It may be a little too early in the year to announce the start of grilling season, but with the recent warm weather we’ve had, plus the cold nip experienced this past weekend, it’s safe to say that it’s time to gather around the grill again. While I was at the baseball games this weekend, I got my first smell of charcoal-grilled food of the year. It was a welcoming and warming thought, especially since the wind had left my face and fingers in a crippling state of near-frostbite. The smell of deer sausage cooking on a charcoal grill, which is the best aroma this side of a baked apple pie, had my mouth watering for that familiar summertime taste.
I’ve come to the conclusion that pretty much anything cooked on a grill tastes good, no matter how it was before. Maybe it’s the smokiness that masks the food’s real taste, or the fact that cooking over a flame was the first form of cooking known to man, but it’s undeniably the best way to cook meat, vegetables and even desserts, believe it or not.
Mostly everyone’s knowledge of cooking on a grill is that it’s good for meat, and that’s about it; if there must be a vegetable present, it’s usually a foil-wrapped baked potato. But there are so many other uses for the grill that you would be amazed what all you can cook on it. I’m sure many people have ventured into last year’s fad of cooking corn on the cob in its husk and grilling peaches for a dessert. And while all those things are good, why stop there?
If you envision your grill as one gigantic eye of a stove-top, then the possibilities are endless. Not only can almost any food be grilled on the actual grates, but you can place pans and skillets on the grates and make all kinds of sauces, stir-fries and even pasta. You could probably even bake in it, but I definitely haven’t gotten that far into it yet.
And with eager grill masters gearing up for baseball season, what better time to start experimenting with your game-time meals? Step out of the league of hotdogs and chips, although admittedly that’s the best food for a ball park, and step into unknown territory to impress your friends at the next game. The decidedly untraditional ingredients in these grilling recipes below could easily be adapted to feed five or 15, and the change from the norm will definitely add some interest during those long innings and will hopefully get you to explore other atypical foods for your grill.
Just take a little time before the game to do the preparation: Chop the cilantro for the salsas and the cake and fruit for the dessert, and this meal will be breezier than Sunday’s baseball game and as enjoyable as watching Alabama getting creamed by the 2007 SEC West Champions.