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| Grate
Expectations |
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| Add
some barbecue sizzle with pizza,
fruit and beer-can chicken. |
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| Try
a nontraditional recipe,
such as this grilled strawberry
shortcake. Photo courtesy
Weber Grill. |
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By David Bernstein
If home is where the heart is, then the
backyard is where the stomach is—especially
in barbecue season. But just because you
are grilling, it doesn’t mean you
must stick with the traditional backyard
basics. Invite has some hot ideas to broaden
your grilling repertoire so you can surprise
and delight your guests.
• You might never cook pizza in your
oven again once you have tasted it off
the grill. Grilled pizzas make a wonderful
addition to any meal, says Mark Lusardi,
the executive chef at Mustards Grill,
a Napa Valley dining hotspot. For best
results, Lusardi suggests using a sturdy
dough with more flour and less oil to
keep it firm and to prevent your meal
from falling through the grill grates.
He also recommends using high heat without
flames on a clean, oiled grill.
• If you can’t bear the sight
of a meatless grill, go ahead and fire
up that hunk of meat, poultry or catch-of-the-day,
but try to have some fun and use your
imagination. One fresh and easy approach
to poultry is "beer-can chicken."
Simply perch a seasoned chicken over an
open can of beer on your grill, then cook.
The result, says Randy Waidner, executive
chef at Weber Grill Restaurant in Chicago,
is one of the most flavorful chickens
you will ever taste, crispy on the outside
with a juicy interior. The beer-can method
can vary using different beers and types
of poultry, even turkey.
• Fruit and your grill might seem
like an odd culinary couple, but they
actually make a natural match. Waidner
recommends a clean grill and moderate
to high heat, using only ripe, fragrant
fruits (preferably cut into large chucks
to prevent pieces from falling through
the cracks). Peaches, pineapples, bananas
and pears are some of the more popular
grilling fruits, though mangos, coconuts,
apples and figs also make fine choices
to put over a hot fire. "Sprinkle
fruits with powdered sugar before you
grill," Waidner says. "It caramelizes
better, and the sugary crust is a nice
little trick."
• For an additional twist, try a
fruit smoothie made with grilled fruits,
frozen yogurt and ice. Waidner says grill-cooked
fruits are also great for nontraditional
dessert recipes, such as grilled pineapple-upside-down
cake, strawberry shortcake, carrot cake
or peach cobbler.
With all these choices—from starters
to desserts—you will never again
have to ask, "Where’s the beef?" |
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