BLUEBERRIES ARE FILLING THE FARMER'S MARKETS.

The bloom is on the blueberries.

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/neldas-new-england-blueberry-pie-this.html

MOROCCAN BROCHETTES AMERICAN-STYLE

My Grand-daughters' Nana was in Morocco for three years during the early 1970's.  There were no McDonald’s for fast food in those days, but there were brochette stands on convenient street corners.  The brochettes are grilled skewers of marinated meat and onion slipped into fresh French rolls, drizzled with hot sauce and topped with chopped lettuce and tomatoes.  Here is Nana's version of this street food.

Moroccan Brochettes American-style.

When we lost Tom, we lost our grill-master.  My Grandson and I decided we need to learn how to grill if we want to be able to enjoy foods done best on a grill.  We do have Tom's instructions on how to grill kabobs, chicken and chicken wings as he did those for the blog.  So with his instructions in hand we tried grilling.  

Tom slicing his BBQ fresh ham.

POSTS WITH TOM'S GRILLING INSTRUCTIONS

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/05/dutch-indonesian-satehsate-with-peanut.html


http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/09/lemon-bbq-sauce-for-grilled-chicken.html


http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/06/fathers-day-wings-for-whole-family.html

Armed with Grandpa Tom's instructions, Brad and Jera successfully grill Brochettes.

MOROCCAN BROCHETTES

Bite-sized pieces of chicken, lamb or beef

Quartered onions

Vegetable oil

2 or 3 lemons

1 or 2 heads of fresh garlic, coarsely chopped

Fresh parsley, chopped

4 to 6 bay leaves

Salt and pepper

Ingredients:  Chicken, beef, or lamb, onions, vegetable oil, lemons, garlic, fresh parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper.

We used chicken tenderloins.  Don't worry about the tendons as the marinade tenderizes them.

Place meat and onions in a container suitable for marinating.  Do not use an aluminum container.  Pour enough oil over the meat and onions to cover.  Quarter the lemons and squeeze the juice over the meat and onions.  Add the lemon pieces to the marinade.  Then add garlic, parsley and bay leaves.  Season with salt and pepper.   Cover.  Marinate for 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator; stir mixture or turn container over to mix a couple of times a day.   When ready to grill, thread meat and onions on skewers and place on hot grill or fondue in hot oil.  Serve on French rolls or with baked potatoes or rice. 

TOM'S DIRECTIONS FOR GRILLING KABOBS
Tom grilled ours over a medium-hot fire for 15 to 20 minutes depending on heat of your fire. He flipped them every 5 minutes to brown each side. When meat is 160°, remove skewers to serving platter. 

Cut meat into bite-sized pieces.

Place meat in sturdy plastic bag.

Cover meat with vegetable oil.

Crush bay leaves and add to meat.

Quarter lemons, squeeze juice over the meat.

Put the lemon peels in the bag with meat.

Meat, bay leaves, lemons and oil in the bag.

 

Cut ends and skin off sweet white onions.  

Quarter onions.

Add onions to meat in the bag.

Remove outer skins from the heads of garlic.  Roughly chop up the cloves.

Chop fresh parsley.

Place parsley in the bag with meat.

Add salt and pepper to the meat.

Close bag and mix the ingredients together.

Place bag in a pan and refrigerate.  Turn meat in the bag, 2 or 3 times a day.  Marinate for 2 to 3 days.

Pour marinaded meat and onions into a pan.

Place meat and onions on skewers.

Grill according to Tom's directions.  We prefer charcoal to gas. 

Grilled meat and onions done to perfection!!

Red pepper sauces.

Put a skewer of meat and onions into a good French roll.   Top with lettuce, sliced tomatoes and red pepper sauce.  Enjoy!  Enjoy!!  Enjoy!!!

KENTUCKY CUCUMBER CREAM CHEESE DIP FROM MARTY NORTH

We are having a heat wave. The weather person is using words like muggy, steamy, dangerous.  There are  excessive heat warnings, a heat index 90 to over 100 with dew points in the mid-70's.  They say the days are going to be scorchers, sizzling, with high humidity. The words hot and miserable appear frequently with some broadcasters just labeling the days with lettering made from flames that say "very hot".  

 "Cool as a Cucumber" is what I want to be.  Cool and cucumber remind me of a recipe given to me in 1967 by a dear friend, Marty North, while we both lived on the campus of Michigan State University.  Marty did not tell me that this recipe is a Kentucky tradition where the dip is part of Benedictines. 

Serve the dip with potato chips or fresh vegetable dippers.

No Kentucky Derby party is complete without Benedictines. Benedictines are crust-less small pieces of bread spread with this dip and topped with thin slices of cucumber.  They are named for the famous caterer, Jennie Benedict, who developed the recipe in the 1890's. 








MARTY NORTH'S KENTUCKY CREAM CHEESE DIP
A lovely pale green, fresh tasting dip perfect for potato chips or fresh vegetables.  I like the dip made just as it is written; however, bacon crumbles, drops of Tabasco sauce, or a sprinkle of celery salt can be added.

2 (3oz. each) pkgs. cream cheese, softened (I use 8oz. pkg.)
1/4 c mayonnaise
1 T grated onion and juice
3 T grated cucumber and juice, (I grate the cuke with the peel on.)
Green food coloring, if desired, (I don't use as I think it's pretty without it.  If you want to add color add very little as it should be a very pale green)

Ingredients:  Cucumber, onion, cream cheese and mayonnaise.  Reduced fat cream cheese and mayonnaise work well too.

Mix all the ingredients together and chill.

 Whip the cream cheese until fluffy.  Actually a electric mixer works better than a fork.  I had some lumps because I used a fork.

 Blend in mayonnaise.

 Grate cucumber.

Grate onion.

 Mix grated cucumber into cream cheese mixture.

 Add grated onion to the cream cheese mixture.

 Mix all the ingredients well and put into a pretty dish for dipping.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!

BACON DUST--THE NEW "IN" SEASONING?? PLUS HOW TO CLEAN YOUR SPICE GRINDER.

At the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts this year, one of the food booths served Bacon Dusted French Fries.  Bacon dust??  Sounds like something I need to investigate. 

The glorious taste of bacon without all the calories is what I was thinking.  It could be used with potatoes, on pasta or lettuce salads, in sandwiches, on the rim of a Martini glass, the possibilities are endless.

 

For Bacon Dust you need crispy cooked bacon and a spice grinder.  A spice grinder is a necessity as nothing else will grind the bacon fine enough to be "dust".  To cook bacon check out:  http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-bacon-quick-and-easy.html   Baking the bacon is the easiest way to cook it

Place 2 or 3 slices of the cooked bacon into the spice grinder.  Sorry about the picture.  I miss Tom's expertise.

Put the cover on the spice grinder and grind until the bacon turns to dust.

Bacon dust.

I put the bacon dust into a large opening shaker.  Fluff bacon dust with a fork before shaking.  Enjoy

HOW TO CLEAN A SPICE GRINDER.

To clean your spice grinder, you need uncooked white rice.

Place rice in spice grinder and grind until rice turns to flour.

You can used the bacon-flavored rice flour to make fried fish or chicken.  See post for Bortells Fishery's Fried Perch:

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/08/lake-michigan-perch-bortells-style.html

Wipe out the rice dust with a paper towel and you have a sparkling clean spice grinder.