Gadgetry: Indoor Grill

Got a new kitchen gadget! I bought an indoor grill with some holdover gift certificate that we had. I've always had a problem with grilling stuff. It's just too much effort to fire up the grill just to make something for one meal. You gotta clean it, you gotta fire it up etc. etc. Perfect solution: an indoor grill you can temperature control and fits on the counter! I couldn't help it, I had to build a whole bento around the fact I could grill on demand.


I found these amazingly huge sea scallops at the store. I couldn't help it I had to put something together. So a simple soy honey sea scallops grilled to perfection. I think it'll be interesting to hear back to see how well they re-heated. I tried to undercook just a touch so that the microwave wouldn't produce a tough chewy scallop. I think the right thing to do was to grill at the max setting, I would have gotten some better grill marks. Still yummy, just not as pretty as I would have hoped.


Had to add a bit of color and what better than some grilled asparagus. Easy enough, but I came across this recipe for a parsley sauce (similar to a chimichurri actually, just no cilantro). It provides that lemony hit that I would normally just squeeze on to finish. A little bit goes a long way here.

Yes light on the number of items this time around. This was actually the first side/dessert that caused me to 1) buy an indoor grill 2) center my theme around grilling. Drunken grilled pineapple. Basically, you're grilling a pineapple and glazing it with rum and brown sugar. Top it off with a bit of coconut and you have a proper Caribbean treat.


Mixed reviews on my grill I think it's a larger issue of not understanding how to gauge temperature and appropriate application towards my recipes. That just requires some time to get past it. The grill itself was super easy to use and clean which makes it perfect for those times I want to get a grilled steak or some kebabs.

Box Contents
  • Soy honey grilled sea scallops
  • Grilled asparagus with parsley sauce
  • Drunken grilled pineapple with coconut

Comments

Lunch Buckets said…
I've been thinking about buying a grill pan for years but haven't yet - for many reasons - is your indoor grill a stand-alone appliance? Or for the stove top?
August 17, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Ironjack said…
It is a Delonghi Indoor grill. It's not bad. Easy to clean holds even temperature (unlike my old grill pan). I find that the grill pan "pools" too much grease especially when doing higher fat stuff. I had a cheaper pan so the moment I put something on it, I'd lose a lot of heat. If I had to do the pan thing over I'd buy a nice heavy cast iron. That said, I don't regret my purchase it does a better job than a grill pan (even if a single purpose appliance)
August 17, 2008 at 5:32 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Da Chang Mian Xian 大腸麵線: streetfood challenge

Image
This is actually a post that's been sitting in the queue for quite some time. A while back we had a Taiwanese potluck where everyone brought a food favorite from Taiwan. I didn't have a favorite food so I said I'd make whatever someone wanted. One of my wife's friends had a real hankering for Da Chang Mian Xian (大腸麵線 also called Mee Sua), a Taiwanese vermicelli street food dish, I of course open my big mouth and say: "sure how hard could it be to make?" (famous last words). Surely there was a recipe or something to go on. As it turns out this no there's wasn't a recipe to go on. Fortunately this was something I had tried before, my wife took me back in 2012 to visit her favorite Mian Xian  restaurant (Ah Zong Mian Xian 阿宗麵線) when we were visiting her old university stomping grounds.  All I remember from this place were a few things: 1) it was really hot outside 2) there was no where to sit so everyone was standing around (ok a few chairs) 3) th
Read more

TRIP: London 2013 Pt1

Image
Ok more traveling, this time to London, first week for work (above is our view of Buckingham Palace from our office) and second week for vacation with my wife. Lots of pictures of a lot of different food, I've manage to cut the number of photos to the highlights of what and where we ate. I've put links to the various places just in case you're in the area and want to check out some of these places. Sorry in advance about some of the photos I shot everything using a Galaxy S3 mini android phone that I acquired while on this trip and it does a pretty good job, but under low light it gets a bit grainy. Got off the plane bright and early 6am and dropped my bags at the hotel. While there I started my trip off with a classic English breakfast. Bangers (sausage) mushroom, roasted tomato, potato cake, hash browns, vegetarian sausage (which was quite nice), eggs, beans (heinz I believe) and some black pudding (blood sausage, a little dry but tasty) Since my room wasn'
Read more

Holiday Bird ala the Orion Cooker "la torre del diablo"

Image
I've talked a bit about my Orion Cooker or as I like to call it, "la torre del diablo" (the tower of the devil) and lots of people come and visit looking for info on the orion cooker and turkey. So today I'm going to chronicle the step by step of cooking a turkey and hey look, just in time for xmas. It all starts with the brine. As many of you know the best way to get a nice juicy turkey is to brine it before hand. It allows helps the meat retain moisture through the cooking process and you can impart some nice flavors. I used a slightly modified brine recipe (see below) by my favorite food geek/hero, Alton Brown. It's quite simple really, you need a high salt content I believe the rule of thumb is one cup each of salt and sugar for every gallon of brine. In this case, the vegetable stock has salt in it, and I trust that's why there's less salt in the recipe, and of course the word of Alton Brown is never wrong he is after all the culinary equivalent of C
Read more