Produce News for July 19, 2010

GRILLING PINEAPPLE (Monday, July 19): We are going a-grilling and one of the things that I love to put on the grill - absolutely gorgeous, beautiful pineapple. So what you can easily do, simply cut off the top and bottom, what I call the north pole and the south pole. Then simply cut off the rind. You can easily find cool little corers at the store. They make coring a Pineapple a snap. Now simply slice the Pineapple into ½” thick rings. Oh, yeah! You will be the Lord of the Pineapple Rings at your next grill party. You know you can do chicken, you can do burgers, and put the Pineapple Rings on at the same time. Three minutes on one side, turn it over, three minutes on the other side. That’s really all it takes, and here’s what happens on the grill. It just dehydrates a little bit of that pineapple juice and it leaves the full flavor of the pineapple. Oh, my goodness! You have never enjoyed pineapple like you’re going to enjoy pineapple on the grill…or on your burger…or chicken.
GRILLING ONIONS (Tuesday, July 20): You know all this week we’re getting you ready for the grill, and in our home we absolutely love a lot of things on the grill. We put a lot of produce on the grill, and I wanted to show you onions today. Now you could do what I’ve done. I’ve just chopped the north pole, south pole. Then simply take off that skin. Very easy. Now the key to this is to cut thick slabs. You don’t want really thin rings. You want really nice thick rings. That way when they go on the grill they’re not going to be falling all over the place and falling through the grill grates. Now the next key to this is you’ve got to paint on some olive oil. Don’t just drizzle olive oil, actually paint it on both sides. Ok? Don’t just do one side, do the other side as well because you know you are going to cook both sides. Now onions take a little bit longer. So onions are actually the very first thing I put on the grill. Takes about 15 minutes, but oh, my goodness! Grilled onions - so good…so sweet…so perfect for a summer grill.
GRILLING BELL PEPPERS (Wednesday, July 21): Ok, get out some green, get out some red, get out some gold bell peppers. We’re going to be grilling bell peppers. So simple to get bell peppers ready. What I’m going to do, I’m just going to cut off right around the calyx, right around the stem, and then this whole seed pod just comes right on out, just like that. Then I’m going to cut just the crown, just the very top. Now you can cut one side and open it up and kind of like filet it. You know you’re getting off these ribs, and now you have just a regular bell pepper. Now what were going to do, we’re going to cut it in what I call slabs - slabs just like this. This is what you end up putting on the grill. Now you’ve got to put a little something on there because heat has to cook something. So you brush a little bit of olive oil on there, a little salt, a little pepper, maybe some barbeque seasoning if you want. And then this goes on the grill both sides. If you have any left over, very cool, chop it up; put it in your salad for tomorrow
GRILLING ZUCCHINI (Thursday, July 22): We are going grilling. All this week, I’ve been getting you ready for the grill and cutting up some fruits and veggies for that grill. My wife loves summer Squash on the grill. And this time of year, you can find all kinds of different varieties of summer squash. I’ve got some beautiful pattypans, sunburst squash, and some zucchini. Now one of the things about zucchini…. You want to buy the zucchini as straight as you possibly can because if it’s curved it is very, very difficult to cut it into long slabs. Now here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to cut off the stem and just the very tip. That’s all you’re going to do. Now you’re just going to shave off just a little bit. Now it lays flat on the cutting board for you and doesn’t roll around while you cut it into nice thick slabs. Make sure the slabs are at least ¼” thick. Now you brush this with some olive oil, a little salt, a little pepper. Hm, Hm! This goes on the grill. Oh, my goodness! You’re going to love zucchini even more. And whatever is left over, chop into your salad tomorrow.
GRILLING PEACHES (Friday, July 23): Hey, Barry Bonds turns forty-six years old…all time home run hitter, right? And his favorite dessert is peach cobbler. I’m not going to do peach cobbler because we’ve been talking the grill all this week. We’ve been putting pineapple on the grill, and we’ve been putting zucchini squash and bell peppers, and now we’re to peaches. Yeah, you put peaches on the grill. Now this time of year we are starting to see more semi-freestone and full freestone peaches. That makes it easy to cut them in half, twist, and put the Peach halves on the grill. If however, you still have Peaches that are clingstone, don’t worry. Simply cut them into slices. We can put the slices right on the grill. Peaches are really simple on the grill. Once you see grill marks on the Peach, turn it over. More grill marks, pull them off. Then you can sprinkle them with a little brown sugar and cinnamon…and serve. Or, dice them up. Get out the Vanilla Ice Cream. We have grilled Peaches on Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert. What a way to end a perfect grilling party.