It is nearing that time of year – the time when the CSA box begins to deliver produce that can be creatively put to use for an entire meal. Tonight’s dinner was based nearly entirely on the CSA box, which we get from our terrific farm, Harmony Valley Farm.  The Grilled Caesar Salad with Steak and Blue Cheese was filling, flavorful, and healthy!

As I unpacked my CSA produce box this week, I realized I had the making for this immediately on hand.  The large, leafy green head of Romaine lettuce and the purple scallions were exactly what was needed for this dish.

First, the greens were grilled over our charcoal grill.  Not for long, mind you, because you don’t want the greens to wilt away to nothing.  You merely want to toss them in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and pop them on the grill for about 2 minutes – long enough to get nice, smokey char lines, while still maintaining most of the crispness.

Once pulled off the grill, a toss with your favorite caesar dressing, some croutions and chopped scallions makes it nearly perfect.  However, to make the dish completely perfect, we topped it off with sliced top sirloin steak, grilled to medium rare, and then we added something that sent it over the top – an Artisan Blue Cheese from Castle Rock.  Rich, creamy and pungent, this cheese also came from our CSA program, as a part of the cheese shares that we opted into this year.

And, of course, our Shiba Inu Jimbo, convinced that he was on the verge of starvation, cared only about the grilled sirloin!  (Though he thought the Blue Cheese was pretty worthy as well).

We here at Cuisine Capers know our cuts of meat. We encounter them often. So we don’t take it lightly when we announce that we’ve now named the tri-tip roast the perfect cut of grilling beef available.

But Tri-Tip?  This is not a cut that is easily found in our parts.  But fate was smiling down happily on me the other day at Jenifer Street Market in Madison.  I was gazing fondly at the meat counter, when what should appear in my line of vision but a Tri-Tip.  I scrutinized it for a moment or two, then made the plunge.

It was a mid spring’s eve, and it was a perfect night for grilling. So grill it we did. First, we through your basic spices on the roast – garlic, onion, cumin, salt, pepper…. anything you like to put on your beef works here.  It sat at room temperature for over an hour, getting ready to meet the grill.

The grill master made one side of the charcoal grill hot, while leaving the other side devoid of direct heat. The tri-tip was placed in the direct heat for about 5 minutes on one side, then flipped for about 5 more minutes on the other side. Then the beef was moved over to the other side of the grill, devoid of direct heat. The top was placed on the grill, and there it continued to cook away, until it reached approximately 125 degrees.  After resting, it was sliced into thin-to-moderately sized slices.

The end result was fabulous. Moist, tender, perfectly grill-roasted, with the most robust beef flavor imaginable, this has now entrenched itself into our repetoire as the go-to beef dish of the summer.  Served alongside a simple salad of spring greens, along with grilled spring onions and asaparagus, this made for a noteworthy spring meal.

Gorgonzola has rapidly become one of our favorite cheeses. We cook with it, we eat it after dinner as a cheese course with wine or port, and we always have it on hand. Much of the reason for this is because we are fortunate enough to live close to one of the top Gorgonzola producers, Hook’s Cheese, in Mineral Point, WI. Read more about them here!

So, what did I do with my latest hunk of Hooks Gorgonzola cheese?

First, I made a Gorgonzola Buffalo Burger. Lean, grilled to perfection, then liberally topped with fresh spring greens (heavy on the arugula!), bruchetta and gorgonzola, this burger can quickly become addicting. Put the gorgonzola on the burger while it is still on the grill so that it becomes a bit oozy. You won’t regret it!

The next thing that I really like to do with gorgonzola is create a gorgonzola compound butter. It’s easy to do. You merely need to take a stick of softened butter and 3/4 of pound of slightly softened gorgonzola. Blend it in your food processor and add your ingredients of choice to the blending. For this particular butter, I added scallions and garlic. Spoon it out of the food processor and onto a sheet of saran wrap. Hand roll it into a log and put it in the refrigerator.

