A couple years ago, just happened to be watching a grilling segment on the Today Show and that days subject was grilling eggplant. Having just gotten heavily into grilling I thought to myself, “well that sure does look interesting” and off to the market I went. That particular recipe involved using sliced heirloom tomatoes but we’ve since taken it up a notch (at least for our taste buds)! Anyway, basics remain the same and it’s all about the grilling that makes this one special (and easy)!

Things you’ll need:

Eggplants (2), Fresh mozzarella cheese (I like the pre-sliced log shaped ones as they work best for this), fresh batch of basil leaves, pesto sauce and a jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1. Wash two good size eggplants and slice them crossways to look like burger patties (approx. 3/4” - 1” in thickness).

2. Place eggplant slices in large pan and coat each one with olive oil.

3. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides (your call on amount depending on how much you like your salt and pepper). Let sit for at least 10 minutes to let things soak in.

4. Pre-heat grill on low flame.

5. Place eggplant slices on grill between the flames. Let cook 7-10 minutes (keep and eye on it) and then flip. You are looking for the cooked side to have browned and have defined grill marks on it.

6. Heat the pasta sauce.

7. Continue cooking eggplant slices until you have browned and grill marked both sides, remove from grill.

8. Ready to go. Begin layering process. Eggplant slices down on plate first (how many, of course, depends upon your appetite), pour some pasta sauce on there, land a slice of mozzarella, then cover with basil leaves and a couple scoops of pesto sauce.

9. Serve away. Depending on size of eggplants, two of them will usually serve four eaters.

10. My new favorite way of serving this is to build above onto a slice of toast (sort of gives it an eggplant parmigiana kind of taste and feel).

11. Eat away, yum! I did want to mention that I do understand not everyone is a huge fan of eggplant (you can count me in on that), however, the grilling process pretty much transforms the eggplant into a whole new taste sensation and it is currently;y one of my favorite meals. Go ahead and give it a try!

So you move to Texas and you get a grill. Next up, you get a book on grilling! You crack the book open about half way and the first thing you see is “The Beer Can Chicken”…..mind blown. While pretty common in the South, I’d never heard of such a meal in New York. A total combo of two of my favorite things. And super easy!

1. Get yourself a beer can chicken holder (available at Home Depot or your favorite BBQ outlet).

2. Pre-heat grill on low flame. We want to be indirectly heating for this so depending on your grill, figure out a spot that won’t be over direct flame. I am usually at 450 degrees or so with two burners on my gas grill.

3. Standard chicken prep (remove any goodies from inside of bird). Rinse bird with water and dry.

4. Crack open beer and get it between 1/2 and 3/4’s full (Try not to waste any, as in, pour into glass and serve to someone)!

5. Put beer can holder on plate and place beer can in it.

6. Set chicken on top of the beer can (some also refer to this recipe as “Beer Butt” chicken).

7. Rub olive oil over entire chicken.

8. Now, my personal favorite, generously apply Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Magic seasoning to outer skin of bird.

9. Place chicken on grill and cook away until you get to internal temp of 165 degrees (keep the cooking thermometer handy). Typically, for me, that’s about an hour and fifteen to thirty minutes (all depends on size of the bird) The beauty of keeping off direct flame is that it is very hard to mess up. Outer skin gets nice and crisp and you have a little fudge factor of time as it is kind of hard to overcook (unless you completely miss the boat and forget you are grilling)!

10. Eat away, yum.

One of my favorites, Pulp Signature Potatoes (on the grill, of course)! Again, fairly simple to do. Grab a bag of mini multi-colored potatoes, give them a quick rinse, then slice them up as best you see fit. I like to go between a quarter and a half inch depending on the size of the potato. Slice up an onion and place both in a mixing bowl. Douse with olive oil and now add a sprinkle of garlic powder (you can also use diced garlic cloves if you prefer that to the powder), salt and pepper then give it all a nice stir. Place it all in a medium sized cast iron pot, put the cover on and toss it all on the grill. I like to keep it in between flames and use three burners set to low (which on this grill is about 550 degrees). Let cook for an hour with the occasional stir to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Pretty much done when you can easily split one with a fork. As mentioned, this is a side and we went with steak tenderloin to accompany them. Results in, super yum!