Corn Salad

Serves 4

You can use either fresh corn that you grill or a can of corn - and trust me...the can is very easy and still really really good. Don't knock it until you've made it.

Ingredients

• 3 ears of corn, husks removed, or
• 15 ounce can corn kernels
• 1 red pepper, diced small
• fresh cilantro, finely chopped to make about 1/4 cup
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 4 ounces goat cheese crumbles
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinch of Kosher salt

Directions

1. Brush corn with about 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and roast on the grill until softened and brown in spots (probably 20-25 minutes)- let cool, cut off the husk and put in bowl, or
2. If using the canned corn, drain the water and cook corn in a very hot pan with a little oil until it softens a bit and starts to get browned in spots - then put in a bowl
3. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well - serve and smile

Caprese Salad

This is one of the favorite salads in our house - even the kids love it. A second option would be to substitute small yellow 'pearl' tomatoes and red 'grape' tomatoes along with the tiny rounds of mozzarella.

Ingredients

• Ripe red tomatoes
• Ripe yellow tomatoes
• Fresh mozzarella rounds
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh ground pepper
• Kosher salt

Directions

1. Slice tomatoes and mozzarella into 1/4 inch slices
2. Alternate slices of red, yellow and mozzarella on serving plate
3. Place basil leaves in between tomatoes
4. Drizzle olive oil over the top and mix gently
5. Drizzle very gently with vinegar
6. Add a few good grinds of pepper and salt

Cedar Plank Salmon

Serves 6

This is very impressive looking when done, not to mention easy. I know I say that a lot but it really is. You can find the untreated cedar planks at your local lumberyard.

Ingredients

• 1 Cedar plank (dimensions are up to you, but about an inch thick and big enough to fit the salmon with at least an inch of border, but not too big to fit in your barbeque)

• 1 whole salmon fillet

• Olive oil

• Kosher Salt and fresh ground pepper

• 1-2 tablespoons of Sriracha sauce

• 2-3 tablespoons of Kewpie (Japanese mayo, regular mayo will work too) 

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• Spray bottle of water, just in case

Directions

1. Soak plank in water 1 to 2 hours.

2. Heat grill to medium

3. Place salmon on plank and rub top lightly with oil

4. Sprinkle well with salt and pepper

5. Spread Sriracha and mayo evenly over salmon

6. Sprinkle brown sugar over the salmon

7. Place board with salmon on heated grill and close lid.

8. For a filet about an inch at its thickest and depending on how good your barbeque is, it will grill for about 10 - 15 minutes.

9. The plank sides may flare up during cooking this is no big deal as long as you keep the salmon about an inch away from the edges.

10. Remove and serve.

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Grilled Lobster Tails

Serves 4

There's this big mystique about lobster being hard to cook. Frankly it's no more difficult than a grilled peanut butter and jelly - it's just more expensive. Try it and see.

Ingredients

• 4 lobster tails
• 1/4 cup Finlandia butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• Juice of 1 whole lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup scallions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients except tails in small pot over low heat until melted
2. Using kitchen shears or really good scissors - cut right up the middle of the shell to towards the tail, but don't cut through the tail
3. Using the cut as your guide, take a good knife and cut all the way down through the meat but do not cut through the bottom shell
4. Pull back the sides of the shell to expose the meat and brush well with the butter mixture
5. Heat grill to medium high and grill meat-side down for approximately 5-6 minutes, then turn and cook another 3-4 minutes or until done
6. Serve with extra butter sauce

Pastrami Reuben Dog

Makes 6 dogs

I love a Reuben, but always make it with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut. So it just makes sense that if I was going to turn it into a dog I would do the same.

Ingredients

• 6 Kosher dogs

• 6 tablespoons spicy brown mustard

• 12 slices deli pastrami

• 6 good hot dog buns

• 6 slices Swiss cheese

• 1 ½ cups coleslaw, and just the ready deli kind is perfect

• Thousand Island dressing

Directions

1. Heat grill to medium high

2. Cook dogs until beginning to blister and looking great and remove from grill

3. Put pastrami and buns on grill and cook about a minute each side until beginning to brown

4. Put some dressing on each toasted bun, adding the pastrami, drizzle mustard, the coleslaw and finally the cheese

5. Put under the broiler for a final melt of the cheese - then eat

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Sour Cream Hot Dogs

Makes 4 really damn good dogs

Another so simple but so good recipe. It's hard for me NOT to make my dogs like this every time.

Ingredients

• 4 Kosher all beef hot dogs (just trust me on the Kosher part)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup diced green onions

Directions

1. Heat grill to medium high
2. Using a knife, make a spiral cut all the way around each dog - about 1/4 of the way through
3. Grill dogs until beautiful and a wee bit crispy around the edges
4. Just as they're finishing, place buns on grill to get golden brown
5. Remove dogs and buns...spread sour cream on each bun...add a dog and top with a bunch of green onions - don't be stingy
6. Devour - I mean eat - no I mean devour