Grilled Peameal Bacon

Boneless pork loin is a good budget stretching meat as not only is it lower price per pound, it is a very versatile meat that can be used fresh or cured.  Last week I shared how I prepare a boneless pork loin at our vacation home.  Half is cured for peameal bacon, our must have taste of home while the other half is sliced into thick chop for grilling.  If need be, the chops can be cut into slices or pieces for other dishes.

One of the most common questions I get with respect to peameal bacon is "What do you do with it?"  The simple answer is, peameal bacon can be used much the same way you would use a ham.  The texture and flavour differs from ham.  The most common way to use peameal bacon is thin sliced then fried as bacon but it can be cooked other ways.  Thick sliced peameal bacon is quite lovely when grilled. 

I cut the peameal bacon into about three quarters of an inch thick slices.  Thick slices ensure the meat does not become dry while cooking.  I place the peameal bacon slices on a pre-heated medium hot grill.  Once the grill marks form nicely on one side, I turn and grill until the marks form on the other side.  The peameal bacon slices are then ready for serving.  They pair nicely with zucchini and baby carrots, both of which cook quickly on the grill.  Simply cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and brush with olive oil then sprinkle with a little sea salt.  Grill cut side down until grill marks are nicely formed and the squash is tender.  Baby carrots cook quickly in a foil pouch on the grill.  This entire meal can be cooked on the grill in about 20 minutes.  Complete the meal with a tossed salad sprinkled with fresh squeezed lemon juice and sliced watermelon for the perfect low fat and low calorie meal that is sure to please! 

Grilled Porterhouse Steak

This is the time of year that many Canadians turn their thoughts to cottage life, camping and spending times around backyard pools or day-tripping to area beaches.  We camped for years when our kids were growing up.  When we moved to waterfront property about ten years ago, it was like we were cottage living on a daily basis.  That house and the next one we bought also on waterfront property originally were cottages that had been converted for year round living so essentially we were cottage living.  Still we tossed around the idea of buying a cottage in Ontario then in the spring of 2010, we bought our vacation home located in Florida and eighteen months later sold our waterfront property to buy our new urban setting house.  Living in an urban setting we have a greater appreciation for our vacation home.  We spend about three months of the year at our vacation home, divided into three trips.  Vacation homes and cottages present a few cooking challenges because many including ourselves want a break from the normal routine.  At the same time, vacation homes and cottages tend to be not as well equipped as your home kitchen so the emphasis is on delicious meals and snacks that are easy to prepare.

The grill is our favourite piece of cooking equipment at our vacation home, much like it is at home and was when we camped.  Aside of using a grill for quick and easy meals, we use our grill much the same way as an oven so we enjoy fresh baked food and bread during the hot summer months without heating up the kitchen.  Grilled steak is our number one go to meal while at our vacation home!  We quickly established a tradition of the first home cooked dinner is always grilled steak enjoyed on the lanai.  The nearby Publix grocery store has a lovely meat and seafood counter.  The meat is fresh and high quality so that is where we buy our fresh meat when at our vacation home.

Pictured is the 2.17 lb (984.29 g) porterhouse steak we bought for the first dinner of this year's spring trip.  Isn't it a beauty?  A porterhouse steak is similar to a T-bone steak except it has a tenderloin whereas a T-bone steak does not have a tenderloin.  This nicely marbled cut of beef promised to be tender and juicy when grilled.  The porterhouse steak cost $19.41 on sale, saving $6.51.  Now, that might sound expensive but in comparison to the cost of two steak dinners eaten out, it isn't.  This size steak is enough for a dinner for us plus left-overs for a stir fry and wraps.

We like keeping the side dishes for grilled steaks simple, easy, and delicious.  We decided to have both asparagus and potatoes with the steak but cooked them a bit differently.  Foil wrapped potatoes is a grilled side dish that we often serve.  It is an easy way to prepare whole potatoes for the grill lending the perfect easy side for grilled steaks, chops or chicken. 