After years and years, we’ve upgraded our grill (but more about that in another entry…). Our new charcoal grill has a rotisserie attachment, and I’ve been eager to experiment with it. We have never cooked this way before, so it’s a new thing!

Doesn’t this turkey look pretty? Doesn’t it look perfect? Doesn’t it look like it is going turn out wonderfully, solidifying a new reputation as rotisserie griller extraordinaire?

Right.

An hour later I walked out on the back deck and heard *thud* *thud* *thud* coming from the grill. I lifted the cover and saw my previously perfectly trussed turkey mutilated by the rotisserie prongs and falling apart at the leg joints. It also was so off balance that it stopped “rotisserie-ing”. It just hung there dangling like a horribly deformed fowl.

I would have taken pictures to show you, but Greg seemed to be in no mood to document this defining moment in our lives, so you’ll just have to trust me. The carnage wasn’t pretty.

So, we took it off the rotisserie and put it on a rack. It turned out great. Go figure.

Greg may have had more of a sense of humor if we had not just spent significant time in the backyard wrestling with our new upside down tomato planter! He’ll appreciate that struggle in August, I am confident.

I’ve figured out why I will never amass a fortune. I don’t act on my impulses and create obscure, targeted niche marketing products.

What caused this epiphany, you may ask? Well, there I was, wandering around Jenifer Street Market in Madison one day and lo and behold, what should I come across but one of my past contemplations staring me in the face!

Anyone who lives in Wisconsin and eats brats understands the need for sauerkraut. I’m quite certain I don’t need to explain that. But anyone who lives in Wisconsin, eats brats, but doesn’t feed a dozen people each time they grill also realizes how really annoying it is to throw away the extra sauerkraut that is leftover.

Compound that with the fact that I absolutely hate canned sauerkraut. It is tinny and the texture is not that great. So when I buy sauerkraut, I buy the “Bag-O-Kraut” that you can pick up in the meat case, by the pork. Well, at least you can pick up Bag-O-Kraut in Wisconsin. I make no guarantees about it’s availability in, say, Fresno.

But the Bag-O-Kraut is even bigger than a small can of kraut. So, even more waste.

All of this really does have a point. Really. As I was mentioning at the start of this post…

There I was, staring at the meat counter of Jenifer Street Market and there it was. My million dollar idea. “Packet-O-Kraut”. Just the perfect size for 2 or 3 brats. No waste. Good flavor and texture. Just what the world needed.

They stole my idea!

So in an effort to reduce that noise level, last night we made what has to be in contention for the epitome of a peak summer meal – beef kabobs skewered with peppers, onions and cherry tomatoes, served alongside grilled zucchini, summer squash and fennel, with a few of sweet corn thrown in through desperation.

I know that there is this notion that you should be able to skewer all of the veggies together with your beef and have pretty kabobs to serve as a result. I’ve never found that to be the case. We’re pretty particular about the way that we prepare our beef. We like it done medium rare, and not a degree past that, and we’ve never been able to grill the veggies properly, while getting the beef to that point.

So instead we grill the veggies in a grill basket beforehand, leaving them slightly crisp before removing them and placing them in the oven on warm. Then the marinaded kabobs go on the grill.

We served the meal with a Novella Synergy, which is a Sangiovese/Zinfandel/Petite Syrah Blend. It went perfectly with the grill intensive meal.

And, here’s the status of the great CSA Challenge -

• Artichokes
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Candy Onions – used some but not all
• Sweet Corn – used some, but not all

 

• Swiss Chard
• Italian Red Garlic
• Sweet Ukraine Peppers – used some but not all
• Sweet Banana Peppers
• Blue Potatoes
• Zucchini – used some, but not all
• Summer Squash – used some, but not all
• Patty Pan Squash
• Salad Mix

Cherry Tomatoes – used some, but not all

Fennel – used some, but not all

We’ve got quite a ways to go!

