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Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Yummy grilled squash: Believe it, it’s real
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My garden is so cursed that we can’t even grow a decent amount of summer squash. Depending on how you feel about squash, though, that could be a blessing in disguise. Yellow summer squash is bland and nearly ubiquitous this time of year, along with its partner in crimes against tastebuds, zucchini. So a little less in the back yard is a good thing, because we’ve been getting steady supplies from our CSA, Cane Creek Farm. And local farmers’ markets abound with the stuff, as do co-workers’ gardens.
So: What to do to add some flavor and use up a bunch of it? We loved this vinaigrette for grilling, which adds so much more flavor than the marinade we’re accustomed to. Adding most of the vinaigrette to the squash right after it comes off the grill, while still warm, helps it absorb better. Zucchini works great too in this recipe from “Mastering the Grill” by Andrew Schloss and David Joachim (Chronicle, $24.95). And, yes, this is really good squash. It goes great with grilled meats. We usually use a vegetable tray for the grill rather than placing the slices directly on the grate, as the recipe advises.
Do you have a sure-fire recipe for squash or zucchini to share? I keep hearing about zucchini bread, but am not ready to go there yet. And I keep getting advised I need to freeze it for a soup mixture, but wonder if frozen squash would be even mushier and blander than it usually is.
Grilled Summer Squash Vinaigrette
6 servings
Hands on: 5 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds summer squash, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Oil for coating grill grate
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Heat the grill to medium high, for direct-heat cooking. Mix the vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Toss 2 tablespoons of this mixture with the squash in a medium bowl or plastic bag until evenly coated. Brush the grill grate and coat it with oil. Put the squash on the hot grill, cover, and cook until browned and barely tender, about 6 minutes, turning halfway through. Put on a serving platter. Pour the remaining vinaigrette over the squash and serve.
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News you can really bite into
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While we’re all holding our breath until Tom Colicchio’s Craft comes to Midtown as part of the Mansion on Peachtree and Maxim Prime tries to make a go at the Glenn, we’ve got plenty to exhale about — Kevin Rathbun has finally opened his heralded steak house, eponymously called Kevin Rathbun Steak. Rathbun et al. obviously opted on the “me Tarzan, you Jane” approach to naming the restaurant, which opened May 30.
Tamarind Seed Thai Bistro owners Charlie (from left), Eddie and Nan Niyomkul had a quiet opening in Colony Square June 10.
For all the big-name hullabaloo, what’s most exciting is the quiet opening of Tamarind Seed Thai Bistro on June 10. Located at Colony Square, this sleek spot is the reincarnation of Tamarind Thai Cuisine, the city’s best and beloved Thai restaurant that once rested on 14th Street at the Connector. We’ll all miss having to park across the street at the gas station and the funky quality the overcrowded dining room used to possess with its spice racks and framed photos of owner Nan Niyomkul with Tiger Woods. But perhaps parking at Tamarind Seed will be less drastic (though that’s debatable — have you seen those valet lines for Shout on a Saturday night?). The tiny space is rich in dark chocolate colors and black lacquer tabletops with glass cookie jars filled with tamarind (of course), palm sugar and dried galangal along the counter space. The menu has all the old favorites — thod mun pla, yum nam sod, larb and curries hot enough to take the hair out of your nose.
James Beard nominee and chef-owner Hugh Acheson of Athens’ Five and Ten talked recently on the phone about his new venture, The National, which is scheduled to open Aug. 1 at 232 Hancock Ave. in downtown Athens. Peter Dale, Acheson’s sous chef from Five and Ten, will be at the helm in the kitchen. The menu is a diversion from Five and Ten’s Southern slant, focusing on dinner and late-night options of small plates inspired by northern Africa and southern Spain and France. “Think [cookbook author] Paula Wolfert and you’ll have the right idea,” said Acheson of the new spot’s menu.
Linton Hopkins will be opening a new concept this fall located in the Aramore directly across from his Restaurant Eugene. Holeman & Finch Public House is partnered with Hopkin’s wife Gina Hopkins, his bartender at Eugene, Greg Best, and bartenders Andy Minchow and Regan Smith. Charcuterie will be the showcase, with house-made hams, sausage and salumi on the bill of fare, plus savory tarts and crispy chit’lins with mustard sauce and even Coke floats with cane sugar Coca-Cola. “I wanted to create a place for people who work in the restaurant industry to come after work,” Hopkins said by phone, “a place with great beers, good whiskey and good food that won’t break the bank account.” He plans to keep the kitchen open until 1:30 a.m. to accommodate.
OPEN: TAP, the American gastropub from restaurateurs Bob Amick and Todd Rushing (Trois, Two Urban Licks, One Midtown Kitchen, Lobby at Twelve, Piebar), on June 8. As offputting as the name is, the concept is fashioned after the gastropubs across the pond in the U.K., with an emphasis on above-pub grub and beer. In the kitchen is chef Todd Ginsberg, a CIA grad who has worked at Alain Ducasse in New York as well as the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead under former Dining Room chef Bruno Menard.
CLOSED: SAGA, the South African, Southern restaurant in Midtown, on June 1, according to the restaurant’s voicemail, apparently for the owners to work on an “exciting new concept.” No forwarding address on chef Drew Van Leuvan.
Tamarind Seed Thai Bistro, 1197 Peachtree St., Suite 110, 404-873-4888.
TAP, 1180 Peachtree St., 404-347-2220, www.tapat1180.com or www.concentricrestaurants.com.
If your restaurant is new, closing or undergoing changes, or you have a food related event, we want to hear from you. Send the information — including your name, phone number, e-mail and Web site if you have one — to Meridith Ford at mford@ajc.com or call 404-526-2788.
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