August 2nd - Salmon, Portobellos, Corn and Black Bean Salad, Sweet Potatoes

So before the Boilermakers played at the Willowbrook on Sunday night, we had Kat's friend Joy over for dinner, along with her date Nathan. They shall be labeled Test Subject A and Test Subject B respectively for the purposes of this experiment.


Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

• about 10 oz(volume) of dried black beans
  
• three ears corn
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 clove garlic
• a good amount of olive oil(pure not EVOO)
  
• 1 lime
• cilantro
  

The dried black beans were cooked as is and left to cool. The oregano, paprika, and cumin were combined together. The garlic was diced and combined with the olive oil, cilantro and juice from the lime to make a dressing. The ears of corn were roasted over on the grill directly over the coals with a handful of soaked hickory chips on the coals(lots of smoke). Once they acquired some color(about 10 minutes), they were removed, the kernels were cut off and added to the beans. The spice mixture was then mixed into the salad, then the dressing.

Reactions: Generally good reactions from the test subjects, especially the vegetarian(Test Subject A)

What would I do differently: Maybe could have used more dressing. Definitely could have left the corn over the fire longer. when cutting the kernels off the cobb I faced the corn down and cut from the stalk to the tip. Next time I'm going to try facing the corn up and cut downwards from the tip to the stalk. I think I'll get more control that way

Salmon

Ingredients

• 3 filets of salmon, aprox 8 oz(by weight) each
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• a good amount of olive oil
• kosher salt
• ground pepper
  

The paprika, oregano, and cumin were wisked into the olive oil to create a marinade. The kosher salt, pepper then the marinade were applied to the salmon approximately 2 hours before the salmon was to be cooked with the fish left out to come to room temperature. The salmon was cooked indirectly in the grill(same grill as above, lots of smoke). Once the salmon passed the flake test(about 20 minutes), the filets were pulled off the fire, broken in the middle, and served.

Reactions: Test Subject B really liked the fish, felt it didn't have a fishy flavor

What would I do differently: Add cilantro and lime juice to the marinade. Other than that this is a good, fairly simple recipe, and will likely be a workhorse

Portobellos

Ingredients

• 3 medium size portobellos
• left over marinade from the Salmon
• 4 cloves garlic

The stems were removed from the mushrooms and the garlic cloves were slivered and worked into the gills. The mushrooms were cooked directly over the coals(same fire as above after the corn came off), gill side down for three minutes. The marinade was then applied to both sides and the mushrooms returned to the grill gill side up. They were left until they started to flatten out, indicating the insides were cooked(about 4-5 more minutes).

Reactions: Test Subject A really liked them and ate all three. As they were basically a vegetarian substitute for the salmon, everybody was fine with that.

What would I do differently: Marinate them beforehand maybe??? I didn't try any of it and the test subject devoured them, so I'm sort of ambivalent here.

Sweet Potato

• 1 gigantic sweet potato

The oven was preheated to 405 degrees per the controls(actually 400, Kat's oven runs 5 degrees 'cold'). 10 or so minutes after the oven was ready(I don't trust ovens) the potato was tossed in for 50 minutes. The fork test was positive(fork slid easily in and out), so at 50 minutes the potato was wrapped in foil and put in the microwave(turned and kept off) to finish cooking and keep warm. It was quartered for serving

Reactions: positive, but the chef(me) though portions were underdone. No one agreed, but I'm the chef dammit! ;)

What would I do differently: The sweet potato wasn't cooked evenly, but with a potato that large, it's tough to tell. I'll probably fork it in multiple places next time. I like using giant sweet potatoes.

Notes: A good session. The Corn and Black Bean salad was an idea I toyed around with from an old Grill It! Bobby Flay episode I saw over the Memorial Day weekend. This is why I like watching 'recipe' cooking shows. I may not, strike that - probably won't use the exact recipes, but ideas will float around in my skull to be retrieved later.

While salmon can stand direct heat, I like to indirectly grill them, especially when working with smoke.