Saturday night grilling

Yesterday I mentioned that we were having vegetarian friends over for dinner. I didn't remember to get pictures (sad day) but it was a great return to grilling, one that I really super enjoyed, and it wasn't stressful!

I started prepping all the vegetables earlier in the day. I sliced the Chinese eggplant in elongated ovals and then basically steamed them in a saute pan so that they would just get a touch of smoke and char on the grill. The baby zucchini from two weeks ago were largely salvageable, so I sliced them up lengthwise. The chanterelles and hedgehogs were also largely salvageable. I washed and cleaned the portobellos and left them to dry on paper towels. I found two heads of broccoli, still in good shape, so I cut those up into large pieces. I cut up an onion into wedges through the root end.

Lastly, I trimmed the stems on some shisitos and heated up some olive oil to which I added minced garlic to make a garlic oil that I had just read about in Bon Appetit. When grilling time came, Josh set the Egg to about 300 where it hovered while I opened and closed the grill. Everything got a generous dousing of garlic oil plus s+p and then I hand tossed them before taking them out to the grill. Portobellos got more garlic oil on the grill.

I used a small quantity of alder wood to add some smoke to the grill but I was careful since Josh advised me that my over-saturation with the Jack Daniels' chips last time was too much. The food cooked pretty quickly and got a nice smoke and char. I had to use the grill tray for the eggplant which gradually fell apart without really taking on any additional color.

I had also washed two heads of green leaf lettuce and mixed up a batch of vinaigrette with red wine vinegar. At the last moments, I ripped up the lettuces, tossed them with s+p, then added the vinaigrette then sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrot shavings. On the side, Decimal Place feta and radishes with s+p. A pretty good dinner, I think, one that was both healthy and satisfying.

And we have some leftovers but not too much.

For dessert, I sliced up a watermelon. Sadly, I didn't clean my board well enough, and the pervasive flavor of raw garlic touched the watermelon. I ate it after others stopped, sad to waste good watermelon. Perhaps I will consider that a little more strongly next time.