garden grown cucumber salad

The star of Saturday night’s dinner on a hot Summer night was the garden grown cucumber salad. The whole meal was a griddle cooked turkey burger with sweet potato fries. But let’s focus on the cucumber salad. Two garden grown cucumbers were sliced. Garden fresh parsley, basil and dill were added. Into the bowl went Apple cider vinegar, minced garlic, diced roasted red bell peppers, kosher salt and crushed black pepper with a diced onion. Mix and let this sit for an hour, tossing occasionally. The burger was ground turkey, mixed with suateed onion and spinach. Add this with some olive oil and chicken/steak seasoning and blend well. Season with black pepper. Grill on each side for about 5 minutes. The sauce was our usual mayo with cholula hot sauce. We...

Quick Pickles

Today’s cucumber harvest, or as I like to say “Future Quick Pickles.” It’s been a solid year of cucumber production in the garden. Here’s my quick pickle recipe that I enjoy serving with Summertime meals. INGREDIENTS (made for one) One cucumber, peeled and thin sliced • A dusting of salt• 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar• 1 tsp White wine vinegar• 1 tbs agave• A couple springs of fresh dill (my garden is cranking dill out now)• Red onion (a couple rings, chopped).• Chopped Roasted red bell pepper (a few strips). DIRECTIONS Lightly salt the cucumbers and toss, let them rest to draw out the moisture. Give it an hour, or less. Pat dry. Add the ingredients above and toss. Put in the fridge to chill. Take it up a notch if you have fresh parsley and...

A Ham and Cheese Dual Toad in the Hole with Roasted Red Bell Peppers and a Lime/Dill Creama

Sometimes when I lie awake at 3 AM due to my bi-phasic sleep pattern, I think of what I will make for breakfast. This creation is a direct result of that. Cut two holes in a large slice of sourdough bread. Save the resulting bread circles! I use an olive jar. Blend some robust olive oil with garlic powder and Pink Himalayan Sea Salt. Brush it onto the bread. Cut a few slices of ham, I used Toi Black Forest Ham. Break an egg into a bowl and then slide it into place. Repeat. Crush on fresh black pepper sprinkle with parsley and a hint of Mexican Tajin seasoning. Apply some finely shredded Mexican Co-Jack cheese and top with roasted red bell pepper strips. Air-fry at 370° for 10 minutes, keep the door closed and let it sit for 2 minutes. Top with a crema made from...

Harissa Fish Tacos

To end our Harissa week…we give you blackened Harissa Fish Tacos. Again, thanks to my friend Chip Gorman who introduced me to this seasoning. The blackened seasoning for the fish was a mix of fresh ground black pepper, harissa seasoning, Flat Iron Grill peppers, Habanero sea salts and Kevin’s Creole seasoning. All these were dusted, then pressed into two halibut fillets, but any fish would do. For the base, we had avocado oil heated up, then diced onions added. When they were cooking we added turmeric and cumin and black pepper. Diced garlic was added when the spices came to peak, and then a can of drained low sodium black beans. These simmered while the fish cooked. On the Blackstone griddle (best birthday present ever) we cooked the first half of...

Harissa Air Fried Chick Peas

This uses a fiery hot spice from North Africa. If you want something tamer, you could use just paprika. Big thanks to my life-long buddy Chip Gorman whose comment on my earlier air-fried chick pea snack led to the discovery of Harissa, which has become the basis of so many great meals. I get mine on Amazon. Simple recipe. I drain, rinse and clean (remove the skins) two cans of chick peas. I roll them out on a kitchen towel to dry and remove the rest of the skins. I throw these into a bowl with a little olive or avocado oil and coat them with the Harissa Seasoning. These go into the air fryer for 20 minutes, then I rotate the trays and do a few more minutes, or until they are crunchy all the way through. No mushy-ness. Place these in a bowl, add some more...