Grilled Pineapple with Coconut Caramel Sauce

Summer dessert doesn't get any better than this grilled pineapple in a simple coconut caramel sauce. Just throw it on the grill alongside some fish or jerk chicken and then commence lounging on the patio in complete bliss. I snuck one of these glazed pineapple pieces straight from the grill, and wasn't ready for the magic that happened. I love pineapple and something seriously amazing happens when you throw it on the grill. The natural sugars are brought out by the flames and the pineapple juices become a smokey caramel flavor.


And just to make things even better we drizzled the hot pieces of grilled fruit with a coconut caramel reduction. Thick, gooey and hot coconut caramel paired with grilled pineapple is a match made in dessert heaven. We had this alongside our grilled fish tacos and not a peep was uttered during dinner on the patio that night except for Mmmmmmmmmm's and the occasional Oh yeeaaahhh!

Instead of spending time in the kitchen baking dessert this summer try throwing different fruits on the grill for a super simple after dinner treat. My other favorite fruit to grill are nectarines, the flavor brought out from grilling them is out of this world!

recipe from Sunset Magazine


TIME     20 MINUTES          SERVES     6

1 large pineapple

1/2 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup coconut milk (the kind in the can)

handful of shredded, sweetened coconut

Pre heat outdoor grill to medium high. 

In a small saucepan over medium high heat bring water and sugar to a steady, low boil stirring just to combine.  Continue to boil rolling the pan to swirl liquid occasionally. Do not stir. This will take about 15-20 minutes before the liquid reduces and turns into a caramel color and consistency. Continue to boil gently swirling pan until you have a thick caramel reduction.  

Meanwhile trim the top and end off of the pineapple. Trim of the outer skin and discard. Cut the pineapple in half lengthwise then cut each half lengthwise again so you have four long pieces. Cut the core from each piece and save for use in a green smoothie the next day.  Cut pieces in half again lengthwise if they are too thick, then cut them in half to make smaller pieces.  

Remove pan from heat and carefully pour in coconut milk while whisking to combine. The caramel sauce will bubble and splatter so be careful. Pour some of the caramel sauce into a small serving bowl reserving the rest to brush over the pineapple.  

Place pineapple pieces in a large serving tray or plate. Brush with the coconut caramel sauce to coat them. Using tongs, place them on the hot grill. Let them sit for 2-3 minutes then turn them over and cook another 2-3 minutes. Remove from grill and serve immediately!  

Drizzle with more caramel and enjoy!

What are your favorite summer desserts?

Pan Crusted Coriander, Cumin and Mustard Seed Sabel Fish: Weeknight Cooking

It's hard being a mostly pescatarian living in Phoenix, Az. A pescatarian who also happens to hate the heat and loves tall boots, sweaters and scarves. The choices when it comes to seafood here in the southwest are Tilapia, and Salmon which are usually farmed and injected with color and Cod which is my least favorite fish. It's not that I hate it but I find it a tad fishy and usually slightly rubbery for my taste. Maybe I'm having flashbacks from my childhood as well when we ate plain or lemon peppered Cod once or twice a week with broccoli or steamed spinach, gag!

 Like I said, the choices are super slim here in the Phoenix desert when it comes to seafood, go figure, so I make do with what's available and try my best to doctor the fillets up a bit. I have nice conversations with the meat guys at Safeway who are probably tired of me asking for fish other than the aforementioned.

Me: "Do you have any Orange Roughy today?"
Meat Counter Guy: "Nope, it's too fragile a fish."
Me: "Fragile? Oh. How about Sablefish?"
MCG: "Ummm, No."
Me:  sighhh "How about  Wolf Fish?"
MCG:  "Are you serious? What's a Wolf Fish?"
Me: "Never mind. I'll take the Cod please."

Simply toss a tablespoon each of whole cumin, coriander and mustard seeds into a dry cast iron skillet and cook on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes while shaking the pan or stirring with a wooden spatula. Being very careful not to burn!
As soon as they turn dark golden brown remove from the pan.

