Too Hot to Cook? Don't Grin and Take it - Grill and Bake It!

If you have a gas grill with a hood, did you know that you can use it as an oven? Mine has a thermometer on it that’s fairly accurate, but lacking that you can use a regular oven thermometer to regulate the temperature.

 

The other night I made a nice big meatloaf “in” the grill! I used a metal pan, of course, and covered it with foil. Once the grill was up to temperature I turned off all but one burner, and placed the meatloaf pan on the off-fire side. (Use your own meatloaf recipe: mine is pretty much whatever sounds good at the time.) I kept it there at about 400 degrees for an hour, then removed the foil and cooked until it registered 170 on the instant meat thermometer. This is one of the few places I like ketchup. Spread it over the top of the meatloaf when you remove the foil it gives the loaf a nice saucy top.

 

Meantime, I prepared some veggies in a grill pan:

Medium zucchini cut in two lengthwise.

Slabs of yellow onion sliced ½ inch thick.

“Mini” stuffed sweet peppers. Slit the peppers lengthwise, then make a small slash across the top under the stem cap. (Leave stems on.) Slip the cheese into that slit. Add a small leaf of fresh basil, tucking it in over the cheese but letting the point stay over the top.  

Drizzle good quality extra virgin olive oil over the veggies, then shake on salt, peper, and some herbs – I used Italian seasoning mix (except on the peppers) but suit yourself.  

Grill until the veggies are to your liking. It’s best to leave the peppers a bit crisp and the others cooked to just-soft stage with a little firmness left in them. 

Remove the meatloaf from the grill, cover with foil, and set it aside to rest while you grill the veggies.  (Resting will condense the juices back into the meat. If there is a lot of fat or liquid, pour it off after resting the loaf.)

There you go – a simple meal. Add bread or salad or whatever if you feel you need something more. 

Meatloaf leftovers are wonderful in cold sandwiches, or heated up in the microwave for another supper entrée. It’s even better the second time around when the flavors have melded!

 

 

 

Keeping Cool: Grill Delights and Lusty Pasta Salad

Well into the second week of records heat with A/C (it broke last year – or rather, died. There’s a blog about that.) and I’m pulling out some favorite beat-the-heat recipes and cooking methods.

It’s time for light fare and cooking on the grill. 


Stuffed chicken thigh, grilled corn on the cob, asparagus
wrapped in bacon

Corn on the cob:

In the microwave: cut off the stem end at the shoulder and plonk your corn into the microwave. 2 large ears at 100% for six minutes. Let it rest, then shake the corn out of the husk. If that doesn’t work, just peel off the husk – carefully, it’s going to be piping hot.  

On the grill: soak the outer husk of the corn under running water. It will make life easier if you cut off the blossom end (with all the silk). Place on the grill – direct heat at first, then move off the heat and let it continue to steam until the rest of the meal is ready. 3 or 4 minutes each side on direct heat, then move it. Move it before the time is up if it starts charring or smoking!

  Asparagus: break off the tough ends. In a small tray or corn dish pour a thin layer of olive oil Sprinkle in salt and pepper if desired, plus some complimentary dried herbs. A commercial blend is fine….lemon/herb, Italian, Greek, Moroccan, garden, fine herbes, whatever appeals to you. Roll the asparagus in the flavored oil and place across the grate over medium heat. Turn over when one side is striped with grill marks. Cook until crisp-tender.

 

Asparagus with bacon: wrap bacon around a small bundle of asparagus stalks (about 3), secure with toothpicks, grill until bacon is cooked and asparagus is crisp-tender.

Asparagus and portabella mushrooms: Snap tough ends off asparagus and cut the stalk into about three pieces (depending on length – pieces should be about 2-2/3 to 3 inches long). Wash portabellos, trim off end of stem. Cut the caps into chunks about 2 x 2. You can clean out some of the gills by scraping them out after you cut the mushroom in two, but it isn’t necessary. Toss all of these pieces in an oil and herb mix (as above) and place in a grill pan. Grill over medium heat until asparagus in crisp-tender, tossing or stirring several times. 

Grilled Pineapple: cut peeled fresh pineapple vertically into strips about 3-4 inches long. Brush with oil and lay on a hot grill. When one side has nice grill marks, turn the pieces over and top with brown sugar. Continue to cook until the sugar melts to form a glaze.

Stuffed chicken thighs: remove skin and bone from chicken thigh, without cutting all the way through (leave the thigh intact). Pound out the chicken meat to make it more even in thickness. Then brush inside with pesto or a mix of olive oil, granulated garlic, and herbs. Slip in some good pepperoni slices and a slice of mozzarella cheese (note: you can use ham and Swiss or other white melting cheese, or salami and muenster, or any other combo you like. Brush the outside of the thighs with your pesto or oil mixture and place on a hot grill. Establish grill marks on both sides, about 3 minutes each, then set off heat on the grill to finish cooking. Make sure internal temperature is 165 (the chicken meat).  



