Grilled Steak and Plum Pizzettes (and How I Lost The National Beef Cook Off)

A few days have passed since the 2009 National Beef Cook Off in Sonoma, California. I was very fortunate enough to have been selected to participate. A few days have gone by...and I think I may be finally finished with beating myself up over my dish. Well, almost.

The theme this year was "Sonoma Style" - meaning healthful beef dishes paired with fresh ingredients typical of Sonoma, CA. The categories were Living Well with Grilled Beef, Lean Beef in Nutrient Rich One Dish Meals, and Teens Cooking With Beef. You can see all the finalists here.

My dish was Grilled Steak and Plum Pizzettes. It is a grilled pizza with a whole grain crust topped with grilled, sliced N.Y. Strip Steak, grilled plums, Point Reyes Blue Cheese, a drizzle of honey and topped with coarsely chopped pistachio nuts. I have eaten this pizza more times than I care to share (my family has eaten this pizza more times than they care to remember) and truthfully every time I made the pizza it came out just right; the plums had beautiful grill marks, the steak was a fabulous shade of pink, the crust tender-crisp. So why when it counted did I crumble like a dried out shortcake biscuit??

It was all going very well. I was confident. It was my third time at the National Beef Cook off. I knew the drill. I was even cooking on the very same grill I have at home. There was no excuse. My crust grilled better than I had anticipated given that it was not the same brand I had been practicing with. The plums? Not a problem, grilled up fine. I put my steak on the grill and watched the grill smoke up while arranging the plums and honey on the crust. I flipped the steaks, closed the grill and watched it smoke up and heard the grill flare. I panicked. It was too smoky. My meat would be overcooked. "These people have good palates..." I thought to myself, "they don't want to be eating overcooked meat." Then I made the fatal mistake. I took the steaks off the grill to rest knowing full well my carefully set timer had not gone off. I had practiced. I knew exactly how long those steaks had to grill. But I panicked.

The steaks were rested for about 5 minutes (they continue cooking, right??) I carved. They sliced well, smooth, probably more an indication of a good cut as opposed to good cooking. The cook off timer announced I had 5 minutes remaining. I looked at the meat as I nervously continued to cut. I knew it was undercooked, but I had to slice it and arrange it on the pizza then grill again to melt the cheese-surely it would brown up then. I fanned the steak, crumbled the cheese and added the nuts. I slid the pizzas back onto the grill. The cook off timer announced that I had 1 minute remaining. I peeked in...still raw. I had no more time. I transferred the (mooing) pizzas to my elegant white serving platter.

The emcee for the afternoon, chef Richard Chamberlain of Addison Steakhouse, one of Dallas' top restaurants, came over to see my entry. Our eyes met. I saw his horror. I hope he saw mine-I hope he knew that I knew my steak wasn't cooked. He kindly commented on the beauty of the rustic crust, the delicious smell of the plums. But guess what? It was not a dough or plum cook off. As I watched with horrified regret and visions of judges spitting pizza into their napkins, my entry went to the judges. My husband and my assigned cattlewoman hostess, Lisa, tried to reassure me. But I knew. I only hope for the judges' sakes my dish was quietly disqualified so they did not have to eat my raw entry. I am so sorry judges.

I hope you will try making my recipe-it actually is tasty when properly cooked.

I really don't mind losing. The other entries looked delicious and I could very well have not won with a perfectly cooked entry. But it would be so much easier to lose if I felt that I sent to the judges the best possible Grilled Steak and Plum Pizzettes that I could have.

(My compliments to the professional food stylists at the Cook Off-you made it almost look edible)

Grilled Steak and Plum Pizzettes

1 pound whole wheat pizza dough
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus additional to brush the grill
2 boneless beef loin strip steaks (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 red plums, each cut into 12 slices
2 tablespoons Wildflower Honey
1 cup crumbled Pt. Reyes blue cheese
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped pistachio nuts
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon pepper

1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and flatten each into a 6-8 inch disc; brush both sides of each disc lightly with the olive oil and grill on a medium-hot grill just until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes per side and then set aside. Grill steaks 9-11 minutes over medium-hot grill (turning occasionally), remove to cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.

