my summer vacation day four: corn on the cob on the fire

back to gorgeous weather, hooray! another great day for outdoor cookery.

tonight's dinner featured farm-fresh corn on the cob, green beans, and sausages - just free-run pork seasoned with salt and pepper. to cook a thick sausage on an open fire can be a bit tricky, but they were just perfect due to constant tending and frequent turning. i set myself up with a little chair, the new york times sunday crossword, and a gin and tonic, and didn't take my eyes off them.

i felt very "60s housewife," cooking with a cocktail in lime-green checked pedal-pushers.

our basic recipe for corn on the cob is to simply take off the outer dry husks, but for the inner soft husks, peel back while leaving them attached. then, brush the kernels all over with olive oil, and smooth the husks back around the kernels, tying in place with a strip of the husk that was removed. this keeps the corn moist as it cooks, but when the husks start to unravel and burn away a bit during cooking, you get a few nice golden spots on the corn, too.

n.b. these summer vacation posts are one week delayed as the cottage is delightfully free of electronics!

my summer vacation day two: fish on the fire

lots of driving today unfortunately - it was time for the kiddo's cousin to head out, which meant a drive to the train station over an hour away.

the good news about that was that it gave me my only alone time of the week - in highway traffic for the most part, but i did get a moment to myself to do some speed-shopping at the little antique shops on fenelon's main street. my find? an awesome drinks caddy, very dorothy thorpe (although i've no idea if it's authentic at all), straight out of mad men, and a perfect match to my punch bowl. four highballs, four coasters, only $25! i call that a steal.

then home for dinner, and since i knew i'd be home late, we had something quick: fish. lovely rainbow trout and corn on the cob - all cooked on an open fire - with a bit of green salad. yum.

i tried a little trick with the fish, and it worked out quite well. i was concerned about the fish sticking to the grill, but I also wanted the skin to be crispy. what i did was this: first brushed a sheet of aluminum foil with olive oil, and then placed the fish on it, skin side up. i cooked it over the fire that way for a few minutes, brushing the skin with a bit more olive oil. then, i lifted up the foil, flipping the fish skin side down directly on the grill, and continued cooking till done. it was delicious! cooked perfectly, nothing stuck to the grill, and lovely crispy skin.

n.b. these summer vacation posts are one week delayed as the cottage is delightfully free of electronics!

chicken bacon? aka bbq pork belly? is the best thing ever.

so, yum.

i had my doubts as to whether this would work. when i was looking for pork belly recipes, most talked about long, slow methods of cooking - i.e. slow cooker, not barbecue. the bbq recipes i found basically involved pre-cooking the pork belly and then tossing it on the bbq to crisp up. one recipe looked promising until i looked at the instructions: "turn your bbq to 450 degrees, cook for 10 minutes, then drop to 350 degrees." that's not a bbq!

then i found the key word i should have been searching for all along: braai. that's the south african term for bbq, and it definitely means real charcoal in the real outdoors, not some souped-up portable oven. also, the recipe was on the south african weber site, and our bbq is a weber, so that was a good sign, too. this is one of those rare recipes i actually followed to the letter (almost). the only changes made: smaller belly with no bone (bought before looking at recipe, and went for a small piece as we are only 3 - about half a kilo), and no "bbq spice" (what does that mean?). original recipe is metric, i've made it imperial below.

this was a real hit. even the fussy kiddo said "can i have some more chicken bacon? because it's sort of like chicken with bacon on the outside." we will be doing this again.

also a hit (with grownups at least) was a simple salad of red leaf lettuce and slivered carrots, with a sesame miso dressing. lots of umami for rabbit food. the recipe is adapted from one for cucumber salad, but when i checked the crisper, our cucumber was yuck. so, carrots.

bbq pork belly (aka "chicken bacon")

• 4 lb piece of pork belly, with a bit of bone in (ours was boneless and only 1 lb, still worked fine)
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs molasses
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp soy sauce

place a rack large enough to hold the pork belly on top of a deep dish. place the pork belly on top, skin side up, and pour boiling water over. set rack with belly aside to dry for at least 2 hours, preferably 3. the dryer, the better.

get the charcoal ready 20 minutes before you expect to put the meat on. you want the charcoal red hot but not flaming.

combine the ginger, pepper, and salt, and rub on the belly on all sides. brush all over with olive oil.

move the charcoal to the edges, with no charcoals in the middle, for indirect heat. place the pork belly, skin side up, on the grill not over the coals. cover and let cook for an hour.

meanwhile, make the glaze by combining the final 4 ingredients in a small bowl.

when the meat is cooked, move off the grill and gently remove the skin. brush both pieces - meat and skin - all over with glaze.

move all the coals to one side, add a few fresh pieces of charcoal, and fan to a flame. put the meat back on the grill, cut side down, away from the flame. put the skin, skin side down, directly over the flame. watch for bubbling. check often and do not overcook! turn a few times until crispy but not burnt.

cut skin and meat into 1/2" slices and serve.

sesame miso dressing

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3 tbs brown rice miso paste
• 2 tbs seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/3 cup sunflower oil
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• toasted sesame seeds for garnish

combine first 4 ingredients, blend till smooth.

gradually add oil and vinegar, stirring till well combined.

when tossing salad, garnish with freshly toasted sesame seeds.

busy busy busy

another busy saturday! it's been too hot to cook or bake anything for the longest time, but the heatwave broke yesterday, so i'm taking advantage to get a few things done. also i realized that if i want to get a fruitcake done in time for the fenelon fair i have to get it done now. so, i started by making some candied peel, which is currently drying in the window alongside a porkbelly which will go on the bbq later.

next we make sugar cookie dough, currently chilling.

and, kouign-amman dough, shown here ready to be folded & rolled with sugar. going to bake this for breakfast tomorrow!

also helping the kiddo make a kite, so we can take it to the park tomorrow!

and now, i'm looking up sesame miso dressing recipes for a salad to go with tonight's dinner, especially since the kiddo insisted on buying the giant bag of sesame seeds at the mayan night market yesterday.