Welcome to Bobby Flay Everyday!

I am not an expert. I have never even taken a class. I have no formal training - but I love to grill. I love the food off the grill and I just like the idea, the fun and the relaxation of grilling. So naturally Bobby Flay is a hero. I have his books, I watch his shows and I try out his recipes. So my idea is to grill one of Bobby's grilling recommendations everyday and see how it goes. Bobby Flay Everyday!

The idea to grill and blog is not original. Julie Powell wrote a blog that became a book and then a movie when she cooked all 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But this is not French Cooking - this is backyard, after work, tailgate, American male grilling. I grill outside in a man-cave in every kind of weather. There is no "grilling season" for me - its everyday, year-round. We will skip around through Bobby's books and TV shows and grill what we like. But grilling is more than food, its an experience - so we will also report on what music we listened to or what ball game was on while we were grilling. We will keep track of what we were drinking during the grilling and later with the food. I'll try to figure what went wrong when we fall short of Bobby's perfection and pass on any tips I know about or discover along the way. Maybe it will give others some ideas as well.

The photo is of me and two of my brother-in-laws roasting the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill last year. That's me on the far right. In real life I am a college professor and pilot. I have written 12 books, but they were all about flying - here we write about grilling. We write about Bobby Flay Everyday!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Buffalo Mozzarella

From Bobby Flay’s Book Boy Gets Grill (page 58) this is Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella with Red and Yellow Tomatoes and Basil Vinaigrette. I mixed together the vinaigrette with fresh basil leaves, olive oil, white wine vinegar, kosher salt and ground pepper. To get the basil leaves chopped and blended, I used the processor to make a great, green-yellow sauce that I then set aside a few hours. When the right time came, I sliced both the red and yellow tomatoes. Yellow tomatoes are relatively new to me, but I really like them. They just have a different, sweeter taste and I think I like them better than red tomatoes alone.



But the star of this show was the Mozzarella. Bobby warns us to use only the best, freshest Mozzarella possible or “leave it out!” I have been guilty of buying those shrink-wrapped white cheese globs before, but the difference between that and the real think is dramatic. The only flavor difference that is more dramatic that this, that I can think of, would be the difference between a chunk of pineapple from a can of fruit cocktail and a slice of pineapple cut right from the fruit whiling standing in the field where the pineapple grew. I grew up eating fruit cocktail from a can, so I never knew what pineapple was supposed to taste like until one day I had a slice while standing in a field on Oahu. Mozzarella is almost the same way. And this is not just Mozzarella. Mozzarella is sort of a generic name for Italian white cheese. No, this is Buffalo Mozzarella or Mozzarella di Bufala, made from domesticated water Buffalo milk. It is worth driving across town to get the real thing – which is what I did in this case.
After the tomatoes and Buffalo Mozzarella were placed together, I drizzled on the basil/olive oil/white wine vinegar sauce. This was a meal in itself! It was light, probably healthy, and quick to prepare. Give it a try yourself – but don’t you the shrink-wrap glob! Paul

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