Welcome to Bobby Flay Everyday!

I am not an expert. I have never even taken a class. I have no formal training - but I love to grill. I love the food off the grill and I just like the idea, the fun and the relaxation of grilling. So naturally Bobby Flay is a hero. I have his books, I watch his shows and I try out his recipes. So my idea is to grill one of Bobby's grilling recommendations everyday and see how it goes. Bobby Flay Everyday!

The idea to grill and blog is not original. Julie Powell wrote a blog that became a book and then a movie when she cooked all 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But this is not French Cooking - this is backyard, after work, tailgate, American male grilling. I grill outside in a man-cave in every kind of weather. There is no "grilling season" for me - its everyday, year-round. We will skip around through Bobby's books and TV shows and grill what we like. But grilling is more than food, its an experience - so we will also report on what music we listened to or what ball game was on while we were grilling. We will keep track of what we were drinking during the grilling and later with the food. I'll try to figure what went wrong when we fall short of Bobby's perfection and pass on any tips I know about or discover along the way. Maybe it will give others some ideas as well.

The photo is of me and two of my brother-in-laws roasting the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill last year. That's me on the far right. In real life I am a college professor and pilot. I have written 12 books, but they were all about flying - here we write about grilling. We write about Bobby Flay Everyday!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Grilled Potato Salad

On page 84 of Bobby Flay’s Boy Gets Grill you will find a side dish that has the power to stand alone - its Grilled Potato Salad with Scallions and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. This turned out to be terrific. I first partially cooked about a dozen new red potatoes after cutting them in halves and thirds. In a plastic bowl I stirred together red wine vinegar, finely chopped shallots, Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil and about half a cup of crumbled Blue Cheese. I say about a half a cup. I don’t know for sure, because I don’t really measure anything – I just go with what seems right and I add more of things I know I like (more honey in this case). I smashed some of the larger Blue Cheese chucks against the side of the bowl to get it a little smoother.

I have a grill skillet that has small holes all across the bottom and sides - you saw it in a photo a few blogs back. This allows the contents to get some direct heat, but keeps smaller items from getting away like they would if placed right on the grill grates. I tossed the red potatoes, un-peeled, into the hole-covered grill skillet and let them finish cooking and browning. I flipped the potatoes in the skillet a time or two to get all sides some direct heat, but none got away.

Once the potatoes were done on the inside and a little crispy on the outside, I put them all in the bowl and poured on the Blue Cheese – Olive Oil – Honey Mustard – Red Wine sauce and mixed it all up – topped with chopped scallions. It was definitely not your standard Mayo or Mustard saturated Potato Salad – it was much better.

Like I said, a grilled potato salad that stands alone with any meal!
Paul

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