Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [146]
Juice of 1 lemon
DIRECTIONS:
Cut the tips off the squid bodies to allow steam to escape. Toss the squid in a bowl with the oil, salt, and pepper and let stand for 15 minutes.
Light a grill for direct medium-high heat, about 425°F. Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Grill the squid directly over the heat until nicely grill-marked, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. For great grill marks, put a heavy weight, such as a cast-iron pan, on the squid as it grills. You can also use the pan for toasting the pine nuts right on the grill. Cut the grilled squid bodies into rings and leave the tentacles whole.
Toss the greens with the shallots and vinaigrette and arrange on plates. Scatter the orange supremes, avocado, olives, toasted pine nuts, and grilled squid over the greens.
Drizzle with the lemon juice.
KNOW-HOW: MAKING ORANGE SUPREMES
To cut an orange into supremes (membrane-free segments), trim off about ½ inch from the top and bottom of the orange–just enough to reveal the inner fruit. Stand the orange on a flat end and make several cuts from top to bottom all around the fruit, running your knife blade just beneath the white pith but not through the flesh. Remove the entire rind in strips and discard. Next remove one orange segment at a time by running the knife close to the membrane to release it (it’s like sectioning a grapefruit). Discard the membrane.
Chapter 12
Vegetables
Among all the foods that can be grilled, vegetables undergo the most delicious transformation. We’re so used to eating them boiled, steamed, or sautéed, that tasting grilled vegetables can be a revelation. Beets, sliced thin and grilled directly over the heat, develop an almost candylike sweetness. Corn, grilled right in the husk, remains juicy, but with a more concentrated flavor, and the caramelized kernels pick up a hint of smoke.
Asparagus grills in less than 3 minutes; the spears char in spots and intensify in sweetness, balancing out their green, grassy aromas. While other cooking methods might express only the obvious character of a particular vegetable, the high and dry heat of the grill amplifies a vegetable’s most subtle flavors, making grilled vegetables unlike any you’ve ever tasted.
Classes of Vegetables
We grill all manner of vegetables, from celery and potatoes to hearts of palm and cardoons. They all have different characteristics, so it helps to classify them into plant parts to discover the best grilling method for each one. In broad terms, vegetables are the edible parts of a plant. Some are leaves, some are roots, some are stems, and some are fruits (botanically speaking). The part of a plant that a vegetable comes from, its color, age, and density, determine its quality.
Roots
Beets, carrots, radishes, and other roots anchor the plant to the ground. A root absorbs moisture and nutrients from the soil and makes them available to the aboveground parts of the plant. Most plant roots are spindly, fibrous, and inedible, but some are engorged with storage cells that are loaded with carbohydrates and other nutrients, and these are the ones that have been cultivated as vegetables. To support the plant and store nutrients, roots need strong walls and rigid fibers. As a plant matures, the roots pack in more sugar and get bigger; the walls thicken and get harder. The quality of a root vegetable becomes a balance between toughness and sweetness. Harvested too young, root vegetables will lack flavor; too late and the tough fibers will turn wooden. As with other food, small roots will be tender and mild. Medium-size roots are more crunchy and sweet. Large ones are tough and flavorful. Some roots are actually underground stems, for example, potatoes and sunchokes. They have a different botanical name, tubers, but they store starch the same way other roots do and are grilled much like other roots.
Stems
Continuing up the plant, stems like celery help to stabilize a plant’s structure and also conduct nutrients between its various parts. They transport sugars produced in the leaves