El Greco Grill

If this El Greco Grill sets the tone for this year's summer grilling, it's gonna be a GOOD year! This Greek feast features chunky vegetable skewers and shrimp in a delightful marinade of ouzo, basil and tomato along with our El Greco seasoning. Make the marinade ahead of time for maximum flavor development and you won't be disappointed. Serve family style on a big platter of rice!

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Rhubarb Compote with Indian Coriander Cream

To me, one of the true harbingers of spring is the sight of my rhubarb leaves tentatively reaching up towards the sun. Soon, I know they’ll be producing non-stop throughout the summer, and whatever I can’t use fresh will go straight into the freezer. This recipe is a great way to use the ruby-red stalks, whether fresh or frozen. And the Coriander Cream, made by infusing freshly ground Indian Coriander Seed seed into heavy whipping cream, has an insanely addictive taste. Using the seeds un-toasted reveals their delicate citrusy flavor, which blossoms throughout the cream. There are endless ways to serve this modern take on the classic Rhubarb and Custard dessert: it can be served on top of a tender biscuit, shortcake style, layered into a trifle with a vanilla sponge cake, or spooned straight up in a small bowl with an Orange Pistachio biscotti alongside for crunch. One further note: since rhubarb is very acidic, it should not be cooked in a metal pan, such as cast iron or aluminum, since the acid will react with the metal and cause the rhubarb to become discolored and off-tasting.

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Orange Tarragon Halibut with Honey en Papillote

The opening of halibut season is a rite of spring in the Pacific Northwest and always brings the excitement of fresh wild bounty. You can do just about anything with halibut, and I've done many, being a huge fan of the fish. It's willing to accept a wide range of flavor, it's meaty and tender while not overly fishy and you can pan-fry, grill, plank or poach it. But this year I've found the best preparation ever, and I love it when seemingly fancy or fussy things turn out to be easy and totally worth it. Such is the case with cooking "en papillote" or "in parchment". These magical little packets create an effective steam chamber that drives a world of flavor INTO this fabulous fish. The packets are easy to make, especially if you are experienced cutting hearts out of folded pieces of paper. Even if you're not, the easy instructions in this Serious Eats article will help you get the hang of it.For this recipe we paired Orange Tarragon Compound Butter with honey and a squeeze of Meyer Lemon. The flavors combine effortlessly both in the packet and on the tongue. Dinner was ready in under half an hour start to finish and the flavor pairings were sensational. Serve with fresh vegetables and a nice white wine for an easy breezy spring dinner.

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Lemon Coriander Cake

This Lemon Coriander Cake is light and delicious with bright flavors of lemon and Indian coriander. We loved it plain and simple with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and a glass of Timber City Ginger Beer on a spring afternoon, but you could also elevate it over the top with Rhubarb Compote and Coriander Creme to finish off the finest gourmet dinner. Either way it is a wonderful cake with texture light as angels wings and sophisticated flavor.

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Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Fra Diavolo translates as “Brother Devil”, and refers to this spicy, tomato and seafood-based pasta dish. The tomato sauce is light, perfect for spring and the Marash Chile Flakes add a mellow heat with well rounded flavor that plays perfectly with the sweetness in the vegetables. The gentle, warming heat increases upon reheating, so keep that in mind if you’re planning for leftovers.I’ve been making this dish for many years, but only recently came across a technique that really helps bump up the flavor. More advanced cooks are well aware of how to coax the maximum amount of flavor from shrimp by utilizing the peeled shells, and now I do the same. It’s really not that difficult, and it’s amazing the difference it makes to the dish. Most Fra Diavolo recipes call for a long noodle such as linguine or spaghetti, but I prefer a corkscrew-shaped pasta, or any other shape with crevices that can capture and hold onto the sauce. Regular or gluten-free pasta works equally well here.

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Orange Tarragon Compound Butter

We've all been there. You want to add a little pizzazz to your finished dish but just don’t have the time or inclination to go that final step and make a sauce. Enter the Compound Butter. Like a knight in shining (glistening?) armor, these handy little life savers can come straight from the fridge or freezer to the rescue, adding a distinctive depth and pop of flavor. A compound butter is simply a combination of softened butter and any mix of herbs and spices you can think of. Bolder flavors, like chiles, cumin, or masalas can be paired with heavier proteins like beef, chicken, lamb, or pork, while lighter fare, such as seafood or vegetables, are better topped with a blend utilizing lighter herbs like dill, parsley, or cilantro. Here, we combine the slightly sweet Orange Tarragon with fresh parsley, tarragon and orange zest for a delicate topping that will take your dish to a whole new level. It pairs well with roasted or grilled vegetables, fish and seafood, or pasta.

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Cold Ayam Apple Soup

One of the advantages of this soup is the fact that you can make it ahead of time and it’s ready to eat whenever you are. Or wherever you are, seeing as this is a quintessential British picnic dish meant to be served cold. The Indonesian Ayam gives it a gentle curry-like flavor, but without too much heat. As for the apples, I like to use both Granny Smith for their tartness and a second variety that brings more sweetness to the dish, but feel free to use all sweet apples or your favorite varieties. As always, feel free to play around with the ingredients! You can substitute vegetable broth for the chicken, or choose between the cream or the yogurt for the finish. If you use the yogurt, which will add more tang, then go lighter on the lemon juice.

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Chinese Five Spice Plum Sauce

When life gives you plums, make plum sauce! And plum cardamom bread, but that's another story. Plum sauce is a traditional complement for grilled meats in Asian cuisine and is a wonderful pairing with duck, pork, chicken or salmon. It is easy to make and is an ideal way to preserve a bumper crop of plums. This sauce is delightfully complex and balances all the flavors on the palate. The sweet plums are paired with Chinese Five Spice, onions, garlic and shallots with a kick of ginger to round it out. One batch yields several pints so be ready to can it or freeze it to have on hand year round and there will still be plenty left over to gift some. We took our inspiration from Hank Shaw at Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook and really appreciated the time saving tip of freezing the plums to make them easier to pit. It was a breeze!

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Bulgogi Orange Chicken

Bulgogi Orange Chicken is a sweet taste of Asian fusion combining classic Chinese orange chicken with our Korean inspired Bulgogi Spice. It's a sweet dish that heat lovers can always fire up at the table with a sprinkle of Rooster Spice, Korean Chile or the hot sauce of their choosing. The satisfying shell of sticky sauce that surrounds each moist nugget of chicken is so delicious you'll think the pros made it. Great for entertaining, the process is hands on at the start but then the chicken spends most of the time in the slow cooker with a quick finish on the sauce. That leaves plenty of time available for socializing before dinner. We added apple juice to the sauce for a traditional nod to the bulgogi.

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