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Ever since I had char-grilled oysters in New Orleans, I’ve been obsessed. I’ve made them at least once a week every week since I’ve been back. But the other day, I went to my local seafood store and I saw some beautiful clams, and I thought: Why not try those on the grill?

I had some friends over a couple of days ago, and I made my Oysters Rock-a-Fellow recipe for them, and I had some leftover gooey cheesy stuffing that goes on top of the oyster. I thought: Why not use it on the clams and then put them on the grill?

A hybrid recipe of two previous recipes, and it really worked!

The first step is to make the gooey cheesy stuffing mix ahead of time.

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup low-fat milk
salt and pepper
3 cups (tightly packed) fresh arugula, finely chopped, about a 5 oz. container
6 oz. mild cheddar cheese (the white one), grated
6 oz. mozzarella, grated
Fine bread crumbs (Using GF breadcrumbs will keep this dish gluten-free)

Melt the butter in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent, then add the milk, salt and pepper, and the arugula. Sauté for a few minutes, stirring, so that all of the arugula wilts down.
Slowly add the cheddar until it all melts, then add the mozzarella, stirring slowly, until you have one big gooey mass of goodness in the pan.

Pour the gooey cheese mix into a shallow pan and place it in the fridge for a few hours. It will firm up and you will be able to cut it easily into cubes that you will then place on top of the clams.

Once the cheese mixture has firmed up, and it’s time to cook, start a hardwood charcoal fire in your grill.

Open the clams and put them on a tray, topping each clam with a cube of the firm cheese and arugula stuffing mix.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of each clam.

When your charcoal grill fire is hot, place the clams on the grill and cook until the cheesy topping melts and the clams have a nice char to them.

They will be lava hot when they come off the grill, so give them a few minutes before eating!

I’m pretty good at keeping the zucchinis in my garden harvested on a regular basis, so they don’t get too big. But once in a while, I miss one, and it gets to be huge. That’s when it’s time to make zucchini bread.

I was recently told that zucchinis are green…summer squash is yellow.  I use the word “zucchini” interchangeably, but technically, the variety I grow is, in, fact, a zucchini…or both, depending how you look at it!

Whatever you call it, use it! And make some delicious bread!

I slice the zucchini lengthwise, and remove the center section with all the seeds, because I don’t want that in my bread. Then I grate the rest. This recipe needs about 2 1/2 cups of grated zucchini, about 16 ounces.

When it comes to baking, I use my small kitchen scale to make most of the crucial measurements, because accuracy counts. It’s much more accurate than going by volume. But this recipe has both measurements, so you can try either method.

Substituting gluten-free flour for the basic all-purpose flour, will make this recipe gluten-free. I like to use the all-purpose GF flour by Cup4Cup.

And I like using olive oil as my vegetable oil, because I love the flavor and its health benefits. But feel free to use whatever vegetable oil you like.

2 cups (227g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

1 cup (213g) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
scant 3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 1/2 cups grated zucchini (about 16 oz.)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Grease an 8 x 8“ or 5″ x 10″ loaf pan with some of the vegetable oil. Then line it with parchment paper…it makes it easier to remove later.

In a bowl, mix together the first five ingredients.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except the zucchini.

Add the grated zucchini to the bowl with the flour mixture and toss it around to coat.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir until it’s combined.

Pour it into the pan. 

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 to 60 minutes…but it could be even longer. Every oven is different, and different zucchini can have different moisture levels, so you may need to cook yours longer, depending on your situation. Even with all the high-tech thermometers I have, I find the good old-fashioned toothpick method works best.

Remove the baking pan from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. Then turn it over on a wire rack, removing the pan, and let the zucchini bread cool completely to room temperature before slicing.

This bread is so good, I just might let the zucchini overgrow more often!

I recently discovered a new version of chimichurri, one where I use basil instead of parsley, and I don’t know if I’ll go back to the old chimi ever again!

Chimichurri is a garlicky, herby green sauce usually used with grilled meats. This pesto-like condiment originated in Argentina and is also commonly used in Nicaragua and Uruguay. Though some recipes include cilantro, many people insist the original is made only with parsley. This time,  I decided to substitute basil for the parsley.

I’ve used this new “chimi” on salads, I’ve cooked shishito peppers with it, and recently, I had great success roasting chicken with it. To make the chimi…

1 large handful of fresh basil leaves, about 4 cups, loosely packed
1/4 cup water
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3–4 tablespoons fresh oregano, leaves only (or 1 tablespoon dry)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon crushed bay leaf
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all the basil and the water in a food processor and begin to chop, pulsing for a second at a time. When the basil is in small pieces, stop pulsing and add the remaining ingredients, except the vinegar and olive oil. Start the processor on a full run now, and slowly pour in the vinegar, then the olive oil. Try not to make it too smooth…leave some tasty bits. Allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes, but overnight in a sealed container in the fridge is best.

I had a 4-pack of chicken thighs and a 4-pack of drumsticks in my freezer, so that’s what I used for this dish. But it’s just as easy to use a spatchcocked (a butterflied chicken where the backbone is removed so it lays flat) whole chicken, or any parts you prefer.

8 pieces of chicken
a bunch of tomatoes, cut into small chunks
3 to 4 oz. of feta cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Place the thawed chicken pieces in a baking pan, and rub them really well with a generous amount of the chimi. Get it under the skin where you can, not just the outside. (Just remember that you’re handling raw chicken, so the moment you touch the chimi with raw chicken hands, you’ve contaminated the batch! Use a separate bowl with part of the chimi, so you don’t ruin the rest.)

Let the chicken marinate in the chimi at room temp for a few hours, or in the fridge overnight.

Grab a bunch of tomatoes, cut them up, removing some of the seeds (but not really worrying about it either way) and mix a little chimi in the tomatoes. Place the tomatoes on the bottom of the roasting pan, and place the chicken pieces on top, so the chicken skin will crisp up while it cooks.

Sprinkle the cubes of feta cheese all around and place the roasting pan in the oven, baking for about 45 minutes.

Serve over pasta, potatoes, or as I did, over rice. I simply boiled some jasmine rice, adding a 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning in the rice water before cooking. No salt, no oil.