Fabulicious!: On the Grill Read online

  Summer Salad with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

  Makes 6 to 8 servings

  It’s no secret that I love garlic, but I love-love-love roasted garlic. It just somehow tastes different; the roasting gives the garlic a mellow, almost nutty flavor. And it makes a great salad dressing. This is another one of my favorite summer salads. The combination of the sweet berries and spicy basil mixed with the mellow dressing is fabulicious!

  Roasted Garlic:

  1 full head of garlic, husk removed and separated into individual cloves

  1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  Pinch of salt

  Dressing:

  2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

  1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

  ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  Salad:

  1 (5-ounce) bag of mixed baby greens

  2 cups sliced strawberries

  1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

  1 cup packed whole basil leaves

  ⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted (see page 192)

  1. To roast the garlic in the oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the garlic cloves in a large custard cup or small baking dish, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until the garlic is dark beige and very tender, about 45 minutes. Uncover and let the garlic cool completely.

  To roast the garlic on a grill: Preheat the grill for indirect cooking with medium-high heat (400°F). Place the garlic cloves on a 12-inch square of aluminum foil, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt. Fold the foil to enclose the garlic into a packet. Place on the turned-off area of the grill and close the lid. Cook until the garlic is very tender, about 45 minutes. Open the foil and let the garlic cool completely.

  2. To make the dressing: Squeeze the flesh from each cooled clove into a blender. Add the vinegar and lemon juice and process until the garlic is pureed. With the machine running, gradually add the oil through the hole in the lid. Season with salt and pepper. (The dressing can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day.)

  3. To make the salad: Toss the baby greens, strawberries, tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts with the dressing. Serve immediately.

  Tomato and Baby Bocconcini Salad with Pesto Dressing

  Makes 4 to 6 servings

  This salad has all of the flavors of a Caprese salad, but this version is even more fun to eat because of the miniature tomatoes and bite-sized mozzarella balls. When you can find them, multicolored cherry tomatoes really make this salad look spectacular. The mixture is delicious with just about any kind of salad greens, but the peppery flavor of arugula makes it an Italian classic.

  2 tablespoons Homemade Pesto (page 161)

  1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

  ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

  1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut into halves

  8 ounces baby bocconchini or ciliegine mozzarella balls

  4 cups (about 3 ounces) baby arugula or mixed salad greens

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1. Whisk the pesto, vinegar, and oil together in a large bowl to combine. Add the cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and let stand at room temperature until the tomatoes give off some juice, about 1½ hours.

  2. Add the arugula, toss well, and season again with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

  * * *Little Mouthfuls* * *

  Sometimes instead of slicing or grating mozzarella from a larger piece, you’d like smaller, bite-sized balls for your dish. For this reason, cheese makers created bocconcini—which means “little mouthfuls” in Italian—egg-size balls of mozzarella. Even smaller balls, the size of grapes, are called bambini (or “baby”) bocconcini. There are also “cherry-size” balls called ciliegine di mozzarella. If you can’t find any of these miniature sizes, you can always cut large fresh mozzarella balls into ½-inch cubes.

  Italian Gazpacho

  Makes 6 servings

  You can’t go through summer without having at least one bowl of chilled gazpacho made with juicy local tomatoes. This is my version, which has balsamic vinegar and fresh basil (or oregano) to give it an Italian feeling. Some people like it smooth, and some like it chunky. It really doesn’t matter, as long as you use great tomatoes. Instead of croutons, serve it with wide slices of grilled bread alongside.

  2 pounds plum (Roma) tomatoes, cored and seeded

  1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and very coarsely chopped

  ¾ cup coarsely chopped red onion (about ½ medium onion)

  ⅓ cup packed fresh basil, plus chopped fresh basil for serving

  3 garlic cloves, crushed under the flat side of a large knife and peeled

  ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

  3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

  ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes Salt

  1. Combine the tomatoes, bell pepper, red onion, basil, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Add the oil, vinegar, and red pepper flakes, and pulse until the gazpacho is your desired texture. Season with salt. Transfer to a large bowl, cover, and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

  2. Ladle the gazpacho into soup bowls. Sprinkle each with basil and drizzle with oil. Serve cold.

  * * *Tomatoes and Skin Care* * *

  We know that tomatoes are good for our bodies, since they contain lycopene, but did you know they’re also great for your skin? The same natural pigment that helps protect the tomato’s skin from the harsh rays of the sun can also protect yours. While you should still wear full SPF sunscreen, lycopene can help protect your skin from within. Crushed tomato can also be applied to your face to soothe sunburn, clear up acne, and dry out oily patches.

