GRILLED ARTICHOKES WITH LEMON AIOLI!

I confess… I’m an artichoke lover! In fact my whole family is, we can’t resist them in any way shape or form!

Give us a pan of stuffed artichokes and we are all smiles, as we sit around the table scraping each leaf working are way down to the “heart”, by the time we are finished we each have a pile of scraped and discarded leaves on our plates! Now that’s some good eating!!
But now that it’s BBQ season we enjoy eating them grilled just as much. I think the hardest thing about cooking artichokes is the prep, to prepare them for the grill you have to cut the top off,discard some outer leaves and trim up the remaining ones.

You’ll want to cut them in quarters, and remove any fuzzy center and pull out all pointy and scratchy leaves. Immediately after cutting immerse them in lemon water until ready to cook.
Place them in a pot of salted water and cook till tender.

Drain well, and gently squeeze out excess water, set aside in a bowl.

A couple of hours before they are ready to be grilled, toss them in some extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and crushed garlic, salt and pepper.

The lemon aioli is whipped up very quickly with a good store bought mayonnaise, a little crushed garlic, fresh lemon juice, along with the rind, and salt and pepper to taste. Just make sure the consistency is good for dipping.

I actually like to grill these in my indoor grill pan, I feel have more control because they are a little fragile, and besides the marinade flavor seems to not burn off. But you absolutely can put them on your grill outside, just make sure your grill is super clean, you don’t want to take on any other flavors.
These are great appetizers to start off a meal, or to have as a nice side dish.

And last but not least, I want to thank my Florida house guests that were staying with us a couple of weeks ago, they gave me this beautiful blue oval platter ( for my blog!!) I don’t think the picture does it justice you can’t see how huge it is! I thought the green artichokes would look nice on it, what do you think?
Anyway, thanks again, Angie and Pat, Diane, Donny, and of course Lindsey and Lauren.

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I’M BACK!!!!!

I’m back from my wonderful vacation! I hope I don’t bore you, but I wanted to share some pictures with all of you. In all it’s wonder the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, fog and all!!

Boudin bakery at Fishermans Wharf, home of the famous sourdough bread. Friendly baker putting on a show for us.

He created all different shapes of bread, I bought a turtle.

We visited Muir Woods and saw the majestic redwoods!

Aren’t they beautiful?

Steaming crabs right outside on the wharf!

Yummm!!

A little clam chowder and a seafood sandwich!!

Napa Valley vineyards, looks like Italy dosen’t it?

Lots of the Italian vineyards have deli’s in them where you can buy lunch. Gourmet sandwiches, cheese, salads, and wine to be packed up an eaten right on the gorgeous grounds, we did that quite often!


Check out all the cheese!

I had that for lunch….. delicious!

A little shopping at the Le Creuset outlet! I was in heaven!


Of course I had to buy something for the blog!!! It’s being shipped.

Yummy crab cakes


Fresh halibut

Hubby ate this delicious pasta

Mumm Champagne tasting, the views were breathtaking!


I could have sat out there all day!

Can I tell you how excited I was to go here!

CIA Greystone Napa, Only 101 lucky students get to go here. Of course the big one is in New York. Chef Cat Cora was there the day before we were arrived. Many celebrity chefs visit and teach here.

If I didn’t know better I would have thought I was in Tuscany!

Viansa winery, the grounds and views were beautiful.

A view from Viansa.

Ahhhh, La Dolce Vita!!!

Back to reality! I have a lot of catching up to do with all of my blog friends, see you soon!!

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ROASTED GARLIC PESTO SALMON

As you read this I am still on vacation, I decided to set up and try Bloggers new scheduled posting. I have full confidence that it’s going to work, it’s really pretty simple, even for a non-tech person like me!
I’m posting this salmon dish because its simple, easy to do, and the flavor is so intensely good!
My Hubby was never really crazy about salmon, he would eat it because I made it, but he would never request it at all. Until…. I made it this way!! Now he craves it and wants me to make it often.
Hey, and its even good for you! Did you know that according to Web MD, a 3oz. serving of salmon has more vitamin D than 1 cup of milk? So it’s a great way for all of us to increase are calcium intake, not to mention all the other health benefits!

Have you ever tried roasted garlic basil pesto? I made this just like regular pesto, only I used roasted garlic instead. The flavor goes wonderful with the salmon.
Of course you can use your favorite jar of pesto also, there are some great ones out there that you can buy.

Simply brush the pesto all over your salmon, which is placed on a foil lined baking sheet, that’s it!! How fast is that?
Now here is the important part… Along time ago I saw Ina Garten talking about the key to cooking salmon correctly, she said always roast in a hot oven, around 500 degrees.
Roast salmon 18-20 min, or about 12 min. per inch at the thickest part. Remove it from the oven , wrap with foil and let it rest for about 15 min.

Can I tell you it comes out perfect every time! Perfect! Moist! never dried or overcooked, if you just follow her directions, I guarantee it will turn out for you.

Susan over at Food Blogga is hosting an event this month called Beautiful Bones, it’s to help bring awareness to osteoporosis, which not only affects women but men too! Please go over to her wonderful blog and read her post on this, it is filled with important information for all of us.
I am entering this salmon dish into her event because it is a calcium rich food which will help us in the fight against osteoporosis!!

Thanks Susan, for hosting such an important event!!!

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