Serves 5-6
 
            This easy to make and versatile sauce will leave your guests in ecstatic appreciation of summer’s bounty. The sun’s essence gets accentuated through Sun Gold cherry tomato gems. Ripe Sun Golds have the ideal balance of sweetness to acidity and a full flavor profile that will leave you slapping your knee with mouthwatering goodness.
            If you cannot find Sun Golds, for this recipe you can use any ripe cherry tomato. If the resulting sauce lacks an acidic kick, feel free to add a few drops of red wine vinegar to kick up the acidity. Since the olive oil plays such a dominate role in this sauce, be sure to select high quality extra virgin olive oil.
            This sauce works well on a variety of fish, meats, and other proteins: spoon it over grilled lamb chops, use it as a dip for gluten-free fried chicken or tofu, or drizzle it over pan-roasted salmon. This sauce even works well as a salad dressing.
 
Ingredients:
¾ pound, Sun Gold tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
3 ounces cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium clove of garlic, sliced
¼ teaspoon chopped Serrano pepper
salt, to taste
 
1. Wash and dry the Sun Golds, the Serrano, and the basil leaves.
2. Roughly chop the Serrano pepper and slice the garlic clove.
3. Place all of the ingredients in a blender.
4. Pulse the ingredients until a smooth sauce develops, which should take about 2 minutes.
5. Serve the sauce over grilled lamb chops, salmon, or chicken.

​Serves 4-5 as a side dish
 
            Most foods we eat at BBQ and grill parties have the potential to be healthy and sinful all at the same time; the key to unlocking the common ground in these seemingly opposite tokens of the food coin rests in the base ingredients and sauces. As I mentioned in the last post, homemade aioli not only tastes better than store bought mayo, it’s easy to make and you probably already have its ingredients in your pantry and refrigerator.
            This easy to make potato salad presents a healthy and more flavorful version of the classic summer favorite. Potato salads come in a wide range of different styles, but often the potatoes are drowning in mass produced RoundUp Ready Canola or soy oil and taste bland, with maybe a drizzle of mustard or some chopped bacon to spice them up. This recipe combines the tang and kick of dill pickles and jalapeno with the earthy smoke of paprika, all set against the bed of a smooth, antioxidant rich aioli and mustard sauce. 
 
½ cup small diced dill pickles
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno 
5-6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes 
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon smoky paprika 
½ cup homemade aioli* (see the recipe below)
Salt and pepper, to taste 
 
1. Place the potatoes in a pot of salted, cool water.
2. Cover the pot and place the potatoes on the stove. Turn the heat up to medium-high.
3. When the water comes to a boil, remove the lid, and turn the heat down so that the water is at a low boil. 
4. Cook the potatoes for about 30-35 minutes, or until they just give to a steak knife. 
5. Pull the potatoes from the water, and set them aside to cool. 
6. While the potatoes are cooking or cooling, make the aioli and prep the other ingredients.*
7. Once the potatoes have cooled and you can work with them, place them on a cutting board and cut them into large diced pieces. 
8. Place the potato pieces, diced dill pickles, finely chopped jalapeno, mustard, paprika and aioli in a stainless steel bowl and evenly mix the ingredients. 
9. Set aside the potato salad to let the ingredients mingle for about 45 minutes. If it is a hot day or you need to wait longer to serve the dish, put the salad in the refrigerator and take it out about 15-20 minutes before you serve it. 
 
*Homemade Aioli:
 
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon lemon juice, and to taste
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt, to taste
 
1. Place the egg yolk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and a pinch of salt in a food processor. 
2. Briefly blend the ingredients until they form an emulsion, and then slowlydrizzle in the extra virgin olive oil with the processor on. Start by adding the oil drop by drop as the processor blade turns. Once 40% of the oil is emulsified, you can speed up the rate at which you add the oil, but don’t go too fast or the mixture will break. 
3. When all of the oil is emulsified, check the sauce for salt and acidity. Add salt as necessary. If you need more acidity, add another splash of lemon juice. 
4. Set the sauce aside. You can prepare the sauce a day ahead of time—if you do prepare it ahead of time, store it in the refrigerator and take it out about 30 minutes before serving to bring it up to room temperature. Do not let it sit out of the refrigerator for more than an hour.