Summer

Grilled Corn with Lime-Cayenne Butter

Happy Cinco de Mayo! This is one of my favorite holidays, for no reason other than it give me an excuse to eat Mexican food and drink margaritas. What’s not to love?

By this point, you probably already have your menu planned out. But if you don’t, or if you’re looking to add something extra, you should definitely give this grilled corn with lime-cayenne butter a try. Grilled corn on the cob is one of my absolute favorite summertime treats. It’s so easy (you can grilled it right in the husk!) and the grill gives it a subtle smokey-charred flavor that I love. I usually just eat it plain, but for a special treat this lime-cayenne butter is awesome. It had just the right amount of heat to make the corn seem even sweeter.

On a side note, I’m going to try switching up my posting schedule. I’ve been posting new recipes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a long time, but I’ve been thinking about trying out a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday schedule for a while. I think it will work better with my schedule. As an added bonus, it lets me participate in Sunday Supper – a weekly blogging event focused on sitting down at the table for a meal at least once a week. Each week has a different theme – this week’s is Cinco de Mayo. Be sure the check out the bottom of this post to see what al of the other participants made!

Grilled Corn with Lime-Cayenne Butter

Keeping a thin layer of husk on the corn prevents it from burning over the high heat of the grill. If you're using corn that has the husk removed, wrap each cob in a piece of tin foil before putting it on the grill.

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Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Servings:

Calories: 84kcal

Author: Lauren Keating

Ingredients

4 ears corn on the cob
1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
½ lime zested and juiced
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
1 generous pinch sea salt

Instructions

Heat grill to high. Remove all but 1 or 2 layers of corn husks (you'll be able to feel and possibly even see the kernels – that's ok!) Place the corn on the grill; cover and cook 10 minutes or until husks are charred. Remove from heat and let cool.
While the corn is cooking, combine the butter, lime juice and zest, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix well to combine.
When corn is cool enough to handle, peel back the remaining husks and remove the silk (it should come off very easily). If desired, place corn back in the grill for 1-2 minutes to give it some color. Serve with lime-cayenne butter.

Nutrition Facts

Grilled Corn with Lime-Cayenne Butter

Amount Per Serving

Calories 84 Calories from Fat 32

% Daily Value*

Fat 3.5g5%

Fiber 2g8%

Protein 2g4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Tried this recipe?Mention @HealthyDelish or tag #HealthyDelish!

Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Sausage

Summer rolls are the perfect light meal in this stifling heat. They’re similar to Chinese egg rolls/spring rolls, but are eaten raw instead of fried. They’re stuffed with thin noodles, fresh herbs, raw vegetables, and, optionally, a (cooked) protein like shrimp or sausage.

In my attempt to recreate the restaurant version, I made my own sausage. A google search resulted in tons of recipes, so I mixed and matched to get something that seemed right. The sausages themselves were really easy to make and tasted phenomenal. My version was a little more mild than what I had originally hoped for, but I’ll definitely make them again.

Watermelon Gazpacho {No Tomatoes!}

Like most of the country, New York has been suffering through a heat wave for the past week. Quite frankly, it’s too hot to cook or even to eat anything very substantial. For the first few days I was content eating salads for dinner, but after more than two or three days of salad I start to get cranky so I tried to think of something that would satisfy my raving for real food without requiring me to actually cook (since the minutes I spent over the stove sautéing onions last night left me so hot that I couldn’t even enjoy the steak that Shawn grilled for me).

An ice-cold gazpacho seemed like it would hit the spot, but that suggestion was met with a resounding, “No way!” My effort to convince Shawn that gazpacho is basically just pureed salsa (the only way he’ll eat raw tomatoes) didn’t get me anywhere. Luckily, I had this recipe up my sleeve — a sightly spicy watermelon soup without a single tomato.

Orichette with Caramelized Fennel and Summer Vegetables

It’s no secret that I love fennel, but I’ve been absolutely obsessed with the thought of making caramelized fennel ever since I first read about it over on The Tipsy Baker’s blog months ago. I requested a copy of Ad Hoc at Home from the library and patiently waited for what seemed like forever to get the recipe. And then I had no idea what to make with it. I mean, I’m not exactly a meat and potatoes kind of girl. I don’t do side dishes. And as presented in the book, caramelized fennel was most definitely a side dish. But then I had an idea: pasta. When I’m short on recipe inspiration I always turn to pasta, throwing in a combination of whatever looks good at the grocery store and whatever I have in the fridge. Caramelized fennel seemed like it would be a great jumping-off point for a summery vegetable pasta. And it was.

In addition to the fennel, I used a combination of eggplant, summer squash, red onions, and peas. I tasted the vegetables on their own and they were so delicate and fresh that it seemed like a shame to cove them up with a heavy sauce so I decided not to, and instead dressed the pasta with a little bit of ricotta and a touch of pesto (I had originally planned to use garlic and olive oil). It was perfect! I really liked the creaminess that the ricotta added — when you stir it into the hot pasta it melts and creates a light coating that reminds me a little of mac and cheese. The pesto perked the dish up without taking it over; you could tell it was there, but it certainly isn’t a “pesto” dish by any means. Really it’s just… good. Good when you first make it. Good the next day. Good hot. Good cold. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this one!

