Summer’s red, white and blue has me thinking of a few meals that kicked off our summer…
Red-fresh picked raspberries! Just coming into season here, they are
good but in a few weeks will be amazing!
The little watermelons we’ve picked up lately have been sugar sweet. My favorite watermelon treat is simple: sliced with lime juice, lime zest, chili powder and salt. Plus who can resist a bowl of iced cherries…
White-we’ve made our white slaw a couple times. I think I mentioned it a few posts ago but it’s worth mentioning again. Napa cabbage sliced, granny smith apple, fennel & jicama? The dressing is apple cider vinegar, honey, fresh squeezed orange juice, salt and a little toasted sesame oil. Oh wait I’m seeing some chives in there too, yep add those too.
Yum, they are here Grassy bar Central Coast oysters! They are making it down to our fish market and they a little bit of sweet briny heaven. These oysters have a taste as subtle and fresh as the ocean itself. Those my husband shucked and I fired in my Cup 4 Cup mix with just salt, pepper and chili powder. I did an egg dip then the seasoned flour and a few inches of oil in a skillet and you’re set for frying. They were so delicious that the herbed aioli I mixed up to go with the golden oysters barely got used.
Chicken is getting thrown into the white category only because I love dark meat on the grill. We fired it up with lemon chicken thighs and legs. I know everyone does chicken breasts but a thigh or a leg off the grill has no equal. No big trick just cook the meat on low heat and cook slowly you’ll end up with golden meat and a crispy skin. Sometimes our marinade is as simple as olive oil, salt, pepper and a little New Mexican chili powder, yep, chili powder again. I think it’s a summer staple. See, you can never make to much aioli it got put to good use with some oven roasted potatoes. Don’t laugh, yes that was how much chicken I had, but it was cooked perfectly. We grilled off a bunch of chicken then the rest got turned into chicken salad the next day.
Blue-it has to be blueberries! We went blueberry picking. The bushes were so heavy with fruit it only took 15 minutes to fill a 2 pound box. Love that, now there isn’t any excuse not to go again soon to pick more. Of course they needed nothing but I love to cook with blueberries and these first ones of the season had me wanting to bake. I took the berries added a grated a granny smith apple, honey a little cinnamon and some instant tapioca (the tapioca granules got whirled in the blender to make it finer). Ummm okay I did add sugar, I cheated a bit but I’ve done so well I didn’t mind a little sugar indulge. The streusel was Cup 4 Cup, cinnamon, margarine and again some brown sugar. Simple faster than a pie and just as good as any dessert I could have toiled over. The blueberry flavor was amazing!
Yum! Beautiful pictures – again! I want those oysters!!