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Meal on the Grill When It’s Too Hot to Cook

Today Mary Ann, Annie and I are joining Sue from View from the Great Island, Sheri of Sheri Silver, and Melanie from My Sweet Savannah.  We are sharing our favorite barbeque menus.  This post is appropriate for our neck of the woods right now.  We have had a record-breaking heat wave.  The last thing anyone wants to do is heat up the house cooking a meal.  Here is my meal on the grill when it is too hot to cook.

meal on the grill when it is too hot to cook

We have a great lower patio space that we utilize when it gets really hot at our lake house.

lake house patio table

I don’t have a lot of “gear” at the lake so I usually use what I have to create a tablescape. The napkins are from World Market (cheap), and the plates are John Derian for Target (old) I linked the napkins and some similar plates at the end of the post along with some of the hard to find ingredients.

I rarely make a complicated appetizer. I am a big fan of interesting jams that can be spread on a soft cheese like Brie and served.  This one is super simple to prepare.

Three Tomato Brie

Meal on the Grill

5 from 1 vote
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Three Tomato Brie Appetizer

Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 6
Author Cindy Hattersley

Ingredients

  • 1 7 oz wheel of brie
  • 1 T chopped fresh tomato
  • 1 T chopped sundried tomato in olive oil
  • 1 t capers
  • 1 t chopped basil
  • tomato jam to taste

Instructions

  1. Let brie warm to room temperature. Spread with tomato jam, Chop tomatoes & basil. Sprinkle tomatoes, basil and capers on top. Serve with crackers

 

Have you ever grilled Romaine?  It is great on the grill.  This recipe was a new one for us.

GRILLED ROMAINE WITH CORN AND AVOCADO

grilled romaine salad

GRILLED VEGETABLES WITH ROMESCO SAUCE
5 from 1 vote
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Grilled Romaine Salad

Grilled Romaine Salad with Fresh Corn and Avocado

Cuisine American
Servings 6

Ingredients

Dressing

  • 6 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • grated zest of one lemon
  • 6 T maple syrup
  • 2/3 C lemon olive oil
  • 3 T white miso paste
  • 3 T champagne vinegar
  • 4 cloves garlic

Salad

  • 1 bag romaine hearts
  • 4 ears corn
  • 2 avocados
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 c chopped basil

Instructions

  1. Make the dressing. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of your food processor with the blade attachment. Process until smooth. Set aside .Pre-heat your grill to high. Husk corn and brush with olive oil. Add the corn and cook on all sides until some of the kernels begin to blacken, about 5-7 minutes total. Remove the corn from the grill and set aside to cool . Once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off the cob and place them in a bowl. Cut the avocado in half. Remove and discard the seed. Scoop the avocado from the peel and dice it. Add the diced avocado, basil, ¼ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper and 1 tablespoon of the dressing to the bowl with the corn, stirring gently to combine. Set aside. Cut each romaine heart in half. Drizzle the cut side of the romaine lettuce with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the romaine to the grill, cut side down, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Flip the romaine and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from the grill.To serve, place the grilled romaine on a plate, cut side up, and drizzle with some of the dressing. Top with the corn-avocado mixture. Drizzle with additional dressing, if desired. Serve at once.

Skirt steak is a big favorite at our house.  I am always looking for a new marinade that we haven’t tried.  We all really liked this one.

Michael Symon’s Grilled Skirt Steak

michael symon's grilled skirt steak

Steve grilled this to perfection by the way.  I think this marinade is our new favorite.

michael symon's grilled skirt steak
5 from 1 vote
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Michael Symons' Grilled Skirt Steak

Grilled Skirt Steak

Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 2-3 lbs skirt steak
  • 1 c balsamic vinegar
  • 1/3 c brown sugar
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 t chile flakes
  • olive oil
  • 3 sprigs rosemary
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Season the steak liberally with salt and pepper.

    In a mixing bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, rosemary and chili flakes. Add about 1/3 of a cup of olive oil. Place the steak in a resealable plastic bag and pour the marinade into it. Marinate for a minimum of 2 hours and preferably overnight in the fridge.

    Remove the steak from the fridge 30 minutes prior to use. Heat a grill over medium-high heat. Wipe off the bits of the marinade from the steak and drizzle it with olive oil.

    Place the steak on the grill and cook 2 to 4 minutes per side, or until the meat has grill marks. Let the steak rest for 10 minutes, then slice across the grain and serve.