Click to get the recipe for Orichette with Caramelized Fennel and Summer Vegetables –>

How to Roast a Chicken on the Grill

It’s hot. I mean, I love summer and all – sunny and 80 is perfect if you ask me – but days and days of weather that’s approaching te triple digits? It’s disgusting. And I’ve had enough. The thought of standing in my non-aire-conditioned kitchen making a dinner that’s it’s basically too hot to eat anyway makes me want to cry. There’s absolutely no way I’ll be turning the oven on any time soon. And yet for some strange reason I’ve been craving roast chicken. Apparently the heat has made me lose my sanity.

Luckily, I have discovered a technique for making perfectly roast chicken on the grill. Crispy, crackly skin. Some of the juiciest breast meat that I’ve ever eaten. No need to turn on the oven. Does it get any better than that? Give it a try and you’ll immediately see why this has been my go-to recipe this summer.

Click to continue reading How to Roast a Chicken on the Grill –>

Greek Burger with Feta and Tzatziki

It’s summer! Finally. What better way to celebrate than with a fat, juicy burger?

I’m usually a burger traditionalist — give me some bacon, cheddar, and barbecue, and I’m a happy girl. Then there was last summer’s favorite, stuffed with stilton and topped with onion jam. But this Greek Burger, laden with feta and spices and slathered with cool, tangy tzatziki sauce? I’m pretty sure this will be making frequent appearances on our table from now on. Especially since it pairs so naturally with a greek salad instead of unhealthy pastas salads or fries. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect meal to get my summer started.

The idea for this burger had been in the back of my mind for a few days, but when I found this beautiful fresh, local garlic at the farmer’s market (along with a crate of cucumbers that were marked down to a dollar because they were “ugly”) I knew it was time to act. We debated turkey vs. lamb vs. beef for a while before settling on lean beef — it was far leaner than the lamb, and I always get nervous cooking ground turkey (which had very similar nutritional stats to the beef anyway). By the time you finish mixing the meat together with the feta cheese and gyro seasonings, I don’t think the choice of protein really makes a ton of difference flavor-wise.

Burger Shaping Tip: Tired of your burgers shrinking in diameter as they cook? As you form your burger, press your thumb into the center to create a shallow crater about 1/3 the diameter of the patty. As your burger heats and the center puffs up, it will rise to fill in the crater instead of pulling the edges in. As a result, the burger will have a smooth top and a diameter that is almost identical to the raw patty that you formed.

Click to continue reading Greek Burger with Feta and Tzatziki –>

potato salad with greek yogurt and no mayo

Creamy Potato Salad, Hold the Mayo

Ultimate Veggie Burgers

While I love a good beefy burger as much as the next person, every once in a while I find myself in the mood for something a little different. A little healthier. I love veggie burgers, but the frozen ones remind me too much of fast-food burgers: overly processed, eerily uniform in size, oddly lacking in color, and much, much too small. I like a burger that I can sink my teeth into. I’ve been toying with the idea of homemade veggie burgers for a while now, but never got around to playing around with recipes. A recent photo featured on The Kitchn has me headed straight for my kitchen though — shredded beets gave the veggie burger a brilliant red, meaty hue that I couldn’t resist.

Don’t be scared off by the beets though. While they provide a ton of color to the burger, I didn’t find that they tasted overly of beets. There’s enough other good stuff — brown rice, black beans, spices — to balance out the flavor. While you wouldn’t mistake these burgers for ones made from beef, they didn’t taste like vegetables either. They just tasted good. Really good. The flavor was amazing, the texture was better than any veggie burger than I’ve ever had, and they looked beautiful. Given the choice, I think 9 times out of 10 I would actually pick this burger over a more traditional meat one. And that’s not even considering the fact that they clock in at 150 calories and boast 7 grams of fiber. Not too shabby!!

A few notes about making these burgers: First off, the mixture will be fairly wet and it takes a little effort to get it to form patties. Don’t be afraid to really smoosh it — you don’t run the risk of overworking it like you do with beef. Once the patties have been formed, they will be very delicate and won’t hold their own on a grill (they’ll just fall through the grates). I grilled mine in the mesh wok that I usually use for vegetables. Alternately, you could cook them on the stove in a very hot cast iron pan.

The burgers also don’t reheat very well. They dry out. I crumbled a leftover, reheated burger over a salad and it was great, but I don’t think it would have been very god as a burger. So if you don’t plan to eat these all in one night, I’d recommend refrigerating the extra, uncooked patties and cooking them up to order.

When it came to toppings, I felt like these burgers were calling for a nice, spicy mustard. I also added some banana peppers, which I thought were the perfect touch – I liked the little bit of tang that they gave to it. Shawn had his with barbecue sauce and said it was ok, but I think my combination was way better. I’m not normally a mustard-on-burgers kind of girl, but I couldn’t imagine anything being better ion these. So don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone when it comes to dressing these!

Click to continue reading Ultimate Veggie Burger –>

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