Balsamic Vinegar

Yum! I used it a lot this past weekend, with great results. Here's a recap:

Saturday, dinner with my friend and bridesmaid Karen, her husband Jake, and their 2-year-old daughter, Lily:

Brushchetta as an appetizer: Tomatoes, diced onion, fresh basil, a splash of good balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of EVOO, and salt and pepper. Serve with a good loaf of bread -- we got a baguette from the Asian grocery store down the street (Vietnamese cuisine has a lot of French influence, remember).

Balsamic-glazed grilled chicken:

Make a marinade using balsamic vinegar, olive oil, some lime or lemon juice, some dried oregano, salt and pepper, and minced garlic. Mix to combine, and pour over chicken parts. Marinate for a couple or few hours. Grill, basting with the marinade.

Cut up some peaches (it's peach season!) and put on the grill. Slice some onions into thick slices (I used yellow onions because I have a bunch of them right now, but red onions or Vidalias would be even better, I'm sure!), give them a swipe of olive oil, and add those to the grill, too. While everything's grilling, mix up a balsamic vinaigrette: good balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, dried oregano, a sprinkle of sugar, and some fresh chopped herbs (I used basil). Whisk while drizzling in extra virgin olive oil, until it reaches the right consistency. I used a bagged mixed greens salad from the grocery store, topped it with tomato wedges from my garden, the grilled peaches and grilled onions, and poured the vinaigrette over the whole thing. Serve alongside the grilled chicken.

For a few reasons, I have started to buy different versions of certain oils and vinegars. For marinating and sauteeing, I use regular olive oil. I save the EVOO for salad dressings, bruschetta, and other preparations in which we'll be eating the oil in its raw and pure form. The regular olive oil is cheaper, and I save the good stuff for when it matters. The same goes for balsamic vinegar -- I use a run-of-the-mill balsamic for marinating and reducing into sauces, and save the sweeter, better, and more expensive balsamic for pure/raw preparations like vinaigrettes and bruschetta. If you're trying to make your dollar stretch farther, this is a great way to do it while still being able to use quality ingredients when it counts.

Sunday, dinner with some friends and an excuse to use up more chicken and peaches:

Same chicken marinated in the same balsamic marinade, but this time, served with a grilled peach and corn salsa, recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Cut 2-3 peaches in thirds or halves and grill. Also grill a couple ears of corn. Let cool until able to handle, and then cut off the corn kernels and dice up the peaches and put everything into a bowl. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of chopped Thai basil (regular basil or mint would also work well), and half of a jalapeno, finely diced. Squeeze some lime juice into the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm over the chicken. We've been eating it cold ever since as a salsa with chips, but it was really best warm over the grilled chicken. The spiciness of the jalapeno in the salsa is cut by the lime and Thai basil, and it all goes wonderfully well with the sweetness of the balsamic glaze on the chicken.

To use up the jalapenos and banana peppers I've been growing, we also made jalapeno poppers. To make them, slice your peppers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and white rinds. Mix shredded cheddar cheese with cream cheese, and spoon into the peppers. Wrap the whole thing with half a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Grill for a few minutes over semi-direct heat until the bacon is cooked through, and eat warm. Very yummy. I thought about using a more interesting cheese instead of the cheddar, like Monterey Jack or Colby, but decided the heat of the jalapeno would negate any subtle taste differences, and I think I was right. That said, if all I had was Jack cheese, I wouldn't bother going to get cheddar for this recipe. We stuffed ourselves with jalapeno poppers and then ate the chicken with the corn and peach salsa, and it was plenty of food.

One of the things I particularly loved about cooking this weekend was being able to use so many items from my own garden and from the local market. One of my own tomatoes went into the bruschetta; I used my own basil for the bruschetta and Thai basil for the corn and peach salsa. My own jalapenos and banana peppers were the basis for the jalapeno poppers -- I definitely would not normally have made them if I didn't have an abundance of peppers I didn't know what to do with.

And the Italian market is definitely my favorite place to shop. I got 3 pounds of perfectly ripe peaches for $1, which went into the salad on Saturday and the salsa on Sunday; fresh Jersey corn for the salsa; amazing slab bacon -- for much less than the grocery store charges! -- for the poppers; and great whole chicken breasts to go with the dark meat I already had in the refrigerator. The butcher offered to split the breasts for me, but I chose to do it myself; it was a good lesson in chicken anatomy, and it gave me the opportunity to save all the little extra trimmings and bones to freeze and make stock with later. The only downside to the market is that everything closes down around 5 or 5:30 so it's hard for us to get there during the week.

As exhausted as I am from working, I am really enjoying cooking this summer. I hope the weather doesn't cool down anytime soon -- we need to keep grilling!