6.23.2009

I'm Lazy...

....so on weekends I try to plan ahead my lunches for at least a couple weekdays. And then those lunches turn into dinners when I realize, upon eating my breakfast at 7 am, that I won't want to make dinner when I come home from work. So lunch is a pretty boring affair, either something small I bring from home, something I find for free (Oh the merits of working at the Capitol! So many demonstrations!), or something I buy downtown with a friend or my dad.

But I digress. My point is that I make at least something for the coming week on Sundays (or at least, I make an effort).

This Sunday was a particular success. We were having my grandparents and my aunt for Father's Day dinner, and I knew that meant grilling, so I bought twice as many zucchini as we would need.

"Get at least ten," my mom recommended, when I told her I wanted to make skewers. So ten medium sized zucchinis were purchased, cleaned, cut, and skewered along with sweet Maui onions and Yves vegan meatballs (sooo good and spicy).

I got out some mini sweet peppers to put on skewers too, and then kicked myself when I opened the fridge monday morning and spotted them, raw and intact, on the shelf in the fridge. Oh well. They are just as delicious by themselves.

I had read that someone infused his wood skewers with rosemary, and thought that could be fun to try with the vegetables. He let his soak overnight; I gave mine about an hour before I got impatient. It wasn't a total fail. There was the tiniest hint of garlic (probably from oil left on the cutting board post-mincing) but more importantly, the skewers picked up some olive oil during the soaking--and everything slid off really easily.

I reserved the leftover skewers, and the soaking liquid (marinade? It just doesn't feel right) to use later in the week. We will use the grill on a weeknight. I promise.

I won't put a recipe, because a) as you can tell, I'm not very exact with my recipes anyway, and b) skewers absolutely do not need a recipe. Just throw something on a wet stick, add (seasoned) salt and pepper, and light it on fire. It's that simple.

Some guiding principals:
  • Push the bits of food close together. With less surface area, the outside will get a nice char will the inner pieces "bake," as the heat stays inside instead of being lost.
  • Don't stress. Grilling is an art, not a science. Never expect something to be perfect the first time you make it. If you are using fresh and delicious ingredients, it will taste good anyway. The great thing about skewers is that the sum is generally equal to the parts, so if you start with yummy veggies, you'll get yummy yummy product.
  • Hydrate. Take a cool glass of white wine or icewater out with you. The grill is hot and you'll be doing a lot of turning the veggies over to make sure they cook evenly.
  • Sample. Bits of food fall off the skewers? Grab them off the grill, blow on them, and pop 'em in your mouth. (Here is where hydration gets important. Burnt mouth = not yummy.) This rule is law in my family.

(And yeah, I'll be getting pictures soon.)

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