2. Lightly (and carefully) grill plums on both sides on a well oiled grill then fan 6 slices over each grilled crust; drizzle the plums with the honey. Carve the steaks into 1/4 inch thick slices and fan over and/or between the plums, season with the salt and the pepper, evenly dividing.

3. Crumble the blue cheese over the sliced steak and sprinkle with the pistachio nuts, evenly dividing. Return pizzettes to the grill, close the cover and cook until the cheese is melted about 2 minutes.

Ribeyes, Couscous and Carrots

One of the most economical ways to put a steak dinner on your table is to purchase the whole "roast" and have the butcher at your supermarket or meat market cut it into individual steaks. Typically rib eye steaks can cost anywhere from 7-9 dollars a pound and buying the roast will save you a few bucks-I have a supermarket nearby that periodically offers whole rib roasts for about $4.99/lb...nice deal!

I recently purchased a whole rib eye roast, had the butcher cut it into 1 1/2 inch steaks, and today grilled them and served them with a tasty Caramelized Shallot Couscous and quick sauteed Rosemary Carrots.

The creamy pungent flavor of blue cheese makes it a natural to pair with beef. I prepared the grilled rib eyes nice and pink and served it sliced with a creamy blue cheese sauce. No surprise here, but, the Barefoot Contessa has a recipe for a delicious blue cheese sauce that I often make for grilled steak. A word of caution here though...while this is an incredibly simple recipe-DO NOT LEAVE YOUR POT UNATTENDED!! Today I put the cream on the stove as directed and brought it to a boil forgetting about it while I was prepping the steaks until...I heard a "pst..sizzle" sound and saw a ton of steam. I ran to the stove and I watched in horror as a milk white waterfall of cream boiled over coating my glass cook top with a bubbling mess. Oh it will be a few weeks before that burns off or I can scrub it off and get it shiny again(any tips for cleaning glass cook tops would be greatly appreciated!)

Couscous makes a quick simple side and is especially great when you are making other dishes for your meal that may need a bit more of your attention. Tasty all by itself, this couscous can be a meal by itself and is great to use up any leftover steak you may have from a barbecue (just stir in the steak with the beef broth).

There are some days when you need to let your supermarket be your sous chef. A handy product I found recently in the supermarket fits that bill-premium Matchstix carrots. Being a home cook with limited knife skills, cutting carrots this small (and this uniform) would probably take the better part of an afternoon. These carrots saved time and actually had great flavor.

Grilled Ribeyes with Blue Cheese Sauce

Steaks:

4 boneless ribeye steaks

2 tablespoons salt

Blue Cheese Sauce (adapted from Ina Garten's Gorgonzola Sauce from The Barefoot Contessa Parties):

2 cups heavy cream

2 ounces blue cheese (I used a Danish blue cheese)

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Arrange the steaks on a work surface and season both sides with the salt and let rest for 15 minutes.

Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a medium sized sauce pan over medium high heat; let boil (watching!) for about 30 minutes. Stir in the blue cheese Parmesan cheese and the pepper.

Preheat a gas grill to medium high heat. Gently rinse the salt from the steaks and pat dry. Lightly oil the grill rack and grill the steaks for 9-11 minutes for medium rare, turning halfway through cooking. Remove steaks from the grill and let rest on a cutting board for 8-10 minutes. Carve steak into 1/4 inch thick slices and season to tastse with additional salt and pepper.

Caramelized Shallot Couscous

1 tablespoon butter

2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup whole wheat couscous

1 cup beef broth

salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat; stir in the shallots, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Let the shallots cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in the couscous and toast lightly. Add the beef broth, bring just to a boil then remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. To serve, stir to combine the shallots and season lightly to taste with the salt and pepper.

Quick Sauteed Rosemary Carrots

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

8 ounces Matchstix Carrots

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary

Heat the oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat; stir in the carrots, salt and rosemary and cook for 3-4 minutes just until tender-crisp.

Touchdown Treat Week

I'll be honest, I'm not much of a football fan.