Method:  Cut enough squares of aluminum foil for the number of potatoes you want to grill.  Place each potato on a square of aluminum foil.  Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the potato.  Sprinkle with Montreal steak seasoning or garlic pepper.  Wrap the foil tightly around the potato.  Place on the hot grill on indirect medium high heat.  The potatoes will take about an hour depending on size.  They are ready when finger soft to a pinch.

My husband put the steak on about 15 minutes before the potatoes were ready.  He grilled the steak on one side turning a quarter to form hash marks then  flipped the steak to finish grilling repeating the hash marks.  He moved the potatoes to the side, off  the top rack to the lower grate where they would stay hot.  Foil wrapped potatoes will keep quite warm even when removed from the grill for a half hour or more but it is safer to keep them at temperature on the grill until ready to be served.  He put the asparagus spears on the grill just after turning the steak.  While extra virgin olive oil can be used on asparagus spears being grilled in this fashion, we didn't use any.  As long as the asparagus is grilled lightly just to cook through, it will remain tender without drying out if the oil is omitted.  The asparagus was turned once while grilling.  Asparagus grilled to al dente this way with  nice grill marks and just a hint of smokiness then drizzled with a little butter  is delightfully delicious.  

My husband grilled the porterhouse steak to medium rare with a warm red centre, pink throughout and nice hash marks.  He didn't use any seasoning salt, marinade or barbeque sauce.  This is how we typically grill steaks, letting the flavour of the beef shine rather than being masked by other flavours.  He removed the porterhouse steak from the grill and let rest 8 minutes just shy of the 1 min per 100 g some chefs recommend.   Whole pieces of meat like steaks, chops and roasts should be rested after cooking.  During the grilling (cooking) process, juices are driven towards the centre of the meat.  Resting the meat before serving allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat ensuring it will be moist, tender and juicy when cut. 

The first dinner at our vacation home always reminds me of those camping days of our past.  By the time we get out of the airport, drive to our vacation home stopping for groceries along the way, it is usually after 3 PM.  We are tired from the trip, need to do a bit of unpacking and ready to relax while anticipating a few weeks spent filled with great food, pleasant weather, reuniting with friends and  rejuvenation. 

My husband and I shared the delicious steak dinner sitting on the lanai, listening to the sounds of wildlife change from day to evening. The steak was melt in your mouth, butter knife tender with an amazing flavour!  The potatoes were tender, nicely flavoured from the seasoning.  The asparagus spears were done to perfection!   The evening was warm and slightly balmy, a nice change from the cooler northern weather we had come from earlier in the day.  As we enjoyed the first dinner of our spring vacation, we chatted about how we would spend our time.  After dinner, we went for a ride around the park in our golf cart letting the warm air brush over our bare arms.  And so the first trip to our vacation home of 2013 began...

Seafood Lettuce Wraps

Ontario has been under a heat wave since Sunday and it is not predicted to end until this Friday.  Preparing a no-cook or minimal-cook meal is always important on days like this to minimize any heat in house.  If you are using air conditioning cooking taxes it more and if you don't have air condition extra heat and humidity from cooking does not help.  Tuesday (July 6) it was really too hot to even grill.  I decided on a minimal-cook meal.

Dinner consisted of seafood lettuce wraps, peeled pre-cooked frozen shrimp and deviled eggs.   The only thing that required cooking were the eggs for deviled eggs and egg salad for lunch the following day.   The method for cooking hard boiled eggs that I use requires only bringing the water to a boil with the eggs cooking to perfection it the covered pan during the sitting period.    It was a light, refreshing meal for a hot summer evening.

