After a long, cold, windy spring, only last week did temperatures heat up and the wind die down to a livable level. Normally, I find the summer heat here in the desert oppressive but seriously, we’d been having arctic blast for so long I began to wonder if an evil Ice Wizard had cursed us. But since the weather has turned warm, I’ve been out on the grill a lot and coming home to grill up dinner and enjoy any icy drink outside is a great relaxer after work.
Vegetables have been getting a lot of play — plenty of zucchini, thick-cut onions, and squash, all brushed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Onions prepared this way can be eaten with a knife and fork and are sweet enough to almost qualify as dessert. I’ve also had good luck with grilled pineapple steaks and tonight I pulled off crispy green beans brushed with sesame oil. Bread brushed with garlic, butter, and cayenne pepper toasts up nicely on the top rack. Marinated tri-tip and eye of round, chicken-gouda sausage (sounds snobby but it was a good price at Costco in quantities suitable for feeding entire churches), and lamb for The Wife. I’m looking forward to trying cross-cut pork shortribs (that is to say, the meat gets butchered Korean-style instead of the more traditinal American/English style cuts) after tasting what my neighbor came up with one day marinated in soy sauce and orange juice.
So is anything interesting going on your grills this summer, Readers?
