Grill Eats

We've had a streak of warm weather this week, which has lead to an increase in our outdoor cooking for the season. We have a charcoal grill, which Erik swears by and has no interest and moving to propane. I agree with him 90% of the time. I love the charcoal smell, and the decrease in flame-ups you get cooking over charcoal. Occasionally, though, there are those times when I'd like to take 5 minutes to heat up a grill, rather than 25 minutes (we use a chimney starter and natural briquettes, no lighter fluid near what I will ingest, thank you), but early in the season like this, it is a pleasure.
One of our all-time favorite meat choices for the grill is beef sirloin tips. Usually, I marinate them in some teriyaki sauce for a couple hours prior to grilling. They are always flavorful and tender, but still with a bit of chewy texture in your mouth. Whenever they are on sale and the weather is good, I gotta grab 'em!
For vegetables on the grill, our recent favorite is summer squash and zucchini. I discovered this method and combination last year and love the simple, fresh taste and texture of it. I was inspired one evening by a silly Reynold's Wrap commercial about putting veggies in a foil pouch for grilling instead of cooking veggies indoors while your partner is outside on the grill. It was a goofy commercial, but had a good point! It's so nice on a hot day not to have to do any indoor cooking. This method can of course be used by many kinds of veggies and potatoes.
For my summer squash and zucchini, I cut them into about 1 inch pieces- you don't want them too thin so they can retain their shape and keep just a tad of bite to them (not crunchy, but not mushy). I place them on a piece of foil, then drizzle with olive oil, dot some pads of butter around, add salt, pepper and whatever fresh herbs I have on had that will work- this time it was Thyme and Parsley- and then make a packet with another piece of foil crinkled around the edges. We had these on the grill for about 25 minutes- off the direct heat, but with the cover of the grill on. This timing will obviously vary depending on how big your pieces of veggie are and how hot your grill is.
This was a fabulous meal and I look forward to having it several more times this grilling season!