Memorial Day Weekend Cooking Plans

[DeeDee]

Well it looks like we'll have a nice weekend weather-wise here in New York City after all. So, I'm starting to think about what things to cook over the three day weekend. The first things that came to mind are fish tacos, guacamole and deviled eggs. Guess, I better start thinking about more entrees. What is everyone planning to grill or cook this weekend?

[Ray]

At the cookout we will be going to, I'm bringing sweet Italian sausage and a tequila lime marinade for some shrimp.

My in-laws love me.

[chowfreak]

care to share the marinade?

i'm doing a porterhouse, ginger/honey marinated pork t-loins, and some shrimp (hot sauce/milk marinade)...am game for trying something new. please share.

[Ray]

It's in one of the Weber Grill books. I'm at work now, but I'll be happy to put it up when I get home.

[Ray]

From Weber's Big Book of Grilling...

Tequila Shrimp

1/3 cup Tequila
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lime Juice
1 Tbsp. Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp. Minced Jalapeno Pepper, with seeds
1 tsp. Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper

32 large shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds)

[munster]

Hot sauce and milk? I'm so interested in this combination. Do you care to share? I've never considered putting shrimp in milk, but I guess it makes sense, given that I've done it with fish...hmmm.

[Chowpatty]

I wanted to make the farro/asparagus salad I had saved from some cooking magazine. But now I'm thinking it's a lot of money to spend on ingredients for a potluck crowd that probably doesn't care what it has with its burgers.
So I think I'll fall back on my favorite potluck/barbecuse dish, rice salad with basmati rice, corn, red peppers, nicoise olives and viniagrette. It's tasty, colorful, easy and always well-received.

[Hungry Girl]

Our plans are to do some smoking - I gave my husband a smoker for his b'day last year and we're still experimenting. We're planning on smoking two tri tips, some hot and sweet italian sausage, 2 racks of ribs, a couple dozen chicken wings. I'll be making baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, buttermilk biscuits and oatmeal raisin cookies (both from scratch). Then to drink, various homemade lemonade cocktails, and lots of cold beer. Enough for two people for the weekend?

[Ruth Lafler]

What time should I be there?

Seriously, I'm not much for outdoor cooking (and where I live the weather is always too unpredictable, with the summer fog), but I am making a recipe a kind chowhound sent me when I asked for recipes with lots of dill a couple of weeks back.

It's lamb shanks in lemon dill sauce, although since I don't have lamb shanks but do have lamb necks in the freezer from my share in an organic lamb, I'll be using those.

I'll also be making a batch of carrot soup with dill from another recipe she sent me -- that'll be lunch for the rest of the week.

[Ruth Lafler]

The lamb turned out great! Really lemony, which cut the richness of the lamb nicely.

I also was inspired to try a couple of recipes from a Portuguese cookbook yet another hound gave me for my birthday. I made feijada (using a combination of linguica and mergez), which turned out pretty well after I played with it a little. Then, faced with this large pot of rich food, I asked my parents over for dinner (figuring, correctly, that feijada is the kind of dish that just gets better each time it's reheated). To go with it I made another recipe from that cookbook: carrots with lemon garlic sauce. The main course was preceded by a wilted spinach salad from Fields of Greens, and for dessert, a fruit crisp with first-of-the-season nectarines served with Straus vanilla bean ice cream. A surprisingly decent (because it was well under $10) Portuguese red went with dinner, and I pulled out some Honig Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc (leftover from my birthday) to go with dessert.

I'm a little surprised that I managed to pull together what turned out to be a fairly sophisticated meal on more or less the spur of the moment. I've never thought of myself as the kind of person who can throw together a meal like that -- including having the right wines on hand -- but I guess I underestimate myself a little. It's the chowhound influence I tell you!

Didn't get to the soup, though. Maybe tomorrow night.

[DeeDee]

Could you share your recipes for the lemonade cocktails? That sounds refreshing.

[Das Ubergeek]

Hosting a cookout since it isn't supposed to be so bloody hot this weekend as it has been. Jucy Lucys, sweet Italian sausages with peppers and onions, tequila lime chicken, veggie burgers, carne asada, and various sides.

I think I'm going to have the children in attendance make ice cream.

[Xochitl10]

Haven't figured it all out just yet, but tonight will be salt-grilled fish, steamed rice, and sauteed spinach with garlic. I'm preparing ahead for a party next week, so most of my energy will be going toward that, although I'm playing around with the idea of making ginger ice cream.

Cheers,
Xochitl10

[Scagnetti]

How do you prepare salt-grilled fish?

[Deenso]

Last night it was pork chops on the grill, along with skewers of fresh vegetables - onions, bell peppers (all colors), zucchini and summer squash. I mixed up some olive oil with salt, pepper, garlic and some ginger and basted the meat and the veggies. Cold leftovers for lunch today. Yum.

We're having friends over tonight. With cocktails, we'll have a roasted tomato & potato frittata, to be eaten at room temp. Dinner will start with a salade composé that has asparagus as the main ingredient, with tomatoes, oil-cured olives, and capers. Then ropa vieja with yellow rice and black beans, and maybe fried green plantains if I'm feeling ambitious. Dessert is homemade apricot sorbet. I know - the menu is kind of all over the place, but I've done it before and it really works.

Haven't thought about tomorrow yet - it's pretty hot out here, so I doubt it will be a backyard picnic. More company coming tomorrow, but I think maybe we'll go out. A person needs a break!