Memorial Day Suburban Cookout

It's exactly what you think.  We had a bunch of people over for dinner on our back deck; hamburgers, hot dogs, roasted vegetables, brownies, cookies, fruit, chips.  In essence, the whole traditional American works. We even grilled portebella mushrooms for our vegetarian guests.  Friends also brought real, no-fooling, made-from-scratch margaritas.  It was a great evening.  Now we need to clean up the kitchen.

Roasted Vegetables

A variety of peppers (use multiple colors)
Asparagus spears
Vidalia onions (white or yellow onions can also be used.  I would not recommend using bermuda onions.)
Cauliflower
Button or white mushrooms
Tomatos
Anything else you'd care to add
Peanut or corn oil, olive oil, salt, pepper

The trick to making this easy is to line the baking pan with aluminum foil and lubricating the cooking surface with an oil with a relatively high smoke point.  I generally use peanut oil.  Olive oil is used to help flavor the vegetables and give them a roasted finish.  You can just peel away the aluminum foil and throw it away, making clean up really easy.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Use your oven's convection setting if it is equipped.

- Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil
- Lightly lube the aluminum foil-lined pan with peanut oil
- Cut the vegetables into large pieces
- Toss the vegetables in a small amount of olive oil.  (The vegetables shouldn't be saturated with oil.  A little goes a long way.)
- Liberally season with salt and pepper to according to preference
- Roast until thoroughly heated and some charring appears on the peppers (roughly 20 minutes)
- Can be served hot or cold

Tuna Melt

Nothing great. Half of a tuna melt sandwich at a local diner after a long bike ride. Not very inspiring.

Salmon Fritatta

Salmon Fritata, Cresent Rolls, served with a bottle of Viognier wine

For four - six people.  Can easily be stretched to accommodate more

The trick to this dish is to use an oven-proof skillet. I use a heavy-duty cast iron frying pan.  You can also use a good non-stick skillet

2 Salmon fillets
8-12 eggs
10-15 asparagus spears
Half of a large onion
Half & half or milk
A healthy handful of white button mushrooms
Dill, salt, pepper, freshly grated parmesan cheese, olive oil

Uncork the wine and pour a glass

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Season two salmon fillets with salt, pepper and dill
- Sear salmon with a little olive oil and set aside.  Don't worry about fully cooking the fish
- Sweat onions, mushrooms and asparagus in a little olive oil
- Beat eggs, half&half or milk, dill to taste, salt, pepper and half of the grated Parmesan cheese
- Coarsely chop the salmon fillets and fold into egg mixture
- Pour egg and salmon mixture over the sweated veggies in the frying pan
- Cook on stove top for 5-10 minutes, until eggs are set
- Finish in the oven for roughly 15 minutes or until firm
- Sprinkle remaining Parmesan over the top of the frittata and return to the oven until melted

Follow directions on the Cresent rolls. We used a can that was left over from Easter.