A Summer Wedding (OR Cooking with Betty Sherri)

As promised, here are the first batch of recipes. Sadly, we didn't take a lot of food pictures.

The younger set chose to eat on the mezzanine.

Brother Kelly offered to man the grill(s).

       Grilled Green Beans with Parmesan and Lemon Zest

• 1/8 cup olive oil

    1 pound green beans, stem ends picked
    1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

• 1 lemon for zesting
• Salt to taste

1. Wash and stem the ends of the green beans
2. Combine olive oil and the green beans and toss by hand till they’re uniformly coated. Put them in your hot grill basket or on the hot grate and cook till they’re gorgeous and tender.
3. Remove to a serving dish, season with salt.  Add parmesan and finish with freshly grated lemon zest

Flank Steak

For the steak and marinade:

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (2-pound) flank steak, fat removed
• 
  

To prepare the steak:

Place the lime juice, orange juice, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. In a large plastic bag over a shallow baking dish. Add the steak and turn to coat both sides. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, then pull from fridge and allow the steak to come to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

Heat the grill to medium-high heat. Remove the steak from the marinade and season both sides with salt and pepper. Grill for 5 to 7 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Let rest 10 minutes. Slice the steak against the grain, into thin slices.

The strawberry mango salad that we ate at the wedding was a bit prettier - this batch was whipped up by my middle son this evening.

                              Strawberry Mango Salad

3 Mangos sliced into chunks

2 large packages of strawberries washed, hulled and sliced
6 Tb OJ
4 tsp honey
2 Tb mint sliced thin

Combine fruit and mint in large bowl.  Whisk together OJ and honey.  Pour dressing over fruit.  Chill and serve cold.

Again, Betty Sherri made a prettier batch.  Mine is not as pretty, however, no campenelles were harmed in the making of this salad...I had to substitute a slightly different shape pasta.  I believe it was something that ends in "ini".

 Campenelle Pasta Salad

Campanelle with toasted garlic and sausage

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves - sliced very thin
coarse salt and pepper
1 pound campanelle pasta
1/2 cup mild sausage cooked almost crispy - drain well!
1 cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley - chopped coarse (actually, I didn't care for the coarse chop - I'd go a little finer next time)
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup shaved parmesan

Toast the garlic in a frying pan until golden brown about 2 minutes. Once toasted place garlic on paper towel and sprinkle with coarse salt. Cook pasta according to the directions. Rinse immediately in cold water until pasta is just barely warm. Add all the other ingredients and season with pepper to taste.