I'm ready for Summer Corn - Grilled Corn with Green Beans and Tomatoes

I have summer salads and fresh produce on my mind, because everything is SO wonderful this time of year! At Harter House and World Flavors you are always guaranteed the freshest products available!

There's just something about Corn that screams summer. It's the kind of food that you eat outside, with your hands, preferably barefoot. While we have grown accustomed to having corn available year round, fresh locally grown corn is truly a treat. Enjoy it seamed, boiled, grilled or roasted, or just slice raw kernels from the cob.

Remember that fresh corn is best as fresh as you can get it, so don't store it in the fridge too long. You should always wait to shuck it till just before you're cooking. To cut fresh kernels from the cob, hold the cob vertically in a large bowl and carefulley run your knife down the sides, slicing off the kernels and letting them fall into the bowl.

Here are some of our favorite ideas for adding corn to your summer cookouts.

1. Grill it. To grill corn on the cob pull the husks back and remove the silks, then re-wrap with the husks and heavy duty foil and cook over a medium-low fire until tender.
2. Have fun making your own flavored butters with herbs like chives, basil or tarragon, or citrus butter with fresh lmon or lime zest or even a smokey butter with just a touch of chipolte peppers in adobo. (See recipe below)
3. Add corn to the batter of your favorite cornbread or corn muffin recipes - in most cases you can simply substitute fresh corn where a recipe might call for frozen corn.
4. Make a colorful salad of Grilled Corn with Green Beans and Tomatoes (Recipe below)
5. Stir fresh corn kernels into picnic favorites like coleslaw and potato salad.
6. Stuff large heirloom tomatoes with a saute of chopped bacon, corn and diced zucchini.
7. Make a quinoa salad with corn, chopped red bell pepper, black beans, diced avocado and lemon juice.
8. Try a summer time risotto with corn, chives and shrimp. Add a pinch of saffron to your broth for a burst of flavor and color.

FETA AND FRESH HERBS mixed into butter make a fantastic topping for summer corn on the cob. Serves 6

Ingredients
1/4 cup crumbles feta

3 tablespoons unsalted buttr, softened

Zest of lemon

3 tablespoons chopped mint

2 1/2 teaspoons chopped thyme

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

6 ears sweet corn

Method
In a small bowl, combine feta, butter, zest, mint, thyme, salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to stir and mash ingredients together until mixed and fairly smooth. Pack the mixture into a small bowl and smoothe the top. (You can cover and refrigerate the mixture up to a day ahead, but be sure to have it warm enough to spread easily before serving.)

Enjoy on your boiled or grilled corn!

GRILLED CORN WITH GREEN BEANS AND TOMATOES
Ingredients
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
4 ears corn, grilled
1 pound green beans, blanched and cooled
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup basil leaves, thinly shredded
4 ounces ricotta
Method
Prepare vinaigrette by whisking together mustard, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut kernels off corn cobs and put in a large bowl. Add beans, tomatoes, Onion and basil. Drizzle vinaigrette over and toss to combine. Top with Ricotta and serve.

Butterflying A Whole Chicken

This week (July 6 - 12, 2016)
at five Harter House Supermarkets
we have Fresh Whole Fryers on sale, .99 lb.

Have you tried butterflying your whole chicken for roasting?


Butterflying the chicken does two main things. First it allows for a more even heat by eliminating that inner cavity. Second, it exposes the tender meat to be seasoned better and allows that smoker to penetrate easier.















I read that sometimes you might like to remove the wings and freeze them for chicken wings, this is optional.

1.Rinse the bird
2.Remove any excess fat especially around the neck and tail
3.With a sharp pair of kitchen sheers, cut along both sides of the backbone.
4.Spread the bird out.
5.Locate the breast bone. With a sharp knife, cut along both sides of the lower portion.
6.Then cut through the cartilage at the top of the breast bone and pull it out.

My favorite seasonings are an Italian blend and include;
1 Tb. kosher salt
2 tsp. each: ground black pepper, Italian seasonings, paprika and finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. granulated garlic or garlic powder





















Your done!
Enjoy

Tomato and Avocado Fruit Salad

I found this recipe many years ago and enjoy making it this time of year when tomatoes and fruits are at their best.


