Thursday, July 2, 2009

grill, baby, grill!

So you know how women tend to be scared of the grill? Well that is a gross generalization but speaking from personal experience there is something about a grill (and I’m talking about a proper grill with charcoal, cause I’m sorry, gas doesn’t give you that heavenly smell), that conjures images of a Real Man doing it. And in the past, I have been intimidated.

But enough is enough! Women can do everything men can! Hasn’t Governor Palin, the inspiration behind the title of today’s post, taught us that?

So… I grilled!

Grilling is EASY! But, admittedly, also coooomplicated. There were steps. Prepping helps.

Here’s my veggie prep station:

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Eggplants salting (I grilled the eggplant today for sammiches tomorrow- stay tuned!), parsley for the meatballs (we had a pound and a half of ground beef and it was just me and my mom for dinner tonight—clearly that was more than enough for two burgers, so I made meatballs- also destined for a future appearance), and finally for the burgers themselves, fresh oregano from the deck planter for the patties, onions and shrooms for toppings.

The onions and shrooms became a foil packet that went on the grill, since they were too small to grill on their owney, aww.

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Back to the meatballs, they were easy peasy! I took homemade bread crumbs (garlic bread goes stale= easy garlic breadcrumbs!) and soaked ‘em in water, mixed those, and the grated onion, those white chunks)…

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… with the parsley, fresh garlic, salt and pepper, and all but 8 oz of the ground beef, and made balls. The original plan was to make them a foil packet too, so I laid ‘em out:

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And I got my prep tray set, which made me feel like a total pro:

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Eggplant plus olive oil for brushing, packets for the grill, TONGS!

Then I started up the grill, ON FIRE!

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Yeah, um, that’s not enough charcoal. No big, I just added more, did more lighter fluid and another match. I adapted BEAUTIFULLY to the only MINOR challenge grilling gave me. Seriously, men love lording it over us, but if they can do it, IT’S EASY. GRILLING IS EASY.

I grilled up the eggplant first.

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So beauuuuuuuuuuteous! Here’s the final plate:

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I see smoky sandwiches in my future, YAY!

The foil packet was just working weirdly with the meatballs (plus they were rendering a lot of fat) so I tried just putting them on the grill and they stayed together and caramelized beautifully!

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Since my mom was taking her SWEET TIME coming home from work, and I knew we should probably have some kind of side dish, ideally of the green vegetable persuasion, and since I was in love with grilling at that point, I thought hey, baby bok choy!

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And it was fantastic! I can’t say enough good things about grilled baby bok choy. It’s already so pleasantly smoky, and grilling just enhances that!

So then the mother finally showed up, and I got the burgers on the grill! Oh, the thrill!

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I am a purist with burgers. Ground beef, salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and fresh oregano. All you need.

My adorable mom bought me whole wheat burger buns, cause I’m a ridiculous person. But they were really good! Pepperidge farm brand. Her burger, con queso, mine sin.

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Topped with hot sauce and, lest we forget, mushroom and onions that at this point were CARAMELIZED AND SWEET AND HEAVENLY!!!!!!!

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This was seriously one of the BEST BURGERS I HAVE EVER TASTED, and I GRILLED IT ALL BY ME ONESIE!

The beefy, smokey burger (cooked PERFECTLY, if I do say so myself, still retaining its moisture), combined with the zesty spicy hot sauce and the SWEET SWEET WONDERFUL CARAMELIZED onions and mushrooms and the nice doughy yet grill-crisped bread… it was perfect!

I kept making loud exclamations! I didn’t want it to end!

So yes, I have conquered the grill. How does one move on?

1 comment:

Astra Libris said...

CONGRATULATIONS on conquering the grill!!! I love your grilling girl power!! You grilled like a complete pro, too - your eggplant, bok choy, burgers, and meatballs look incredible!! Grilled eggplant is one of my favorite foods ever... :-) Thank you for inspiring us grilling girls! :-)