Oh don't get me wrong I can bandwagon with the best of them. In fact I'm a total sports chameleon-you know that "I don't watch football all season but I'm wearing the team colors and sporting a #1 foam finger for my team of the moment come Super Bowl Sunday" kind of gal. I'm from NY originally so I can easily jump on the blue Giants bandwagon when called to (or the green Jets bandwagon for that matter). The Buffalo Bills would be great to root for too...I always love an underdog. I live in New England now, so if the Patriots are fortunate enough to get in, well...Tom Brady's awfully cute, so it wouldn't take much to get me to root for them...you get the idea.

With this year's Superbowl though, it will be very hard for me to choose a team to root for. I'm not feeling a hometown vibe for Arizona or Pennsylvania. I don't even feel an "I drove through there once and it was really nice" vibe...the best I can do is my cousin Joe who lives in Maryland has a daughter that goes to Carnegie Mellon which is in Pittsburgh so I guess this year I'll be donning black and gold and morphing into a Steelers fan. Or maybe I could just be really honest and say I only watch the Superbowl for the commercials (oh, and to eat the food).

This recipe is for my favorite party dip: Buffalo Chicken Dip. My version uses supermarket purchased rotisserie chicken, but if you prefer you can poach your own chicken or use leftover. I don't really like the canned chicken, so I would not recommend using that; it's too "tuna-fishy". You can leave out the crumbled blue cheese if you would like or you can replace it with shredded cheddar, but I think the fresh blue cheese gives it a little extra zip. Make it extra spicy by increasing the hot sauce-this version is mildly spicy.

I would love to hear about your favorite game day dip...who are you rooting for next Sunday and what dip are you serving?

I Wish The Buffalo Bills Were In The Super Bowl Chicken Dip (aka Buffalo Chicken Dip)

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

3/4 cup hot sauce (such as Frank's)

8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup blue cheese dressing

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 packet ranch dressing mix

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x9 inch or similar baking dish with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the chicken and the hot sauce, stirring to completely coat the chicken. Spread the chicken in an even layer in the bottom of the baking dish.

Using the same bowl, stir together the cream cheese, sour cream, blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles and ranch dressing mix; spread in an even layer over the chicken. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over all.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving as it will be very hot. Serve with corn chips, celery sticks or carrot sticks.

Leftover Turkey!

OK, I know it's the day before Thanksgiving and you haven't even cooked the turkey yet, but it's not too early to plan for what to do with your turkey leftovers.

This month I have a recipe appearing in Cook's Country that won the grand prize for their leftover turkey recipe contest. I actually look forward to leftover turkey more than turkey on Thanksgiving Day because there are just so many delicious things you can make with the leftovers. This recipe combines pecans, blue cheese, cranberries and pears in a rustic tart.

Super tips: make this tart any time of the year using leftover roasted chicken or store bought rotisserie chicken. For an extra rich flavor substitute creme fraiche for the sour cream and heavy cream. Add a few dried cranberries and crushed pecans to the top just before baking for a splash of color on top.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Rustic Turkey Tart

1 (9-inch) round prepared pie dough

1 1/2 cups leftover turkey meat, cut into bite-sized pieces

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

2 firm pears, peeled, cored and diced

1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

salt and pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Gently press pie crust into 9 inch tart pan and trim excess dough with a knife. Prick bottom of dough all over with tines of fork. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes; cool on wire rack.

2. Combine turkey, 1/2 cup cheese, pears, pecans, cranberries, sour cream, heavy cream and thyme in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Transfer turkey mixture to cooled pie crust, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

3. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Tart can be refrigerated for 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving.

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We have a winner!!! Some of you have a lot of my favorite appetizers as yours!!

Thank you to all those who participated in my 100th post giveaway....and the winner is....Andi!! That green bean appetizer that you wrote about sounds very interesting...I would love to try it-could you send me the recipe for that too?!!

Andi please email me at vcallag61@aol.com with your mailing address and I will get your package out right away!! Congratulations.

Thanksgiving Appetizers-Blue Cheese Cranberry Pear Toasts

Pssst...shhh...this is a secret.

I can't believe I am doing this, but I am about to share with you a top secret recipe. This is an appetizer recipe so secret that I have never shared it with another soul, until now.

