Grilled Halibut Cheeks with Lemon Caper Sauce

I have come to really love halibut cheeks.  They are so tender and almost have the consistency of a crab or lobster meat.  I know you could certainly put them in place of a scallop anytime.  Tonight's dinner I made up on the fly as I was in the kitchen.

I used a rose wine instead of a white wine for my sauce which turned it a pink color.  I didn't want to open a bottle of white, since I wouldn't be drinking any tonight, and I had a bottle of wine already open.  The color of the wine did not change the flavor I was going for at all.

I wanted to grill as much as we could.  Less dishes to clean up, easier clean up and it doesn't make your house warm.

Grilled Halibut Cheeks with Lemon Caper Sauce
8 halibut cheeks (from SeaBear)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon of capers
1 teaspoon fresh basil, finely chopped
White wine
Sprinkle the cheeks with a little bit of salt and pepper.  Spray a grill basket with olive oil.  Place the cheeks into a grill basket and place over direct heat at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cook for about 15 minutes, turning about every five.

In a small saucepan add olive oil and heat over medium high heat.  Add shallot and cook until tender but not overly brown.  Add lemon juice and capers, stir letting the mixture reduce slightly.  Add a small amount of white wine.  The wine will help to cut the acidity and tartness of the lemon juice and capers. So taste it along the way and add wine as needed.  Reduce until you get a sauce that will coat the back of a spoon. Spoon sauce over cooked halibut cheeks.  Stir in basil at the very end.

Wilted Spinach
1 large package of spinach
Small amount of olive oil
In a large skillet over medium high heat add oil and spinach.  Turn spinach in pan over so that what is on top can cook.  Continue to cook until spinach is wilted.  Keep warm in a bowl until ready to serve.  Place some spinach on the plate and place halibut on top.

Grilled Asparagus
1 bunch of asparagus, washed and snapped
Spray a flat cast iron skillet with olive oil, place skillet on the grill (direct heat) that is at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cook, turning for 15 minutes.

Grilled Pineapple
1 fresh pineapple
First cut the pineapple.  I didn't know how to put cutting a pineapple into words, so I found a step by step here.   Instead of cutting the pineapple into circles.  I cut my pineapple in half lengthwise, and in half again, removed the core by cutting down the edge (which is now a partial triangle).  I then sliced the pineapple into strips on the longer side.  Place pineapple on direct heat on the grill, 400 degree Fahrenheit and cook for 10 minutes turing once.  Then remove pineapple to an indirect heat location and cook for another 10 minutes.

Curried Grilled Chicken

So I stop in a store called Fresh Market and pick up a couple of things for dinner.  I decide on chicken breasts to cook on the grill.  I then decide that I want to marinate them before cooking them on the grill.  The one thing I chose to pick up for the marinade is a can of coconut milk, I know that this will be the base of the marinade but at this point I don't know what exactly I am going to do until I get home.  When I got home my husband unpacks the groceries and sees the can of coconut milk and really begins to wonder but doesn't say anything.  When I shop I sometimes pick up one item and decide the meal around that item.  This time it was coconut milk.  So here is what I did, I just made it up as I went along.

Curried Grilled Chicken
1 can of coconut milk
3 tablespoons curry powder
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons dried chives
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1 tablespoon honey (start with a little bit and work your way up to the tablespoon, taste it along the way, I didn't use quite this much but it was close)
Boneless Chicken Breasts
Place chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag and pour the marinade into bag, seal. Place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.   Remove chicken from bag and place on a grill over medium high heat and cook for 25 minutes.


Grilled Asparagus
Snap asparagus (hold a piece of asparagus in both hands and bend the asparagus, the asparagus will break at the tender spot of the asparagus).  Don't throw away the tough end (the part you don't want to eat), save those (stick them in the freezer) to make vegetable broth with.  Place the asparagus on foil just like you did with the potatoes.  Add a little bit of olive oil over asparagus.  Place the asparagus on the grill, direct heat and cook for 5 minutes and then move to warming rack. 


