Posts Tagged ‘summer’

Hello Fall

Filed Under: Food, Recipeson August 31st, 2010

If you know me, you know my two bad qualities:

1. Tendency to bouts of bitchiness due to low blood sugar.

2. The inability to adapt to change.

Luckily those are my only two faults …

But bottom line, I’m not good with change.

Even the transition into fall leaves me dieting on tomatoes and ice cream alone, while I should be embracing pumpkins, apples, and squash. Instead, I’m craving my grill, glasses of sauvignon blanc, and finding myself teary eyed every time I leave the shore. I’m not kidding, I’m a drama queen, over-reactor, and and full on change-a-phobe.

So in these last weeks of summer, while I nurse my tan and continue to eat every ear of corn in sight, I’ve embraced one of my favorite summer time meals full-on: the grilled pizza.

If you’ve never had grilled pizza you’re missing out. A grilled pizza has an almost raw-dough taste contrasting from the crispness a oven brings. Sounds bad, but I assure you this revelation will change your life. Boys, save your steaks for another day and grab some dough, this is the summer meal.

Here’s my version of roasted red pepper, tomato, fresh ricotta, and basil grilled pizza (I also topped with one with arugula). Any substitutions can be made, but this is my favorite classic. I like to dice all the toppings in the same manner to provide a good mouth feel.

Grease the grill and place dough down. Flip over and top with olive oil and toppings. Close the lid and let the cheese melt. The pizza’s cheese will not fully melt, but that’s the point. Then sprinkle with fleur de sel and basil.

It’s not fall yet ladies and gents, but don’t worry (when I no longer have choice) I’ll be into fall full-swing.

Summer Grilling

Filed Under: Lifeon June 28th, 2010

In my opinion, summer is the best time to eat. Everything is fresh, the air is warm, and there’s nothing like cooking outside. People seem happier when the weather gets warmer and I’m no exception. Barefoot grillers, cold beers, night sky, and tons of camaraderie, who doesn’t like it?

Grilling, in my opinion is sometimes a little too overexposed. Everyone and their mother becomes enamored with the mystique of grilling the second Memorial Day arrives. I would grill in the winter, the fall, the summer, you name it, and not because it’s the “it” way, but because, let’s face it, it’s tastes SO GOOD!

I’m not a hunter, but I imagine it must feel similar to shooting your own game, cooking, and eating it. Or catching a fish … Grilling takes us back to almost a primordial period of time. Connecting us to the outdoors. Okay, I’m being a little dramatic … I mean I just said there was a “mystique” around grilling, so I guess there is some room for over-exaggeration …

One of my favorite things to do is grill pizza. Sometimes I top a grilled dough with grilled steak, done minutes prior on the same cooking surface, sometime I go sans meat, with tomatoes and basil.

Simple, summer, satisfying. This is a creation my Dad and I made last week. It has steak, caramelized onions, blue cheese, and balsamic vinegar.

In honor of Meatless Mondays, try something vegetarian, using your grill for more than just meat? Well, that’s a new spin on an old summer standby.