Goodbye to the Grill-9/22/09

Traditional grilling season for cooking magazines is drawing to a close. Two recipes in September's issue of Gourmet had "grilled" in the title. Compare that to June's issue with 19 recipes with "grilled" in the title and you can see that grilling, though yummy year-round, is something we think more about in the sunny summer months. Even here in Atlanta, the weather has been less about grilling and more about building arks. Ok, I jest but seriously, our area has had 14 inches of rain in the last week and people around us are being flooded out of their homes. Not the kind of weather that makes you want to fire up the grill. So I turned on my stove top and used my 2-burner grill pan. It doesn't smell quite as good but it still leaves those pretty grill lines.
Tonight I made the Grilled Eggplant Parmigiana Heros on page 38 of this month's Gourmet. These Eggplant Parms were a bit different than the traditional breaded version. These were simply grilled eggplant with cheese but they still tasted good and were very filling. One of my favorite aspects of this recipe was the homemade tomato sauce. It was a pretty simple sauce that added 35 minutes or so to the recipe but didn't need too much babysitting and really added to the quality of the meal . The basil was also a good addition, though Eyrleigh wasn't sold. She chewed a basil leaf and then promptly poked it out on the end of her tongue for Richard to remove. No amount of persuading could get her to eat it. Ahhh, and she's not even to the "Terrible Two's" yet.
I kept the grill on for the last of the Z recipes, the Grilled Zucchini Pepper Salad on page 114. This was an easy salad of grilled zucchini and red peppers. (Sometimes while writing this blog I really state the obvious.) The vinaigrette was a mix of brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and added good flavor without too much pucker. The basil was chopped into small pieces, so no repeat of the tongue incident by the youngest family member, to add a subtle herb flavor. I was glad to get the grill out and stop looking at rain for a while.

Grilled Eggplant Parmigiana Heros-B
Grilled Zucchini Pepper Salad-B

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