We’ve talked about panini before…those wonderful grilled sandwiches that are all over the place in Italy. These can be made ahead and heated up later, and are a great way to use up leftovers. Here’s a combination that I really enjoy!

Salmon and Hard-Boiled Egg Panini

Good sandwich bread, like long baguettes or round Italian rolls, cut in half
Melted butter with smashed garlic and salt
Fresh dill
Capers
Hard-boiled eggs, one per sandwich
Thin slices of leftover cooked salmon

Brush each half of the roll with melted garlic butter. Layer on the dill, capers, eggs, and salmon, and close up the sandwich. Press down hard and wrap in foil. Place either on the grill or in a 350 oven, and heat for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Image: Stock.xchng

Post from: Blisstree

Salmon and hard-boiled egg panini

Isn’t it nice to have a few really easy meals right before Christmas when you’re so rushed? But you still want them to be tasty and comforting, even if they’re easy. So how about this? Take the humble grilled cheese sandwich, and elevate it to a new art form! That’s what my husband and I think of these sandwiches. You can leave out all the extra goodies if the kiddies only like them traditional. I’m also thinking that the next time we grill, I’m going to construct these on a long loaf and wrap them in foil in order to do them panini style!

Easy to make in under thirty minutes, even if you do have to grate the cheese! Don’t be lazy and slice it…it’s much better grated and mixed with the other ingredients.

Grilled Gruyere Cheese with Onion Sandwiches

Olive oil
Large red onion, cut into rounds
1/2 to 3/4 lb of Gruyere cheese, grated
8 large fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 T balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
8 thick slices of Italian bread (or more)

Heat olive oil in a large heavy skillet and saute the onions until well-cooked. Scrape into bowl with cheese through salt and pepper. Mix well. Divide up among 4 sandwiches. Add more oil to the skillet and grill each sandwich on medium low heat, flipping once. Cut in half to serve.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Grilled Gruyere cheese with onion sandwiches

Videos are available from Monkey See to help you through the big day!

Get the basics on traditional turkey roasting from the experts at the National Turkey Federation.

Watch Tony Conte, Executive Chef of the Oval Room, explain the basic elements of stuffing, preparing and cooking your turkey. He can even show you the   finer elements of a thanksgiving feast fit for a gourmand.

There’s frying it, with the charming Mike Hedrick.

· There’s BBQ-ing it on your own grill.

· For the love of all things delicious, don’t forget the gravy!

· Now that the turkey’s done, watch how to carve it, so you don’t end up spraying bits of turkey onto your family. Let’s be honest: Even if you hate your weird uncle that much, turkey confetti-ing isn’t the classiest move. You can even watch how to platter your freshly carved turkey.

Image: MonkeySee

Post from: Blisstree

Thanksgiving is coming…do you know what to do?

You can adjust the heat, but you can’t hide completely from the spice of this sauce! This is not a marinade, but rather a sauce that you can serve with your cooked meats. I prefer to serve it with something strong like grilled flank steak. We tried it with fish, and it was just too overpowering. Chicken? Maybe.

To get the low-down on grilling flank steak, check out our technique post.

Spicy Hot Cilantro Sauce

1/2 c fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 c fresh mint leaves
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 T coarse brown mustard
1 T lemon juice
1/3 c olive oil
Tabasco sauce to taste

Either process or blend (I used a hand-held wand beater) all ingredients. Serve with robust meat, on the side.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Spicy hot cilantro sauce

It takes a lot of spices and a dedicated tandoor (a special superhot outdoor oven) to make the best Indian tandoori chicken! Since most of us don’t have one of these ovens, I’ve included both grilling and regular oven instructions here

As for the multitude of spices, I kept each to a minimum amount so that you can tweak this to suit your family. We like it spicy and hot, so I often add more of the hot spices. If you prefer it milder, cut back or leave out some of the hot spices and the pepper , and try more coriander and cinnamon. Leave out anything you don’t like! There are so many different recipes for tandoori chicken sauce, this is not THE definitive way to make it…just the way we like best

I served it with stir fried vegetables the other night (broccoli, leeks, scallions, carrots, and sweet peppers) and flatbread. You can also serve it with basmati rice for another traditional combo. I added some sweet cinnamon, cloves, and coriander to the oil for the stir fry.

Tandoori Chicken

3/4 c nonfat plain yogurt
Small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 T fresh ginger, chopped fine
Jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeds removed and chopped fine
1-1/2 T lemon juice
2 t paprika
1/2 t ground cumin or cumin seeds
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t garam masalah
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
Salt and pepper to taste

6-8 chicken thighs, skinless and preferably boneless

Stir together the yogurt through the salt and pepper. Use a whisk vigorously, or even better a hand-held blender to combine. Cut long slits into the chicken pieces with a sharp knife. Place all ingredients into a covered dish or a ziploc bag and allow to marinate in the fridge all day or overnight. Make sure the sauce works into the cuts in the chicken.

The second best method to cook this (the first best being a tandoor) is on a hot grill, around 500 degrees. Remove the chicken from the sauce, allowing as much as possible to stay on it, and grill for 8 minutes per side, continuing to turn and grill until cooked through but still tender, about 25 minutes total.

To cook indoors, heat over to 500. Spray the rack of a roasting pan with cooking oil and place over a piece of aluminum foil in a very shallow pan. Place the chicken on the rack and cook without turning for 25 to 30 minutes.
Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Tandoori chicken

Italian combinations are not the only possible ingredients for panini. These tasty grilled (or oven-heated) sandwiches are also a wonderful way to use up leftover Indian meats and curries. Whenever I make chicken tikka, for example, I always make extra so that we can have some panini a few days later.

