Get out of your grill rut with these creative ideas from area chefs.
Barbecue. For most of us, the very word means summer. Nothing quite beats the aroma, appearance, and flavor created by a barbecue grill. With barbecue season upon us, we urge you to opt for dishes that are a bit more elevated than the usual standbys — dishes that are somewhat unexpected but which also take advantage of that smoky heat derived from an outdoor grill, whether you use wood, pellets, gas, or charcoal for cooking. From delicious appetizers to crisp salads, grilled entrées, picture-perfect desserts, and charred libations, you can make plenty more on the grill than the same ol’ burgers and dogs, say these local culinary pros.
As chef Lara Ritchie, culinary director at Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Reno, says, “I think people kind of get in this rut with barbecue and think there are only certain things they can cook. Really, [the grill] functions as an outdoor oven, an upside-down broiler in a sense, simplified to the very finest. If you can dream it, you can grill it.
“Grilling can be as simple or as complicated as you want,” she explains. “It’s a naturally lower-fat way of cooking, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it decadent. It’s primal, but there’s also sort of a nuance and romance to it.”
Aromatic Starters
Kick off a gathering with tasty bites hot off the grill. Some of Ritchie’s go-tos are polenta rounds topped with tapenade or melted cheese, grilled Caprese skewers, and melted Brie on a cedar plank.
“I love to do a cast-iron pan with blistered cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh herbs with grilled bread to dip in it,” she says. “Seafood on the grill is also a great option, especially for a first course.”
Grilled shrimp quesadillas often are found on Ritchie’s outdoor cookery lineup, accompanied by crisp, pickled red onions for a little acidity to make the flavors pop.
For a unique take on a salad, Kris Sorensen, culinary director and general manager at Pignic Pub & Patio in Reno, likes to include charred fruits and vegetables.
“Grilled carrot salad and grilled watermelon salad are absolutely delightful and something the average person would not expect,” Sorensen says. “If you make one of these for someone’s barbecue, they’d be pretty impressed.”
Outside-the-Bun Entrées
Often invited to parties where he ends up being the grill guy, Sorensen embraces the wow factor by preparing pizza on the grill.
“It’s fantastic and easier than people ever imagine,” he says.
Using a really hot, well-oiled grill, Sorensen gets a nice crust on shaped, store-bought pizza dough, then tops it with cheese, vegetables, or other fun toppings.
Pignic’s owner, Trevor Leppek, says, “You can add grilled peaches, balsamic vinegar, and burrata cheese. Or do your own grilled-pizza bar, where everybody brings their favorite toppings for a non-traditional pizza party.”
For a quick, healthy side dish, Ritchie adds grilled vegetables to her plate.
“The fun thing about vegetables is you can add rubs that most people save for their proteins for great flavor,” she says, “Caribbean or Cajun spices, for example. Vegetables take really well to them, and they add a bright component to the dish.”
Decadent Desserts and Drinks
When it comes to the sweet finish, Ritchie offers a surprise.
“I love doing cake on the grill,” she says. “I hate to heat up my house in the summer, and you shouldn’t ever be deprived of cake.”
She uses the grill as she would an oven for her chocolate stout cake and enjoys the smokiness it infuses in the treat.
Leppek also enjoys grilled fruit as a topping for ice cream.
“Peaches are always a good go-to,” he says. “Grilled watermelon is fantastic. Pineapple grills extremely well.”
He even uses those piquant elements in cocktails and mocktails. Pignic’s Garcia #2 is a mezcal-based margarita that has a smoky, earthy flavor. He suggests making a batch of margaritas with mezcal to serve from a pitcher and garnishing it with grilled pineapple. For Pignic’s grilled pineapple Mexican mocktail mule, the bartenders press the pineapple to add a delicious, smoky juice.
Smoke is a flavor that can be imparted to almost anything, making a barbecue a much more versatile affair than you might have believed.
“[Grilled] items can be introduced into a cocktail, appetizer, or entrée,” Sorensen says. “Look at the peach. You can use it in a cocktail, caramelize it in the appetizer … you can also make a smoked peach salsa with tortilla chips and flatbread. Just that one delicious item can span the entirety of the menu and will translate well to everything.”
There is nothing that signifies the start of summertime more than the smell of a charcoal grill or smoker. Freelance writer Heidi Bethel cannot wait for the first nostalgic whiff and looks forward to incorporating some new elements into her barbecuing repertoire.
Goat Cheese and Grilled Shrimp Quesadilla
(courtesy of Lara Ritchie, culinary director, Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Reno. Serves 8)
1 pound (16 to 20) medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
2 ears corn, husked, desilked, blanched in boiling salt water for 2 minutes, drained, and kernels sliced off (produces about 1 cup)
¼ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon canned chipotle peppers, mashed or chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
4 ounces goat cheese
16, 6-inch corn or flour tortillas
Pickled red onions (recipe provided)
In a medium bowl, toss shrimp with oil, salt, and pepper until well coated. Thread shrimp onto skewers, place them on grill over medium-hot fire, and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side. To check doneness: Cut into 1 shrimp and look inside to be sure it is opaque all the way through.
Remove shrimp from fire, and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slide them off skewers. Chop into bite-sized pieces and put in a large bowl. Add all remaining ingredients except tortillas, mix well, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spread a couple spoonfuls of the shrimp-cheese mixture on 8 tortillas. Place remaining 8 tortillas on top of the filling. Place quesadillas on grill over low fire. Cook until golden brown on both sides and cheese has just melted, about 3 minutes. When they have reached this point, remove them from the grill, cut them into quarters, and serve garnished with pickled red onions.