I love tomatoes on their own, sliced and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  But also, topped with mayo, or drizzled with olive oil and topped with fresh basil and mozzarella pearls.  I love a BLT, with the tomatoes dripping between two chewy slices of Rustic French Bread and crispy fried Harter House Thick Sliced Bacon.  I also like tomatoes on a bagel with cream cheese.  If it has tomato in it, I know I am feeding my body well.


By the way, are tomatoes really a fruit?  Well, yes they are.  But I continue to think of them as a healthy vegetable.


This recipe uses fresh tomatoes and avocados, with a tart bite of fruits, an acidic tang of grapefruit and orange, deep richness of cherries combined together to create a perfect union.  I ate this salad immediately after tossing, but it is good the next day as well.

Tomato and Avocado Fruit Salad

(serves 2 as a full meal or 4-6 as a side)

2 large nectarines

1 large pink grapefruit (remove peel and seeds)

2 large heirloom tomatoes, any variety

1 large avocado

1 1/2 cups pitted, halved cherries (use a dark, sweet variety, like Bing)

1 large navel orange (remove peel and seeds)

1-2 plums

Cut fruit into chunks, and toss together with their juices.  Enjoy this salad on it's own, or top with yogurt (honey flavored Greek Yogurt is my favorite)  I also enjoy it with a whole wheat bagel with a little cream cheese and a drizzle of honey.

Upside-Down Breakfast Muffins

If you're looking for ways your family can spend more quality time together, consider bringing back breakfast this weekend.  

You'll find everything you need at Harter House and Harter House World Flavors.

Enjoying each other's company and a delicious breakfast is the perfect opportunity for your family to reconnect. Use the added time weekend mornings provide to prepare a wonderful, warm meal for your family to sit down and create lasting memories. Make your morning meal a weekend tradition the whole family can look forward to all week long.

Here are some easy tips to help make breakfast a family occasion:

Make Breakfast Special - Each week, request that a family member choose a fun theme for the breakfast table. From sports teams to movie themes to favorite colors - you'll see that the choices are endless and they can inspire creative breakfast menus.

Find Some Breakfast Helpers - Let the whole family practice their cooking skills by helping you in the kitchen. Serve foods that are easy to dress up, like Hungry Jack® pancakes. Sometimes the simple pleasure of a warm plate of pancakes is all you need to create the perfect start to your weekend mornings together.

Create Breakfast Menu Magic - The sky is the limit when you have extra time to craft a hearty breakfast, so serve a variety of foods your family will love. You can't go wrong with breakfast classics - from fresh veggie and egg dishes to the warm, fluffy goodness of a stack of Hungry Jack pancakes. Does your family enjoy creating breakfast masterpieces? Try these Upside-Down Breakfast Stacks, made with Hungry Jack pancakes, sausage patties, cheddar cheese and eggs, for a magical take on an ordinary meal.

For more recipes and breakfast tips to bring families together on the weekends, visit www.hungryjack.com.

©/® The J.M. Smucker Company

Upside-Down Breakfast Stacks

Ingredients

• Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 6 fully cooked sausage patties (Try Harter House's Homemade Breakfast Sausage)
• 3/4 cup Hungry Jack® Complete Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix
• 1/2 cup water
• Shredded sharp cheddar or pepper jack cheese (optional)
• Hungry Jack Original Syrup

Preparation

1. HEAT oven to 375°F. Coat 6 muffin cups or glass custard cups generously with no-stick cooking spray.
2. DIVIDE eggs evenly into prepared muffin cups. Top with sausage patty. Whisk pancake mix and water together in medium bowl until smooth. Pour evenly over sausage.
3. BAKE 14 to 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 2 minutes. Invert onto baking sheet. Sprinkle immediately with cheese, if desired. Serve warm with syrup.

