Heat Wave!

Here we are in the SF Bay Hills and we are having our best weather! It was predicted that we were going to have a heat wave and I knew I was entertaining friends on Saturday night and did not want to be in the kitchen cooking. We don’t have AC like most people that live in the hills so with the oven on it could be crazy hot. We very rarely need AC although there have been way more hot days on hand than ever! I needed to come up with a menu that was easy and didn’t require the oven.


The Menu:
Grilled Halloumi with lemon and grilled pita bread
Olives warmed
Dolmas with pita bread
Marinated Flank Steak
Seasoned grilled potatoes
Salad with vinaigrette & Fleur de Sel
Key Lime Pie

HALLOUMI AND OLIVES! A Greek friend of ours introduced us to halloumi cheese. It is a fantastic cheese with excellent consistency that can stand up to a grill. You can buy this in a specialty cheese section. My local supermarket sells it. It comes in a vacuum sealed package. Its white and kind of shaped like an oval. I usually split it in half (sometimes it comes already split). I have one of those grill baskets that you can flip over and I put it in that. Turn the grill down low and let them cook for about 10 minutes on each side. Try not to burn it but grill marks are great! When they are done I cut them up into bite size pieces and squirt lemon juice on it. Serve it with pita bread that’s been warmed on the grill along with some extra lemon wedges.

While the halloumi is cooking I put olives (a medley of pitted) in foil and put them on the grill to warm too. Olives taste so good warmed!

DOLMAS! This is a recipe that I learned as a child with my Syrian grandmother (aka Tha-Tha). She is 91 now and still sharp as a tack! Syrian cooking is back breaking work! I spent so much time with her in the kitchen but not sure how much of a help I ever was. I did however get the hang of things and let me tell you, Arabic cooking is not for the quick and easy. At least the food my family prepared. Dolmas is the Greek word for these “rolled grape leaves” as my family called them. I use ground lamb but you can do ground beef if you want. For a substitution for Syrian pepper use Allspice. You can do these the day before OR way ahead of time and freeze them uncooked. Let them thaw overnight in the fridge and then cook as directed below. My grandmother said they should be the length of your thumb but it really depends on the size of the grapeleaves you have. IF you are lucky enough to get fresh leaves get the smaller ones, they are more tender. I usually have to get them in a jar and they are fairly large. I always serve this with soft pita bread. I wrap the dolmas in the bread and dip it in the juice if there is extra on hand. You can serve these hot or at room temp.

Grape Leaves
Makes about 30-40


1 cup uncooked rice (I prefer jasmine)
2 lbs ground lamb
2 jars of grape leaves (about 45 if fresh) (leaves soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and rinsed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon Syrian pepper (or allspice)
2 Tablespoons dried mint leaves crushed in your palm OR 5 fresh
6 cloves of sliced garlic
1 cup fresh lemon juice
10 kalamata olives

• Wash and drain rice several times in cold water.
• Mix together rice, lamb, salt, pepper, allspice and dried mint if using.
• Take about 1 tablespoon of meat mixture and form a log on the grape leaf. Wrap the meat with the grape leaf like an eggroll (up from the bottom, then bring in the sides then roll to finish).
• Line the pot with grape leaves so the Dolmas don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Arrange the Dolmas in the pot in layers. Between each layer add sliced garlic, olives and fresh mint if using.
• When all Dolmas are in the pot add water to top of Dolmas and add lemon juice. Put a plate on top of Dolmas to keep them down. Simmer on low for 1.5 hours.
• Remove Dolmas from pot carefully and serve with juice and extra lemon.

FLANK STEAK!!! I have several marinades for beef and right now this is my favorite! It has a Korean flair to it and it’s a bit sweet but has a kick to it too. You can adjust the heat easily. I LOVE flank steak. It is readily available. Not too fatty and marinates and cooks quick. This is one of those meats that really needs to “rest” for at least 5-10 minutes. Remember to slice this against the grain. You can always make the marinade up to a week ahead of time. I wouldn’t marinate the meat longer than 15 hours though. Because its not a roast the seasonings really sink in fast and while you want to taste the seasonings you still want to taste the beef.

Useful marinating tool—I have discovered the ziplock baggies that you can vacuum seal. These are FANTASTIC at marinating! I also store my cheese in them because they can reseal.

Flank Steak

2 tablespoons grill seasoning blend

1/4 cup Tamari dark soy (I didn’t have it so I used 2 T Hoisin +2 T Soy Sauce)

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (here is where you can adjust the heat)

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons toasted (dark) sesame oil, eyeball it

2 scallions, finely chopped

2 pounds flank steak

• In a shallow bowl, combine grill seasoning, dark soy, honey, hot pepper flakes, garlic, sesame oil and scallions. In a Ziplock bag coat the flank steak in the mixture and let it marinate, no longer than 15 hours or you wont be able to taste the steak.

• Preheat grill to medium high. When the grill is screaming hot, add meat and cook 5 minutes on each side for medium rare, 7 to 8 minutes on each side for medium well doneness.
• To serve, let meat rest 5 minutes for juices to redistribute. Thinly slice the meat on a heavy angle against the grain (the lines in the meat).

SALTY GRILLED POTATOES are a fancy spin on the regular baked potato. I found this on allrecipes.com and have made it many time! I usually get pretty large baking potatoes and these cook on the grill for about an hour and half. You can also do this in an oven. Remember to turn the taters if they are on the grill or they will burn for sure. Serve these with butter, sour cream and some fancy salt. You can prepare these up to 24 hours ahead of time in the foil.

Grilled Potatoes
4 large baking potatoes
Olive oil
Course salt
Garlic powder
Pepper
Italian Seasoning (good seasons Italian dressing packet)
Parmesean cheese

Wash and dry (well) potatoes and prick holes in potatoes all over. Put on foil square. Drizzle oil and sprinkle rest of ingredients on both sides of the potato. Wrap well in foil. Cook on med grill for 1.5 hours turning every 15-20 minutes.

VINAIGRETTE! OK so I know it’s just a salad but when you have a meal that has all these flavors going on, I didn’t want a complicated veggie and since it was supposed to be so hot I figured this would be nice and light. When I do a “dainty” salad like this I like to use butter lettuce. I put all the ingredients in a Tupperware container that I am going to store it in and I use my immersion blender and whirl everything right up. Whenever I use this tool for vinaigrette it never separates. It always stays emulsified. I always do my dressing a few days ahead of time so the flavors blend. When you are ready to toss your salad be stingy with the dressing. You only want to lightly coat the leaves. When you are done tossing sprinkle some Fleur de Sel (or other nice salt) and pepper.

Vinaigrette
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
½ Cup good olive oil

KEY LIME PIE! The big finale and my husband’s favorite part of the meal…dessert! Again since it was so hot I wanted to do something that was light and refreshing and something that I didn’t have to prep right after eating, key lime pie… Unfortunately for this you can’t really do too much of it ahead of time and it is a bit of hands on. I do like to make my own graham crust and you can do that a few days ahead if you want. The pie needs to chill so the ideal time to make it is 24 hours before you plan on serving it. I also use fresh key limes, only because they are available. Feel free to squeeze these a few days before hand. They now have bottled key lime juice too. I use my dual lemon/lime juice press from William Sonoma and invert the halved key lime. I find it easier this way. If you bought too many key limes then slice a few for decorating the pie if you still have more, juice the rest and freeze the juice. Use it for your next pie. Citrus juice freezes very well…

Key Lime Pie
Graham cracker crust for 1 pie
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
½ cup sour cream
¾ cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Mix all ingredients and pour into crust. Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 8 minutes. DO NOT BROWN. Chill pie until ready to serve. Serve with whipped cream.

It was a great dinner with great company. Lucky for us though the weather was nice and cool!