A DIY Grill Inspires a Summer's Worth of Dinners
A DIY Grill Inspires a Summer's Worth of Dinners
Fun recipes for eating outside
At some point, I decided I’d rather grill with wood than gas. It smells better, there’s a wider range of heat, and it’s more cathartic.
Recently, I finished building the wood-fired grill station of my dreams. It has a white stucco base with built-in wood storage and a firebrick top with a blue and white tile counter area. It’s all part of a larger campaign to make my backyard feel like a lazy rustic villa.
On Memorial Day, I added a French zinc soaking tub to the same corner of the yard, bordered by a fence of ivy-covered wooden blinds, and a wicker pergola draped with patterned picnic blankets from Mali.
I was on my knees in the sun, struggling to line up screws in the pergola, the final component, when I heard my neighbor Kenny snap the ignition button on his propane grill a few times and then say, “What are you working on now, man?” I turned and looked over my shoulder at him on his second-story porch. He was peering over the glinting upturned lid of his grill.
At the end of last summer, he asked, incredulously, what I’d do if it didn’t work out. I told him, “I’ll throw a stick of dynamite at it and start over.”
Kenny has watched me dig dirt and heave concrete for two summers now in service of this grill area. At the end of last summer, he asked, incredulously, what I’d do if it didn’t work out. I told him, “I’ll throw a stick of dynamite at it and start over.” This grill is more a part of my life vision than the house itself. I can’t fail.
I only have time to grill on weekends because my fire doesn’t start with the push of a button. It’s a drawback that forces me inside to cook on the gas stove anyway, so I’m not arguing against cooking with gas, but come see my wife flipping through a magazine while soaking in the antique tub under the shade, hear the apple wood crackling, and smell the charred peppers as they collapse and drip juice all over the coals and you might be inspired enough to make your own wood-fired grill.
Here are two summer dishes you can make over a grill of your choice — no judgment — and two you can make indoors:
Fish Steamed Over Summer Vegetables
Fava Bean Salad with Pecorino
Spatchcocked Chicken with Garlic, Parsley, and Orange
Grill-Braised Potatoes with Marjoram and Garlic
Fish Steamed Over Summer Vegetables
This recipe is an easy one to experiment with. I didn’t have any basil on hand, but I had plenty of dried thyme and oregano. I also threw in paprika and turmeric while the vegetables were cooking down and added some lemon at the end.
Makes: 4 servings
Time: 35 to 45 minutes
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Salt and pepper
1 zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 eggplant, peeled if you like, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 pound tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme or oregano
½ cup pitted black olives
1½ pounds thick fish fillets or steaks cut into 4 portions, one 3- to 4-pound whole fish, or four 1-pound whole fish
1 cup chopped fresh basil
Instructions
1. Put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the onion and garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, and more salt and pepper. Adjust the heat so the vegetables sizzle, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is fork-tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes, thyme, and olives and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to break up, 5 minutes or so. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
3. Cut the fillets to fit the skillet if necessary. Lay the fish on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and adjust the heat so the vegetables bubble steadily. Cover and cook the thinnest fillets for 5 minutes, thick fillets or steaks about twice that long or a few even longer; small whole fish should take about 15 minutes, a large one might take as long as 30 minutes. To check for doneness, insert a thin-bladed knife into the fish at its thickest point; it should meet little resistance, and the inside should be almost opaque. Transfer the fish to plates or a platter. (If you’d like, remove the skins and bones from large whole fish first serve as is.) Stir the basil into the vegetables, taste, and adjust the seasoning. To serve, spoon the vegetables around the fish and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
—Recipe from How to Cook Everything: Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Fava Bean Salad with Pecorino
This recipe originally calls for mint, but I used watercress because I forgot to get mint at the store. You, too, can riff on this according to what herb, etcetera are available to you.