus the faster it will cook.

The final piece of the meal was the Sweet potato French fries. And again, being honest here, I got the idea from Dawn. She found a recipe for honey lime sweet potato fries which we made earlier this summer. I took the idea and put my own twist on it. I purchased a couple Asian Sweet Potatoes, for no reason other than they sounded like fun. You will want to boil the potatoes before grilling. I boil them till they feel cooked through when I poke them with a fork. After boiling, slice them into fries. I prefer thick slices, but most any form will do. Just remember to keep them big enough that they won’t slip through the grates of your BBQ.  I threw together a simple glaze of oil, salt, pepper and chopped fresh basil and cilantro. They don’t need long on the grill, just a few minutes on each side of the fries is plenty to cook them through and leave those coveted grill marks. To top the fries off I whipped up a dipping sauce that we both agreed was surprisingly tasty. Take equal parts ketchup and BBQ Sauce along with some honey, cayenne pepper, fresh cilantro (chopped), and salt & pepper. I made this sauce again last week for some friends and added a bit of fresh lime juice and was very happy with the results.

Aric