Sunday, April 14, 2013

Grilling and stir frying vegetables

We actually don't have a grill, so this is not something I work with a lot. However, I know there are people who love it, and grill meats all the time. As long as you're out there, why not add some produce?

Yes, you can have your salad, and tomato slices and lettuce leaves to go with your hamburgers, and that is something. Realistically, though, for your best health you should be eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, and that does not come naturally to many. Adding variety, and making things more delicious, helps a lot.

Since we want the results to be delicious, a little preparation, rather than randomly slapping anything out of the vegetable crisper on the grill, is advisable.

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--857/grilling-fruits-and-vegetables.asp

I like this page because it gives a general overview to keep in mind what your principles are, and then it gives you some specifics. With a little searching you can find many more recipes. For just a few other thoughts, grilled fruit served with ice cream can evoke pie, while being less work than pie, and skewers are fun to eat, and can be a balanced meal on a stick.

Do plan in advance. If vegetables are better grilled over medium heat, and fruits are better over a lower, indirect heat, then you are planning a progression, including the meat, for what goes on when.

I do stir fry. One of the great things about stir frying is its flexibility. You can do all sorts of combinations. It can be vegetarian, or not. You could do a surf and turf stir fry if you wanted to, with steak strips and shrimp, and it would work. You can probably sneak in new vegetables for experimenting, without causing too much trouble. You can add noodles for starch, or serve it with rice. This is a great chance to customize, and find the combinations that work best for you.

The main thing to be aware of is that based on density and water content, different things have different cooking times. For example, one common combination I will do is chicken, mushrooms, and spinach. The chicken goes in first, making sure it is thoroughly cooked. (Always make sure your meat is cooked!) Then the mushrooms go in, getting done much more quickly, and then the spinach is done almost the moment it goes in, as it starts to wilt.

There are probably some ingredients where pre-cooking, like blanching or steaming, would make them work better, but I like keeping things easy, so I stick with foods that I can just throw in the pan.

Speaking of pans, you may be tempted to use a wok. A wok was designed for sitting in a depression, where the heat would be coming up all around. On a regular stove, on a stand lifting it up, you're missing out on a lot of the heat. I just use a nice big skillet with high sides, because low sides let a lot out of the pan as you're stirring, which is messy and annoying.

One interesting thing that I read when I was preparing for the presentation is a suggestion that it is fine to cook the different elements separately and then mix them together if you are worried about undercooking or overcooking something. If that will make you feel safer, do it. (I cook boldly, which generally works well but I have had some spectacular fails.)

Again, you can find a lot of recipes here. (You can also find frozen kits that are ready to go.) I don't think I've ever looked up a recipe for a stir fry, but if you are looking for ideas, I recommend visiting your local Mongolian grill, which will not really be representative of Mongolian food or grilling, but that's okay, you know what I mean.

Notice that carrots are sliced paper thin. You can do that, or slice them into slivers. Anything bigger and they will not cook well fresh, though if you have frozen diced ones, they may do okay.Broccoli is pretty solid, so it takes longer to cook. Slicing it down into smaller bits helps. The sizes and thicknesses of their vegetables are based on what will work well.

Their meat is different, because they have it sliced more like cold cuts almost, but you will notice that they separate the meat from the noodles and the vegetables, so that they can make sure the meat gets thoroughly cooked. Nothing makes you regret a meal like food poisoning.

(Also, you will see that even though they focus on the meat first, and then the vegetables, everything is on the heat at the same time, and you really don't need to worry too much about overcooking.)

There will be good suggestions of sauces there. Some people measure very carefully, and they are probably wasting their time. You can experiment and see how much of a difference it makes. A good base for cooking at home is teriyaki sauce, but when we were out of that I did some research and found out that is just soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, so I added sugar to soy sauce, which we had a lot of.

The down side of this is that you may be horrified by the amount of sugar you are adding. Another good base is oyster sauce. I can see where different fruit sauces would be good, though probably also somewhat sugary. That is going to be very much a personal choice, and there is not a thing that you can eat that no one will be able to criticize. However, now that we have some ideas floating around, and ways to get more ideas, you start doing what works for you. It's all anyone can do.

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