  Summer Minestrone

  Makes 10 to 12 servings

  Americans might think of minestrone as a cold-weather soup, but in Italy, it’s made year-round. In the summer, I use local vegetables to make an incredible vegetarian soup that you can even serve chilled—just as they do in Italy when the weather is hot. This purposely makes a huge batch because the soup only gets better with age, and it is a beautiful thing to have a big container of soup in the fridge for a quick meal.

  2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

  1 medium onion, chopped

  3 medium carrots, cut into ½-inch dice

  3 medium celery ribs, cut into ½-inch dice

  2 garlic cloves, minced

  4 ripe plum (Roma) tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced

  2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

  1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

  2 medium zucchini, cut into ½-inch dice

  1 medium yellow squash, cut into ½-inch dice

  1 (15.5-ounce) can white kidney (cannellini) beans, drained and rinsed

  1 (15.5-ounce) can pink or Roman beans, drained and rinsed

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  Homemade Pesto (page 161), for serving

  1. Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in 7 cups of water, the tomatoes, parsley, and oregano and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes.

  2. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, white beans, and pink beans and bring to a simmer over high heat. Return the heat to medium-low and simmer until the zucchini is tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (The soup can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

  3. Ladle into soup bowls and top each serving with about a teaspoon of pesto and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve hot, warm, chilled, or at room temperature.

  CHAPTER 5

  Carne (Meat)

  Tutto fumo e niente arrosto.

  Instead of saying that something is no big deal or someone i
s “all bark and no bite,” Italians say it’s “all smoke and no roast.”

  Of all the things that people grill, meat is the most common—and the most commonly messed up! We’re going to fix that once and for all, so your burgers will be perfect, your steak will cut like butter, and your pork chops will be to-die-for delicious.

  The most important thing to remember is that you’re not always going to cook everything over high heat. As my Joe says, “Take it nice and slow.” It’s called “grilling,” not “burning.”

  THE TRUTH ABOUT TENDERIZING

  One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to tenderize their meat in all the wrong ways. When I see someone pull out a metal hammer that looks like a medieval torture device and start hacking away at the raw steak, I cry a little inside. Believe it or not, tenderizing has nothing to do with hitting anything.

  There are four main ways to truly tenderize meat: A) cooking it with moist, low heat for a long time to break down the tough parts; B) letting the meat tenderize naturally as its enzymes change, like butchers do by dry aging beef, but that takes about twenty days to work; C) using an actual tenderizing tool that looks like a metal spike to poke into meat to break up the gristle, but doing this also breaks the muscle and creates holes to let moisture escape; and D) choosing a good, tender cut to begin with. The best choice is D.

  (And remember, the most tender doesn’t always mean the most flavorful. Have you ever noticed the flavor difference between flank steak and filet mignon? Just because it’s beef doesn’t mean that every cut tastes the same.)

  HAMMER TIME

  If you use a pointy hammer on your steak in an attempt to tenderize it, you’ll break up not only some of the connective tissue, but also the actual meat. Think of a meat hammer as a giant beast that is pre-chewing your steak for you. No good.

  So what do people use a hammer for? To make a piece of meat—usually boneless and skinless chicken breast halves—a uniform thickness so it will cook evenly. If you have a giant hump on one end, that part won’t get cooked through while the thinner end is overcooked. Steaks are usually pretty uniformly cut already, so you don’t need to pound them; chicken usually isn’t, so you do. But when you do, you should use a flat mallet or a rolling pin so you aren’t damaging the meat. Put the meat between plastic storage bags, as this creates a slicker surface that helps the meat “stretch” from the pounding. And it’s best to pound the meat when it’s cold just after taking it out of the fridge, when the meat is firmer.

  THE MARINADE MYTH

  It’s a myth that marinades can tenderize steak. They add great flavor and are good for your health when you’re grilling (I’ll tell you why in a minute), but they can’t really penetrate a steak or the individual muscle fibers. It takes beef’s natural enzymes almost a month to work on making steak soft during the dry-aging process; a few hours in your fridge isn’t going to cut it. In fact, even if you marinate a steak for five days, it will only soak into the meat about one-eighth of an inch.

  * * *Steak Selection Cheat Sheet* * *

  You don’t have to buy a porterhouse to get tender steak. As long as you prep, cook, and cut it correctly, there are many inexpensive cuts that are juicy and delicious. But there are some, like round steak, that are best avoided on the grill unless you’re a master and want to exercise your jaw muscles. There are a million choices, but here are my personal recommendations:

  Expensive Cuts You

  Can’t Go Wrong With:

  —Tenderloin

  —T-bone

  —Porterhouse

  —Top Loin

  —Strip Steak

  —Club Steak

  Inexpensive Cuts That Are

  Great with Marinades:

  —Sirloin

  —Flank

  —Chuck

  —Round

  —Tri-Tip

  —Skirt

  Inexpensive Cuts That Are Great with

  Careful Cutting Across the Grain:

  —Flank

  —Tri-Tip

  —Flat Iron

  —Skirt

  PRECOOKING TEMPERATURE

  You might have heard that you need to bring meat to room temperature before cooking it, but that’s a little too warm and not safe. All you need to do is take the chill off the refrigeration, which can be done in thirty minutes (on a hot day, you may only need fifteen). If you don’t, and try and grill the cold meat right away, you’ll end up having to increase your cooking time, which will decrease the deliciousness.