I picked up some very nice thick cut pork chops at my local butchers this weekend. I wanted to try something new and different, so I went to that giant cookbook on the web Google and search for Pork Chop Recipe. One popped up from
the Better Homes and Gardens web site that looked interesting, Garlic Thyme Pork Chops. More importantly, I had all the ingredients! 

I was craving to have some nice mashed potatoes with the chops but being on a low carb kick, I decided to try something else new, garlic mashed cauliflower. After scanning the web for various recipes, I decided to try and whip some up with what I had in the fridge. I took one good sized head of cauliflower and cut into small pieces to fit into a large glass mixing bowl. I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and microwaved it on high for 11 minutes. The plastic wrap traps in the steam and helps cook the cauliflower. You want the cauliflower to be nice and soft. Once cooked, place the cauliflower in a food
processor and add in the garlic, cream cheese, butter, pepper and parmesan cheese and process until creamy.

While the cauliflower was cooking, I brought the wine to a boil in a sauce pan so it would reduce to about half its volume. After several minutes I added in the arrowroot dissolved in water to thicken the wine. This should be cooked for two minutes at a boil to properly thicken. Take off the heat and add the olive oil, garlic, thyme, pepper and salt. I kept this warm as a cooked the pork chops.

I fired up the old Weber Genesis B gas grill (a wonderful cooking machine) and oiled the grates in preparation for the pork chops. The chops were seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. After the grill was good and hot I put the chops on and closed the lid. After about 3 minutes you want to turn them about 45 degrees to get those classic grill marks. I let the chops cook for another 5 minutes before turning them over and repeating the grill mark trick on the other side. I backed the heat down to medium and let the chops cook while I attended to the sauce and cauliflower. As the chops got close to being ready I began basting them with the garlic thyme sauce I had made. Turning every couple of minutes to baste theother side. I repeated this until the sauce was gone. Using my instant read thermometer, I cooked the chops to an internal temperature of 150 and removed them from the grill. I let them rest while I brought the rest of the food to the table. 

I was surprised at how little impact the sauce had on the chops flavor. They were good but not a strong taste of garlic or thyme. It could be I basted them too early in the process and most of the sauce caramelized on the chops losing its flavor. The big surprise was how wonderful the garlic mashed cauliflower was. My whole family thought it was great. A dish that is sure to be repeated.

All in all an enjoyable dinner but I think I will experiment more with the sauce next time. Most likely replacing the thyme with rosemary and not putting it on the chops till the very end of the grilling.

 
Garlic-Thyme Sauce

1 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp. arrowroot or cornstarch
1/2 tsp. water
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. snipped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt   

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

1 medium head cauliflower
2 tablespoon cream cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter

]]>

Our local paper yesterday carried the news that because Hurricane Frances was swirling away off the coast of Florida, the ozone layer was causing haze and pollutants all the way up here, in Wisconsin. The reporter should have done his research. That wasn’t hurricane-induced haze on the horizon. What the reporter was catching drift of was the aromatic, thick, smoky haze of…. ready for this?….

BRAT FEST 2004: The Labor Day Edition!

Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

And what, pray tell, is Brat Fest, the unfortunate may ask? No, it’s not an event where one drops of their nasty children before fleeing. It’s a bratwurst fundraising event that is held twice a year in Madison, on Memorial Day and on Labor Day weekends. It has become a tradition that heralds in the summer, then escorts it right back out. The feeding frenzy over Memorial Day broke a World Record with 189,432 Bratwurst consumed. Sauerkraut is also a hot commodity at this event, with over 4,000 pounds consumed! That’s a lot of kraut!

We headed to Brat Fest on Saturday at around 9:30 AM, on our way to the first UW Badger Football game. Realizing that I had left my camera at home, it was determined that we’d just have to go back again the next morning for breakfast so that we could take photos. Mmmmm, brats for breakfast.

While at the Badger game, I mentioned to the guy to my right (who just happens to be my Cuisine Capers Cohort, Vic), that we needed pictures of Brat Fest. So he also made the ultimate sacrifice and forced himself to take his family there for dinner on Saturday night.

