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Green Meets Grill

UP IN SMOKE
Green Meets Grill
July 9, 2013
Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

A woman I know (she may be my wife) observes the following about barbecue and gender: “Let’s see, I pick the date for the barbecue, invite the guests, do the shopping, prep the ingredients, make the salads, and set the table. My husband lights the grill and chars a few steaks. Then I do the clean-up, package the leftovers, and send everyone on their way. So who’s really the family grill master?”

Well, ladies, this newsletter will lighten your load: Next time let us grill the salad.

Grilling Romaine
Grilled salad? Crisp cool greens over fiery coals? It sounds like an oxymoron. But you know the BarbecueBible.com credo: If something tastes great raw, roasted, or tossed, it probably tastes better grilled. And in my barbecue world, we cook the entire meal—even the salad course—on the grill. Plus, grilled salads just look and taste so compelling. In fact, one of my favorites is this grilled Caesar salad—inspired by Walt’s Wharf restaurant in Seal Beach, California. If you think a conventional Caesar salad tastes good, wait until you singe halved heads of crisp fresh romaine lettuce over a hot fire, infusing the leaves with sweet scent of wood smoke.

Grilled Pepper Salad
Another salad you have to try is one of the innumerable variations on a theme of grilled pepper salad. Argentineans dress up flame-roasted red bell peppers with garlic and anchovies (check out the recipe from a La Brigada in Buenos Aires), while Sicilians dust their pepper salads with pine nuts and capers.

Grilling Vegetables
You can roast peppers on a gas or charcoal grill, but my favorite method is caveman style: grilled directly on the embers without the grill grate. Char them until coal black on all sides. (Arm yourself with extra long tongs and heavy-duty grill gloves. This method is especially well suited to beginners (or the grilling impaired), because the blacker you roast the peppers, the sweeter they will be. Transfer the peppers to a metal or earthenware surface (never plastic or wood, lest stray embers burn them) to cool, then scrape off the burnt skins with a paring knife. Leave a few bits of black for color and flavor.

Of course, for a more substantial salad, you can always pair grilled greens or vegetables with grilled proteins, like steak, chicken, shrimp, tuna, etc.—a combination that’s particularly inviting on a hot summer day or night. And at least once this summer, you should try Thailand’s electrifying yam nua yang—spicy grilled beef salad—which is assertively seasoned with chiles, mint leaves, fish sauce and peanuts.

Greens meet grill. The next time you make a salad, fire up your grill. Who knows, maybe your wife will even let you take the credit.

Do YOU have a grilled salad you’re fired up about? Share photos and details on the Barbecue Board!

Last, don’t miss this Twitter chat this Thursday! Join me and Weber Grills to discuss Grilling Dos and Don’ts with Jamie Purviance on 7/11 at 8pm ET. Use hashtag #grillitright on Twitter to join the conversation.

Yours in righteous grilling,

Steven Raichlen

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Grilled Pound Cake
THIS JUST IN!

Here’s a special surprise for the mother of all grill masters: Enter Workman Publishing’s “Summer Berry Bonanza Sweepstakes” on the TheMom100.com site for a chance to win $100 in coupons from Driscoll’s Berries! Imagine what you could make with all those berries? Hmmm, how about this Grilled Pound Cake with Berry Salsa and Tequila-Whipped Cream!