I finally made marinated butternut squash from Lidia’s Italy – an excellent stuff.

And it seemed like an obvious side to our favorite bacon pork burgers from Sunday Suppers at Lucques, by Suzanne Goin.

H. ran out of hardwood charcoal so the burgers were basically grilled over hickory chunks – and after 7mins of cooking were perfectly smoked, the best version of those burgers that came out from our Weber. We plan to try this idea next time with steaks for a good smoked flavor.

After a long Sun ride we had no much time left to make a dinner but the pit master still insisted on using a smoker. Then i figured that by butterflying a chicken we can cut some cooking time off.  So in couple of hours we had two perfectly smoked and evenly cooked moist birds (organic 3 pounders from Wegmans). The rub was ready made from Weber, for chickens, and actually pretty good.

For sides i made baby artichokes braised with tomatoes, and a simple salad of radishes and cukes.

The chicken was outstanding cold next morning for breakfast.

Just when i thought we exhausted all ideas for grilling i found this recipe for prosciutto wrapped chicken.

Each chicken breast half is sliced into 3 pieces (sort of on diagonal, along the grain), quickly marinated in lemon juice, minced garlic and olive oil. Then a piece of prosciutto is wrapped around chicken piece and a sage leaf. Skewered and grilled for about 7mins total, allowing the meat to get a good smoke.

We also marinated some shiitake in a similar mixture and grilled them. And then slices of ciabatta brushed with olive oil went on the grill too. Very nice. 

The chicken was especially good next day served cold.

I was sort of blah most of the day but fortunately H. took the dinner action to the Weber. Wolfert’s Eastern Med book was the inspiration, yet again. So grilled lamb marinated in turkish baharat and tomato/red pepper pastes, grilled okra with pomegranate glaze, spinach/walnut pate and onion/parsley salad with sumac. Everything was beyond delicious!

I posted about our success with butterflied leg of lamb before. This time the meat came out even better thanks to an outstanding marinade from Sortun’s Spice book. The marinade was made of aleppo pepper flakes, red pepper paste, tomato paste, garlic and turkish baharat which i improvised by adding dried mint and oregano to Kalustyans’ baharat. For tomato paste i used strattu, an incredible tomato  paste from Zingerman’s. I didn’t have red pepper paste so minced some piquillo peppers.

Served with musbacha (see the post below), radishes, assorted salad leaves and oh boy, the dinner was so damn good.

The article in LAT reminded that we haven’t had paella in general and on the grill in particular for a while. On one thing i would disagree with von Bremzen is the choice of rice. Over the years i made paella with all types of rices mentioned in the article and there is no doubt in my mind that calasparra/bomba is superior in both taste and texture (and mind you i’m not a fan of al dente rice).

For a recipe i chose a chicken and prawns paella from Casa Moro with some modifications. Marinated shrimps and chicken thighs (halved and skinless on the bone) separately in a marinade for chicken paella from Casas’s Paella book. Skewered the chicken and grilled on high fire for about 10min. In the meantime soffrito of vidalia and green pepper, with garlic and haricots verts added towards the end was done stovetop. Rice (1 3/4 cup) mixed in and amontillado sherry (150ml) added, the alcohol boiled off a bit, and the paella pan with its content was moved to the grill. The boiling stock (4 cups)was added, and paella was simmered for 10mins, then chicken was placed on top for 10mins more, and then at last shrimp for couple mins. And finally a rest for 10mins before serving.

What a treat!

A vague middle eastern marinade sort of inspired by chicken shwarma recipe and its preamble from Anissa Helou’s Mediterranean Street Food.

Wings were marinated in tomato paste/harissa/red onions/baharat/lemon juice and then some olive oil for several hours and then slowly grilled over indirect fire for about 30mins. Perfect!

On the side – hummus, cabbage slaw and beet/pistachios/yogurt/mint spread. Pitas.

Pimientos de Padron are in season and i got a batch from Tienda. Logically the dinner was built around them.

Flank steak was rubbed with oregano, cumin, allspice, green hatch chile, garlic and tequila paste, then olive oil and marinated for several hours. Grilled over charcoal and mesquite for 6mins on direct and then for about 6mins more covered, for a state between rare and med rare.

Spanish and red onions were sliced 1/2", separated into rings and marinated with thyme, rosemary, red wine vinegar and olive oil for couple of hours and then grilled over direct fire. The recipe came from an excellent book – Latin Flavors on the Grill (i really can’t believe that LibraryThing is down again!).

Pimientos de Padron were pan roasted in olive oil until charred in spots and then sprinkled with rock salt.

Also a home made hummus and warmed over grill pitas. Quite a memorable dinner.

Cravings that came out of nowhere: images of crusty and chewy meat, definitely of primordial kind and as such are not to be satisfied with the obvious choice of burgers or any other minced and then grilled meat… But then there was also a time constraint – only two hours bw the shopping and the dinner – i’ve put my bet on lamb and won.

Bought a boneless leg of lamb, butterflied it, rubbed first with balsamic vinegar, then an impromptu paste made of outstanding Ortiz anchovies, rosemary, thyme and scallions  and lastly with the rest of the Ortiz anchovy oil. Marinated at room temp for about an hour; seared on direct charcoal fire for about 6mins, and then cooked on indirect for about 15mins more. The meat came out perfect, especially at room temp…    

One more masterpiece from the pit master: