Summertime cooking; dinner on the porch


first course
Soppresata, pears, figs, prosciutto de parma



second course
chilled cucumber soup



third course
Pennsylvanianized Salad Niciose



third course part 2
grilled pesto bread, grilled chicken breast



dessert
baked chocolate and vanilla ice cream
thanks Wendy! (she made it)



9 minute hard boiled egg, just right. Cook, crack, cool in ice water... it helps for peeling.
Thank you David Tanis!





Chicken for the grill, marinade before and after cooking! (see explanation below)
Thank you Larbi Dahrouch!




This was food from a clients birthday dinner. The vegetables on the salad are (in order from egg and to left) boiled Lancaster organic eggs, grilled asparagus, grilled red onions, grilled gold beets (just boil them first...slightly underdone), locally grown green beans, articokes, grape tomatoes, grilled zucchini, nicoise olives and pinenuts. The salad is red oak, arugula and Belgian endive parsley.

The chicken was marinaded with lemon peel, garlic, herbs, olive oil. But more importantly... as soon as it came off the grill, it was covered in a second marinade which also helped to cool it to a nice warm place after the hot grill. A chef I worked with many years ago would have us cook chicken breast at the beginning of lunch service. Then, when any chicken dish was ordered, we would slice it and put caesar dressing all over it.... then stick it under the broiler for just a minute. It yielded great results... so flavorful! I expanded this technique to serve many different dishes and flavor applications....as in this meal.


Served with grilled bread and pesto. The second marinade served as a cool down AND a sauce once combined with the juices of the grilled chicken.

For the cuccumber soup, just peel em, blend em, add lemon juice, jalapeno, greek yogurt, olive oil, salt and pepper. Chill.

Happy Birthday Linda!