Coconut & Lime

Ingredients:
6 small red radishes or 3 large red radishes, small dice
1 stalk celery, small dice
1 shallot, minced
1 cubanelle pepper, minced

dressing:
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon sugar


Directions:
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Place the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Drizzle with dressing and toss to evenly distribute. Allow to sit 20 minutes before serving.

My thoughts:

I am generally a sauerkraut and/or mustard girl when it comes to hot dogs but for some reason the idea of a radish relish (which I had never even heard of before) stuck in my head. As it turns out, it was really good. I had it on a bison hot dog and enjoyed the pickley, spicy, zippy bit of crunch it provided.

I also think this relish would be great on grilled fish or even chicken. It is just so fresh tasting and crisp, it really brightens up whatever it is put on.

You need:
newspaper
crabs
crab mallet
paper towels

Quick notes:

Crabs are sold by size: small, medium, large, jumbo and occasionally colossal. They can be very expensive (especially if you buy them already steamed) and the price difference between the sizes can be significant. I recommend getting at least the medium size. The size difference between medium and large is often slight but the price difference is frequently about $10 a dozen.


Picking crabs is time consuming. Unless you are a professional, plan to spend the bulk of an afternoon or evening picking crabs.

Your hands will get very dirty. I find it is difficult to eat anything but crabs while you are picking unless you're willing to get up and wash your hands frequently. If you want to serve other food, I suggest serving it before or after the crabs.

Avoid touching your eyes while picking, seafood seasoning burns. Also, it is not uncommon to cut your finger on a shell but it is generally no worse than a papercut.



Step One:
Cover a large dining surface with a thicker than you would think layer of newspaper. It really is best to do this outside on a picnic table if at all possible. If not, resign yourself to cleaning the floor afterwards.



Step Two:
Pick out a crab. Try and get one that has both claws and feels "heavy" before someone else does.



Step Three:
Bend or twist the legs and claws to snap them off at the body. Some times a bit of crabmeat will come off with the legs or claw. Eat it. Set the claws aside. There is not much meat (if any) in the legs so I just push them aside.



Step Four:
Pull off the "apron". Some people use a butter knife for this but I am a purist and only use my hands. Simply slip your finger under the edge of the point and pull down. It should pull off easily.





Step Five:
Pry the shell away from the body. The easiest way is to use both hands and pull the crab halves in opposite directions.



Step Seven:
Flip the crab over.


Remove the squishy, grey gills. They pull off very easily. Discard them. The yellow stuff is colloquially known as the "mustard" and is edible.



Step Eight:
Crack the crab in two. Pull out any loose crabmeat and eat it.



Crack the halves and extract the meat. Again, some people use butter or crab knives but I find that fingers work just fine. Eat the meat as you go.



Step Nine:
Hold both sides of the crab claw and break off the part that I am holding in my fingers.




The meat should come off on the claw. If not, break the claw with your mallet.



The other half of the claw has meat as well. Break it off at the joint. If this doesn't yield meat, hit it with your mallet.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

My thoughts:

Steamed hard shell blue crabs are a staple here in Baltimore and I think us natives possess innate knowledge of how to pick crabs. However, I realize that this isn't true of many people, my husband included. Last year I posted a how to steam crabs that was well received. After that post, I got quite a few requests for a how to pick crabs post. I had tried to take pictures of the picking process at the time but it is hard enough to photograph yourself but covered in seafood seasoning? Nearly impossible. So I waited until we had crabs again and tried again with much more success. Having a crab feast is a lot of fun and it is a shame to miss it because you are crab-wary! Now everyone has a slightly different crab picking style but this is all you really need to get the most out of your crabs.

Ingredients:
1 large shallot
12 ounces tomato paste
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Coca-Cola
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground chipotle
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon mesquite liquid smoke
salt

Directions:
Pulse all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan and simmer on the lowest setting for 15 minutes or until heated through and slightly thickened. Allow to cool completely. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate.

My thoughts:

This year I have found a new interest in making homemade barbecue sauces. It wasn't that I had been using bottled sauces until now, I hadn't been using any barbecue sauce at all until this summer. The few times I encountered a bottled sauce they were always too sweet or weak tasting.

So I decided to start making my own. It seemed like most of the tomato-based recipes I came across called for my old nemesis, ketchup. Since I detest ketchup and its cloying sweetness, I knew that was not for me. So I decided to use intensely flavored tomato paste as a base and add some of my favorite ingredients to create my own ultimate sauce. The balsamic adds a fruity roundness, the coke adds a light sweetness (and no one would guess that it was an ingredient at all!) and the savory Worcestershire sauce adds an extra depth of flavor. I wanted a spicy-smoky note in the sauce so in went a dash of my favorite mesquite liquid smoke and ground chipotle pepper. The result? A tangy, spicy, smoky, not-too-sweet sauce that is perfect for any meat.