Serve any combination of the above with this  

Lusty Pasta Salad with Olives and Bits

Cook a nice salad pasta – I prefer mini-farafalle. Rinse, drain, and refrigerate until cold. I like to cook extra when making a hot pasta dish, then refrigerate the surplus and use the cooked pasta in the next day or so for the salad.

2-3 cups of cooked pasta should serve about four people. Adjust amounts to your desire, need, or what’s in the fridge. Leftovers of this are great so don’t worry about having too much.

 

You can delete or add from the following ingredients, but for summer try to keep it salt-savory (olives, pickles, etc.) and light (olive oil dressing).

toss cooked cold pasta with a dash of olive oil (I like Kalamata) to separate the bits

Add as preferred: 

FINELY CHOPPED:

fresh broccoli

yellow onion

red and green bell peppers

Kalamata olives

Green olives

pickled pimento

dried crushed sun-dried tomato bits or sun-dried tomato in oil, drained and chopped

parsley

fresh or crushed dried oregano 

ADD:

pickled garlic (some Asian markets sell jars of tiny pickled garlic – perfect used whole)

capers

tiny grape tomatoes (or cut in half if fairly large) 

MIX, then add

some fruity olive oil (not too much!),

salt and pepper to taste, and toss again.  

Then add fresh grated Parmesan cheese and toss lightly.  

You could also add cooked bits of carrot or corn kernels or other vegetable bits.

Instead of the above herbs you can use a dried herb blend such as Italian.

 

 

Hot Days Call for Leftovers and Grilling

I try to cook only as much as the two of us can eat at a meal, but of course there are always exceptions. A roast chicken, for example, can provide a number of meals for two people. Rice and beans are hard to cook for two (unless the beans come out of a can, which is not wicked). And I sometimes cook more than we need for one meal  in order to freeze or repurpose for others.

So, with the heat hitting us this week and the AC broken beyond repair, leftovers are a blessing. As is the grill. I admit to being a bit unskilled with the grill, but as time and need demand I get better.

I didn't take a photo, but I figured that Cuisinart wouldn't mind my using theirs.
I recently puchased one of these, and it's wonderful!

Monday I had coupons for a fresh loaf of Artisan bread from a local market for 99 cents. It was still warm when I picked it up. Ahhh….I had some cheeses in the fridge to use up – a chunk of Swiss and a chunk of very aged cheddar. I decided to make fondue for lunch (I’ll address the making of fondues another time) and, since it was for lunch and included cheddar, I elected to use beer. Some fried crumbled garlic (from the Indian section at the Asian store – I could have rubbed the fondue pan with fresh garlic, but I like a good garlic flavor with cheddar and beer), a shot of hot sauce, some red pepper flakes, a little nutmeg, broken French bread, and we were good to go. I added a small salad of shredded lettuce and a piquant tepanade-style mixture of olives and a few other veggies, for contrast. I figured the extra fondue sauce would make good mac and cheese, or some other dish.

Tuesday I still had some pieces of broken bread. So for breakfast, I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in some olive oil in a heavy skillet, sprinkled in an herb mixture (Italian) and the bread pieces, and tossed them around over medium heat until they were golden brown and crunchy.  A poached egg over the croutons and we were in heaven.

At lunchtime I sliced the butt of the loaf that I hadn’t used the previous day and toasted the slices (whole) in the skillet in much the same way only with flavorful olive oil and less butter. I sautéed some bits of roasted red pepper and sun dried tomato in olive oil in a heavy saucepan (the oil on the tomatoes was enough for this) and heated the leftover fondue in the same pan (added a bit of milk to loosen it up a bit) and poured over the toast. I had boiled some eggs in the morning, so made stuffed eggs (mayo, mustard, capers, salt and pepper mixed into the yolks) – two halves each – and browned a few pre-breaded butterfly shrimp in the toaster oven. A couple pieces of fresh pineapple and we were good to go.

By suppertime it was too hot to cook in the kitchen.  I had some leftover roast chicken breast, and a cupful or so of brown and wild rice with chopped veggies, so I added chopped chicken and a raw egg to the rice. My goal was to use a large green pepper that was languishing in the fridge, so I cut it lengthwise, removed the seed head and pith, and made a “nest” of heavy aluminum foil for each half, leaving a flap of foil to fold loosely over the top so I could check to see if the pepper was done, as well as to open it up for browning on top if needed.  Stuffed it with the chicken and rice mixture. I put these on the heated grill and closed the lid, keeping the heat around 350. After about 15 minutes I moved the foil-wrapped peppers off the heat.

When they seemed about done (the tops browned nicely without exposure) I prepared some fresh asparagus by washing, snapping off the ends, and rolling in some melted butter and Italian bread crumbs (used my glass bread pan to melt the butter in the microwave and roll the spears.) Gave some spears of fresh pineapple a roll in the butter as well. Those I just put on the grill over medium flame. Added a pear-walnut-gorgonzola salad using a commercial mix of herbs and baby greens. Slices of purchased Black Forest roulade (way too much frosting!) for dessert.

Now I am running low on leftovers so will dig through the freezer for some that I put away for future use. The future is NOW.

I’m not sure why I get the cooking urge when it’s hot. Perhaps because I’m too lethargic to do much else!