Preparation Time
15 min

Cook Time
15 min

Serves

 

Yield: 6 stacks

SOURCE:

Hungry Jack

Maple-Mustard Country-Style Spareribs & Temptin’ Sweet Potato Salad

Country-style ribs are cut from the sirloin or rib end of the pork loin. The meatiest variety of ribs, country-style ribs are sold either as “slabs” or in individual servings at Harter House Supermarkets.
On Sale this week for $2.99 lb.
(June 1 - 7, 2016)
These pork ribs are perfect for those who want to use a knife and fork.


Ribs are commonly prepared either “wet” or “dry.” Ribs rubbed with a mixture of herbs and spices are called dry ribs. Such rubs can be applied just before barbecuing. Ribs basted with sauces during the barbecuing process are called wet ribs. For best results, brush ribs generously during the last 30 minutes of cooking.


Cooking Methods
Roasting

Roasting is a method of cooking pork in the oven in an uncovered pan, and without adding liquid to the pan.

Tips
Using the drippings from the roasted meat will provide great flavor when making a stock, gravy or sauce.

When placing a thermometer in the meat to check for doneness, be sure that the stem of it is not touching a bone because this can result in a false reading.

Do not use sharp utensils that may pierce the meat when trying to turn it because piercing allows valuable juices to escape. Use other utensils, such as wooden spoons and spatulas for turning the meat.

A roast with a bone in it will cook faster than a boneless roast because the bone will conduct heat faster than the meat.

For a crisp surface on your roast, be sure the oven is fully preheated before placing the roast in the oven and do not cover the meat while roasting.

Recommended Cuts for roasting
Loin Roast
Crown Roast
Fresh Pork Leg
Shoulder
Tenderloin
Spareribs
Back Ribs


Barbecuing
Barbecuing is a method of slowly cooking pork in an open pit or on a spit using coals, hardwoods, gas or electricity as a heat source. The same effect can also be achieved using a grill by placing the pork on the rack away from the heat source. The food is frequently based with a tangy tomato- or vinegar-based sauce.

Tips
To prevent the meat from sticking, use clean racks and coat them with vegetable oil or a nonstick vegetable oil spray.

And again, do not use sharp utensils that may pierce the meat when trying to turn it because piercing allows valuable juices to escape. Use other utensils, such as wooden spoons and spatulas for turning the meat.

Recommended Cuts
Back Ribs
Country-Style Ribs
Shoulder
Spareribs

Maple-Mustard Country-Style Spareribs


Ingredients
6 large country spareribs, about 4-1/2 pounds
3/4 cups maple syrup
3/4 cup mustard, coarse grained
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, plus 1 tablespoon packed
2 teaspoons Tabasco
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Salt and black pepper, coarse ground

Cooking Directions
Mix maple syrup, mustard, brown sugar, hot sauce, and soy sauce. Set glaze aside.

Create indirect fire with foil drip pan half-filled with water. Lay ribs on rack over drip pan and brush with glaze. Cover and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes, turning and basting every 15 minutes. Move ribs to hot side of grill. Brush with glaze, cover, and grill for 5 minutes. Repeat, turning and basting, until ribs are tender and brown (about 20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Serves 6

Be sure to glaze toward the end of the cooking time. Otherwise the glaze will burn before the ribs are done. Serve with grilled summer squash and Temptin’ Sweet Potato Salad


















Temptin’ Sweet Potato Salad
Ingredients
1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (careful not to use the whole can)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon coconut rum
1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 medium sweet potatoes, baked and cubed
1 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup dried currants

Cooking Directions
Combine orange juice concentrate, water, lime juice, rum, Dijon mustard and salt; mix until blended. In large bowl, combine potatoes, apples, celery and currants. Add orange juice concentrate mixture to potato mixture and toss. Cover and chill several hours or overnight.
Serves 6.

Cinco De Mayo recipes

Contrary to what some may believe, it’s not Mexican Independence Day.

Cinco De Mayo is the holiday of tequila and tex-mex, shares a genre with Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s day and has become hugely popular throughout the United States. But how many people actually know the history behind this springtime celebration?