Ok I'm being overly dramatic it's really not that unique, but let me tell you it's good...I hope you will agree. I love the blue cheese/pear/cranberry combination; it's great for a salad, it's great for a filling and it makes great appetizers. In this version the cheese is melted on toasts, but the spread is equally delicious served cold.

Super Tips:

Choose your blue cheese carefully. Pick one that you know you love and one that isn't too bitter-it's all about the cheese here.

Toast your bread ahead of time if you need to. Place toasts in a plastic bag until ready to use. Don't refrigerate the toasted bread or it will get soft.

For a low carb version, skip the bread completely and just serve the cheese spread cold on pear slices.

Serve the cheese spread on crackers or celery.

Walnuts make a fine substitution for the pecans or if you prefer leave the nuts out completely.

Blue Cheese Cranberry Pear Toasts

24-1/2 inch thick slices French bread

cooking spray

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

4 ounces blue cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup pecans (be generous)

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 Bosc pear, very thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spray both sides of the bread slices with the cooking spray. Arrange bread slices on a large baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 7 minutes.

In a small food processor combine the cream cheese, blue cheese, pecans, cranberries and cayenne pepper; process until just combined, but not smooth. Spread the cheese mixture onto one side of the toasts. Arrange a thin slice of pear on each toast.

Bake in the oven for 5-6 minutes or until lightly browned.

Yield: 24 toasts

Sweet!! Guess what's coming next??? My first giveaway!! Stay tuned!

Spinach, Pear, Blue cheese Bacon Wraps

Apples are not the only delicious fruit in plentiful supply this time of year; Bosc pears can still be found gracing supermarket produce aisles.

There are few food combinations I love more than blue cheese and pear. I had it for the first time a few years ago at a party when not wanting to be rude I was too afraid to say to the hostess I didn't (think) I liked blue cheese when she was passing blue cheese and pear on toasts... well I loved it.

I love the blue cheese pear combination in salads, broiled on French bread slices as an appetizer and I love it in this quick and easy wrap. It makes a perfect lunch or slice each wrap into 6 bite-sized pieces, secure with toothpicks and serve as appetizers.

What is your favorite food combination? Does it change with the seasons?

Spinach, Pear, Blue cheese and Bacon Wraps

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 ounces Saga Blue cheese

3 slices center cut bacon, cooked until crispy then crumbled or thinly sliced

6 small flour tortillas, warmed

2 cups fresh spinach leaves, trimmed

2 Bosc pears, very thinly sliced

In a small bowl combine the cream cheese and blue cheese with a fork. Stir in the crumbled bacon.

Spread the cheese mixture over one side of each tortilla.

Divide the spinach between the tortillas arranging in an even layer on top of the cheese. Layer the pear slices over the spinach.

Roll the tortillas around the filling then cut diagonally to serve.

Yield: 6 wraps

Barefoot Thursday! Grown Up Mac and Cheese

Welcome to Barefoot Thursday! Barefoot Thursday comes twice a month and it’s a day when food bloggers everywhere (well about 100 bloggers right now) prepare a recipe created by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. Why don’t you join in? Today’s recipe for Grown Up Mac and Cheese was selected by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl. And oh what a fine selection it was!

Why is it that all the foods I love are so high in fat and calories? I found on a website called The Culinary Review that this recipe has 1407 calories per serving! Could that be true? I didn’t skimp on the cheese and bacon that’s for sure. I actually quintupled the recipe-not for myself (although I can shovel down Mac and Cheese with the best of them). This is my week to cook for a local women’s shelter; but now that I know that I am serving them a meal of 14,070 calories (not counting salad and dessert) I feel a tad bit guilty that I didn’t buy reduced fat cheeses.

Oh well, it sure is a tasty comfort meal though. I did make one slight change to the recipe and that was to eliminate the bread crumbs (yeah I know that’s like throwing a deck chair off the Queen Mary). But wait, I replaced the crumbs with frizzled shallots…shallots I coated with flour and cooked until crispy in some of the bacon drippings! I guess we can just go ahead and round off that calorie count to 15,000. Would anyone care for dessert?

