This summer was full of grilling, fresh veggies and fresh herbs. One of my favourite dishes made good use of a grillable style of cheese called Haloumi, which holds its shape during grilling and even ends up with adorable grill marks!
Tag Archives: bbq
Grilled Pizza, a Revelation
Pizza is one of the few things that I “let” J make for dinner. He’s a pro with the dough – something I have no patience for.
BBQ Lobster
We had never bought lobster before, but for some reason when we saw it at the grocery store, J decided he would BBQ it. Yes, we bought frozen lobster tails at the grocery store. Toronto isn’t known for it’s fresh seafood, so this is the best option for the average joe.
When we got home, J searched the internet to find proof that you could actually BBQ lobster tails. Of course you can – is there anything you can’t BBQ?
This isn’t exactly a recipe – mostly just a log of our experiment, for which I give full credit to the lovely and talented J. I didn’t have anything to do with it, aside from the adding of garlic to the butter that we used for dipping.
This isn’t a fancy schmancy lobster dinner. It was simple and rustic, with some BBQ potatoes and salad.
Buying lobster tails is a very different experience than having a whole lobster. I’ve only ever done that once, and while I enjoyed the experience I found most of it frustrating. After twisting the lobster apart, I spent much of the meal trying to prevent the inner goo from getting all over the rest of my food (are you hungry yet?). I think I also cut myself trying to pry bits of meat out of claws and whatnot.
The most satisfying part of the lobster is the tail. So that’s all we bought!
Here are the grilled lobster tails, in all their glory. They were small, but delicious, and I’m sure we’ll be doing this again soon.
Next, we need to figure out how to cook them on the stove or in the oven.
“Godfather” Orzo Salad
This salad is inspired by a beverage called “The Godfather” (no, not the movie). The blend of smokey Scotch and fruity sweet Amaretto create a perfect balance. Of course this makes a perfect salad! A blend of Scotch, Canadian Maple Syrup, a little soy sauce and other fun things, the dressing combines the sweet and smokey to mimic the drink.
But it doesn’t end there! The other ingredients in the salad contribute to the sweet and smokey theme as well.
Like the last orzo salad I posted, this one features some grilled veggies – but the secret ingredient is apricot, whose sweetness is important to this dish. Sweet sweet apricots, covered in grill marks… heaven!
Perfectly grilling apricots.
This being my first time grilling apricots, I really had no idea how long to leave them on for. Of course, I screwed it up! I first grilled them butt-side down for a few minutes, then turned them over onto the cut side… and quickly realized I needed to pull them off immediately. Most of them were reduced to a soup – still delicious, but wouldn’t hold their shape. I ended up grilling a second batch of apricots – just 1-2 minutes, cut-side down. Perfect.
stuff
Grilled tomatoes and apricots. I think I may have overdone the apricots a little.
To round this out, I also grilled up some fresh zucchini and tomatoes I got from the farmer’s market, along with some portabello mushrooms. Hindsight being what it is, I would have scooped out the tomatoes a little and drained the excess liquid off of the other veggies before I cut them to put into the salad. My salad ended up a little bit wetter than I would have liked, but still so so good!
So have a Godfather – or have some Godfather Orzo salad!
Recipe after the jump!