Grilling
Tapenade-Filled Burgers
Tucked inside these juicy chuck burgers is a pocket of rich, salty tapenade. To experience the full range of flavors, build your burger with all the Accompaniments — the bite of red onion and the sweet crunch of gherkin pickles are key.
Grilled Charmoula Quail
The perfume of dried spices combines with fresh cilantro to telegraph the taste of Morocco in an assertive rub that was made for the grill.
Grilled Lamb Chops with Curried Couscous and Zucchini Raita
Though not quite as tender, lamb shoulder chops have deeper flavor than rib chops and won't break the bank.
Smoked Black Bass
It's always exciting to find a cooking method that has a dramatic effect on the flavor of your food, and this technique certainly fits the bill. Black bass, liberally seasoned with garlic, olive oil, and lime, is wrapped in layers of water-soaked paper, then buried under hot coals.
Charred Squid and Conch Buljol with "Soused" Green Figs and Tomato Chokha Coulis
Editor's note: This recipe is from chef Khalid Mohammed of Battimamzelle in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Mohammed also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page.
Buljol, a popular Trinidadian breakfast dish, is a cold salad made from salted codfish. In his Trini-fusion version, Mohammed substitutes squid and locally abundant conch and adds green "figs" (green bananas, called by their local name, and "soused," or pickled, a traditional cooking method). He finishes the dish with the tomato chokha, a local sauce.
Grilled Artichokes with Artichoke-Mint Dip
This dip is also delicious with thin baguette slices, toast, crackers, or tortilla chips.
Moroccan-Spiced Chicken Paillards
Slightly sweet, tangy, and spicy all at once, the easy sauce doubles the flavor of quick-cooking thin-sliced chicken breasts.
Monster Shrimp with Orange Chili Glaze
These are big shrimp, the ones that ate the other shrimp. When they opened the cage door after the death match, these are the shrimp that walked out of the ring.
Don't turn your back on the grill while you're cooking these — someone's liable to abscond with them.
Nutella Panini
Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread, makes these the panini that kids love best. Since they're as simple as a peanut butter sandwich to prepare, our son Jack helps us make them for his playmate friends. This traditional Italian snack is as compelling for grown-ups as it is for their kids.
Goat Cheese Quesadillas with Tomato and Corn Salsa
Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad.
Tangy goat cheese pairs well with spicy salsa for a quick and delicious appetizer or vegetarian entrée. Serve these with extra salsa and guacamole.
Grilled Avocado with Strawberry-Mango Salsa
Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad.
There are more than 80 varieties of the avocado fruit, with the Hass variety responsible for 85 percent of production. The Hass avocado was discovered by a California postman named Rudolf Hass. Avocados are rich in unsaturated fats, contain no cholesterol, and are packed with dietary fiber and vitamins such as folic acid, A, B6, C, thiamin, and riboflavin. And for good measure, this salsa adds honey, mango, strawberries, and citrus juices to complete the healthy affair.
Sweet Soy-Grilled Short Ribs
Method: Direct grilling
Advance Prep: At least 1 hour for marinating the ribs Meaty beef ribs, sweet with sugar, salty with soy and oyster sauce, pungent with that trinity of Asian flavorings (ginger, garlic, and scallions) and crustily charred on the grill — if this is your idea of paradise, heaven lies in China, where individual beef short ribs are sawed crosswise into smaller pieces and flash charred on the grill. Perfect for the Type A grill jockey, who lacks the patience for low, slow traditional smoking.
Advance Prep: At least 1 hour for marinating the ribs Meaty beef ribs, sweet with sugar, salty with soy and oyster sauce, pungent with that trinity of Asian flavorings (ginger, garlic, and scallions) and crustily charred on the grill — if this is your idea of paradise, heaven lies in China, where individual beef short ribs are sawed crosswise into smaller pieces and flash charred on the grill. Perfect for the Type A grill jockey, who lacks the patience for low, slow traditional smoking.
Kefta and Zucchini Kebabs
With these distinctly Middle Eastern kebabs, the minty coolness of the yogurt sauce offsets the allspice, pepper, and cinnamon in some of the most succulent and juicy meatballs you have ever tasted.
Vietnamese Sandwiches with Five-Spice Chicken
Called banh mi in Vietnam, these delicious sandwiches are ubiquitous throughout the country and are usually eaten for breakfast. This version uses chicken instead of the traditional pork and pâté.
Grilled Whole Turkey
This is best done on a large gas grill fitted with a thermometer — it's more labor-intensive to keep a charcoal grill at a constant high heat. You'll need a disposable roasting pan large enough to fit the turkey on a V-rack.
Grilled Halibut with Lima Bean and Roasted Tomato Sauce
Since lima and fava beans have a shorter growing season than most local tomatoes, we've given frozen edamame, available year-round, as an alternative to make this recipe more versatile.
Balsamic-Grilled Radicchio with Shaved Pecorino
Chef Michael Presnal of The Federal Restaurant in Agawam, Massachusett, writes: "The recipe here was featured on one of my first menus as a chef, before I got into the kind of complex cooking I do now at The Federal. That was over ten years ago, but I still love making this dish at home. It calls for just a few fresh ingredients and takes only a couple of steps."
Serve as a side dish or first course.
Grilled Moroccan Chicken with Curried Couscous
Julie Fendrich of Denver, Colorado, writes: "My husband and I love going to Brix in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood. We are absolutely crazy about the Moroccan chicken. Any chance the restaurant might share the recipe?"
Harissa, a spicy sauce from North Africa, adds heat to the marinade and tastes great drizzled over both the chicken and the couscous. The chicken needs to marinate overnight, so plan accordingly.
Corn on the Cob with Lime-Chive Butter
Lime juice, sea salt, and chives come together in a bright-tasting butter for sweet summer corn. What to drink: An oaky California Chardonnay.
Easy Serving: Place the seasoned butter in large sealable container. Add hot drained corn. Seal container and shake until butter melts and coats corn. Transfer buttered corn to bowl.
Grilled Game Hens with Basmati, Dried Currant, and Almond Salad
If you buy fresh game hens, ask the butcher to cut them in half for you. To halve frozen thawed game hens, first cut out the back bones using poultry shears, then cut hens in half.