Local restaurants share recipes for Memorial Day eating and beyond

The Memorial Day kickoff to summer calls for a barbeque, friends, and outdoor lounging. To add to your gatherings, local Niwot chefs from La Musette at The Wheel House and Cimmini's restaurants have provided us with recipes from some of their favorite lighter, fresher foods.

Both of these take a little prep but they have fresh, bright and interesting flavors anyone would enjoy. If you don't make them for this Memorial Day weekend, keep the recipes nearby for later in the summer when it's too hot to cook and you just want something fresh and healthy.

Le Musette: Orange Oregano Grilled Steak

When she shared this recipe with us, Chef Skyla Olds said that this is one of her favorite seasonings for grilled meats. She said that she typically uses it on flatiron or bavette cuts of steak, but it could work just as well on pork chops, pork shoulder or chicken.

Olds said she assembles the rub and lets it sit for at least half an hour on the meat before grilling on high heat, but you could let it sit even overnight if you wanted to do the prep in advance.

Ingredients and preparation:

zest of 1 orange

3 cloves garlic

leaves from fresh oregano, packed into 3 Tablespoons

2 Tablespoons kosher salt (use less if iodized table salt)

1 teaspoon sugar

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions for steak and preparation

Mix with a mortar & pestle or food processor into a malleable paste. Spread onto meat, let rest and grill as desired.The resultant meat has a delicious flavor and can be served as is, or chopped up for tacos or fajitas. Olds said it should pair well with a nice summer rose.

Grilled Peach Melba

Olds included this recipe because it was one of her favorites, even though she knows that at the start of the summer, Palisade peaches are still a ways away, though other out-of-state stone fruit is already available. She said she likes to grill peaches to bring out their sweetness, and when they're done they make a beautiful match with vanilla ice cream for a decadent and easy summer treat.

Ingredients and preparation:

peaches

olive oil

Maldon salt

Raspberries

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

3 tablespoons of sugar

½ cup of vanilla ice cream per peach

Clean peaches and cut in half (if the peaches are freestone, they should easily cut in half off the pit; if they are the cling variety, it may be necessary to cut off the pit in large chunks and you'll end up with more quarters than halves). Then coat with a few tablespoons of nice olive oil and a pinch of maldon salt.

Grill over high heat until there are grill marks and flip. Should take a few minutes on each side. For the raspberry coulis, cook berries, lemon juice and sugar for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain seeds out.

Slice grilled peaches, arrange on top of vanilla ice cream in a pretty martini glass and drizzle generously with the raspberry coulis.

Cimmini's Pear and Arugula Salad

Cimmini's said they provided the recipe for their salad because it's fresh, easy to make, and packed with great flavor profiles. And a salad can always be welcomed at picnics and barbeques when people are likely to have lots of chips and heavier burgers on hand.

Ingredients and preparation:

Arugula

1 pear

¼ cup dried cranberries (or more to taste)

¼ cup candied nuts (or more to taste)

1 red bell pepper

Feta cheese

Olive oil

Slice the pear, and crumble the feta cheese and rinse the arugula. Toss the ingredients together and serve with your favorite salad dressing.