Summer Shindig - Peach Salsa, Fruit Salad, Salmon Burgers, Beef & Lamb Hamburgers, Grilled Balsamic Portobellos, S'More Cookies and then some...

Whew, that is one mouthful of a title.  But then again, yesterday's BBQ was its own mouthful and bellyful.  Summertime inspired my parents to throw a wee party and have several of their favorite people come over, swim and be merry.  My mom and I went to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market yesterday to pick over their selection of gorgeous produce.  I love the Farmers Market, especially this time of year, there are so many beautiful fruits and vegetables (herbs too!) to choose from.   I came equipped with a couple of recipes and my mom wanted to get ingredients for her own dish picks.  When we arrived we discovered a meat purveyor that was selling ground lamb and mom's burgers instantly went from basic to brilliant.  We also picked up beautiful red burgundy heirloom tomatoes, awesome avocados and much much more.  We had to take a second trip the the grocery store for a few more accouterments but soon we were back to the kitchen cooking away.  We prepared food from 11 to 3, then everyone started arriving and jumped in the pool!  We grilled everything around 5 and ate at 5:30 picnic style in the yard.  It was so very sweet and fun. Our poor poor dog, Oscar, probably stole more food then he should have.  I also remembered to take shots of some of the dishes with my camera and phone camera this time (YAY!).  All in a fantastic feast of friends, family and fun...and a great way to get to be creative in the kitchen. 

The entire menu was as follows:


Guacamole (with chips for dipping)
Peach Salsa
Fruit Salad
Grilled Balsamic Portobello Mushrooms
Lamb/Beef Burgers, some stuffed with Blue Cheese 
Salmon Burgers
Grilled Hotdogs for the kiddies
Corn on the Cob
S'more Cookies


I made the Peach Salsa, Fruit Salad, Grilled Balsamic Portobello Mushrooms, Salmon Burgers, and S'more Cookies (well, my papa was the grill master, but I prepped the mushrooms).  


Peach Salsa

The peach salsa recipe was from TheKitchn.com.  I enjoyed the recipe immensely but my mom thought it needed more kick.  So if you are of the same opinion I would add more onion and jalapeno.  

3 ripe peaches, about 1 pound
1/4 cup red onion, diced small
1/4 cup red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
1/2 - 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon minced fresh mint (or more to taste)
Juice from 1/2 lime
Kosher salt, to taste

First you need to peel the peaches. Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil. Cut a small X into the bottom of each peach. Drop the peaches into the boiling water for approximately 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches and immediately submerge into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Gently peel the peaches using your hands or a paring knife (the riper the peach, the easier this will be). Dice the peaches into small cubes.

Combine the chopped peaches, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, mint, and lime juice. Season with a pinch of kosher salt. Chill for one hour to allow flavors to combine and serve immediately.

Fruit Salad

Okay, there's no recipe for the fruit salad I made.  I bought watermelon, Harry's Berry's Strawberries (I name the vendor because these are quite possibly the best strawberries you can buy in LA.  They are a dessert on their own, they are that good), cantaloupe, Galia melon (which is a melon-cantaloupe cross), and grapes.  I balled the melons and used a flower shaped cookie cutter for the watermelon.  Finally I squeezed lime juice all over the fruit and added some mint lives as a garnish.  

The interesting party came in the serving.  I saw an image once of fruit salad in ice cream cones.  I liked the idea but didn't think it was quite practical enough.  Then I found ice cream cone bowls at Whole Foods!  Now that would work.  So I made individual fruit salads using the little bowls.  I recommend waiting until you are about to serve the fruit salad before putting the fruit in the cone bowls or the bowls will get super soggy. 

Grilled Balsamic Portobello Mushrooms

Also a no recipe wonder.  I simply sliced the portobellos and brushed them with Bistro Blends' amazing aged Balsamic Vinegar (which I've written about in the past--it truly makes a recipe), spritzed them with olive oil and sprinkled on some salt and pepper.  We let them marinate in the fridge for an hour or two and the papa grilled them to perfection.    A really easy way to serve a delicious grilled vegetable. 

Lamb/Beef Burgers (and Hotdogs)

We followed the same recipe as from my previous post "Getting Grilling Sunday (Salmon Burgers, Blue Cheese Burgers, Potato Salad)" but we doubled the recipe using half ground lamb and half ground beef and only put the blue cheese in half the burgers.  They still were thick, juicy and divine.  

We also threw some hotdogs on the grill for the little ones. 

Salmon Burgers

Also the same salmon burgers from my post, "Getting Grilling Sunday (Salmon Burgers, Blue Cheese Burgers, Potato Salad)",  and a fine addition for those of us none-meat eaters.  

Corn on the Cob

What's that you say? Another without a recipe?  Sometimes you just gotta wing it.  We chucked the corn and rinsed it clean.  Boiled a bunch of water with 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup suger and threw in the corn for around 8 minutes.  And voila!  Le Corn on ze Cob.  We broke it in half for more servings.  

S'more Cookies

Okay, these were the pièce de résistance if I do say so myself.  The recipe comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything and she is a genius.  I pretty much followed the recipe to the T but subbed margarine for butter and it turned out better then yummy.  I highly recommend it for your next party, or the next time you just want a cookie.   

11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 ½ cups flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows
3 regular sized Hershey’s bars, broken into pieces
1-2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking pans with parchment paper. I used one 11x17 pan and one 9x13 pan but you can really use any sized pans you want.

Lay out graham crackers side by side on the pans as close as possible (they should be touching). I used 16 graham cracker squares on one pan and 10 squares on another. You may have to add or remove graham crackers according to how much dough you have. If you want your cookies thicker you will use more dough and less graham crackers.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer and combine on low speed.

Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight (I did one batch right away and another after chilling overnight and found there was no difference.)

Place tablespoons of dough on graham crackers about 1 – 1 ½ inches apart. I averaged about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough per graham cracker square as seen in the picture above. Press down slightly with fingertips.

Bake for 5 minutes then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top. You can place as many pieces or as little as you want depending how much chocolate flavor you want.

Bake for 5 – 7 more minutes or until dough is beginning to turn golden brown at the edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool. For clean cutting make sure cookies are completely cool and cut with a sharp knife.

Photo courtesy of my friend Rita