Tag Archives: grill

Saturday Night’s Alright For Flyin’ (butterflying as in chicken, that is)

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So the chicken was not from Wolfe Spring Farm. They were all out. Its no surprise because theirs was some of the best chicken I’d ever tasted (a close second to the free roaming grubandwhoknowswhatelse eating Rancho Margot birds we had in Costa Rica)  Otherwise, the meal was a celebration of WSF’s bounty.

Grille Roasted Brussel Sprouts, cauliflower and Broccoli melange. So delicious. Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper, put on grill until done. I had this for lunch during the week.

Grille Roasted Carrots. Look at how gorgeous they are. They tasted even better. Again, a very simple preparation: Olive oil, salt pepper.

Now for the weird part: Grilled turnip planks. We’d tried grilled potato planks but nothing else. This turnip was farmin’ huge so we gave it a shot. Slice thick, toss with salt, let rest in salt for 20 mins or so, rinse, nuke  on low for 10 mins to soften up a bit. Toss in olive oil salt and pepper, grill on medium heat, off direct flame until done. Sprinkle some coarse salt before serving warm. I bet even Hubs would like these!!

Cauliflower, sprouts and broccoli, Oh My!

I bet you monsters lead the most innnnnteresstin’ lives……

Warning! Pic not safe for work

Our grille is really not filthy, its just the flash……..
Note modesty skillet and turnip planks

You must try these: smoky, earthy surprising.

A most fabulous un-fabulous meal.

Baba Redux: From Good to Great

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Earlier this month, guest blogger double-D Dan Doern shared his beloved Baba Ghanoush recipe.  I tried it out 2 weeks ago and had pretty good results, but not the greatness I aspired to. I was missing that much talked about “smokiness” that can be achieved with eggplant.  I thought, “Gosh darn it, I will achieve that smokiness.” So with this week’s bounty, I decided to take my Baba to the next level.

“Fire up the grill!” I bellowed to Hubs as I prepped the eggplant and  garlic (I am such a copycat). This is going to be easy-peasy, I thought. I then waited. And waited. And waited some more. Guess Hubs didn’t hear me, I thought. And as the hours passed, and the eggplants remained on the kitchen island untouched, and no smoke emanated from the Weber, I surmised that I best try a different tactic. The next day the sun was shining again and I gently asked if Hubs would be so kind as to light the grill whenever he might have a free moment, oh, thanks so much.

Once the grill was nice and hot, I placed the 3 eggplants and garlic directly on the grill rack and checked on them after 20 minutes. They looked good.  They had turned a caramel-y brown color from their original light purple, and still retained their shape. I set the timer and checked on them after another 15 minutes (35 min total). Still looking (and smelling) good, but not making too much progress. I was expecting them to deflate, but as this was a first for me, was going by what I had read and heard from friends. I gave it another 10 minutes before checking again (45 min total), I realized that the charcoal was done. No wonder my progress had plateaued. And Hubs was off and running on his next project. Ghanoush interruptus.

We got the grill fired up again after lunch and that’s when the magic happened (thanks, Hubs). It took another 45 minutes or so for a total of 90 minutes cooking time, not including the breaks (talk about slow food!). One by one, the eggplants started to sag internally. I scooped out the flesh from each one and placed it in a large bowl, careful not to include any charred pieces of skin. Pretty cool how the flesh does fall apart from the skin and easily scoops out.

90 minutes later: Grilled Whole Eggplant

Once I had all 3 eggplants in the bowl, I tackled the garlic. The eggplants were none the worse for wear with the stopping and starting of the heat, but the garlic had suffered a bit. Parts of the head got a little charred/burnt. I managed to squeeze out a portion of several cloves into the mixture, further imparting that elusive smokiness into the Baba Ghanoush, but I had to toss most of it. I augmented with a few cloves of minced raw garlic, too.

Verdict: I added the tahini, lemon juice and salt and pepper, and aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. There it was, smoky eggplant Baba Ghanoush in all its glory. The dish tasted so much better than last week’s version – much more complex and tasty and real. I imagine this would be much easier with a gas grill, and now I know that we need more charcoal if using the Weber.

Copycats

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“There are no original ideas….”

is the perfect lead-in for this post. I’ve been itching to try Dan’s Baba Ghanoush recipe since he mentioned it a few weeks ago in his post. I picked up 3 beautiful Sicilian eggplants on Saturday at the Farm and had them earmarked for the Babah, as Dan calls it.