Grown Up Mac and Cheese by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

4 ounces thick-sliced bacon
Vegetable oil

Kosher salt

2 cups elbow macaroni or cavatappi

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

3 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated

2 ounces blue cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch nutmeg

2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed

2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven - there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, blue cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into 2 individual size gratin dishes.

Place the bread slices in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the basil and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of the pasta. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

"Fries and Rings" Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Day 5 of salad week!!

I feel great. Salad for dinner always makes me feel great. In fact I feel so great after an entire week of salads, that today's salad might seem a bit over indulgent. But truthfully it's not all that bad. It's a salad twist on french fries and onion rings-no deep frying, but tasty nevertheless.

If you need a bit more for a hearty start to the weekend, pair this salad with your favorite burger or with one of my favorite burgers.

Red "new" potatoes are the highlight of this salad and obviously represent the "fries". Try to find the small red potatoes in your supermarket as they work best in a salad. If you cannot find the smaller ones, just make sure that you cut the potatoes small enough to be "bite-sized". I have used shallots for the "rings" but you may use either red onions or perhaps Vidalia onions if you would prefer. If you are using onions you may need to cook them a little bit longer so they get a bit of a crispness to them. Truthfully though, shallots-because of their size, I think would work best. Have a great weekend!

"Fries and Rings" Salads with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

1 lb. small red new potatoes, quartered
2 large shallots sliced into 1/4 inch planks, peeled
2 slices thick cut applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cups mixed mesclun greens

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Arrange the potatoes, shallots and bacon in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and season with the salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until potatoes and shallots are golden brown.

Arrange mixed greens on a salad plate. Scatter the potatoes and bacon over the greens, evenly dividing. Separate the shallot planks into rings and scatter over each salad. Serve with the Blue Cheese Vinaigrette.

To prepare the vinaigrette: in a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper; gently stir in the blue cheese. Spoon a small portion of the vinaigrette over each salad.

School's Out BBQ

Holy cow. It's hard to believe but the school year is over. To say that my kids are thrilled would indeed be an understatement. School would have ended last week, but thanks to several (enjoyable) snow days they tacked on a bunch of days ending school oddly on a Monday. Our celebration usually involves either pizza out somewhere or a BBQ. But since my son's summer baseball has already started (does stuff ever end?) and a game was scheduled, we only had time for a BBQ.

Burgers and hotdogs were on the menu:

• Hotdogs-beef franks are the only ones my kids will eat, specifically Oscar Mayer (they are not "snappy" dogs, you know what I mean?).

• The beef-always a combination of ground sirloin and ground chuck. I will usually buy a pound of sirloin and a pound of chuck from the supermarket, combine them in a bowl with salt and pepper and then form patties.

Hotdog cooking is pretty basic: throw them on the grill, turn occasionally, when grill marks are to your liking, remove. Hotdogs are pre-cooked, so you are just basically warming them up.Now hamburgers on the other hand take a little more thought. In order to achieve the perfect level of doneness while retaining the perfect level of juiciness, some basic rules need to be followed:

1. Handle the meat as little as possible. Over working the meat can create tough, compacted patties. Just handle the meat long enough to combine whatever additions you've decided upon, form the patties then let them be.
2. Always add salt to your meat, a good rule is about a teaspoon for every pound of beef.When the patties are on the grill,
3. DO NOT press down with your spatula. This is a tough one for a lot of people. I know myself that when I was in High School and proudly wore the paper cap of McDonalds, we pressed down on the patties. It has been a hard habit to break despite the fact that my years at McDonalds were a really long time ago (think pre-electronic cash register). Any hoo, pressing down on the patties while they are on the grill presses all the tasty juices out and can create major grill flare-ups that make for blackened, not-so-tasty patties.
4. If you are adding cheese, do so immediately after flipping the patties. If you forget the cheese (which I did nationally on the Sutter Home Build a Better Burger Challenge a few years ago on Food Network) DO NOT return the patties to the grill to melt the cheese as it will make your patties overcooked and too dry. Just suck it up and place the cheese on cold, the warmth of the patty will probably melt the cheese enough to make it ok.

Given the recent tomato scares (i.e. Salmonella tainted tomatoes from an unknown source) I used the FDA approved "tomatoes on the vine". They are just fine, but boy I cannot wait until our local tomatoes are here.

