Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Martha, Martha, Martha!

I'm going to admit it here. I'm on a Martha Stewart kick. It is highly probable that this is do to my Christmas gift of a subscription to Everyday Food that comes on a monthly basis (actually - I think it is 10 issues per year). Whatever the cause, I've been searching it for inspiration. Most people know I like to try new recipes and it is getting harder to be inspired in my searching. I find a lot of recipes on Allrecipes.com and think that will always be my go-to site. Maybe I need to take a rainy afternoon and just search the food blogosphere for inspiration.

Anyway, on Monday we had Barley Salad with Chicken and Corn. It was a great meal for a hot summer day. The only issue I had with the recipe is that it had you roasting the corn and green onions for 25 minutes in a 450 degree oven - hello? - crispy? and hot? So I used my cast iron skillet out on the grill and had them on there for maybe 15 minutes - probably less.

Barley Salad with Chicken and Corn (from Everyday Food's June 2010 issue)

Coarse Salt and ground pepper
1 cup barley
2 bunches of scallions, cut into thirds crosswise and white ends halved (from the garden!)
2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels or frozen corn
3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pin grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup fresh parsely leaves (I substituted cilantro - from the garden!)
cooked chicken breast, shredded
1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
5 ounces baby spinach (I was short because my spinach isn't going gangbusters in the garden yet)

In a medium pot of boiling slated water, cook barley according to package instructions. Brain and let cool. (I used my pressure cooker for this as I did not have quick-cooking barley).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees (or heat up your grill!). Place scallions and corn on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with 1 Tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through.

In a large bowl, combine barley, roasted vegetables, tomatoes, parsley, chicken, 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 Tablespoon lime juice, season with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, toss spinach with 1 Tablespoon oil and 2 teaspoon slime juice; season with salt and pepper. Serve spinach with chicken-barley mixture. (I actually just tossed the spinach in and added the extra oil and lime juice in the whole mixture).


Then last night we had the Beer battered fish from the same June issue. I doubled the batter and used Vidalia onions to make onion rings - top notch easy stuff!

The rest of the week goes like this:

Wednesday: Molten Hamburgers (the Cheddar cheese slice is cooked in the middle and oozes out) and Sweet Potato Fries
Thursday: Chicken Satay with Rice & Stir Fried Pak Choi
Friday: Venison Sausage, Grilled Zucchini & Pasta Salad

2 comments:

Kirsten said...

Okay, that was delicious. I didn't have spinach, so I was going to use arugula, but turned out the arugula I had was about two weeks too old. ;-) But I had a half bunch of asparagus that needed to be eaten, so I chopped it up and threw it in with the veggies to roast. I roasted the veggies in the oven for 25 min at 425 instead of 450 and it worked great. I also used cilantro and subbed chopped tomatoes for the halved cherry tomatoes. We will definitely do this recipe again. I ended up just making it right before Blair got home. It was great because I had all the ingredients here at home! Thanks for the idea!

BTW, do you know the Rachael Ray trick for halving cherry tomatoes or grapes? You take two me sized lids from a tub like cool whip or sour cream or cottage cheese. You fill one lid w/the grapes and put the second lid on top and hold it in place with one hand while you slice through the opening with a knife. It's probably the best kitchen trick I've ever learned. :-)

Kirsten said...

Ha ha, that was supposed to say "You take two SAME sized lids."