Sicilian eggplants getting ready for the oven

I had hoped to prepare them on the grill to ensure the yummy smokiness Dan wrote about. But alas the weather did not cooperate with said plan and I wound up roasting them in the oven. I will readily admit that I am NOT experienced with eggplant prep, so I had to do some research in addition to following Dan’s recipe. Eggplant and I are not simpatico.

You hear a lot about bitterness in eggplants, and the need to salt and/or drain them as part of the preparation process. Large seeds are typically an indicator of bitterness. Since these eggplants were super fresh and had small seeds (see photo above), I chose to skip salting and draining them. I lined a baking sheet with foil, and rubbed it with a small amount of olive oil. For the eggplants, I cut off the tops and sliced them in half, scored the flesh side, placed them on the baking sheet and roasted at 475F for about 35-40 minutes.

Roasting eggplants, like buns in the oven

I let the eggplants cool and then followed the recipe from Claudia Roden’s  “The New Book Of Middle Eastern Cooking.” I wound up doubling the recipe because I had about 4 pounds of eggplant. As an aside, I felt quite diligent because I used my recently purchased Escali scale to weight them in advance. Handy purchase.

Verdict: Very tasty eggplant dish, absolutely no bitterness, so good call not to salt/drain.

Today’s Lunch: Raw veggies, sliced baguette and homemade Babah Ghanoush

But I didn’t achieve the much-desired smokiness that comes with grilling. I read on The Shiksa’s blog that you CAN achieve that smokiness in the oven if you roast a few minutes longer than you think you need to. Must try that next time. Eggplant and I will become BFF.

Nanny’s Dish

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My Italian-American (Calabrese) grandmother (we called her nanny) was a lousy cook. I know, it’s counter to what everyone wants to believe about her type but she made greasy tomato sauce, tough pork chops and tasteless baccala. But she made one delicious, memorable favorite dish: peppers and onions, usually with sausage or potatoes. I updated it with Wolfe Spring Farm bell peppers, fingerling potatoes, and some regular old supermarket onions. And since it’s August and I’m doin’ everything on the grille in my new dumptique enameled metal pan……… Slice everything up as shown, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, throw in some fresh oregano, rosemary and whatever else you have around, thyme would be nice, and then put on the grille on high heat. Toss every so often until looks done. This could easily be done on the stovetop or in the oven, OMG……..memories……. light the corners of my mind……..greasy oily-tasting memories……of the way we were…..

Beautiful ingredients!

Ready to go……

Maybe after 30 minutes on high heat

EAT! You’re so skinny!!

Grilled Fish at Altitude: Branzino in Montagna

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Ever grilled a whole fish? Easier than you think if you have a trusty fishmonger and a hot fire. I’m visiting dear friend Alyce Henness in the Italian Alps. Alyce and her snowboarding superstar husband Luca live in a cozy, Alpine-style home with all the mod cons in the town of La Salle, which is in the region of the Valle d’Aosta. Imagine clean mountain air, soft green grass, a river roaring past and Mont Blanc in the background. One could do worse…
Not eating meat is a rarity in Italy, but actually extremely easy to do with all the readily available fresh produce, pasta and fish. Even here in the mountains, Alyce picked up a beautiful whole branzino for me at the local supermarket.

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Branzino is Italian for sea bass, and let me tell you, we are hours from the sea and this guy looks like he blew his last bubbles this morning. The branzino weighed in at a hefty pound an a quarter and thankfully Alyce had the foresight to ask the fishmonger to clean it for us. Like I said, need to have a good fishmonger, because no one wants to scale a fish in the kitchen. I stuffed the fish with sliced lemon, branches of rosemary, and some sliced garlic. Drizzled it with olive oil and some salt and pepper and it was ready to go.

Luca grilled it to perfection on the charcoal grill in their garden – about 6 or 7 minutes per side and voila.

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I removed the flesh from the bones and placed the delicate white meat on a clean plate, drizzled it with a little more olive oil, squirt of lemon and some salt and pepper. Cooked perfectly. Delicious – even Alyce and Luca, who were happily eating grilled fillet, agreed. Bravo, Luca!

And to accompany our meal, Alyce prepared yummy baked zucchini boats topped with melted parmiggiano. The recipe was passed along from Alyce’s mom Susan, in Erie, PA. Maybe Alyce could share her timely recipe as we are all overloaded with zucchini at this time of year…and to drink, we had a local, light and refreshing Muller-Thurgau with our meal.

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And as if that weren’t enough, hostess extraordinaire Alyce served homemade strawberry ice cream, made with tiny pieces of local fragole. I couldn’t get a picture because my 2 scoops were consumed too fast. Whoops.
Thank you again, Alyce and Luca!

Grilled Branzino