I love Grill Season!

June, 2012

Although I grill all year long, it’s so much more fun in when the weather warms up. For starters, I take more pictures because I am not freezing my @#% off . And the availability of local produce makes everything taste so much better!

Last weekend my girlfriends visited and we grilled some local asparagus, local tomatoes, and wild halibut & tuna on the big green egg. Because everything cooked quickly we cranked the heat up to about 500, threw it all on, closed the lid, waited 2 minutes, flipped it all over, closed the lid, and in another 2 minutes it was all done.

This weekend I had a rack of venison, some local overwintered potatoes, farmer’s market cucumbers and tomatoes, some organic kale from Colin at Jambican, and some left over True Loaf kamut sourdough. I decided to pickle the cucumbers in lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and a touch of olive oil, salt & chili flakes. The tomatoes I served straight up on a bed of local greens, tossed with oil and balsamic.

The rack was marinated for about 2 hours in grainy mustard, cider vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, green onions and fresh herbs (thyme and sage from my container garden).

I baked the potatoes in foil (on the egg) then sliced them open and seasoned them with butter, chives, green onions, capers and a dollop of Clarmell goat cheese. Before serving I reheated them on the egg. They were amazing!

The kale was sauteed quickly in my cast iron pan on the stove top with some sliced garlic and chorizo sausage I had left over from the night before. Because it was so young and fresh, it only took about 2 minutes and it was tender and tasty, while still holding it’s colour.

One tip for cooking the venison: venison is so lean that it has almost zero fat. In fact the flavour tastes somewhat like liver because it is such a dense protein. I cooked it with a couple of strips of fatty bacon on the top. When I flipped it over, I moved the bacon to the top side. This allowed the venison to sear, but not dry out. I think it worked really well.