Summer Barbecue (Indoors)

We had rain in fits and starts this 4th of July weekend, and although we planned to have enjoy a meal on our patio, we ended up taking the party inside.  But to keep the barbecue feeling alive, we did enjoy a festive lunch with my own version of "hot dogs."  These are a little fancier and a lot more flavorful than your typical Oscar Meyer (hey, I'm not knocking Oscar here, just sometimes you want to mix it up) but are quick and easy to do sans outdoor grill.  Grilling in the rain is just no fun, but eating this sandwich is.

Spicy Sausages on Challah Buns

6 spicy Italian sausages
6 challah buns
2 chopped ripe tomatoes
1 chopped sweet onion
1/2 small head of lettuce
mustard (dijon or spicy brown) to taste
salt and pepper

Set your oven to broil and in a non-stick cookie sheet set out your sausages evenly spaced.  With a sharp knife, split each sausage down the center to butterfly it and flatten down slightly.  This will help even the cooking and ensure the sausages are browned nicely all over.

Chop tomatoes, and toss lightly with a couple turns of cracked pepper and salt.  Chop onion and place in a separate bowl.  Wash and dry lettuce, arrange in bowl.

Keep an eye on the sausages, they will be nicely browned in 10 - 15 minutes.  When thoroughly cooked, remove from oven and place sausages on a paper-towel lined plate to absorb any fat.

Split the challah buns and toast in the oven for one or two minutes on broil, then remove buns to a plate.

Each person can assemble their own sandwich but the idea is the same.   Slather one side with mustard (I like egregious quantities of it, so slather is really the right word in this case), and line the other side with lettuce.  Gently nestle a sausage in the center and scatter tomato and onion on top, to taste.  Now try to close it all up and take a big bite.  Repeat.

Serve with a side of good potato chips (like Kettle Chips) and refrigerator pickles (or in a pinch, Claussen's Dill will do).  Oh, and a nice Belgian beer is strongly recommended.

This recipe makes 6 sandwiches.  I will tell you right now *some* people can stuff 2 of these in their gullets in one sitting (ok, yes it was me, and while it was not my proudest moment, it was delish)... so I would say this serves about 3-4 people depending on appetites.

One final word - the secret to a deceptively simple sandwich like this is ingredients (well, isn't that the case with just about everything?).  The rich eggy dough of the challah, the juicy ripe tomato, the handmade sausage from my butcher -- it all adds up.  And whatever you do, please be a mustard snob and get something hearty and zingy to cut through the richness of the meat.  The pleasure of this sandwich is in the contrasts of crisp, tart, rich, salty, etc. and it starts in having a good foundation.  Enjoy!

Simple Berry Frozen Yogurt

It's getting increasingly warm and humid here in rural New Jersey, and whilst the air conditioner is set to a balmy 72 degrees, it's not enough to keep my mind off the heat.  We find ourselves craving cool summertime staples like crisp watermelon and creamy ice cream.  But, as there is a limit to the amount of chocolate ice cream that even I can (or should) stuff down my gullet after dinner, I made these frozen treats yesterday to mix it up.

Simple Berry Frozen Yogurt

1 16 oz. bag frozen strawberries
1 32 oz. bottle of kefir yogurt
1 large container of Greek yogurt (like Fage, 500 gr)
1 pint of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange blossom water
1 good pinch of salt

In the bowl of a large food processor, empty the entire bag of frozen strawberries.  Using the "pulse" option, chop down the strawberries until they are small frozen bits.  (Depending on the strength of your food processor or the size of the berries, you may want to let them thaw a bit first before processing so your food processor doesn't throw a fit.)

Add sugar, kefir and about 2/3 of the blueberries, reserving the rest of the berries for garnish.  Add the vanilla, salt, and orange blossom water (if using).  Pulse again until well blended.  Because my food processor capacity doesn't go much further, I emptied most the bowl contents at this point into my largest mixing bowl.  Now, inside the almost empty food processor, I put in the Greek yogurt, and give it a couple pulses, just to liquify it down a bit.  I find this helps with combining it with the rest of the kefir-berry mixture, but you could also slowly whisk in the Greek yogurt by hand without food processing it.  Now, combine the Greek yogurt and kefir-berry mixture into the mixing bowl and mix together until everything is well combined.

Because I wanted to have individual servings set up, I bought some clear plastic cups from Target's party section.  With a 1 cup measuring cup, I dumped one cup of the mixture in each up.  It makes about 12 cups total.  Into each cup, I added about 3-4 blueberries as a garnish, then I cleaned up any spills around the cup edges with a wet paper towel.  Cover in plastic wrap and set in the freezer, and they are ready to go!

Simple Berry Frozen Yogurt

Tip: As you can see in the shot below, the cup is only half-full.  So I cover loosely in plastic wrap, and after they are frozen, I can stack about 3 cups together to make room in the freezer.  The plastic wrap nestles down between each cup, so the bottom of one cup won't get messy from the top of another.

I like to eat mine semi-freddo, so I let it sit out on the counter for about an hour before eating.  It also means I have to pre-plan my snack a little bit, which cuts down on impulse eating straight out of the freezer!

Next I plan to try mango and pineapple flavors.  What other flavors do you think would work for homemade frozen yogurt?