Tailgating in the Kitchen

Hello, my fellow culinary creators! It's been a few days, and for that, I apologize. June is going to be a very busy month for us...we've got three weddings in the next three weekends, and then other plans as well! But the good thing about all these events is that I get to experience lots of different epicurean treats, and then, share them with all of you!

Tonight, Oia graduated from Puppy Training, and we are proudly displaying her diploma on our refrigerator...the same refrigerator that I pulled dinner out of tonight! I went for a meal that I took from a magazine that a friend purchased for me at the check-out last summer. It's an entire magazine of tailgating recipes, meant for parking lots and fields, with outdoor grills and beer pong tables...there's nothing better than tailgating before a football game or outdoor concert in the thick of the summer. I use this magazine mostly for camping, BBQs and, well, tailgating...but once in awhile I like to bring the tailgating indoors. It's been a rainy few days, it's gotten much chillier and in order to continue the thought that summer MUST be on its way, I decided to do a little indoor grilling. I opted for the Sausage, Grape, and Gorgonzola Dolce Sandwiches and the Chopped Vegetable and Couscous Salad with Black Olive Vinaigrette.

I got my 2-burner grill pan out, and set it to heating while I prepped all the veggies for the couscous salad. I sliced some eggplant and zucchini, peeled a few carrots, quartered a head of radicchio and trimmed some scallions. I pulled all the other ingredients out of the fridge and lined them up as well. (You can click on the links above for a full ingredient list and instructions).

As I grilled the veggies in batches, I mixed up the vinaigrette for the salad with red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, black olives, olive oil and some black pepper. Check out this emulsion!

Once all of the veggies were grilled to perfection, I transferred them to a platter to cool while I assembled the sandwiches for my panini grill.

I split the sausages almost in half, like the recipe describes, and placed them on the hot grill to cook.

While the sausages cooked, I made my couscous by boiling some water and allowing the couscous to soak in it for 5 minutes, covered. I also chopped all of my cooled, grilled veggies for the salad and placed them into a large bowl. I stirred in the mixed herbs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, couscous, and vinaigrette. Because this salad can be served at room temperature, it can certainly be made in advance but I liked the heat that the veggies added to the mix right after it was made. It's a beauty though, isn't it?

And now, to assemble the sandwiches. I took the cooked sausages off of the grill. The recipe calls for baguettes, but I had some hot dog buns to use so I settled for those this time around. I didn't want to waste what I already had lying around. I placed some gorgonzola dolce on each side of the bun (the buns were small, and definitely would not have held the whole sausage so I split them up into two smaller sandwiches). Into the cheese, I pressed a few slices of red grapes so that they would stay fixed in place. On top of all this, I laid the sausages and then grilled them open-face on the panini grill.

A baguette definitely would have soaked up the melted cheese a little better and made for a sturdier sandwich, but the flavors were incredible together. Everything really popped, and the red grapes added a nice burst of freshness when you crunched down on one. The flavors of these two dishes melded very well together as well. The couscous salad recipe made a very large amount of food, so it's a great one for parties, that's for sure. The sandwich recipe can be altered to accomodate any amount of people...and it was very simple to put together - a great tailgating option!

Sweet Potatoes!

Tonight, I made a down-home, rustic dish from Jamie's Kitchen, by Jamie Oliver. I thought it was only fitting to make something from a notably British chef on the day that the Royal Family welcomes their newest Princess! This dish is a roasted chicken, stuffed with fragrant couscous and cooked on a sweet potato stovie.

There's a lot of moving parts in this one, and they all come together to cook for an hour and a half...so once you put everything in the oven, you are free to do what you please while it cooks. It's a very hands-on/very hands-off process, is what it is! :)

For my mise en place, I gathered some tri-colored couscous (because I think it's prettier than regular), the zest and juice of one orange and one lemon (reserving on lemon half after juicing), some mixed dried fruit, some mixed nuts, chopped mint and parsley, olive oil, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, ground cinnamon, cumin seeds, cardamom pods, black peppercorns, sea salt, creme fraiche, and of course, a roasting chicken.

Once your mise en place is in place, I promise that things pick up speed...so let's take it away!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the couscous, zest and juices of both orange and lemon, the dried fruits, mixed nuts and fresh herbs in a bowl and add a few good glugs of olive oil, as well as some warm water, and stir everything together until blended.

Grate the potatoes (both regular and sweet) into another bowl. I found that using the grating disc on my food processor was MUCH quicker than grating by hand!

In a mortar and pestle, mix all the spices together into a fine powder.

Alright, now it's time to get cookin'!

Stuff the chicken with the fragrant couscous and really pack it in there. Once you've gotten as much as you can in there, cap it with that reserved lemon half.

Once the chicken is stuffed, rub some olive oil over the whole chicken and use half of the spice mixture to rub the skin all over.

Using a large casserole dish, or roasting pan, spread your grated potatoes across the bottom and really pack them in there. You want to make a sort of potato cake in the pan. Once all of the potatoes have been pressed down in there, like a little bed for our chicken, place it on top and put it in the oven. After a half an hour has passed, turn the temperature down to 325 degrees and cook for another hour.

The whole house smelled so fragrant while this dish was cooking, just mouth-watering! Once the hour and a half was up, I pulled the pan out of the oven and allowed the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

Once the resting was done, I carved the chicken and cut squares of potato "stovie" and plated with some of the stuffed couscous on the side. Topped with a bit of creme fraiche, as well as some sprinkled parsley, this dish was so home-y and heartwarming! And now, to watch the wedding!