Succulent, fire-flavored food, time in the sun, and keeping the heat out of the kitchen: No wonder we love grilling.
We’ve put together a menu of grilled dishes that lets you hone your technique, along with plenty of variations to keep the grill going well into fall.
These dishes work fine on their own, but they can be combined into a complete grilled dinner.
As with so many things in life, timing is everything:
1. Start off by lighting a hot fire on one side of the grill and cook the little beef and/or shrimp appetizer skewers directly over it so they sear quickly.2. Then cook your chicken breasts over the indirect-heat area to keep them moist.
3. While the chicken rests after cooking, grill the vegetables over the direct heat.
4. Round things off with grilled peaches for dessert.
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| Thomas J. Story |
| Wide-end tongs make turning vegetables and chicken easy. |
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Grill toolsWide-end tongs. We love these tongs for the capable way they grip food, especially soft items, on the grill. Look for them at cookware stores (about $6).
Fireproof brush. Silicone brushes (about $7 at most cookware stores) withstand heat up to 500°, making them ideal for brushing a hot grill, and the food on it, with oil. Plus they actually get clean when washed.
Stylish skewers. For bite-size grilled appetizers, we like the pretty 4¾-inch beaded skewers (100 for $10) and 3½-inch boat-oar skewers (500 for $10) from Pick On Us (800/874-2587).