Pickled Red Onions
(courtesy of Lara Ritchie, culinary director, Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Reno. Serves 8)
2 small red onions, peeled and sliced into thin rings
½ cup white vinegar
½ cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until onions have turned a bright pink color, about 30 minutes. The onions will keep, covered and refrigerated, for about 2 weeks.
Carrot Salad
(courtesy of Kris Sorensen, culinary director and general manager, Pignic Pub and Patio in Reno. Serves 4)
1½ pounds carrots (preferably multicolored for aesthetics), kept whole
2 large avocados, with skin and pits removed, diced
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
½ cup fresh mint leaves
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon cumin
Toast cumin in dry skillet until fragrant. Crush cumin, add to large bowl, then combine with lemon juice and honey. Whisk in oil, then add serrano chile and ginger. Season with salt and let sit.
Toss carrots with 2 teaspoons of oil, season with salt, and grill until lightly charred and tender.
Toss carrots in sauce, arrange on plate, then top with avocado and mint. Pour remaining sauce over top. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Grilled Peach, Burrata, and Capicola Pizza
(courtesy of Kris Sorensen, culinary director and general manager, Pignic Pub & Patio in Reno. Serves 4)
1 pound store-bought pizza dough
1 to 2 cups fresh burrata cheese
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 peaches, thinly sliced
12 pieces thin capicola (aka coppa) or similar cured meat
⅓ cup arugula or basil
Reduced balsamic vinegar, for drizzling on top
Preheat grill on high. Oil grill well with high-smoke-point oil (such as grapeseed or vegetable) or nonstick spray.
Hand shape pizza dough on floured surface and let sit for 5 minutes. Reshape and oil bottom of the dough. Transfer dough onto grill and cook with lid closed for 2 minutes or until dough is just cooked.
Drizzle oil on top, flip crust, and grill until golden brown.
Remove from grill and brush with more oil. Add garlic and burrata slices, then place back on grill until cheese melts. Top with thinly sliced peaches, capicola, and salt and pepper to taste. Note: Peaches also can be lightly grilled to caramelize.
Chocolate Stout Cake
(courtesy of Lara Ritchie, culinary director, Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Reno. Serves 8)
1 cup stout beer
1 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-processed preferred)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
¾ cup sour cream
Preheat grill to 350 degrees F. Generously coat a Bundt pan with nonstick spray.
Bring stout and butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat in eggs and sour cream until blended. Add stout-chocolate mixture and beat to just combined. Then, on slow speed, add flour mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Pour batter into Bundt pan and place on indirect heat on the grill for 45 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean when done. Remove cake from grill, and place on wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Then turn cake out onto rack to cool completely.
Serve with your favorite stout and some whipped cream.
Grilled Pineapple Mexican Mocktail Mule
(courtesy of Trevor Leppek, owner, Pignic Pub & Patio in Reno. Serves 1)
2 ounces CleanCo Clean T Spiritless Agave Spirit
½ ounce liquid grilled pineapple syrup (recipe provided)
¾ ounce fresh lime juice
Fever-Tree ginger beer
2 dashes Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters (non-alcoholic)
Grilled pineapple wedge, for garnish
Build in a copper mug, ideally, or double old-fashioned glass, as shown, adding all ingredients except ginger beer and bitters. Add ice. Add rhubarb bitters and fill rest of mug with ginger beer. Garnish with grilled pineapple wedge.
For grilled pineapple syrup
Remove rind and leaves from whole pineapple. With core remover, core pineapple, then cut in half lengthwise and grill until you have some nice char on the fruit. Remove from grill and let cool. Cut into 1-inch chunks. Add 2 cups pineapple and 3 cups simple syrup to blender, then blend until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Syrup will last about 1 week in refrigerator.
Mediterranean Vegetable Kebabs
(courtesy of Lara Ritchie, culinary director, Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Reno. Serves 4)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon marjoram
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 sweet onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
3 yellow squash, cut into 1-inch chunks
3 small zucchini, cut into ¾-inch rounds
To make the marinade, combine all ingredients except lemon juice and vegetables in small bowl.
Set grill to high heat. Put vegetables in a large, resealable plastic bag and toss in marinade. Press air out of bag and seal tightly. Turn bag to distribute marinade and coat vegetables evenly.
Remove vegetables from the bag and thread onto skewers, leaving space between pieces.
Grill skewers over direct, high heat for about 3 to 5 minutes, turning once halfway through grilling time. You should look for good grill marks.
Remove from grill. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil before serving.
Garcia #2
(courtesy of Trevor Leppek, owner, Pignic Pub & Patio in Reno. Serves 1)
1½ ounces Burrito Fiestero Mezcal
¾ ounce Ancho Verde Chile Liqueur
¾ ounce lime juice
½ ounce Liquid Alchemist Tamarindo Syrup
¼ ounce agave syrup
Tajín Clasíco Chili Lime seasoning
This cocktail can be served up or over. Rim coupe class or double old-fashioned glass with Tajín seasoning. Build drink in shaker, adding mezcal, chile liqueur, lime juice, tamarindo syrup, and agave syrup. Then add ice, cover shaker, and shake for 7 or 8 seconds. Pour through cocktail strainer into glass, over a big ice cube if desired.