  Covering your steak with plastic wrap while it sits on the counter doesn’t do anything to help or hinder it, either. You really don’t need to unless you have a dog that might run in and snatch it, or if there are pesky flies around.

  FORKED

  Did you notice what isn’t on my list of the tools you needed for grilling (see page 25). A grilling fork. Not only do you not need one, but you also shouldn’t use one. Ever. Turn your meat with long tongs. If you pierce it with anything to pick it up, you’re putting holes in it. It’s the equivalent of stabbing your steak in its prime and watching its life essence drip away. . .

  Now, I didn’t say to use a spatula to flip your meat, and here’s why: it’s far too tempting to use the back of the spatula to press down on the meat before you flip it, especially burgers. Doing so may make that cool sizzling sound from fat dripping onto the flames, but it’s a serious grilling offense. Not only does it rob the meat of moisture, leaving it more likely to dry out, but it can also cause a dangerous flare-up. So why do we do it so much if we’re not supposed to? A friend told me it’s because we’ve seen it done on TV and in restaurants: the cooks squish the burgers. But those are flat, mass-produced burgers that need to get off the grill in a hurry, and are almost always served medium-well to well done.

  PREMATURE FLIPPING AND TOO MUCH FUSSING

  Another thing that can ruin your otherwise perfect piece of meat or patty: moving it around too much. You only want to flip it once. Don’t go near the meat until the underside has formed a nice crust. This is true of all grilling, but it’s especially true with burgers because too much flipping can make the patty fall apart.

  COOKING TEMPS

  When you remove food from the grill, it keeps cooking inside so the internal temperature will actually go up three to five degrees. For that reason, you should take your meat off the grill when it measures three to five degrees before your desired temperature so it will end up right where you want it. So if you want a medium steak, take it off the grill at 130°F, let it rest, and it will go up to 135°F.

  Here’s a handy chart of what temperatures correspond to our descriptions of rare through well done meat.

  * * *Optimum Temperature After Resting:* * *

  Rare = 120°F to 130°F

  Medium-Rare = 130°F to 135°F

  Medium = 135°F to 140°F

  Medium-Well = 140°F to 145°F

  Well = Over 145°F

  THE IMPORTANCE OF REST

  Another thing that people tend to rush is serving the meat after it’s cooked. You must, must, must let it rest first. After you take it off the grill, let it stand undisturbed for at least 5 minutes, 10 minutes for larger pieces. It won’t get cold (in fact it will keep cooking), but it will get much, much juicier. When meat is heated, all the moisture is forced out of the meat fibers and settles in the middle. Cut it open right away, and the precious juices will flood your plate. When you let it rest, you give the meat fibers a chance to relax, open back up, and reabsorb the moisture throughout, making every single bite—as long as you’re patient!—a luscious, lip-smacking wonder.

  THE TOUCH TEST

  Not all cuts of meats—thin pork chops and steaks and chicken breast—are thick enough for you to use a thermometer. (That’s one reason why a thin-stemmed, instant-read thermometer is better than a thick-stemmed, old-fashioned thermometer.) If you don’t have a thermometer, you could always slice into the meat to see how done it is, but that’s really ugly and lets the juices o
ut, and really, just don’t do that. Instead, get to know your way around steak by learning how to tell how done it is inside by the “touch test.” If you poke the steak in the middle with your forefinger, you can tell its degree of doneness by how firm or soft it is. How do you gauge what’s firm and what’s soft? It’s takes some practice, but here’s how it works:

  Open your left hand so that your palm is facing up. Keep it nice and relaxed, then poke the fleshy part under your thumb with the forefinger (the first finger, also called your “index” or “pointer” finger, depending on where you grew up) on your right hand. See how squishy that is? That’s how “raw” feels.

  Now touch your left thumb to your left forefinger, making a loose “o” shape. Poke the fleshy part of your thumb with your right forefinger again. This time it’s a little firmer. That’s what “rare” feels like.

  Now release that finger, and touch your left thumb to your left middle finger. Poke yourself. A little firmer. That’s “medium-rare.”

  I think you know where we’re going with this: Touching your left thumb to your left ring finger and poking your fleshy bit is what “medium” cooked meat feels like.

  And finally, your left thumb touching your left pinkie gives you the same tension as “well-done” meat.

  Chi la vuole cotta e chi la vuole cruda.