Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day Grill Out

This memorial day my family and I grilled everything you can imagine. The main dishes were jumbo shrimp with a jalapeno-toasted garlic vinaigrette and skirt steak kabobs with red chili paste and Teriyaki glaze. For the side dishes we had a mixed grill of vegetables, including: zucchini, yellow squash, Brussel sprouts, romaine lettuce, scallions, and portabella mushrooms.

The grilled shrimp with vinaigrette idea came from a Bobby Flay recipe from FoodNetwork.com. Bobby used prawns and habanero's, but we used jumbo shrimp and jalapenos.

Here is the recipe for the shrimp vinaigrette:




Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil, plus 1/2 cup
6 whole cloves garlic, peeled
salt
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 to 1 1/2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons honey.

What to do:
Pour the tablespoon of oil into a skillet over medium high heat and saute the whole garlic cloves until golden brown on all sides. Then add the browned garlic and all other ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

We greased up the shrimp with olive oil and topped with salt and pepper, lemon juice and fresh chopped parsley. We grilled the shrimp until tender and juicy. Top the shrimp with the vinaigrette and get ready for a tasty extravaganza.


For the beef:
Ingredients:
Skirt steak
chili paste
Teriyaki sauce
Worcestershire sauce
grill seasoning

What to do:
Marinate the skirt steak rubbed in chili paste, Worcestershire sauce, and grill seasoning for at least 30 minutes. After marinating, cut into strips. Fold each strip over to conserve some of the marinade inside the fold, and then skewer with a wooden kabob soaked for at least 30 minutes in water.

Grill the meat kabobs until fully cooked and then sprinkle teriyaki sauce on top.

For the mixed veggi-grill:

List of veggi's:

zucchini, sliced into wedges
yellow squash, sliced into wedges
Brussel sprouts, cut into halves
romaine lettuce, whole leaves
scallions, and
portabella mushrooms, sliced

What to do:

Spread out all veggi's except the mushrooms onto a sheet pan and coat with extra virgin olive oil. Then sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper (it really makes a difference). Add the zest of a lemon onto all of the veggies followed by the juice of the lemon. Finally sprinkle on some chopped parsley.

For the mushrooms coat with extra virgin olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. Then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fresh chopped parsley.

After everything is seasoned throw all the veggies except the lettuce on the grill. Make sure to get char marks on all the veggies as this adds tremendous flavor! I don't think I could eat Brussel sprouts any other way. After the veggies you can wilt the lettuce on the grill.I hope you try this mixed grill feast!