There are very few nights when I sit down to a homecooked meal that does not include a salad that reflects the season. Even if I put little effort into the main dish, I always have fun creating new dressings and salad combinations. While there are hundreds of salad dressings on supermarket shelves, I encourage you to make your own. Not only are they better for you, homemade dressings are simple to prepare and have a delicious, clean flavor.
Fall is full of some of my favorite ingredients, and the colors and textures of all the seasonal fruits and vegetables create amazing salads. Grilling pears and apples adds a smoky flavor, and a good quality cheese and simple dressing brings the dish together. You can top salads with toasted nuts, pomegranate seeds or even pumpkin seeds. Grilled portobello mushrooms also lend a nice, earthy flavor during the cooler months.
Get creative with seasonal ingredients, buy local and use fall nights to create delicious grilled dinners for your family and friends.
Will the Colonel's third grilled chicken giveaway be a charm?
KFC will once again hand out free pieces of its Kentucky Grilled Chicken on Monday, Oct. 26, in a promotion hailed as "UNFry Day."
Customers can stop by KFC locations throughout the day on Monday and receive a free piece of Kentucky Grilled Chicken. No coupon is required.
"Already, more than 60 million Americans have joined 'Grilled Nation' by trying our new Kentucky Grilled Chicken," KFC spokesman Rick Maynard tells Slashfood. "But we're not satisfied with just 60 million, so we're giving away free KGC again."
This time of year, one of the most delicious seasonal foods to grill is winter squash. Butternut, acorn and sugar pumpkin all benefit from the smokiness and caramelized flavors that the grill imparts.
And there are so many ingredients that complement winter squash -- from sage and thyme to sweeter flavors like orange, maple and bourbon. Even sausage and bacon are perfect matches for this fall favorite.
Grilled winter squash make a nice addition to everything from risotto to salads and can be a great side to serve with roasted meats or as a main vegetarian dish. Some of my favorite cheeses -- like goat, blue cheese and feta -- round out the smoky sweetness for melt-in-your-mouth flavor.
Oktoberfests are ubiquitous this month. For those not interested in the chug-a-thons and oompah bands, check out this list of alternative options.
Dixon Lambtown USA, Dixon, Calif., Oct. 3: Break out the mint jelly! Attendees can participate in such culinary slugfests as the National Lamb Ribs Eating Contest and Barbecue Cook-Off, not to mention a shearing competition and sheepdog trials. For the kiddies, there's Mutton Bustin' -- a buckin' bronco bruising of the woolly kind. The Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival, New York, Oct. 8-11: Hosted by and benefiting the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength, this festival brings the toque and the home cook together. Everyone from sous chefs to casserole queens can attend wine seminars, recipe-creation panels and cooking demonstrations. For the kiddie cook, check out the Kids Get Cooking! series. Your favorite celebrity TV chefs will be there, en masse, including Ming Tsai, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain, as well as culinary heavyweights such as Sue Torres, Marcus Samuelsson, Odette Fada, Daniel Boulud and David Chang.
KFC is getting grilled over its new chicken offering.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has sued Kentucky Fried Chicken over a carcinogen, PhIP, which the nutrition advocacy group says is in KFC's new grilled chicken. PhIP is a compound on California's list of carcinogens that is created when meat is grilled.
The PCRM filed the suit in San Francisco Superior Court for violating California's Proposition 65. This proposition mandates that businesses must warn customers if there are carcinogens in their products.
In the South, we usually have to take a short break from grilling outdoors come August due to the heat. As soon as slightly cooler temperatures and football season set in, we move back outdoors to the grill.
Thankfully that time is here. Living in a college town -- Athens, Ga. -- it seems we start doing even more entertaining. Sometimes I use this time to experiment with new recipes, but if time does not allow, I have some favorite recipes that are quick but well-liked.
Most people love an Asian-inspired menu and it's certainly more innovative than traditional burgers and hot dogs on game weekends. Shrimp and Mango Summer Rolls are a divine starter and can easily be made vegetarian. My Pineapple and Red Pepper Pork Kebabs are easy enough to make even for a weeknight meal or ahead of time tp be taken them to a tailgate. Get these fall grill recipes after the jump.
Grilled lamb chops with olive tapenade. Photo: Erica George Dines Photography
It is hard to believe that summer is officially coming to an end and football season is here. We always enjoy grilling in the fall -- cooler temperatures set in and you can bring the party outside once again.
Fall temperatures generally mean heartier meals, but that is all the more reason to keep your grill out until winter sets. Take advantage of fall's ingredients and keep the grill going.
Richer meats like lamb chops become some of our favorite weekend meals and are surprisingly easy to grill.
Smoked brie. Photo: Erica George Dines Photography
Part of a continuing summer series by grilling expert Gena Knox.