Grilled Carrots
Peel carrots, slice and place in a foil package.  Add a couple of slices of butter and a tablespoon of honey.  Add carrots to grill over a medium heat and cook for 10 minutes. Remove to warming rack. 


Grilled Romaine Lettuce
Take 1 head of romaine lettuce, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper, sprinkle with garlic powder.  Place romaine on the grill over  medium heat for 10 minutes.  Remove from grill sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Serve.  On occasion we drizzle the lettuce with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

Cooking on the Grill

This is the first use of the grill for this season.  It is nice to have it all cleaned and ready to use (making sure no one built a nest in it over the winter - thankfully no one did).  Tonight all the food was cooked on the grill except for the salad.  We like to make little foil packets to put the vegetables in to be cooked on the grill, less mess and super easy.

Here is what we had for dinner tonight:
New Potatoes
Wash potatoes thoroughly and slice to about 1/4 of an inch.  The skins can stay on these because the skin isn't thick and is thin and very edible.   Take 2 - 12 inch pieces of foil.  Lay one piece of the foil onto the counter and lay the sliced potatoes onto it, add a few slices of butter and some fresh ground pepper.  Take the second piece of foil and lay over top of the potatoes.  You will now want to seal the edges (from one piece to another) together.  Do this by folding the edges up until you have a seal.  Place the foil packet on a preheated to 400 degree Fahrenheit grill over direct heat and let cook for 5 minutes, turn over and cook for 5 more minutes.  Remove from direct heat and lay on top rack of grill to continue to cook.  *Here is a fun fact for you about potatoes: Did you know that the annual diet of an average global citizen in the first decade of the 21st century included about 73 pounds of potatoes.

Asparagus
Snap asparagus (hold a piece of asparagus in both hands and bend the asparagus, the asparagus will break at the tender spot of the asparagus).  Don't throw away the tough end (the part you don't want to eat), save those (stick them in the freezer) to make vegetable broth with.  Place the asparagus on foil just like you did with the potatoes.  Add a little bit of olive oil over asparagus.  Place the asparagus on the grill, direct heat and cook for 5 minutes and then move to warming rack.  *Fun fact - The stem thickness indicates the age of the plant, with the thicker stem coming from a much older plant.

Tenderloin Steak
Instead of using a marinade on the steak like we usually do, we instead used a Montreal steak seasoning made by McCormick.  This is the same seasoning we use in making bloody mary drinks (recipe to come at another time).  Remove steak from refrigerator, sprinkle with seasoning on each side and rub in.  Let steak stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.  Place steak onto a 500 degree Fahrenheit direct heat grill for 5 minutes, flip steak and cook for 3 minutes and then move to warming rack and turn grill off and let sit for 4 minutes.  The steak temperature will be medium rare.   We eat grass fed beef which is much more filling to eat than regular store bought beef.  We have learned over the years of eating grass fed meats that since you don't eat as much, don't cook as much, so therefore we cooked only 1 - 8 ounce steak for the two of us.

Along with the above we had a small tossed salad, which consisted of green leaf lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, green peppers and homemade french dressing.

The meal was accompanied by a 2006 Rioja (Crianza) from El Coto Winery in Spain.

This post was shared on the Healthy Home Economist Monday Mania 3/26/2012

Red Grouper

We picked up a fish at the market that we have never cooked before.  It is Red Grouper.  Upon looking up information on it we knew that the flesh could dry out when cooked.   I Took some mayonnaise and spread it on the flesh part of the fish and then sprinkled it with a fish seasoning.  The mayonnaise helps to keep the fish moist while it is being cooked on the grill.

Made a couscous with saffron and chives.  Grilled asparagus that was drizzled with olive oil.  A side salad with lettuce, cucumber, and tomato that was drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

SIDE NOTE:  After having the fish cooked this way I have decided that I would not cook red grouper this way again.  Grouper has a very meaty and dense texture.  It doesn't have a lot of flavor on its own. I think the next time I decide to make something with this fish, I will cook it a different way so that it can be really flavorful.