This sauce is also fantastic drizzled over pork or beef sandwiches, meatballs or in pulled pork.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup soft goat cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup blueberry puree
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature
optional: demerara sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Grease or line 12 wells in a muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together butter, goat cheese, puree, egg and vanilla until blended. Add the dry ingredients. Mix the batter thoroughly (batter will be very thick) then fold in blueberries. Fill each well about 3/4 of the way and sprinkle with demerara sugar if using. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or with just a few dry crumbs. Remove to rack and let cool at least 2 minutes before serving.

My thoughts:

These are extra blueberry-y muffins because most of the liquid in the batter is pureed blueberries. Also adding moisture and a touch of tangy flavor is a mild goat cheese. It sounds like sort of an odd pairing but it really works. The muffins are super moist and they really taste like blueberries. The goat cheese isn't overpowering at all, I don't think that anyone who didn't know would guess that there was goat cheese in them. It is presence in the muffin is mostly as a savoy, creamy background flavor, similar to the sour cream in my other favorite blueberry muffin recipe. The pureed blueberries do add a slight greenish blue tint to the baked muffins so be forewarned.

I do have to point out that my husband, a blueberry muffin connoisseur, is absolutely crazy about these muffins. This has lead to more than one conversation about how many of these muffins one can eat in one sitting without looking "piggish" and perhaps a sonnet or song or two has written in their honor. He says they are absolutely the best blueberry muffins he has ever had. High praise!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lb chicken thighs and legs

for the marinade:
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 shallot, grated
1 inch ginger, grated
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Korean malt syrup
1 tablespoon coarse-ground Korean red pepper (kochukaru)
1 tablespoon sugar


for the tea-chile packet:
3 tablespoons loose white tea
8 dried red chiles
1/2 teaspoon water

Directions:
Place the chicken in a nonreactive container. In a small bowl, whisk together the marinade directions. Pour over the chicken. Seal and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Place the chiles and tea in the middle of a medium-sized rectangle of foil. Sprinkle with the water. Fold the sides up to form a packet. Poke holes in the packet with a fork. Place on the hot coals. Arrange the chicken on a greased grill. Cook covered and vented until the chicken is thoroughly cooked through, turning halfway through the cooking time.

My thoughts:

This is some flavorful chicken. It isn't terribly spicy but the spices permeate the chicken pieces making every bite as tasty as the last. The tea-chile packet adds a subtle smoky-spice flavor to the meat that really sets it apart from other grilled chickens. The best part? Despite the intense flavor, it really isn't any more difficult to make than any other method of grilling chicken.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup blueberries
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature
3 sprigs peppermint leaves, lightly crushed
blueberry vanilla bean frosting

Directions:
Allow the mint to seep in the milk for at least 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 6 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture. Mash the blueberries in a small bowl with a potato masher until pretty well squished. Strain the milk into to the bowl and mix it with the blueberries. Add the mixture the rest of the batter and mix until well combined and fluffy looking. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just one or two dry crumbs. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing with blueberry vanilla bean frosting.

My thoughts:

I don't know if I have had blueberries and mint together before but they grow side by side in my yard so I thought I'd give it a shot. It turns out it is a pretty tasty combination. The mint isn't overpowering, it just adds a cooling note to the sweet fruity cupcakes. They are light and fresh tasting, perfect for a summer cupcake.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 egg whites
2/3 cup blueberries
1 vanilla bean, split length wise
pinch salt

Directions:
Beat the egg whites and salt to soft peaks using an electric mixer. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring sugar, vanilla bean blueberries and water to a boil, stirring occasionally, mashing the berries a bit with the back of your spoon. Continue to boil until it reaches soft ball stage (when a drop of the syrup forms a soft ball when dropped in cool water) while continuing to stir occasionally.




Whisk the mixture through a fine sieve into a heat safe measuring cup and discard the blueberries. Keep the mixer running (to be safe use a stand mixer or a friend to complete this next step) and pour a continuous stream of molten syrup into the egg whites. Continue to beat for about 5 minutes or until the frosting is fluffy, glossy and cool. Frost cooled cupcakes or cake.

My thoughts:

The best word to describe this frosting is ethereal. It has an incredibly light and smooth texture and is infused with blueberries and vanilla. So good and perfect for summer.