Seafood Lettuce Wraps

1 can (5 oz/142 g) solid white albacore tuna
1 can (4 oz/120 g) chunk crab meat
4 - inch piece of English cucumber, chopped
2 tbsp green pepper, chopped
2 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
¼ tsp celery seed
⅓ - ½ c MiracleWhip® salad dressing
1 leaf of lettuce per wrap*


Prepare cucumber, green pepper and red onion.  Place in mixing bowl.  Add celery seed.  Drain tuna and crab meat. Pour the tuna and crab meat into the vegetables mixing well.   Add the desired amount of MiracleWhip® to get a nice spoonable mixture that isn't too runny.  Cover and chill the seafood mixture for about 20 minutes.  Wash and pat dry lettuce leaves. Spoon seafood mixture into the centre of each lettuce leaf.  Roll up the lettuce wrap style.  Cut in half then serve.
Yield: 4 - 6 wraps

*Leaf lettuce is idea for wraps but iceberg lettuce works well to, giving a bit of a refreshing crunch to the wrap.

Turkey Club House Sandwich

We have spent the last several days at our vacation home.  We left here in the wee hours of the morning after a night of entertaining so we were both exhausted when we arrived.  The discouraging thing was we arrived to basically an empty home needing cleaning and with no kitcheware, not so much as a glass.  Somehow after being up for well over 24 hours neither of us were impressed but that really is when it hit home this place was ours.  We headed down to the club house for a quick bite before going shopping for the necessities.

The club house menu has been reduced to mainly sandwich.  Quite frankly eating much more than a sandwich would not have sat well on tired tummies.  We each ordered the turkey club house sandwich on honey whole wheat. This is a very easy summer sandwich to duplicate at home. 

You will need homemade 100% whole wheat bread with honey substituted for the sugar.  Spread each slice with a little mayonnaise then top with turkey (lunchmeat or thin sliced cooked turkey breast) slices, tomatoes, fresh spinach, and a little salt and pepper.  Serve with a side of potato chips for an easy, low cost, 15 minute summer meal.

Three of My Favourite Sandwiches

We are not big sandwiches eaters not that we don't like sandwiches. I'd have to say that the majority of sandwiches we eat are during the summer months when the garden is producing nicely. We use both store bought and homemade breads for making sandwiches. Sandwiches are perfect summer food because they don't heat up the kitchen. They are also easy to make under 15 minute meals that are sure to please. The beauty is in their simplicity. The only negative that can be said about sandwiches is they are a no no if you are restricting your carbs. Other than that they can be quite healthy for you especially if you use whole grain breads.

Fried Egg Sandwich

Fried egg sandwiches have long been a family favourite and not just for breakfast. There is just something comforting about them. They aren't fancy but they sure are good any time of the year.

Method: You will need one egg per sandwich. Heat a little vegetable oil* in a fry pan to medium. Fry eggs until the white is starting to turn opaque. Prick the yolk with a fork and spread a bit through the white. Cook until set enough that the egg can be turned. Turn the egg and lightly fry on the other side. Lightly butter** two pieces of toast. Place a fried egg on one piece of the toast. Sprinkle on a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Add a slice of cheddar cheese if desired. Top with the other slice of toast. Cut as desired.

* To reduce fat use a non-stick fry pan and healthy spray oil mister.
** The butter enhances the flavour not as a spread so only use a small amount on each slice of toast.

BLT

Tomatoes are one vegetable you really do need to grow even if only in containers on a balcony. Step away from those pale, tasteless tomatoes in the grocery store and discover the wonderful varieties of tomatoes out there. They fall into three categories (sauce, slicing, grape/cherry) and can be heirlooms or hybrids. Some hybrids taste wonderful but might be lacking in disease resistance whereas others pack a punch of taste. As a gardener there are reasons for growing both and for saving seeds from both although hybrids do not breed true but you can get some interesting outcomes.

By far our favourite summertime sandwich is plain toasted tomato made with a thick slice of beefsteak tomato plucked fresh from the garden moments before slicing. One tomato (eg. beefmaster) can easily give slices large enough to cover the bread yielding enough slices for five or six sandwiches. Never, ever refrigerate your tomatoes! It will turn them mealy and lessen their flavour.

A BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is simply just that but made with home made sourdough toast, well it it excellent! Of course home grown tomatoes and romaine lettuce are a must but in a pinch you can use store bought local romaine lettuce. The real key is you want the ingredients as fresh as possible. Don't be shy on the slice of tomato either. Slice to almost ½ - inch thick. Bacon should be cooked to just under crispy.

Mom's Power Sandwich

Family must have recipes tend to be named Mom's meaning that's the way I do it and that's the way they want it. That becomes Mom's Lasagne, Mom's Chicken Soup and those dished the kids insist on making the same way. This is one of those sandwiches that made it into the Mom's must haves and yet there is no cooking involved other than the 12 grain bread.

Method: I really recommend using homemade 12 grain bread. I start with spreading a little Miracle Whip^® on each slice of bread. On one slice I layer romaine lettuce or mesclun mix picked just before making the sandwich. I top that with thin sliced ham and turkey along with by just a little Dijon mustard then add a thick slice of tomato also fresh picked. Thin red onion slices form the final layer before adding the top slice of bread. Serve with a couple of homemade dill pickle spears.

Summer Meal - Taco Salad

Coming up with a new meal that everyone in the family loves is difficult. This meal quickly became a family favourite! I can't even remember where I discovered this meal but it was likely when tacos were becoming popular here. It is a perfect way for me to use my home canned salsa and taco hot sauce as well as the taco meat I keep on hand in the freezer. In the summer it is also a perfect way for me to use garden fresh lettuce and tomatoes. I've experimented with the lettuce as well and have found that Chinese mustard leaves add a nice flavour so you don't need to limit the dish to using only lettuce. It is a perfect quick or summer meal as the meat only needs to be warmed in the microwave. The best thing is the dish is so flexible and doesn't heat up your kitchen in the summer!

Taco Salad

A sure to please, flexible, quick meal. It really is a taco without the shell, sort of. Keep prepared ingredients on hand for a real time saving meal! Be warned, the meal is very filling and eyes can be bigger than tummies sometimes. If you use zip loc containers, any left overs can be refrigerated for lunch the next day so clean-up is rather easy. Kids love it because they can choose their own toppings.

Taco Salad
by: Garden Gnome
note: ingredients are listed without measurements because this is a "make it as you please dish" and depending on family size amounts will vary. The fat content can be reduced using lean ground beef, low fat sour cream and low fat cheddar cheese.

prepared taco meat*
shredded leaf lettuce or lettuce of your choice
salsa, hot or mild (homemade)
chopped tomatoes
chopped spanish onions
chopped green peppers
olives, pitted black or green or stuffed
jalapeno rings
taco hot sauce**
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
nacho chips or tortillas

Prepare vegetables. Place each ingredient in a separate serving dish and put on the table. Warm meat and place in serving dish. From there it is build your own. My preference is: meat, salsa, lettuce, vegetables, hot sauce, sour cream and cheddar cheese in that order but really any order is good. When it comes to eating everyone finds their own preferrance. I like to eat as is with a fork. My husband rolls his in a tortilla, wrap style. My kids like scooping their creation up with nacho chips.


*Prepared taco meat: Brown lean ground beef and drain. Stir in taco seasoning. I prefer Tone's or homemade but any brand of taco seasoning will work. Pour in enough water to cover. Mix well. Allow to simmer until liquid absorbed. The meat will be saucy but not runny. Allow to cool if not using immediately. If freezing, divide into meal sized portions. Vacuum seal then freeze or use zip loc bags if you want to use for quick snacks. This prepared meat is ideal for quesedillas, tacos or tacao salad.

**Taco Hot Sauce: I am making a batch of Taco Hot Sauce this afternoon. I'll post pictures and the recipe shortly.

Enjoy!