Tuesday, August 2

...about last night... and other things to do with peaches!

Yesterday after an awesome round of golf at Top O the Hill in Sylvan Lake, Marilyn presented me with a HUGE hutterite chicken! The challenge was for me to cook said chicken on my bbq - at first I thought "I can do it on the rotiesserie!" but it's not hooked up yet.  Then I thought "I can use the beer-can chicken kit that Debbie got me for my birthday!" but Todd put it somewhere and I can't find it.  So... what do do with that beautiful huge chicken.  I found the perfect recipe for Grilled Rosemary Chicken in this month's Bon Appetit magazine.  It's such a simple, perfect, rustic recipe that I did not change a thing!! (except - too many beverages had been consumed at grill time, so I forgot to reserve the marinade for basting, and I also forgot to brush said forgotten marinade on the chicken with tiny brushes fashioned from rosemary sprigs - blarg)

before: make sure to let this marinate for at least 3 hours!
after: way too many ciders and wine consumed, so presentation was extra "rustic"
served with my extra yummy really easy warm potato salad (recipe below)
The chicken turned out great and Marilyn and I had a great meal!  I served it up with one of my fave creations:

Warm Herb and Dill Potato Salad
Ingredients
1 lb small fingerling or red potatoes, washed
3tbsp olive oil
2tbsp white wine or champagne vinegar
1tbsp dijon mustard
1tbsp mayonaise
salt & pepper
large handful assorted herbs, chopped fine: Italian parsley, chives, basil, dill, etc

Method
Boil potatoes either on stove, or if you're lazy and potentially drunk like me, in the microwave - also safer if the latter applies to you.  Meanwhile, combine all of the other ingredients in a steel mixing bowl and whisk to your heart's content.  Once the the potatoes are cooked, drain and add to the dressing - mix and serve right away!  The dressing can be made ahead of time and left at room temp, but do the potatoes while you're waiting for your protien to "rest".

With a dinner like this, who even needs a salad?  Toss a couple of cocktail tomatoes on the plate and dinner is served.  Dinner was capped off with more summer white wine, courtesy of the House of Rose, and a lovely peach crumble pie that I whipped up.


Peach crumble pie: only for someone as awesome as Marilyn!


So what about all those peaches I bought in the Okanagan?  Two nights ago, I made an awesome grilled avocado and peach salad - YES GRILLED AVOCADOS!!  Served with a roasted red pepper dressing - so good!

Grilled Avocados: they should be slightly under-ripe to get a good grill on!

All together!
I adapted another recipe from Bon Appetit for a Grilled Avocado and Peach salad; I changed it by also grilling the peaches and serving with spinach rather than arugula.  Still delightful & I recycled the left over dressing into a roasted red pepper and feta dip for Mari the next day :)

Todd is gone all week, so this week, I'll be highlighting a few of my "cooking for one" dishes!

1 comment: