Barbequed Potato and Onion Parcels

Crisis has been averted; tonight could have been a boring dinner! I came this close to making regular boiled potatoes, but thankfully Leah was present to save the day. (My regular boiled potatoes apparently don't make the cut anymore.)

Well excuse me! Apparently I missed the memo when they went out of style.

Leah insisted that these potatoes were the way to go, and you know what? She was absolutely right.

I'm just jokin' a bit, I didn't really need any convincing on this one. I just wasn't creative enough at the time to think of it.

Why not make exciting, flavorful potatoes if you can?

Students, if you don't have an accessible barbecue you can still make this side dish in the oven. My oven saved my bacon this year because I made almost everything in it. And it was so nice to just pop food into it and walk away. Mmmm...lazy cooking. You can also try this out in the oven during the winter. (Anywhere but the microwave!)

We packaged sliced potatoes, onions, and chives into cute little tinfoil parcels and popped them onto the barbecue for about 20 minutes.

The parcels that were not as jammed full seemed to caramelize the best. There was more room in the tinfoil for the onions to reach direct heat and they got nice and sweet.



Ingredients:

3 large Yukon gold potatoes, sliced
1 med size vadilla onion (or a white cooking onion is fine), sliced
handful of chives, chopped
2 Tbsp. canola oil
good pinch of salt and pepper

large sheet of aluminum foil

Directions:

1. Slice potatoes and onions into 1/2 cm slices and toss in canola oil, chives, salt and pepper.

2. Put a good handful or two of the potatoes into the center of a sheet of aluminum foil and wrap up into a parcel.

3. Place on the barbecue for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked.

Getting Acquainted with Asparagus

To continue with my local, fresh, and (hopefully) organic pattern...I am pleased to introduce, a perfect side veg for summer dining: The Asparagus!


Asparagus is low in calories, contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very low in sodium. It is a good source of folic acid, potassium, dietary fiber, and rutin. PLUS, (as if there could be more), it tastes yummy.

Now I know that many people might be looking at they computer with grossed out expressions. For how does one learn to love a vegetable that, ahem, makes their pee smell funny?

Well learn to love it my friends, because it so darn good for you and can be used in many ways. Today I will walk you through the basic how-to's, complete with a classic recipe: Barbecued Asparagus.

Preparation:

1. Begin by washing your asparagus like you would most vegetables (a thorough rinse in cold water) to remove any potential pesticides and/or dirt. Then, pat dry with a paper towel.

2. You probably purchased your asparagus from the grocery store where it had been sitting inch deep in water. This keeps it from drying out and wilting, but you should get rid of the ends that rested directly in the water.
To do this, hold the asparagus at the end, and about 3 inches up. Begin to slightly bend the asparagus until it snaps in a spot, probably close to the bottom. This is its natural, fool-proof, assist in making you the best chef ever. You will wow your friends with this trick if they don't cook already. (Otherwise, you might appear a little over excited about breaking asparagus...Not that I've ever experienced that. No sir.)

3. The asparagus is ready for any cooking method you wish to throw at it: steaming, bbq-ing, baking, deep frying, boiling, even microwaving.

Barbecued Lemon Thyme Asparagus:



















(The photo prior to cooking can be seen at the top of this post)

Ingredients:

depending on the size of the asparagus, approx. 5 shoots of asparagus per person (prepared as instrcted above)
a generious drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
a few sprigs of lemon thyme
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Toss already prepared asparagus spears in olive oil, salt and pepper, and lemon thyme. Then place on a barbecue safe tray. (I used a disposable tinfoil-ish one that had little tiny holes in it- hence the dark spots on my asparagus, seen above.)

2. Barbecue until the asparagus is softened, and has nice char marks. The lemon thyme will probably fall off during the cooking process, but not to worry, it will still leave a light flavor.