Here’s what I like to do with the chicken tikka. You can use plain pre-cooked chicken and just add Indian spices to the sauce if want. Leave the chicken out, or substitute tofu if you’d like a vegetarian meal. These hearty sandwiches can be ready in under thirty minutes.

Panini with Chicken Tikka

Crusty bread slices or rolls, toasted
Shredded chicken tikka (or plain chicken seasoned spices from chicken tikka recipe)
Yogurt
Crushed tomatoes, fresh or canned
Chickpeas
Olive oil
Garlic, cumin, cayenne, salt, and allspice

Mix the shredded chicken with the yogurt and some cayenne pepper. Mash or process most of the chickpeas until roughly chopped. Stir in the rest of the chickpeas, some olive oil to moisten, and season with the spices listed.

Spread a layer of the chickpea mixture on each sandwich, top with the chicken mixture, and roll in foil to grill or heat in the oven. About 10 minutes at 350 does it.

Images: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Panini with leftover chicken tikka

Chicken tikka is a super-easy grilled or baked dish that’s a natural for introducing your family to Indian food. You can control how spicy it is by limiting the cayenne, chili powder, and tumeric. The recipe below makes a fairly mild sauce, in my opinion, but I do like things pretty hot, so you should ease into it if you’ve got little people.

Not counting the marinating time for the chicken (which I like to do first thing in the morning), it usually takes less than thirty minutes to skewer and cook the chicken. I recommend serving it with flatbread like naan, or over rice, along with grilled seasonal vegetables and mint chutney.
Chicken Tikka

3 – 4 chicken breasts, cut into cubes for skewers

1/2 c yogurt
3 T lemon juice
1 t ground cayenne pepper
1 t fresh ginger, grated
1 t chili powder
1 t tumeric
2 T canned crushed tomatoes
1 t salt

Mix the sauce ingredients well in a zip-loc bag. Add the chicken cubes and squish to coat them. Let them sit and soak in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably all day. Heat either the grill or the oven to around 375. Skewer the cubes and cook over aluminum foil for about 20 minutes.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

Post from: Blisstree

Chicken tikka

You can marinate this dish in your fridge for a couple days as long as the meat is fresh! The more onions, the better   We had this lamb with grilled corn on the cob and fresh tomatoes with basil.  Salted olive oil for dipping the tomatoes…yum!

Onion-Marinated Lamb

1 – 2 lbs of lamb
Salt and pepper
Red onion, diced fine
Clove of garlic, crushed
1 – 2 c red wine (cooking wine is fine)

Throw all the ingredients into a zip-loc bag or a covered shallow dish. Let marinate for up to two days. Grill, being careful not to overcook.

Post from: Blisstree

Onion-marinated lamb

Oprah Winfrey has a new cookbook out, called The Oprah Magazine Cookbook. Many of the recipes are a bit more involved than a thirty minute meal would allow for, but there are some stunningly good recipes included. I found a few online at Oprah’s website, and here’s one that fits within the boundaries of a sixty minute meal anyway!

Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Spicy Fresh Herb Vinaigrette
Created by Celia Barbour
From Great Food in the August 2007 issue of
O, The Oprah Magazine
Serves 8 to 10

Vinaigrette:

* 1 cup parsley leaves, loosely packed
* 1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed
* 1/2 cup mint leaves, loosely packed
* 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
* 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, or more to taste
* 1 large clove garlic
* 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
* 2/3 cup olive oil
* 1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste

Beef:

* 1 tenderloin of beef, trimmed (about 5 to 6 pounds)
* 2 Tbsp. olive oil
* 2 tsp. kosher salt
* 2 tsp. cracked black pepper

To make vinaigrette: In a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with knife blade, combine herbs, red pepper flakes and garlic. Pulse until well chopped. Add vinegar and pulse to combine. With the motor running, slowly add 2/3 cup olive oil until vinaigrette is almost pureed. Add salt and adjust seasoning to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and set aside.

To make beef: Preheat gas grill to medium-high, or prepare a charcoal grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. Brush meat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on grill, cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. For rare beef, remove from grill when a meat thermometer reads 115° (120° for medium rare). Let sit 20 minutes; the temperature of the tenderloin will rise about 10 degrees and it will continue to cook. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with herb vinaigrette.

Post from: Blisstree

Grilled tenderloin of beef from Oprah

If you cube your lamb small, it will cook very quickly and stay quite tender! Add some Greek sides and some lemon to dowse everything, and you’ll be in tastebud heaven. Besides the Greek accompaniments listed below, we added fresh asparagus to the mix, doing it on the grill as well. Yum! This can all be done and ready in thirty minutes.

Lamb Skewers with Greek Sides

Large cucumber, sliced medium
1 c plain yogurt
1/2 c fresh mint, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 lbs of lamb leg or shoulder, cubed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Greek black olives
Pita bread, halved
Lemon, cut into thick wedges

Slice up the cucumber, chop the mint and mix together with the yogurt and seasonings.
Toss the lamb cubes with olive oil and season them before skewering them. Cook on a hot grill, turning every few minutes until seared on the outside and still pink inside.

Remove lamb from skewers onto each plate. Serve with the cucumber salad, olives, pita and a wedge of lemon. Drizzle the lamb with the lemon and stuff whatever portion of the feast you wish into the pita.

Image: FreeFoto

Post from: Blisstree

Lamb skewers with Greek sides