Grilled Ratatouille
2 large eggplants, halved lengthwise
2 large green zucchinis, halved lengthwise
3 red onions, halved
15 roma tomatoes, halved
2 green bell peppers, halved and seeded
2 red bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 bunch green onions
Drizzle all the vegetables lightly with oil, then place on a preheated grill. Char them until visible grill marks appear and the vegetables are tender, flipping them as necessary. Cool vegetables until they can be handled, then cut into a large dice. Toss all together and season with additional oil, kosher salt, and cracked black pepper.
Here is the main course in my four course pear installment: grilled pizza with pear, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and caramelized onions. It is literally as simple as it sounds, yet the flavors combine so well together and makes a delicious, thin-crust pizza. It isn't your typical tomato-sauced pizza, or a thin crust triangular pizza slice, but it is something spectacular.
Any type of pizza dough of your preference may be used, but I recommend rolling it relatively thinly - thick enough to hold up the toppings but no thicker. Grill the pizza crust; it is fine if the dough is neither a perfect circle nor a perfect rectangle - it won't matter. Then top the pizza in any fashion you wish, using rings of caramelized onion, thinly sliced pear, thinly sliced fresh mozzarella balls, some arugula leaves, and prosciutto. Then bake at 450◦F for about ten minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted. Then cut into bite-sized squares and eat a bunch of them! Arranging them in a staggering pattern on the platter is easy to do but really upscales the presentation factor.
Finally it is barbecue season! Typically we tend to stick to the same types of foods when we barbecue - our standard salmon, burgers, chicken, steak - mostly meat. But once in a while we do try something a little different. This time it was grilled zucchini. Unless you have one of those special vegetable grilling baskets, vegetables must be large or cut into large pieces, or strung onto kabob sticks in order to avoid falling through the grates of the grill. That definitely happened with a few of our zucchini pieces here. The next time we tried this we did cut them a bit thicker. If cooked properly and rotated they will cook despite being very thick, and are tender, juicy and flavorful. They do have a little more crunch then boiled zucchini, but that's fine with me. All these need is a brushing of olive oil and perhaps a dash of cracked black pepper. A very quick accompaniment to any meal!
What do you get when the autumn season weather lingers a bit longer, yet the harvests of winter are beginning to appear? Grilled winter squash. That's right - take a vegetable that's meant for the winter seasons, and prepare it using an outdoor barbecue or grill, the preferable cooking method of the summer season. Sound a bit ironic? Who cares, it certainly is tasty!
Spaghetti squash never fails to amaze me. You cook a vegetable, then pull a fork along the cooked flesh and it comes out in strands and looks exactly like spaghetti! No other squash does that. You could definitely fool people into thinking it is actually pasta, especially if you serve it with a pasta sauce. You can cook squash just as you would pasta; al dente, soft, or well done.
This dish is really simple to prepare, and the squash does not even require prior cooking. Simple wash the squash, cut it in half, and scoop out the seeds. Brush it with a little oil, and place it cut-side down on the barbecue. Cook it as you like it! Then pull it off the grill and grab a fork to pull it into spaghetti strands.
I love corn on the cob! When it is in season, I eat it as much as I can. The season is just starting, and I have already had it twice now. Corn on the cob is just one of those foods, like watermelon, ice cream, and lemonade, that remind me of summer. I usually like my corn on the cob plain, although it is also good with a pat of butter, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Other seasonings, such as paprika, parsley, and garlic, are good too. We usually just boil corn on the cob to cook it, it is quick, easy, and simple. We have also grilled it on the barbecue, but this is trickier because the corn burns quite easily, and must be wrapped well. Also, usually it requires a parboiling as well to cook it completely. I just like my corn cooked enough so I can eat it, I don't really care how it is prepared, as corn is one of those foods where the taste does not vary greatly depending on how you cook it. The one thing about corn on the cob, is that it is corn on the cob. If you take the kernels off of the cob, it is no longer the same thing. I will eat corn off of the cob when it comes in a can or a bag, but I do not take the kernels off of the cob to eat. To me, that is simply defeating the purpose of corn on the cob. Eating it off the cob is so much fun; if you take it off it just isn't the same at all! Some people do this because the corn gets stuck in their teeth or braces, but this just won't do for me. We have several sets for eating corn on the cob. They consist of specially shaped plastic yellow trays that are perfectly shaped to fit a cob of corn. They also come with little spears to poke in both ends of the cob, so it is much easier to pick up and eat. If you are a big fan of corn on the cob, these are definitely worth the investment.
Here is the tender and juicy grilled chicken my father recently grilled on the barbecue. He baked the boneless skinless chicken breasts in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350◦F before finishing them off on the grill. All he did was brush them with a little barbecue sauce, and that was all they needed! They turned out quite moist and tender and had a great flavor, I like them done this way more so than when we simply bake them, but of course that isn't really practical in the wintertime. Chicken is such a versatile dish that goes with just about anything, and it is often a popular choice that many people enjoy. I am looking forward to more barbecues this season!
The weather is finally beginning to warm up, and that means it is barbecue season again! Some of our favorite things to barbecue are hamburgers, chicken drumsticks, and best of all, fresh salmon portions. Salmon is one of my absolute favorites! Here at our house, we like to keep it sweet and simple. We grill our salmon on maple planks on the barbecue, and season them with just a dash of brown sugar. The sweetness of the sugar goes very nicely with the salmon, and complements the smoked maple flavor from the planks perfectly. We like to serve our salmon with stir-fry, especially broccoli, and rice, noodles, risotto, or potatoes. Salmon is quick and easy to grill, and doesn't require to much attention. It is also really easy to prepare and handle. We have also been able to fit up to thirteen salmon portions on two planks, which both fit on the barbecue at the same time. Barbecued salmon is good as leftovers too, you can gently reheat it, but I like to eat mine cold. It is good the second or third day on its own or in sandwiches.
Yesterday, we decided to try cooking pizza on the barbecue. There are many different ways and methods of doing this. Toppings: are they put on before, after, or during cooking? Cooking temperature: high, low, blazing hot, or indirect heat? Cooking method: directly on the grill or on a pan, rotated, flipped, or left alone? Recipe: thick crust, rising crust, or thin crust?
Well, here is what we chose: a thin crust pizza, pre-topped, cooked at a high temperature on a pan, rotated at half time. This ended up working quite well for us. The crust was thin and very crispy and the pizza cooked to perfection in a reasonable amount of time. One problem we had was parts of the crust got a little bit burnt, but we figured if we used a double layer of pans next time, this would solve the problem. We cooked two pizzas at once, so the baking pans (just regular cookie sheets, greased and floured) jutted out of the barbecue just a tad. We simply rotated them half way through so both ends of the pizzas would cook evenly, and they did.
I used my regular, trusted pizza dough recipe, but made only half as much as the usual (and by the usual, I mean a double batch) so it could be stretched into a thin crust for a little something different. I really enjoyed the crispiness of the crust and the slightly smokey barbecue flavour. Next, I topped the dough with pizza sauce to within an inch of all the edges, and each family member decorated their own piece with their favourite toppings. The toppings we had on hand were: onion, green pepper, mushrooms, broccoli florets, sliced fresh tomatoes, ham, pepperoni, salami, and of course, grated mozzarella cheese! Then my father, the barbecue master, grilled them for about 20 minutes, at a temperature hovering around 425F. Delicious!
