Outdoor Grilling Articles

Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad at the Edmonds Arts Festival

A headwind pushes us back as we brave the traffic on 145th Street. Cars whiz by on this hairiest stretch of our 14-mile route, while grit blows up from the shoulder, sandblasting our hands and our eyes. I pedal harder to try to catch Rider Rick, but he’s already a traffic signal ahead in the […]

Making Great Baba Ganouj

There’s no pussyfooting about this: the best way to make Baba Ganouj is to roast your eggplant directly on the coals. The skin of the eggplant turns black and crusty, and pulls away from the tender fruit within. At the same time the flesh takes on a luscious, smoky perfection.

Not familiar with Baba […]

Great Grilled Asparagus

I raced the mower around our new asparagus bed, eyeing it carefully. Lacy fern tops spread out above the trenches in the soil that my dad had so carefully dug. I stopped out of sight behind the garage, turned off the engine, and sat watching a dragonfly playing among the feathery branches that dipped and […]

Pork Chops in the Snow

It’s the middle of March, but at our little cabin a mile and a half east of Stevens Pass in the Cascades snow is still falling. When I got here the other day, the trees held a slim margin of snow on their boughs. Overnight their branches became heavy with vast epaulettes of snow. It’s […]

Tender Tandoori Chicken Skewers

A gaggle of women in brightly colored saris choose snacks from shelves behind a long counter, their dark eyes widening as bags of goodies change hands. I watch the gulab jamon man to one side pouring a thin ribbon of saffron-yellow batter onto hot oil. He works his funnel quickly, creating a pattern of looping […]

Hawaiian Style Barbecued Pizza

On Oahu’s North Coast, the weather service bases its forecast on how high the waves are going to be that day. You can get a good meal at the Grass Skirt Grill, but be advised that the owner won’t be around if the surf is high. Some things are more important than food, you know. […]

Marvelous Magical Fresh Morels

Some years ago while hiking with friends on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, I came across a band of people wandering through the forest. In their billowy clothes and long hair, they looked a little like wood elves as they meandered off the trail among the trees, occasionally dropping to take something from […]

Fajitas in the Mist

It was somewhere north of Lodi that the idea began to take shape. As golden California sunshine poured out upon glittering apricot groves in the central valley, I daydreamed about my campsite dinner. Fajitas, lightly browned on the Coleman stove, using the new griddle I’d snapped up the other day. Maybe a little fire to heat the tortillas: it was going to be perfect. […]

Hand-cut Pasta with Woodfired Sausage and Mushrooms

In mid-morning sunshine, we squint up at the Tuscan hill town that rises in a tangle of narrow streets and medieval buildings as far as our eyes can see. At the very top peeks a crenellated building that looks remarkably like a fortified castle. Sounds resonate in the clear Sunday stillness, bringing us back to […]

Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Homemade Greek Pitas

My son the meatatarian and I often connect over a good skewer of lamb which is grilled over hot coals until barely red in the middle. In Greece they might call this souvlaki, but in Turkey, where my skewers came from, all grilled meat like this is called kebab. Soaked in oil and spices for […]

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