Recipe Notes

Courtesy of Chef Michael Symon

 

We love grilled vegetables and love to use the leftovers the next day in an egg frittata. You can use any vegetables you choose for this platter.  The leftover romesco sauce can be served on fish, or used as a dipping sauce for an appetizer.  It can be frozen as well.

Grilled Vegetables with Romesco Sauce

Grilled Vegetables with Romesco Sauce

Grilled Vegetables with Romesco Sauce
5 from 1 vote
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Grilled Vegetables with Romesco Sauce

Ingredients

Romesco Sauce

  • 1 large grilled red pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 c toasted or stale bread crumbs
  • 2 large roma tomatoes chopped
  • 1/2 c toasted slivered almonds
  • 2 T parsley
  • 2 T red wine vinegar
  • 1 t smoked paprika
  • 1/2 t red pepper flakes
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Grilled Vegetables

  • 2 small eggplants
  • 2 c crimini mushrooms
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 red pepper
  • 2 leeks

Instructions

For the Romesco Sauce

  1. Pulse the first 10 ingredients in a food processor until very finely chopped.  With the motor running, slowly add the oil and process until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.

  2. For the Vegetables

  3. Toss the Vegetables in 1/2 c olive oil and 1 clove garlic. Salt & Pepper. Grill in groups on Medium High Heat. Cook, turning occasionally, until vegetables are lightly charred all over, about 10-12 minutes. Place on platter and serve immediately or at room temperature.

I was planning to serve homemade vanilla bean ice cream with raspberry sauce but my nice neighbor brought a delicious cake.  She knows I am not a baker and you have to bring dessert if you want it at my house (unless of course, it is for a blog post!!).

SHOP THE POST

You might also enjoy this great summer burger recipe here on Friday Fun Stuff.
 
I can’t wait to stop by and see what our other friends are sharing. I am always looking for more ideas on what to grill when it is too hot to cook.
six summer recipes for the barbeque

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brenda says

    We’re always trying to eat more vegetables at our house so thanks for the ideas. Grilled romaine? Sounds intriguing. Off to pin…

  2. Celia Becker says

    Cindy, I just happened to take a skirt steak out of the freezer today to make for dinner tonight. I’m going to go marinate it with your recipe right now. Thank you! It looks so yummy!

  3. holly says

    Pin Pin Pin! Can’t wait for our Southern California June Gloom to move skedaddle and I can try these recipes on our grill. Will make the whole neighborhood hungry! Thank you for sharing.

  4. Karen Bunch says

    Cindy,
    These recipes are perfect and new to me. I love the brie receipt and the skirt steak made my mouth water! What a fun post. I’m off to check what the others have presented.
    Karen

  5. Annie Diamond says

    Cindy! Your entire menu looks delicious. Everything is so colorful! I can’t wait to try grilling romaine and I plan to order a jar of tomato jam and make that appetizer. Maybe I should order two jars, I think it’s going to be my new favorite! Your lake house looks dreamy! The colors and the pea gravel makes me thing of the south of France!

  6. Lynne says

    Hi Cindy!
    This is one beautiful menu you styled for us!!
    I am going to bring the Three Tomato Brie for Father’s Day Appetizer!
    ( I found an easy recipe for Tomato Jam.)
    Thank you for this!
    Lynne♥️🥖

  7. home before dark says

    I kissed a lot of frogs until I found my Prince. He’s almost perfect with a 44 year track record. Problem? He does not like to grill. He does not like to eat smoked/grilled foods! He does not like to eat outside. My learned wisdom in my house: stay inside, use small electric appliances such as crock pots, toaster ovens etc (love my Breville and Wolf countertop ovens) make lots of salads and don’t gritch about it! By the way, your meal looks fab! Will try the Brie!

  8. Sheri Silver says

    Cindy! I love how you created an entire menu that can be cooked on the grill (or not at all!). Genius! That steak and the corn salad in particular look amazing. Thank you so much for including me this month!

    • Cindy Hattersley says

      Hi Sheri
      I think your pound cake would be the perfect accompaniment to my meal on the grill. The skirt steak recipe is a winner and we have many!

    • Cindy Hattersley says

      We have numerous skirt steak recipes (for the grill) and this one gets a big 5 stars from us! Simple and delicious!

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