Whether you are having guests over for a grill-out or just cooking for the family, start up your grill a few minutes early and smoke your own cheese for an amazing yet easy-to-prepare appetizer.
Plank grilling is a familiar concept when it comes to cooking salmon and other types of fish, but you can also use wood to smoke brie, cheddar, Gouda and mozzarella in just 10 to 15 minutes.
When you purchase cheeses like "smoked Gouda" from your supermarket, the taste is oftentimes artificial, with a strong aftertaste. By using cedar, maple, alder or other flavors of wood, you can add an all-natural smoky taste to almost any cheese.
Gena's chicken kebabs. Photo: Erica George Dines Photography.
It is hard to believe that kids are nearly back in school, and it's time to resume the hectic weekly schedule of balancing school, work and afternoon activities while still getting a hot meal on the table.
As much I enjoy eating out, I also love cooking and knowing exactly what is going into my food. Summer is nearing the end, but that does not mean you have to put away your grill -- use it to your advantage.
Grilling can save you time in the kitchen and help you get meals on the table in a quick fashion without heating up the kitchen. Get my go-to quick grilling recipes after the jump.
Grilled eggplant and olive oil pizza. Photo: Smitten Kitchen.
A slew of youngsters are heading back to school this week, lugging backpacks, breaking in new shoes, sharpening pencils and, if they're lucky (at least a few days out of the year), forgoing the brown-bag lunch in favor of a pizza party. It's enough to make us nearly jealous, except that one of the many joys of adulthood is that we can have pizza whenever we please -- and booze to wash it down with -- no matter the circumstances (or caloric consequences).
For example, when Deb from Smitten Kitchen was craving grilled pizza and the weather didn't agree with her plans for dinner al fresco, she still found a way to make it happen, "Weather be damned!" She busted out a cast-iron panini pan, doused the dough with garlicky extra-virgin olive oil, and piled on the grilled eggplant, olives and provolone. The result, reports the cook, was "hearty, smoky and delicious."
So how'd she get those beautiful cheesy bubbles with her indoor "grill?" Well, since she was "grilling" inside anyway, she put it in the oven for a few minutes. They don't teach that in school.
Meat may be the undeniable star of the grilling show, but zucchini -- when drizzled with olive oil and lightly seasoned like this one from Life's Ambrosia -- pops up during summer months for its 15 minutes (or rather, three months) of fame.
It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating zucchini season by watching the chefs in the Gourmet test kitchen make the most of the versatile veggie. Now, as we creep slowly toward the end of August and, sadly, the culmination of zucchini's prime season it's time to throw the last -- and the best -- of the summer squash on the barbie so it can go out in style. Because no matter how good a vegetable is on its own, everything is better with those glorious grill lines.
Hot dogs are as ubiquitous as Ray Bans this summer, with all-beef franks gracing grills at backyard BBQs and gourmet versions making cameos on restaurant menus. But a hot dog coddled in bacon is a rare treat.
These bacon-wrapped dogs were captured by our friend Fork This at a Hot Dog Cookoff before being placed in buns and topped with crushed almonds. Though we have mixed feelings about the crushed-almond topping, these look good enough to eat straight off the grill.
Aptly called Dog Date Afternoon, the heart-attack-inducing treats sadly didn't take home top (or any) honors, but it's pretty likely there were none left for their maker to take home, either.
Part of a continuing summer series by grilling expert Gena Knox.
When most people think of honey, they think of breakfast and hot tea, but honey is actually one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen -- so versatile, in fact, that I use it on an almost-daily basis. A natural way to sweeten marinades and salad dressings, honey can be used to add flavor to savory dishes and not just desserts.
Of course, as with any food, you want to use a good quality honey. One of my favorites is Savannah Bee, and my friend Ted, the owner behind this delicious honey, has chosen his favorite full-bodied honey for grilling. The rich amber color and robust flavor stands up to the smokiness of grilled foods and the easy, no-spill pump isn't bad either.
It is a rare occurrence when we come across a homemade taco that looks like it was purchased on the street.
At first blush, that may seem like a pejorative statement, but when it comes to tacos many foodies will argue that they're tastiest when served from a truck. (Or while in Mexico, obviously.)
But for some of us -- no matter how hard we try -- our kitchen tacos will never resemble truck tacos. Not so for Marc Matsumoto over at No Recipes, who created this Carne Asada concoction.
Perhaps this is because his philosophy for cooking is "50 percent technique, 40 percent inspiration and 10 percent ingredients." Maybe it's those delectable-looking homemade corn tortillas (which, he tells us, are a breeze to make). And though he doesn't admit it in the post, we're willing to bet the meat was inspired by the street.
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