Celebrating Spring...on the Calendar

So this week was the official beginning of Spring.  Days are finally starting to get longer and it's theoretically getting warming (especially if the Nor'easter headed our way doesn't bury us in a foot of snow later in the week).  And with that in mind, the Kitchen Ninja wanted to take his business out of the kitchen and on to the deck.

The only problem?  It's barely above freezing right now and there's still snow and ice piled up on the deck.  Too bad this ninja won't be deterred.  So it was out to the great white northeast outdoors for some summertime grilling in wintertime weather.

The reality is that last weekend had a day that was perfect for breaking out the grill and we missed it.  Someone else in the neighborhood didn't though - so the entire out of doors smelled magically.  Wes got that stuck in his mind and pretty much wouldn't consider anything else.

Grilling is a bit challenging in this family.  There's a general pyrophobia that Wes probably inherited from me.  Open flames are not the ninjas best friend.  In fact, Kitchen Mom is the normal Grillmaster, but it's better to face that and learn how to deal with an open cooking flame than to be scared and, ultimately, be dangerous.  And he should learn too ;)

Because of this general nervousness, we thought we'd start with the basics.  Simple grilled meat and vegetables.  First up the veggies.

Since it's too early for good local produce, we grabbed some simple Italian squash (or zucchini as I grew up calling it).  We looked it up and we're pretty sure they're the same thing.  Either way it's a summer squash so it made sense as a part of our un-seasonal feast.

Wes trimmed off the ends and split the squash.  They went into a large casserole dish where he drizzled over some basic olive oil (not extra virgin - we saved the good stuff for later).  On top went a heavy pinch of kosher salt and a health dash of garlic powder.  He also cut a yellow onion into rings, placed a metal skewer through them and followed the same oil/salt/garlic process.

He also put on a pot of white rice - I think he loves the fact he can make that all by himself without any help.  We've got the Zojirushi rice cooker - the Mercedes Benz of rice cookers.  One of my favorite kitchen splurges.

The veggies went on to the cranking hot grill (we never took it off the highest setting since it's only around 40 degrees outside).  The grill temp was around 550 degrees.  The veggies cooked for 4 minutes a side or roughly long enough for the temp to come back up.  Opening the lid on the grill cost us a good 200 degrees each time - so we were extra careful not to peek.

Side note - we wore twinner Crocs through this entire process - just like really chefs.  Take that Mario Batali!

While the veg was grilling happily away, Wes switch to salad prep.  Nothing fancy.  Just some dark leafy greens dressed in a simple vinaigrette.  Kitchen Mom jumped in to show him how to do it.  We used our favorite  white balsamic vinegar (it has a little lighter bite than normal balsamic but you can substitute).  Wes whisked in a heavy pinch of salt into 1 part vinegar and then added 3 parts oil (use the good stuff here) slowly while whisking briskly.  It was a good team effort.  We even used the opportunity to talk about emulsions and molecular bonds and the use of energy to trick the separate parts into combining.  Science!

Once the veggies were done (we could tell they were done because the were soft and the perfect starting-to-turn-black color on the outside), we let the grill heat back up all the way.  We placed the veggies on a cookie sheet and put it in a 250 degree oven to stay warm.  Next came the meat.

Obviously there's a lot of different choices for meat on the grill.  Personally, I love them all.  But Wes-man, he has a particular favorite - steak tips.  Steak tips can be a lot of different things.  They're the trimmings that are left over from a prime piece of meat, usually like a tenderloin.  Our local butcher shop has the best steak tips - they even have them pre-marinated so they're ready to go straight to the grill.  For tonight we bought the house marinade which is a slightly sweet barbeque flavor.

On to a ripping hot grill, the steak tips cooked for about 4 minutes a side.  This was a perfect medium (warm pink center) - shave off 30 seconds to a minute for medium rare.  And if you go for the cool center, you're out of luck around here.  We don't serve no purple beef!

Wes was a champ on the grill.  Even if he did use the full length of the tongs to his advantage!

Everything came together at the exact same time!  That's some times a rarity in these parts.  But tonight we shook off of grilling rust and had a bang up summer feast all while it still looks like Christmas outside.  Remember the Kitchen Ninjas number one rule for off-seasonal grilling:  stand close enough to the grill for warmth, but not so close as to actually catch on fire and burst into flames.  We're dealing with the pyrophobia, really we are...

Until next time!