Orange Rosemary Menu with Margarita

About a week and a half ago I made a new friend - my neighbor's sister Margarita who was visiting from El Salvador. Moments after we met, we learned of our common respect and enthusiasm for Jamie Oliver and talked about food all night.

Especially if you read my other column, Be A Better Cook, you'll know that I've been really impressed with some of the techniques and flavor combinations that Jamie recommends for home. In fact, I now recall I wrote a column about Jamie called "Remember the Naked Chef? He Grew Up".

So at the end of the night we quickly made plans to cook together for our extended families.

Margui is fond of a Jamie recipe for Orange Rosemary Chicken. I can't find it online, so I'll have to get it from her later. With that as a core, we planned the following dinner that employed rosemary or orange in most dishes.

New Orleans Style  Shrimp (rosemary)

Braised Octopus with Citrus Sauce
Grilled Orange Rosemary Chicken

Acini de Pepe with Herbed Goat Cheese and Orange

Grill-steamed Mixed Vegetable Packets with Balsamic 

Grilled Eggplant in Balsamic

Margui's treatment of the vegetables was almost as good as the masterful chicken dish, which just popped with flavors. I remember her words clearly, and they will help me with grilled vegetables from this point forward.

"I chose all vegetables that you can eat raw, so it doesn't matter how long they cook - as long as you don't overcook them."

Well, yeah. But I never thought of it that way. And the number of times I've overcooked vegetables on the grill....let's just stop. Thank you Margui.