School’s Out Burgers with Blue Cheese Mayo

1/2 pound ground beef sirloin
1/2 pound ground beef chuck
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Oil to brush the grill
4 Sourdough burger rolls, split
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1 cup baby arugula leaves
1 tomato, cut into 4 slices

Preheat a grill to medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, combine the ground sirloin, ground chuck, kosher salt and the ground black pepper. Form the meat into four equal sized patties. Lightly brush the grill rack with oil. Place the patties on the grill rack and cook 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare, or cook until desired doneness. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, arrange the rolls split side down on the edges of the grill to lightly toast.

Stir the mayonnaise and the blue cheese together in a small bowl.

To assemble the burgers, place the arugula leaves on the bottom half of each roll, evenly dividing. Top the arugula with a patty, followed by a tomato slice. Place a generous dollop of the blue cheese mayo on top of each followed by the roll tops.

Yield: 4 burgers

I've got no kitchen blues

My kitchen was demolished today. It’s been a long time coming. The Smithsonian called. They want my 1980’s kitchen for an exhibit titled “1980’s Tile Countertops-A Retrospective of Just Wrong”. I hated those counters.

(That's my favorite blues guy Robert Cray...favorite song of his to cook by? Too Many Cooks)

So without a kitchen there probably won’t be a lot of cooking going on (that has its pluses and minuses). If it can’t be cooked on a grill, waffle iron or quesadilla maker (lo-o-ve my quesadilla maker) it’s not happening. But, we’ve gotta eat. So I will try to discover supermarket finds that can be prepared without a kitchen.

Today I’m making grilled steak wraps.

It's hard pulling dinner together without a kitchen and it seems I'll be singing the "no kitchen blues" for about two weeks. So to start off with I'm making blue cheese the find for today. I think blue cheese and beef pair beautifully together; it seems to have a tanginess that compliments the heartiness of the beef… and let’s face it blue cheese on a burger rules. Not all blue cheeses are created equal though.

· Semi-Soft – smooth and creamy in texture like Saga Blue or soft but a little crumbly like Point Reyes Blue Cheese or Maytag Blue. These cheeses are usually wrapped in foil in the supermarket.
· Firm – sturdier in form and texture with a somewhat nutty flavor, like Stilton. Firm blue cheeses will usually be wrapped in plastic wrap or sold in a “wedge” at the supermarket.

For these steak wraps I will be using a Maytag blue cheese that I found at the cheese shop in Whole Foods. It is a semi-soft style of blue cheese. But feel free to experiment with different blue cheeses. I like how nicely Maytag blue cheese melts. If you don't use all the cheese that you purchased for the wraps, my favorite thing to do with leftovers is to melt it in a small saucepan over medium low heat, add a touch of cream and then drizzle it over a mound of potato chips for a wowee, yummy side.


Grilled Steak, Spinach, Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Wraps

Onions:
1 large red onion, peeled
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lb. skirt steak (or your favorite grilling steak)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

oil to brush the grill

4 whole wheat tortillas or wrap bread, warmed
2 cups fresh spinach, thinly sliced
8 ounces Maytag blue cheese

Preheat a grill to medium high heat.

To prepare the onions, slice the onion into thin slices and place onto a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. Add the butter, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Seal the packet and place directly on the grill rack

Grill the onions until tender, about 45 minutes. Turn the packet occasionally to prevent the onions from burning.

Season the steak with half of the salt and pepper. Lightly brush the grill rack with oil and place the steak directly on the grill rack. Close the grill cover and cook the steak for 6 minutes. Turn the steak and cook for an additional 4 minutes for medium rare or cook until your desired doneness. Transfer the steaks to a cutting surface and let rest while preparing the wraps.

Divide the spinach between the four tortillas arranging along one side of the tortilla. Using a knife spread the Maytag blue cheese down the other side. Carefully open the onion packet, then divide the onions between the four tortillas, layering them on top of the cheese and spinach. Carve the steak into 1/2 inch thick slices and fan over the onions. Roll the tortillas around all the ingredients. Cut the wraps in half before serving.

Yield: 4 wraps