Grilling with Herbs
One of the skills of herb gardening is knowing what to do with those herbs once they have grown up. Of course they can be used for landscape beauty, to attract pollinators and for crafts, but the culinary and medicinal uses of herbs requires much study. Grilling with herbs is just one way to make use of their tasty and healthy properties. The milder herbs impart a delicate flavor to food while the more pungent herbs add a great zest to dishes.
Infusing Herbs:
Grilled foods can be "infused" with herb flavors by soaking the herbs in water first and placing the herbs on the grill with the food. Williams-Sonoma has a herb grill smoking rack for $20, which it is assumed will help contain and keep the herbs from getting lost in the fire. Call 1-800-541-2233 for a catalog.
Grilled Meats & Fish
Herbs can add new and exciting flavors to meat and fish with recipes containing herbs. Try the following sites for ideas and recipes:
Grillin' & Chillin page: http://www.foodtv.com/fn/programs/grillc...
Glossary and recipes at barbecue'n.com: http://barbecuen.com/glossary.htm
Rib grilling tips and recipes from Rick's award winning barbecue: http://www.dallasbbq.com/recipe.html#RIBS
See my recipes page for a few examples of great tastes on the grill: http://www.suite101.com/page.cfm/616
I must add an idea here from a fellow herbalist who visits this site regularly:
".....it does add a nice twist to the ordinary grilled flavor of meats and fish. Another thing I tried once and it worked pretty well was to get fish filets and sprinkle dill on the fish then wrap them with lemongrass leaves. I then put them in a grill basket and cooked them on the grill. It was a little bit of a challenge finding good big lemon grass leaves to wrap them in early in the year (about February) but it turned out very well and the lemony flavor was outstanding for the fish." (Thank you, William!)
At the Wegmans.com site one can find meat grilling instructions: http://www.wegmans.com/kitchen/howto/tec...
Grilled Vegetables
Vegetables: Grilled vegetables are wonderful and easy to cook when meat is already being planned to grill. Timing is important. Sizeable cuts of meat will take longer to cook than cut up vegetables, so plan your grilling with this in mind. Here are some hints:
Cut the vegetables into uniform sizes to assure even cooking. Don't partially cook vegetables before grilling them. The grilled result should be a texture that is still a bit crisp. Overcooking will also decrease its flavor. After the vegetables are removed from the grill, they will continue to cook until they cool, so keep this in mind.
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