Ok, whether for a dinner party or drunken gathering, this one wins accolades, hands down.

All you need is pre-made cornmeal crusts:

some sort of pizza sauce, or marinara sauce (your choice, I like garlic and basil marinara)

finely shaved parmesan cheese

and asparagus tips

arrange sauce, then cheese, then asparagus tips on the pizza while the oven heats to 425 degrees.
I like to make a pretty slice-friendly pattern with the asparagus tips, so they will be perfectly arranged on each slice. This helps, too, because even with a pizza slicer, the asparagus doesn’t like to cut as effortlessly as one would hope.

Pop that sucker directly on the rack for fifteen minutes and YES! Snacks of goodness for everyone.

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Unf… I cannot wait for all of these to get ripe::

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On a recent camping trip my husband and I fell into typical roles. I was strutting around in my fifth outfit of the day, mixing cocktails for everyone. He was posted by an open fire, sharing deep dark secrets about his other love: barbequeing.

I am the main cook in the family, but there is one area that is his domain and it is known as THE GRILL.

Lately he has delved into the world of rubs and the art of mixing just the right spices to massage into your meat to bring out the flavor. We’ve stopped drowning chicken in marinades, and have moved on to a subtler seasoning.

On this particular camping trip he was introduced to the purest of all rubs: the dry brine.

Regular brining involves lots of liquid and can be messy. Dry brining involves only one ingredient and is fairly easy. All you need is salt. That’s right. The purest of seasonings, the most basic crystalline savory molecule. It is so simple, so versatile and so tasty.
We sampled a few pieces of chicken over this open fire (I was now in a red and white polka dot dress with white sandals and white sunglasses) that had been dry brined. DIVINE! Who knew the least amount of seasoning could bring out the most amount of flavor?

We headed home, determined to give this dry brining a whirl.

Now, while super simple to prepare, a dry brine takes a lengthy time to go to work so be prepared. All-in-all you need to let it sit for two days in the fridge after the initial rub so plan accordingly.
For our first run, we didn’t want to master the dry brine on it’s own. Oh, no… we wanted to experiment! I rushed to Whole Foods, where their selection of salt once sent me into a dizzy confusion over the sheer amount of choices. This time, though, I knew exactly what we needed: smoked salt.

What better salt to use in a dry brine on the barbeque then a smoky one?
The exact ratio we were instructed in was 3/4 tablespoon of salt for each pound of meat.
We selected a free-range, hormone free chicken from the market. The juicy sucker was medium sized… maybe four or five pounds.

Get your bird and clean out the organs. If you have a dog, feed this offal to them (no need to waste… and dogs love raw meat occasionally, whether or not you feed them a fully raw diet. Just make sure to give them enough time to digest before you try to feed them kibble so they don’t get sick).

The actual rubbing part was tricky. You have to get it into the meat, under the skin, without removing the skin. Some of it tore in places, but on the whole it worked fairly well. We covered it and stashed it in the fridge to marinate in its own juices.

The salt passes through osmosis into the juice of the bird, and that is the beauty of the dry brine. When it was completed, we chose to barbeque it beer can chicken style and oooooohhhhh.

Slippery moist morsels of chicken. The two of us ate the whole bird ourselves because we are occasionally ridiculously gluttonous.

I think the ratio of salt we were given was a little too high, but it could just be that the smoky flavor was more intense.
I may experiment with other salts to see how they come out.

For dessert… throw a couple of peaches on the grill and bake an oatmeal/brown sugar crumble in the oven to sprinkle on top with soy ice cream.

George approves of the peaches.

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I’d like to counter my last post of discussing the sour with a discussion about sweet and sweetners.
I have recently toyed with the idea of going on a cleanse. I have always avoided cleanses like the plague because well, the thought of giving up what I love to eat for any period of time (even if for a health reason) just kills me. Food is my drug… I want it all. I want it now. And I will NOT LET ANYONE STAND BETWEEN ME AND IT.

This is my inner fat kid talking. When I’m not eating food, I’m thinking about when I’m going to be eating it and what I’m going to eat next. People I hang out with are frequently amused at my ponderings over meal options and my sudden frequent outbursts of “I’m hungry.” I attribute this to a high metabolism and often low blood sugar.

The latter is something I try to manage, and lately I’ve been thinking about it more. I’ve also been thinking about some stomach problems I’ve been having, which as led me to the issue of doing a cleanse. While I usually try to be mindful of the organic, and the hormone free, I don’t always pay attention to ALL the ingredients I consume in my food. And one of my serious offenders is refined sugar. Especially when paired with my multiple-cup-a-day coffee habit. I used to try to make myself feel better by using sugar substitutes, despite the fact that I know they are more chemical than good for you. Equal has aspartame and Splenda has chlorine. Blah, blah, blah. I used to ignore it but eventually I couldn’t help but feel guilty enough to switch back to real (albeit processed) sugar. I just never developed a liking for the raw stuff. Who knows why? Bigger pieces take longer to melt deliciously into my steaming cup of joe?

Now, though… I know I need to cut back. I’ve been having hypoglycemic attacks more frequently, which always means I need an adjustment of my diet. (I could tell you horror stories about blacking-out from a redbull, but suffice it to say I don’t tolerate loads of sugar well). And while I’m warming up to the idea of a cleanse, the cold turkey approach just isn’t gonna work for me. I will do a slow cutback of one ingredient of a time. Starting with Sugar.

So what to do when you know you can’t visit load up on chemicals and don’t care for the raw sugar route?
Let me introduce you to my readily available ingredient of the month:

Agave Nectar.

Now I know this stuff has been all over food blogs for a while, but I’ve only recently realized that you can buy it just about everywhere. It’s perfect for sweetening because it’s thin enough in consistency to dissolve in a cold liquid or just toss into some oatmeal.

It’s also perfect for cocktails. (Something I’m always experimenting on making with less sugar).
I have yet to try it out in baking, but so far it does great in coffee, oatmeals, and cocktails.
I’m all stocked up on the Trader Joe’s version, which is reasonably priced.

There’s also another food item we all love that you can substitute with agave nectar: honey. What with the bee shortage … agave nectar is a (currently) more sustainable sweetener.

I’ll leave you with this cocktail recipe, courtesy of one of my favorite fashionistas, Julianna:

Makes enough for a poolside party
A bottle of tequila (I’m a huge fan of Cazadores because the locals in Puerto Vallarta tell me it’s the best bang for your buck in America but any tequila will do)
two jalapenos
A large jug/jar/pitcher
Agave nectar
fresh orange or mango juice

Pour bottle of tequila into the jug or pitcher and dice up two jalapenos (be sure to remove the seeds and if you are not used to handling peppers be careful not to get juice in your eyes or near your face)
throw the diced up peppers into the tequila. Soak overnight.

To make a drink fill any tumbler with ice… pour two shots of the tequila over ice and the add juice to fill the cup. Stir in one tablespoon of agave nectar and serve.

The nectar and juice work beautifully to offset the spice of the tequila and jalapeno. It’s great for hot weather and somewhere in the back of my head I believe it’s actually healthy! (Why wouldn’t fruits and veggies and natural plant juices be?)

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Check it out!

www.georgecochrane.com

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