Cinco De Mayo marks the 1862 battle of Puebla, during which Mexican troops defeated the French army in an underdog victory regarded as a symbol of national unity. Mexico celebrates Independence Day on September 16, but Cinco De Mayo is only observed regionally.

Mexican-Americans in southwestern states like New Mexico and California are thought to have brought the holiday north of the border. Since then, it has become hugely commercialized and bars have reaped the benefits. It’s not so much a hallmark holiday as an alcohol business holiday — shown in part by the launch of Bud Light Lime on May 5, 2008.

Here are three recipes provided by Harter House Supermarkets to celebrate Cinco De Mayo

Black Bean, Zucchini & Tomato Quesadillas

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup chunky salsa plus more for serving
1 cup drained black beans
1 zucchini - shredded on box grater
8 flour tortillas
2 cups mexican cheese

DIRECTIONS;
Combine salsa beans and zucchini. spread mixture over tortilla. top with cheese, cover with another tortilla
Heat pan over medium heat. brown on both sides (about 4-5 minutes per side).
Keep them warm in a 170 degree oven while you cook the rest.

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Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Quick-Pickled Onion and Cucumber

INGREDIENTS:
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons salt
12 ounces beer
3 (8-ounce) tilapia fillets, cut into chunks
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
Quick-Pickled Onion and Cucumber, recipe follows

Directions
Fill a large pot with oil halfway up the pot. Heat oil to 350 degrees F. Preheat grill.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Slowly whisk in beer until thick, but not runny. Dredge fish in remaining flour first, then dunk in the batter. Fry in batches until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper-toweled lined plate.
Meanwhile, grill tortillas on grill.
Serve fish in tortillas topped with Quick-Pickled Onion and Cucumber.

Quick-Pickled Onion and Cucumber:
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
1 large red onion, medium dice
1 large Vidalia onion, medium dice
1 English cucumber, medium dice
1 habanero chile, seeds removed, minced
1 Roma tomato, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, sugar, water, and salt. Add onions and cucumber and continue to cook a few minutes more. Remove from heat, add chile, and transfer to a bowl. Let cool slightly then chill covered, for at least 1 hour.
Toss in the tomato and cilantro, 5 minutes before serving.

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Yummy Margaritas!

Basic Ingredients

• 1 (6 ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate
• 6 fluid ounces Tequila
• 2 fluid ounces triple sec

Simple Directions

1. Fill blender with crushed ice. Pour in limeade concentrate, tequila and triple sec. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

Using limeade as a sour mix substitute is just so simple and always on hand. If you add a half oz of OJ to the original recipe, it's even better. Plus, it never hurts to add the juice of a lemon or lime as it's blending. You can even do a half oz of Chambord or Grand Marnier "float" after you've poured them (Chambord is delish!!). Or, add some fresh or frozen fruit to the original recipe and make fruit margaritas. If you don't have fruit but have some flavored liquors at home, throw some in.  Easy recipe to work with and it's made many an anti-tequila friend huge margarita fans. 

ENJOY!!

Gorgonzola Sauce over Beef Tenderloin

This is a great topping for beef, chicken, even burgers.  It's just a great sauce.
One review said, "it is a perfect complement to the beef tenderloin seared in butter. We have this with button mushrooms, twice baked potatoes and walnut cranberry baby greens salad."
Another review said, "I liked the idea of using half and half instead of heavy cream, so I did that. I was a bit worried about the sauce in general, because after about 30 minutes of boiling, the half and half did not seem to thicken up. I just threw the cheese in at that point, and it thickened up immediately."
Also, you cut down the recipe for just 2 people and that works just fine.

Ingredients

4 cups heavy cream
3 to 4 ounces crumbly Gorgonzola (not creamy or "dolce")
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Directions
Bring the heavy cream to a full boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, then continue to boil rapidly for 45 to 50 minutes, until thickened like a white sauce, stirring occasionally.
Off the heat, add the Gorgonzola, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and parsley. Whisk rapidly until the cheeses melt and serve warm. If you must reheat, warm the sauce over low heat until melted, then whisk vigorously until the sauce comes together.