Grilling in the Rain

This past Friday was supposed to be a day spent poolside, in the sun and water, with the Lahey family. Connor would be all set with his spanking new floatie and swimsuit and we'd be chilling with a few bottles of Rose while soaking up the rays. But I guess no one told Mother Nature to turn off the torrential downpours and turn on the sun.

We moved to plan B. This entailed sitting inside while drinking many bottles of fermented grapes and eating more produce than any four humans can typically consume (thank you S&R for sharing this week's CSA bounty). Personally, I had too much fun to miss the sunshine all that much.

I'm counting on Alan / Susan / Rich to post the wines we drank while I talk food. We started off the same way we start off most evenings of entertainment...cheese & bubbly. The cheese was a mild, milky brie & a Piave from Wegmans with a fresh baguette and a bowl full of my favorite summer addiction, Veggie Stix from Costco. We noshed for a while in between admiring Connor's unique ability to roll from Point A to Point B with fantastic precision and determination. Apparently, he's spurred on by the need to get to any and all electronics! Such a super cutie!!

We moved onto and polished off a second incredible bottle of champagne and dove straight into a Rose while noshing on an interlude course of fresh mozzarella & Jersey tomatoes. Yummy! The special Balsamic vinegar and the just picked basil added that extra something...love a good Caprese salad! With a nice buzz on, we prepped for dinner.

The evening's menu included grilled baby squash wrapped in prosciutto, grilled scallions, Saratoga steaks from Flannery's in California, wild mushroom & Parmesan risotto and a salad of red & green leafy lettuce, onion, English cucumber and cherry tomatoes with feta cheese. Since we cooked all of this ourselves, I'd usually be a little more gentle on my critiques...but for the sake of the blog, I'll try and be as unbiased as possible. The baby squash was without a doubt THE BEST squash I've ever had. I don't usually like squash - but this was perfect. The crispness of the prosciutto added the right blend of saltiness to the soft, buttery texture of the squash. So awesome....must try that again. I also couldn't stop eating the grilled scallions. Who knew? So fabulous and a great flavor note when eaten with bites of steak.

The salad was wonderful because it was so fresh and crisp. I didn't add Feta to mine but loved the Greek feta yogurt dressing that S&R brought as an accompaniment. Nor did I realize how much I liked English cucumbers...less seeds and crunchy. I thought the raw onions gave the whole thing a nice zing and offset the sweetness of the tomatoes perfectly.

The risotto I made had the correct balance of creamy but still al dente that I was shooting for...but I was disappointed in the overall flavor. I've made risotto a bunch of times and can usually get more depth of flavor and woodiness when using mushrooms then I did this time. I think buying the prepackaged mushroom blend from Wegmans in lieu of the individual mushrooms from Delicious Orchards was a mistake. Not bad, but not memorable. I also forgot to add in peas and missed the splash of color they give the final dish.

Finally on to the steaks. This Saratoga cut is something new we've tried once before and I really like the cut. It's got the tenderness of a fillet with the flavor profile closer to a rib eye. The size of the steaks were nice ~ I didn't feel like I was eating so much I needed to take a Crestor. But alas, tonight these were overcooked. Grilling in the rain is a challenge, I'm told and I think it played a part. Unlike the first time Alan grilled Saratoga steaks, all red and perfect in the middle, these tended more towards medium and lost a little of their flair along the process. We'll need to try again!

To wrap up the evening we had a chocolate fudge and New York style cheesecake and more wine. Great fun, great food and of course, incredible friends! Can't wait to do it again.