The Royal Chef At Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining

FIRE UP THE GRILL

I ’ve learned a lot about grilling since I’ve been in the States. We do grill food in Britain, but not all that often, and our weather rarely cooperates. I’ve been to too many “bar becues” where everyone is indoors watching the poor host outside manning the grill with one hand and holding an umbrella with the other. I think that is why the con cept of barbecue in the UK is more often than not limited to sausages, burgers and chicken drumsticks. If anyone dared to put a whole brisket on the grill, they might endure four seasons of weather just waiting for it to cook! But here in the States, I learned just how creative and flexible grilling is; an expansive cooking technique that includes direct fire cooking, offset cooking, smoking, pit cooking and even baking. I’ve seen pizza stones heated directly on the grill for pizza night, which makes good sense since many simple propane fired grills can heat up to 700ºF, giving you that lovely, slightly charred pizza crust. I had fun with this menu, using the grill for each course through dessert. There is grilled chicken on a bed of grilled veggie quinoa and quickly grilled hangar steak on bruschetta with white beans and touch of blue cheese. To finish the evening off, there is grilled bananas topped with luscious crème anglaise and toffee sauce. I do make sure to give the grill a good scrape down between courses, and I recommend you invest in an inexpensive wire brush. You can also place a sheet of aluminum on the grill between courses and close the lid. Anything on the grates will turn to ash, and you simply brush it away. After all, you don’ t want your bananas to taste like chicken.

SUMMER · FIRE UP THE GRILL

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