Between all of the Cuisine Capers entourage, we did our Madisonian duty and consumed about 20 tubular meats (so far, anyway – the tally may rise. After all there’s 1 1/2 days left!). The fest goal this weekend: 200,000 brats! We may need to step up to the plate (heh, heh, heh) and give additional assistance towards meeting that goal before the weekend is done.

Finally, here’s Brat Fest, in all its glory!

The Grill
On hand was the Johnsonville Brat Grilling Truck. For those of you that have never seen this wonder of the modern world, the Johsonville Brat Grilling Truck is the world’s largest grill. (I can see some of my fellow foodie bloggers drooling already!). It’s a semi truck which hauls around a trailer that converts into a grill for major bratwurst events, like UW Badger football games, Packer games, and, of course Brat Fest. This truck has a top speed of 9,000 BPH (brats per hour). Take a look at this, guys, and imagine it at your next backyard barbecue:

The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile
Oscar Meyers is headquartered in Madison, and they show up in full force to deliver hot dogs and to give kids a closeup of the Weinermobile. Growing up in Madison, this was a common sight as a kid:

The Tents
There are a number of tents. The main tent serves up the brats, of course. There’s also a condiment tent (run by people in “Condiment Commander” t-shirts… don’t mess with them!), and a Brat Gear tent, featuring shirts to dress your brat (as in, child) in, as well as jars of the official Brat Fest Mustards.

And speaking of condiments…

And finally, THE HAUL:

Two brats and two hot dogs, with 4 sodas, costing a total of $3.00.

For entertaining Brat Fest statistics, click below:

Entertaining Brat Fest Facts, according to the Official Brat Fest website:

• Johnsonville Brats Consumed in 4 days: 189,432
• Johnsonville Brats Consumed in lbs.: 37,886 lbs.
• Brats Consumed stacked end-to-end: 17.94 miles
• Brat Consumed per minute: 98.7 BPM(Brats Per Minute)
• Average Brats per person: Not Sure, But It’s A Lot
• Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs Consumed: 32,160
• Village Hearth Buns Consumed: 221,592 Pre Sliced
• Pepsi Consumed: 14,672 2 Liters
• Cups of Pepsi: 118,000 7 oz. cups
• Onions Consumed: 1,960 lbs.
• Mustard Consumed: 161 Gallons
• Ketchup Consumed: 130 Gallons
• Relish Consumed: 192 Gallons
• Sauerkraut Consumed: 4,082 Lbs.
• Napkins Used: 102,000
• Latex Gloves: 14,000
• 5′ Gas Grills: 16 Grills
• Grilling Capacity: 9,000 bph (brats per hour)
• Propane Gas: 785 Gallons
• Volunteer Hours Donated: 7,667
• Volunteer Groups Participating: 53
• Dollars Raised For Groups: $53,673
• Bathrooms: 5 Unisex
• Madison WI Population: 203,211
• Brats eaten per Madisonian: 0.93 per person
• Brat Man: 1
• Money Raised Since 1983: $363,616
• Total Brats Sold Since 1983: 1,546,562
• Brats Sold Since 1983 in Tons: Over 773 Tons
• The Largest Elephant ever recorded: 7.25 Tons
• Total Brats Consumed if stacked end to end: 146.45 Miles
• Miles to Sheboygan, WI.: 141.70 Miles
• Cost in 1983-$1: Cost Today-$1
• Celebrity Cashiers: 63 Public Servants
• Marriage Proposals: 1 Accepted

It was one of those exceptional days, temps in the low 70′s, low humidity, light breeze and sunny. I decided to cook some of my favorite things. For starters some bruschetta made with this great roasted garlic bread they have at the local grocers. As a main course,  flank steak marinated in a rosemary olive oil and spices. For desert, grilled apricots.

Marinade

2/3 cup olive oil
3 tbs Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves (loosely packed)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Your favorite steak seasoning