So since my childhood I've had an aversion to lemon pepper seasoning. Nostalgic gag reflex even from the smell. Funny, I hated fish for a long time, well into my 20's because of the type of fish we were served, how it was prepared (no offense mommy) and how often we had it. Or maybe most kids just hate fish, 2 of mine included, one of my boys says  "Fine, I'll eat it but I'm gonna call it chicken."


Thank goodness I gave fish another try, it's been my main source of protein for over a decade now. I'm constantly trying different types of fish (when I can get my hands on some) and different ways to prepare and season it. This is one of my new favorite ways to flavor up a plain white fish.... like cod. This is such a simple and effective way to make fish taste like a gourmet recipe from a top notch eatery.

Toasting the whole cumin, coriander and mustard seeds really make a huge difference in the flavors. If your a coffee drinker you might appreciate this. Fresh is always best and when talking about herbs and fish it's of the up most importance. 

Place the toasted seeds into a coffee grinder and pulse a few seconds until they turn into a powder. Sprinkle your fish with salt and pepper then generously sprinkle the herbs on both sides. 

Place the fish pieces into a pre-heated skillet with 1 teaspoon of oil and 1 small slab real butter.

Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side depending on how thick your fish is. When the fish flakes easily with a fork it is done. Don't over cook your fish or it will be dry (and rubbery if it's cod ;)

Serve with a wedge of lemon and fresh chopped parsley. That's it, simple right?

Don't forget your greens! Serve with a big tossed salad or roasted asparagus. 

Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade and The World's Best Ever Steak Marinade

This weekend as you well know is Father's Day weekend. Instead of hanging out around the house and  grilling some steaks and swimming in the pool we decided it would be a good idea to take all of the kids and meet the fam up at Big Lake for some camping chaos fun. If you didn't read my post from last year you may not fully appreciate how difficult interesting it can be when camping with 3 young children and a cranky teenager. If your up for a good laugh read about our adventure here.  I remain very optimistic that things will go much better this year.......

For one thing, I'm going to make things a LOT easier on myself and stick with the basics. Simple, yet good food and packing just what's necessary instead of trying to plan for every inconceivable disaster. Quite frankly I'm just too pooped to plan.


Last weekend we grilled up some steaks which turned out to be hands down best ever and all around awesome. I'm not a huge red meat so when I'm craving a nice steak or burger It better be good. I like my meat very tender and super flavorful. These steaks were both and the tangy, sweet flavor can be attributed to this marinade which worked wonders on the meat. Man, it was so good!

I also attempted to make a red pepper, cilantro pesto from Dara at Cookin' Canuck  but ended up tweaking the ingredients and process a bit to end up with more of a tapenade. I love tapenades in every variety, they are so versatile and satisfying in a grown up sort of way. They can be paired with steak, on top of smoked or grilled fish (my favorite) or as a stand alone hor d'oeuvres with crackers, a baguette and of course a good aperitif.

Basically, for this to be a tapenade instead of a pesto, you need to use a bit more almonds and less red pepper. Preferably use a small hand food processor or pulse just a few times in your regular one. I love my little manual one for chopping garlic, finely mincing onion, herbs and making salsa and guacamole. It's just a tiny little thing and so easy to clean. I use it daily.

Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

1 small red bell pepper, roasted

3 cloves garlic

1 cup blanched almonds (2 handfuls)

small handful cilantro

squeeze lime juice

2-3 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil

Pulse all ingredients except lime juice and oil in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Drizzle in oil and lime juice. Pulse until desired consistency.

Happy Father's Day to my dad who is the coolest and most gerous guy I know and to my sweet and as perfect as they get husband who keeps me grounded, happy and calm. 

and to all you other dad's, I hope you have a wonderful day!

