Recipes 08.30.18

Lettuces With Venetian Sweet and Sour Sauce 

This recipe is from Steven Raichlen’s “How to Grill.”

You will need wooden skewers, soaked in water for one hour, and woodchips, preferably oak, unsoaked.

Serves four.

For sweet and sour sauce:

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

3 Tbsp. pine nuts

3 Tbsp. currants or raisins

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup honey

Salt and pepper

1 Tbsp. butter

For lettuces;

2 small or one large head radicchio

2 medium Belgian endives, halved

2 Tbsp. olive oil

To make sweet and sour sauce, heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add pine nuts and currants and cook, stirring, until pine nuts are lightly browned. Stir in vinegar and honey and bring to boil. Simmer until thick and syrupy, about five minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.

Set up grill for direct grilling. Cut radicchio into wedges, each about one inch thick at the outside edge. Run skewers crosswise through each wedge to hold leaves together. You shouldn’t need skewers for the endives.

When charcoal is ready, toss the woodchips onto the coals. Arrange the lettuces on the hot grate and grill until nicely browned, about three to five minutes per side, turning with tongs. After one minute, baste them with the oil.

Transfer lettuces to a platter and serve sauce on side or drizzle it over them. Serve hot or warm.

Garlic Grilled Tomatoes 

This recipe is also from Steven Raichlen’s “How to Grill.” Haven’t had enough of tomatoes? Grill ’em!

Serves six.

6 ripe red tomatoes

Salt and pepper

6 cloves garlic

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 piece (1-2 oz.) Parmesan cheese

1-2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves.

Cut tomatoes in half, season with salt and pepper.  

Mince the garlic and gently fry it in oil until light golden. Set aside.

Set up grill for direct grilling. Oil the grill grate. Place tomatoes cut side down and cook about three minutes. Turn them 45 degrees after a few minutes to get nice crosshatch grill marks. Turn the tomatoes with tongs and spoon the fried garlic oil over them. Continue grilling until the bottoms are nicely browned, about another five minutes. Transfer to plates or a platter. Grate the cheese over the tomatoes and sprinkle with the thyme. Serve at once.

Grilled Fennel

This recipe is adapted from “The Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue.”

Serves four.

2 medium fennel bulbs (about 2 lbs.), stems and fronds trimmed and discarded, base shaved off, tough or blemished outer layers removed, and cut vertically through the base into 1/4-inch slices (thicker is fine, too.)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt and pepper 

Toss the fennel slices with oil and salt and pepper in a bowl.

Grill over medium-hot fire, turning once. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a platter and serve hot, warm, or cold with the following sauce.

Grapefruit Vinaigrette

3/4 cup fresh pink grapefruit juice

6 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium shallot, minced

1 tsp. honey, or to taste

1/4 tsp. minced ginger

Salt and pepper

Bring grapefruit juice to boil in small nonreactive pan. Simmer until it is reduced to syrupy glaze, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in remaining ingredients and taste. You might want more honey. Serve over grilled fennel.