Boys and grills

About a month ago, I foolishly offered to give recipes on demand (but only for that day!) I’ve satisfied most requests, but not all of them. This one is for Leslie, who asked me for simple grill recipes.

By the way: this guy knows how to grill.

Recipes below the cut.

Chicken Kebabs

Easy. Tasty. A crowd-pleaser.

skinless, boneless chicken thighs
plain yogurt
thinly sliced onion
salt, pepper to taste
melted butter

You can also use chicken breast meat, but it’s a bit drier than thigh meat. Also, if you are using thighs, you really don’t have to cut up the chicken and put it on skewers. You can grill whole pieces over the coals and skip the skewering step. Here goes:

1. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and place them in a bowl.

2. Add plain yogurt, sliced onion, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. I use about a cup of yogurt, one sliced yellow onion, a teaspoon of salt, and maybe 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. This is enough marinade for an eight-pack of thighs.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and let the chicken marinate for a few hours (or overnight).

4. Thread the meat onto skewers and grill over hot coals. After you turn them the first time, brush the meat with melted butter. Brush with butter once again before serving.

5. Optional additions: sometimes I add lemon juice to the marinade. Tonight, I used a pesto of cilantro and green onion to spice things up. I also like adding cumin to the marinade.

6. Serve with basmati rice and a green vegetable. Sprinkle the kebabs with sumac if you have it.

Buffalo Burgers

Yeah, you’re right: you don’t need to do anything special to make great burgers. Grill ’em over the coals, that’s enough. Still, I love what Lipton’s onion soup mix does to a burger.

I beat one large egg together with a packet of Lipton’s onion soup mix. Then, I stir this into a pound of ground buffalo. Why buffalo? No mad buffalo disease (yet).

Form the burgers into patties and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper but NO SALT since the onion soup mix has lots of salt. Pat them out to 1/2 inch thickness (a little over a centimeter). Grill ’em. Eat ’em.

Grilled Vegetable Salad

I suspect Leslie’s hubs might object to this recipe, but everyone else will eat it. More for them.

Mushrooms: criminis, or white button, or portabella, or some combination thereof
enoki mushrooms if you can find them
sliced yellow onion
red bell pepper
Japanese eggplant (optional)
green onion
olive oil, salt, pepper, and crushed garlic

Set aside the enoki mushrooms — you won’t be grilling these. Trim the roots off the green onions, then divide the white part from the green part. Chop the green part of the green onion and set it aside.

Slice the eggplant lengthwise. Keep the other vegetables reasonably intact. If you slice them too thinly now, you’ll only make work for yourself on the grill (and half of it will fall through the cracks). You’ll need to cut the yellow onion into fat disks, however, or else the middle won’t cook. Coat the vegies with olive oil, lightly salt and pepper them, and toss with crushed garlic.

Grill the vegies over hot coals until cooked. Don’t worry if some of them char — this will only add to the flavor. In particular, let the red bell pepper char like crazy, then put it into a plastic ziplock bag. After ten minutes or so, the pepper should be cool enough to handle. Peel off the charred skin.

NOW you get to slice all your vegetables. Toss with a vinaigrette and chill. Before serving, fold in the chopped green onion and the enoki mushrooms.

Here’s a page that discusses mustard vinaigrettes, and here’s another. If you do a mustard vinaigrette, go easy on the mustard — you don’t want to overpower the vegetables.

Any questions?

D.