Grilled Portabella "Burgers"

Why bother grilling meat when you can eat something this yummy.

Grilled Marinated Portabella Mushrooms on Kaiser Rolls
Makes 6 big sandwiches

6 portabella mushroom caps
6 slices tomato
1 ½ c alfalfa sprouts
1/4 c mayonnaise
2 or 3 T fresh basil
1 ½ c Italian vinaigrette
salad dressing
6 Kaiser rolls split, and grilled
Lettuce
6 Onion slices
Remove stems from mushrooms. Put 1 ½ cup of Italian dressing in Italian dressing in shallow pan and add your mushroom caps and let marinate for about an hour. Put fresh basil in food processor or blender with olive oil and puree. Add basil to mayonnaise (mixing thoroughly). Brysh grill with olice oil, Grill mushrooms on both sides about 4 minutes per side. At the same time, grill the rolls until light brown. Put mayonnaise mixture on both top and bottom of rolls. Put sprouts on bottom. Put mushrooms on top of that. Put tomato, lettuce and onion on top of that.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Mark Twain

I have only grown cauliflower twice. It takes some very fertile nitrogen-rich soil, and you must rotate your crop, never growing it in the same bed two years in a row. Some people say the rotation should be as long as seven years. Well, who has that much garden? Then, of course, you must blanch cauliflower to keep it white by tying the leaves up over the head while it matures. So, although it’s wonderful fresh from the garden I don’t grow it. There’s great cauliflower in the market. Here are some recipes:

Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad

1 head cauliflower separated into small flowerets
1 bunch broccoli separated into flowerets
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Mix first four ingredients together; pour dressing over and mix to blend. Make at least 2 hours in advance.


Smokey Cauliflower au gratin

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets
3 Tablespoons butter
2 shallots, finely minced
1-2 Tablespoons chili peppers, finely minced ( I use really hot ones like habanero, but use as mild or hot as you prefer)
2 cups Milk
1/2 to 1 cup vegetable broth to thin out the roux
1 1/2 cups Smoked Gouda cheese, coarsely grated

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together and set aside. Parboil the cauliflower in salted water for 3 minutes. Remove, drain and set aside. In a skillet, sauté the shallots and peppers in butter. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the shallots and stir. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly to create a roux. Once the roux has thickened, thin to a desired texture with the vegetable broth, remove from the burner and stir in 1 cup of the cheese.

Place the cauliflower in one large baking dish or divided into individual baking dishes. Pour the sauce over the top. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

If you want a really spectacular looking dish you can leave the cauliflower whole, parboil it about 10 minutes or until tender. Then cover it with the sauce and cheese and bake. It's more difficult to serve it this way, but it looks great on the table.

Grilled Cauliflower

1 Head Cauliflower broken into florets
Marinate in lemon garlic marinade about half an hour, or longer. Thread on skewers and grill about 10 minutes, turning once or twice.

Lemon Garlic Marinade
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Teaspoon sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
½ Teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Blend all ingredients except oil in food processor or blender until smooth. Slowly add olive oil until the mixture is emulsified. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Roasted Corn, Black Bean and Rice Salad

Except for church on Sunday, I spent my entire holiday weekend in my garden. It is looking great. My first crop of mesclun is ready for harvest. I also thinned my beets and combined the beet greens with the mesclun. We had a nice salad of it today. Our family Memorial Day cook-out was fun. I made this great salad. It's like a wild rice salad I had at the Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg last summer. I have made it with wild rice, and it's wonderful, but very expensive. Today I used a mixture of brown rice and black Japonica rice from Lundberg Farms. It worked very well. Here's the recipe:

Roasted Corn, Black Bean and Rice Salad

Ingredients:
1 cup wild rice, brown rice or rice blend, cooked according to directions. Read the box, each kind of rice has a different cooking time,
1 cup black beans, soaked overnight and cooked - or a 16 ounce can black beans
1 cup roasted corn kernels
1/2 cup diced roasted red peppers
1 cup lightly toasted pecan halves
1 medium red onion chopped

Dressing made of:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt or more as desired
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I get mine from Hatch, New Mexico. You can't find better.)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Combine salad ingredients in large bowl. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix well. Chill for a few hours. Serve on a bed of mixed spring greens.

Where do you get one cup of roasted corn kernels? When my husband grills corn on the cob I make him grill extra, cut it off the cob and freeze it for use in salads and soups. I never thought I liked corn until I learned that a small amount of grilled corn is a wonderful addition to many recipes. The corn we tend to get here in Fredericksburg is silver queen. It's a very sweet white corn.