Cook On A Hot Tin Roof

What happens when an early heat wave arrives? Don't cook. Adopt a summer attitude when it comes to cooking and baking. Look more towards lighter fare and less time in the kitchen. Wipe off the grill and get it fired up.. It's too hot to cook indoors..

An unexpected burst of high temps leaves most home chefs flummoxed . After all, they've planned a week of dinners and even lunches that require preheating the oven and roasting or cooking.Air conditioning should be turned on full blast but if you don' t  have it installed yet take heart. The microwave is your best friend during these times. If it can be microwaved do it. Those meat pies and pizzas can be zapped quickly instead of  baking in a hot 375 degree F ovens. Even preheating can be bad because it turns a kitchen into a proofing drawer. Most meat pies take almost an hour  to thoroughly cook up - which means being stuck and eating in a steam bath. Another idea is to just get cold cuts and make sandwiches along with getting premade salads. If the cold cuts don;t cut it  for you nitrates , then buy a whole roasted chicken or ribs at your local grocery. Acme now has roasters that are already cut into pieces and Stop & Shop has bags of fried chicken.

If the temps get too irritating, then get out the grill. You can still grill those steaks and salmon you planned  on cooking in the oven. They may even taste better than what you originally had planned for them originally. Marinate them in teriyaki  or barbecue sauce. The roast chicken and Cornish hens can even be put on the barbecue.. They do need to be spatchcocked or split open for grilling. Even if you planned on cooking a small turkey, it can be spatchcocked or butterflied and cooked on the grill as well. As for those veggies, put them in foil packets next to the meat. It's an easy fuss-free way of cooking them during an early heat wave. Add butter or olive oil along with herbs and spices to the packets. Again this may be better than what you originally had planned.A grilled dinner leads into a grilled dessert. It's never too early for s'mores. Some stores are already pushing the components so take advantage of that. Try something fun, like subbing in dark chocolate for milk  chocolate or chocolate graham crackers for the regular. You can also have grilled fruit kabobs, using apple and pineapple chunks along with grapes.

Don't let a heat wave leave you hot and bothered. Be cool - and keep your lunches and dinners the same way. It'll be a breeze to make - and to eat.

Foiled For An Easy Barbecue!

As I wrote in yesterday's entry it is still the season to grill and barbecue. However unlike the lazier midsummer ones , the barbecues now are a little more rushed. Blame it on our busy schedules which seem to kick it up a notch come September. however there is a solution. Foil packing your meats and veggies. The result is a quicker and actually tastier way of barbecuing done right.

Foil cooking was the subject of the Al Fresco section in the Dining section of today's New York Times. The piece, written by new regular, Alice Hart, explains the simplicity of this easy cooking method. What's great is that it goes the best on a hot grill but you can also use it in an oven or even on a campfire.Another plus is that you can make the packets up in advance (think your own Swanson TV Dinner line). They can also be transported in a cooler to any camp site and the foil also used as plates later on.. As far as with wrapping use a double layer of foil. . This ensures that the insides will be well cooked and that the package won't tear apart, creating spills.

What to put into a foil pouch or packet? Ms. Hart includes a delicious halibut recipe that is heavily spiced with coriander , cumin seeds and lemons to give it a North African flavor. Fish or chicken really are the best meat s for pouch cooking. They are the juiciest, (although I can see a flank steak also being used) and the most flavorful. Use steak cuts or in the case of poultry breast meat. There are recipes where you can cook veggies this way too. You can add butter and white wine and let it heat up in the packet, marinating the contents.

Foil cooking is an easy way of making , moist and tender meals. It's also fuss free because you can just throw away the foil afterwards. What a perfect way to have a fall barbecue.