Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Grillin' n Chillin'

So, I've been without my laptop for..get this..DAYS and it feels like years. I am back and I am ready to grill! Tonight I wanted something on the grill, and I bought steak tips from the market, pre-marinated. When you work 1100 hours a day, sometimes you just don't have time to remember to marinate your own, and its OK if you don't!

I actually just bought a pack of terryaki steak tips in a vacuum sealed bag for like six smackers. Not bad, it could easily feed 3. So first you need to take each chunk out of the bag, you may be able to cut it into quarters or thirds. I love when they label them as "tips" when really its like half the cow. Anyway, don't bother trimming the fat, unless its a LOT. It will baste the meat and add to the fire....YUM.

Get your veggies ready and cut. Some people cut them way too small, don't do this. If you are cutting a pepper, you should be able to get like 4 or 5 large chunks from it, this way when it cooks it won't burn and shrink. Grilled onion is my favorite!! I don't use a specific kind, but I just happened to have a vidalia which came out lovely and sweet. A large onion can be cut into quarters, but you should be able to get 8 chunks out of it. These two are my "go to's" since I always have them, but other delicious veggies you could use are zucchini, summer squash, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms or even fruit like pineapple or peaches.

So, I've invested a dollar in metal skewers, yes, I paid one dollar for like 6 or so at the christmas tree shoppe. They are great to have on hand, but if you have traditional wooden skewers, feel free to use them. You can soak them first so that the tips don't burn off but I usually skip this part. Now comes the fun part...ASSEMBLY LINE TIME! Start with whatever you like...tonight I started with meat, then onion, then meat, then pepper then meat and so on. It doesn't matter, but they do come out pretty with whichever pattern you choose. You can pour the leftover marinade over the meat and vegetables, no need to waste! Voila, you now have kabobs! (Do you see how we transitioned from skewer to kabob?)

Your grill should be preheating now too. I use gas, so all I can tell you is to put it on medium low, you'll want to cook these slowly so as to avoid burning and drying out. If you like rare, then you can put the heat up higher to sear the outside but get that nice pink inside. Once on the grill, do not keep constantly turning them, just cook maybe 10 mins on 2 sides and they should be done in no time.

I like to serve these with bread, salad, rice (or couscous or quinoa).

What kinds of things do YOU like to grill? Or serve with grilled food?

3 comments:

  1. Oh baked potatoes wrapped in tin foil on the grill. They take forever but small ones aren't too bad :)

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  2. YES!! Love those! I always microwave them first for maybe 2 mins. Not too much you don't want them to crumble. Then I slice them into almost rounds, maybe like 1/4 inch thick, but dont cut all the way through (I guess you could though). Then I drizzle olive oil, salt, chopped garlic, sometimes onions and pepper. Or even something like Adobo, wrap it put it on the grill first, maybe 30 mins before everything else and then when the rest of the food is done, you should have a crunch bottom which I looooove and a perfectly cooked rest of the potato.
    Thanks for bringing this up YUM!

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  3. I love to grill asparagus--it gets so sweet and tasty!

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