Steaks on the Grill

Tonight marinated grassfed beef tenderloin steaks in teriyaki sauce.  Grilled them to a perfect medium-rare.

I took fresh sliced mushrooms and cooked them in a little bit of olive oil in a hot skillet then added some red wine (same wine we will be drinking with dinner) into the pan along with some salt.  Let that cook until the wine had cooked off.  I like to add a little bit of wine to my mushrooms, they pick up the accents from the wine.

I decided I wanted a blue cheese sauce to accompany the steaks. So I took about 1/2 cup heavy cream (leftover from making creme brulee the other day), added about 1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese and heated that on the stove, then added about 1 tablespoon of flour (this helped to thicken the sauce slightly) and then I added a little bit of worcestershire sauce (I use a brand that is Vegan and doesn't contain MSG), continue to cook on the stove until the cheese is totally melted.  Use a whisk to help blend the sauce to make it smooth.

Asparagus on the grill, drizzled with a rosemary infused olive oil and then cooked on the grill.

Grilled romaine lettuce with balsamic vinegar and olive oil drizzle, topped with a little blue cheese.

Chicken and Vegetables

Grilled chicken with a barbecue sauce that we found at our local co-op.  It is called Camp Sauce made by Treser Family Foods.  It is made in Blacksburg, Virginia.  We really like it because it is just tangy enough but isn't overpowering.

We grilled a peach, asparagus and romaine.  As you can tell we love to grill.  The weather is perfect and why not?  Also by cooking outside it doesn't use electricity and make your house warm.

The asparagus was cooked on our cast iron skillet and I used a little bit of rosemary flavored oil.

The peaches I sliced in half dipped in melted butter and then in sugar.  The put on the grill cut side down.  The peaches cook slightly and the sugar caramelizes.

The romaine I drizzled with olive oil and then ground some black pepper and sprinkled some garlic powder on it.  Put it on the grill for about 4 minutes per side, it really depends on the size of the romaine. Once grilled, I added blue cheese chunks, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Dinner on the Grill

Tonight's dinner is salmon, asparagus, peaches, salad of romaine - all cooked on the grill.

Grilled Peaches
If you have never had a grilled peach before I highly recommend it.  It is a easy and great thing to do with fresh peaches.  To get the peaches ready for the grill, cut the peaches in half remove pit, dip the cut half into melted butter, and then dip it into sugar.  Add the peaches cut side down to the grill.  The grill needs to be warm enough but not too hot, you don't want to burn the sugar only caramelize it.


Grilled Asparagus
Bend the asparagus so that the tough section will break off, discard.  Wash the top sections, place on platter and drizzle with olive oil.  To grill the asparagus we use a flat cast iron skillet that is put on the grill heated to warm then the asparagus placed on there to cook.   Cook to the desired doneness.  


Grilled Romaine Lettuce
I have to thank Tara a new friend of mine for putting this idea in my head.  Have had it grilled but have never done it myself.    I washed a head of romaine lettuce took the few outer leaves off the head.  The head I was dealing with was a rather large one so I just cut it in half (which would be plenty for both of us).  I drizzled olive oil, added freshly ground salt and pepper and a little bit of garlic powder, do this to both sides of the lettuce.  Place on grill for about 2-3 minutes per side with the heat being at about 400-450 degrees.  Remove from grill and in my case since this was such a large piece of lettuce I cut it in half.  Placed the lettuce on each plate and added a little more olive oil, a little bit of balsamic vinegar and added a little bit of blue cheese chunks.


Grilled Coho Salmon
The salmon came from Alaska.  This salmon has such a wonderful texture and is full of vitamins.  I used a Pampered Chef Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce.  I brushed it onto the salmon before it was grilled and then brushed a little more on as it was cooking.  The salmon was cooked on the grill at 450 degrees for 3 minutes meat side down and flipped it over skin side down, re-glazed and cooked for about 10 minutes.  


The beautiful thing about this dinner is that there is hardly any clean-up at all.  Everything pretty much goes into the dishwasher.