Grilled Broccoli

Grilled broccoli!

I don't know if I've ever tried to grill broccoli before, but what I made last night turned out really well! I created a simple recipe based on a few things I had seen, so let's take a look...

Ingredients

• 1 head of broccoli
• 1/4 to 1/2 C. balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 C. olive oil
• coarse sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• (optional) 2 oz. grated cheese

Directions

  1. Cut

Trim the outside of the broccoli stem (almost like peeling a carrot), but don't cut it off. Cut the broccoli into long, thin pieces, keeping a length of stem with each floret. You want to have a couple inches of length in addition to the floret, so you can put it on the grill.

  2. Marinate

Combine oil, 1/4 C. balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Use tongs to toss the broccoli pieces in the marinade. Pour a little more balsamic vinegar over the broccoli pieces if desired. Let sit for 30-60 minutes, tossing every few minutes.

  3. Cook

You'll need to figure out how best to cook it on your grill. I did it this way... 

Turn one side of the grill on high and the other side on low. Cook broccoli on the low side. Place thick pieces of broccoli on the back edge of the bottom rack and thinner pieces on the upper rack. (I also cooked chicken on the same side of the grill.) 

I moved a few pieces over to the high heat side for more char.

Cook for 20-30 minutes. Just cook until the broccoli reaches your desired tenderness -- and char level, if any. If it starts to char too quickly, move it to the top rack and/or turn off the heat completely on one side. Depending on your grill, flame level, temperature, etc. move the broccoli and adjust the heat accordingly until done! Remove from grill (and sprinkle cheese over broccoli if using).

grated raw milk cheddar cheese

mmm chicken

chicken, broccoli, and tomato cous cous

Cooking Out Often Lately

I've already dipped balls deep into cookout season over here, so I want to share some pictures from recent meals. 

I'll do a full recipe post for my Amazing Chicken some time soon. You just need chicken and four other ingredients of your choice to make an amazing sauce. 

sweet n spicy chicken

I like grilling my vegetables raw, especially when I have high quality veggies. Red and green peppers, corn, and other veggies supply their own great taste when grilled properly, in my opinion, and don't need anything else.

Hebrew National hot dog grilled corn and green pepper

I make a flavorful curry paste for mixing into burgers, which I really enjoy. I use curry powder, hot sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, and a few other choice ingredients. I should do a post for that as well. When I moved into the apartment on Penn a couple years ago, and we got the gas grill, I started working on my own recipes for burgers, chicken, pork chops, etc. So I've had a lot of practice with some of these.

Joe burger with avocado and banana peppers

cheddar cheese, avocado, banana peppers

relish and yellow mustard

When I grill corn I leave it in the husk. If I have a chance, I soak it in water for a little while before grilling. I actually peal away a few pieces of husk, leaving maybe 2-4 layers rather than, say, 6-8. I firmly believe in slow grilling -- for almost everything. You can make the corn quickly in about 10 minutes, or go slowly for 20 or more.

grilled corn on the cob and Joe Chicken

sweet and spicy Joe Chicken

For an almost instant meal that takes no preparation, try grilling chicken sausages and whole red peppers. I get the peppers at Donatelli's Italian grocer in Bloomfield for like $1.19 for a bag of 8. Throw them on the grill for about 10 minutes over medium to high heat. I cook the red peppers whole then cut 'em up and serve with the sausage on a roll.

chicken sausages from the store

sweet red pepper -- perfect grilled plain

Mark Bittman's Pork Tenderloin

Mark Bittman's twice cooked pork tenderloin recipe is amazing and easy. Really really good. I made it recently but didn't take any pictures. I don't want to forget to cook it again, though, hence this brief post.

Later Edit: I made it again and you can see my picture of the recipe in progress here. Next time I need to take more pictures!