Monday, April 16, 2012

Summer Preview: Now with Actual Grilling!

I haven't really had a chance to get any summer beers yet this season, mostly because there aren't that many that have been released yet. With temperatures in the 90s today we felt the need to take full advantage of our new outdoor dining situation. However, I had food projects lined up and they weren't going to wait for any temperatures.

Chicken Stock wtih Spring Onions


I have a desperate, compulsive, and some say unhealthy need to constantly cull through our freezer. Making stock isn't a great warm weather activity but it needed to be done. My desire to cycle through our freezer inventory is even stronger than my desire to have the house be at a reasonable temperature.

I also made brownies, another activity I wouldn't recommend for a hot day. More on that later.

BBQ grillware


We got a grill donated by a friend but the condition didn't really allow me to use it tonight. After getting some propane and burning it off for an hour the grates were still a little too chipped and rusty for me to be thrilled about grilling on it. Luckily our super has allowed us unlimited access to his grill so I just wheeled that out again while I decide if I'm going to spend the money to fix up our grill.

Cool Ranch Salad


For salad I tossed some red leaf lettuce with some of the leftover Cool Ranch® dressing that I made. I just call it Cool Ranch® because it seems to really bother Jen when I do that. There's nothing particularly Cool® about it but I like to use the term to lessen the perceived quality of what I have made.

Heirloom Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, and Olive Oil


I also reluctantly purchased an heirloom tomato at the market. Good heirloom tomatoes and April are two things that don't often go together but these looked pretty nice so I figured it would be nice to give it a try. I sliced it up and served it with some salt, pepper, and fresh chopped basil. It was a pretty good tomato considering it's still April.

Spring Grilled Vegetable Conchiglie with Bella Lodi


Jen had put in a formal request for grilled vegetable pasta so I obliged by grilling some asparagus, fennel, green and yellow squash, and green and yellow bell peppers. I also grilled some eggplant that purported to be from Holland even though it looked exactly like Japanese eggplant. We'll just call it Globetrotting Eggplant.

I browned some garlic in a pan on the grill, chopped up the vegetables and tossed them together along with some conchiglie, fresh parsley, chives from my mom's garden that she brought us last week, and rosemary.

Dogfish Head Saison du Buff (Collaboration with Vicotry and Stone)


To go along with this I served up this Saison Du BUFF, a collaboration by Dogfish Head, Victory Brewing Company, and Stone Brewing Co.

Simon and Garfunkel


This is an ale brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. This is a beer designed to simultaneously delight Art Garfunkel and enrage my father-in-law. If it weren't for the writing on the label I would have assumed the bitterness was from the hops and not from the rosemary. It was a very tasty and refreshing beer perfect for an unseasonally warm night in April.

Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies


We got a ton of Cadbury Creme Eggs for Easter so I figured I should do something with them. I estimated it would take us 18 months to consume them all so I sliced some of them up and made these brownies.

You may be thinking that brownies are normally sweet enough to not necessitate the addition of halved Cadbury Creme Eggs as a topping. If you are thinking that then you are right, however, they were still pretty tasty.

Tomorrow we will likely retreat back indoors as somewhat normal temperatures will be returning. It might be handy that we got this outdoor eating out of our system. After the babies arrive we may be reduced to blubbering catatonic balls of sweat.

It's gonna be a great summer!

2 comments:

uberlours said...

Cream colored eggs and yummy brownies brownies
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things.

Unknown said...

An odd poetry interlude from the grumpy bear!