(camping or not)

Grilled Eggplant Caprese with Parmesan and Garlic White Bean Puree

Summer in Phoenix means very long, hot days and cooking is the very last thing I want to do. Sitting by the pool with an ice cold drink while waiting for my grill to work it's magic on these eggplants however, is my idea of a perfect summer supper. Grilling thick slices of eggplant brings out a wonderful smokey flavor that baking just can't replicate. In a pinch broiling them will do but I find that not only is the flavor not up to par but they turn out a bit soggier than when on the grill.











Now that the kids are out of school I seem to have lost any and all motivation to cook over involved meals. We have a fun, semi-structured summer plan to keep our bodies in motion and our minds from turning into jello. On the 3 days during the week that I work my mom is nice enough to have a short, fun and interactive lesson planned for them. They've been learning about insects, ocean creatures and the different parts of plants so far. After their lesson they do a fun project or a craft about what they learned.

On the week they learned about insects, they learned all about bees and how they make honey and interact with each other in the hive. We have a fun trip to a small, family owned farm near our house that has several bee hives on site! How cool! This will also let them see how and where plants, our food in particular grow. Right now they think that bananas grow at the grocery store and hot dogs grow on trees. O.K. not really, but living in the city they've only seen the few pathetic plants and herbs that mommy tries to grow in pots. So we are looking forward to a trip to a real farm.

Eggplant is almost at the end of it's season here in the Phoenix desert so we will have to pick up several while we are at the farm along with heirloom tomatoes, peppers, purple and green beans, 

summer squash and strawberries. 

Tonapah Rob's Vegetable Farm. Heirloom Tomatoes

I'll have to post about the whole bee hive experience and pick up a bottle of the local, Organic honey they produce there! They also have over 300 hens so hopefully we will get some nice fresh eggs. 

So excited!

Simple Summer Supper

For the Eggplant Caprese

2 medium eggplants, sliced
2 large tomatoes, sliced
8-10 oz fresh mozzarella ball, sliced
fresh Parmesan, grated
handful of fresh basil, chopped
EVOO for brushing eggplant
salt

For the White Bean Puree

2 cups dry white beans
4 cups chicken broth or water
1 small leek (optional, for more flavor)
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 head garlic
1 teaspoon EVOO
1 teaspoon salt
freshly cracked pepper

Preparation: The night before, soak your beans in a covered bowl of water.

In the morning, drain and rinse the beans. Place in a slow cooker with water, salt

bay leaves and rosemary sprig. Cook on low for 8 hours. Do not pick up lid.

Putting it all together:

Fire up your grill on medium heat.

Using a paring knife, remove peel from eggplant. Slice into 1/2 pieces. 

Lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. 

Remove loose skin from garlic. Cut the top 1/4 inch off of the head of garlic.

Lightly drizzle the exposed garlic cloves with oil. Place on grill. 

Cut the dark green leaves off the leek, discard. Slice the remaining white and light green

stalk in half lengthwise. Brush lightly with oil. Place leek cut side down on grill.

Place eggplant on grill and press lightly. Cook 5-6 minutes on each side (leave the leek face down). 

I like to close the grill lid to let the smoke work it's magic. Be careful not to let them burn.

Remove from grill. Set eggplant aside. Carefully chop leek into small pieces.

Meanwhile, remove rosemary and bay leaves from cooked beans. 

Put leek into the slow cooker with the beans. Carefully squeeze out cooked garlic cloves into

beans. Using an immersion blender, puree the beans until smooth. 

Spoon onto a deep plate. Top with freshly cracked pepper.

On top of the bean puree, place a slice of grilled eggplant, top with slice of mozzarella, tomato, chopped basil, repeat. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garnish with basil.

I know it may sound like a lot of preparation but it's really not. I just wanted to explain in detail.  Also, 

the flavor of the bean puree was so complex thanks to slow cooking in the herbs, the grilled garlic and leek and paired wonderfully with the eggplant caprese.

 It makes this a complete and very satisfying dinner. 

Saucy Mamma! Hawaiian Grilled Chicken-Pineapple Sandwiches with Home Made Terryaki Sauce

It's only a few weeks into Summer and already unbearably hot outside here in Phoenix. I have officially sworn off cooking or baking until October.... at least. Might as well unplug my stove. I'm done. I am however, o.k. with sending my dear husband outside to BBQ something wonderful for dinner. Hey, I'll put everything all together, all he has to do is stand there by the fire and look manly with a large pick fork and cold beer in hand. We have a nice pool that he can jump into any time he starts to scorch and feel a heat stroke coming on. Cush job right?


4th of July is coming up very soon. This Hawaiian Pineapple BBQ sandwich is my idea of a perfect backyard celebration. When paired with Grilled Corn on the cob, Watermelon Boats, Coconut-Berry Cake and Cherry Lime Aid Slushies next to the pool I'm in heaven!




Believe it or not, when asked what the fam would like to BBQ for special occasions the majority vote is always for these Hawaiian Chicken sandwiches. Maybe it's due in part to the fact that grilling steaks scares me. They never turn out good, let alone to die for. When you splurge and spend the money for high end steaks you expect them to be perfect, not fatty and grisly and either under or over cooked. I can see the raised, confused eyebrows now. Don't judge. We just don't eat read meat very often... at all. So we are far from being savvy on the grilling technique used to master a perfect steak. Not that my husband and teenage son wouldn't like engorge themselves in humongous carnivorous slabs of meat on a daily basis but I'm more than fine without.

 I'm all about the grilled veggies and home made sauces and the sides that go along with the barbecuing experience.

When at the grocery store, it's all that I can do to refrain from stopping people who have jarred marinades and sauces in their cart and shaking some sense into them. That stuff is just gross, full of sugar, preservatives and additives not to mention expensive. I don't get it. Why do people insist that making their own salad dressing and marinades is a difficult thing.  It's just not I tell you. You can make a very quick and delicious marinade for chicken, fish or veggies with just 3-4 ingredients that most people have in their pantry anyway. 

Any combination of ketchup, brown mustard, soy sauce, terryaki, brown sugar, onion, garlic, cornstarch, horse radish, juice, ginger or grill seasoning can be cooked down into a fabulously simple grill sauce. Think of how many batches of sauce you can get out of these pantry staples for the price of one pre-made jar of BBQ sauce. Experiment and use whatever you have on hand. Even just a simple mixture of ketchup, brown mustard, a pinch of brown sugar and soy sauce would be delicious.

Freshly grated ginger really adds a zingy punch to the sauce.

YIELDS  2 1/2 CUPS       TIME   20 MINUTES

Terryaki Sauce:

1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

1/4 cup peanut, avocado, coconut or vegetable oil

1/3 cup soy sauce (preferably *Organic Tamari)

1/2 cup molasses 

1 teaspoon ground ginger (use 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger if you have some) 

1 tablespoons cornstarch

1-2 tablespoon Raw (turbinado) sugar or brown sugar
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

Sesame seeds for garnish

Optional: Thai Chili Pepper Sauce to bring some heat. Bring it.



Putting it all together:

In a small bowl whisk together corn starch with pineapple juice, set aside. Combine all remaining ingredients except Tamari soy sauce. Bring to a gentle boil while whisking. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes whisking occasionally. Remove from heat, add Tamari and let cool slightly then pour into a large plastic bag to coat chicken. Reserve 1 1/2 cups for spooning over done chicken. Lay the bag of marinated chicken on a large plate so sauce covers it and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably 2-3 hours.

*Tip:  

I pound my thawed chicken breasts with a rolling pin while they are in the zip lock bag to make

them large enough to fit a bun and to cook faster and evenly.

Other simple sides to make this 4th of July

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Chile Butter

Watermelon Boats with Blueberries and Fresh Coconut

Cherry Lime Aide Slushies

GF Coconut-Berry Patriotic Cake recipe here