Different recipes to try on the grill this weekend and beyond

 

Each year for Memorial Day weekend, the Tribune staff have a tradition to grill new foods and share our recipes with you, our readers. There’s a little bit of everything in this year’s lineup, including main and side dishes and even a dessert.

Grilled Garlic Parmesan Zucchini

Trying to eat healthier these days, I stumbled across this recipe on allrecipies.com that includes one of my favorite vegetables: zucchini. Loved that this was an easy, yet tasty dish. Nothing can go wrong when garlic is involved. — Sarah Stultz

Ingredients

3 zucchinis

3 tablespoons butter, softened

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.

Cut the zucchinis in half crosswise, then slice each half into 3 slices lengthwise, making 6 slices per zucchini.

Mix the butter, garlic and parsley in a bowl, and spread the mixture on both sides of each zucchini slice. Sprinkle one side of each slice with Parmesan cheese, and place the slices, cheese sides up, crosswise on the preheated grill to keep them from falling through.

Grill the zucchini until the cheese has melted and the slices are cooked through and show grill marks, about 8 minutes.

Grilled and Glazed Carrots

I found this recipe on Pinterest. I saw the carrots as being a healthy option, but I couldn’t pass up the recipe when I saw it was paired with brown sugar. Sweetening a vegetable always makes it better. — Kim Ehrich

Ingredients

1 pound carrots (if thick carrots, slice down the middle lengthwise)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat grill for direct/indirect cooking.

Toss carrots in olive oil, then place directly on the grill. Rotate every few minutes to get a slight char on each side, about 15-20 minutes. If they begin to burn move them to indirect heat.

In a small saucepan over medium heat add butter, brown sugar, honey and salt and mix together. Whisk frequently until the brown sugar dissolves. 

Just before pulling the carrots off the grill, glaze them once. Let them cook one more minute on the grill, then remove from grill and glaze one more time.

Grilled Cornbread with Jalapeno Honey Butter

I’m a serial over-cooker for meat (though my life is being changed by my meat thermometer, my most prized possession), so grilling meat is something I like to leave up to the experts (read: my mother). For the grill-shy, this recipe is easy to prepare ahead of time, hard to get wrong and a cinch to slap on the grill when it’s time to eat. What’s more, cornbread is a great compliment to a plethora of grilled foods. — Sarah Kocher

Grilled Cornbread ingredients

Courtesy of Quaker Oats

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups enriched corn meal

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 cup skim milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 egg whites or 1 egg, beaten

Directions

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease 8- or 9-inch pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Jalapeno Honey Butter ingredients

Courtesy of wholeandheavenlyoven.com

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons pure and raw honey

Directions

Slice prepared cornbread into squares and split each horizontally. Set aside.

Place butter, jalapeno and honey in a medium bowl and beat until butter is creamy. Spread butter on split sides of cornbread squares.

Grill cornbread over medium-high heat, about 3 minutes on each side or until cornbread is crispy and has grill marks.

Honey-glazed Shrimp and Sausage Kabobs

I took a couple elements from two different recipes and made it my own for this year’s grilling party. I found a recipe for shrimp and sausage kabobs, but instead of seasoning them like that recipe suggested, I took a risk and marinated them in a delicious sauce that I recently fell in love with. The results did not disappoint. — Tyler Julson

Ingredients

1 pound cooked and deveined shrimp

1 Polish sausage

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon freshly minced garlic

1 teaspoon freshly minced ginger

Directions

Combine the honey, soy sauce, ginger and garlic into a bowl large enough to fit the shrimp and sausage.

Slice the sausage so each piece is roughly the same width as the shrimp. Mix in the shrimp and cut sausage into the marinade bowl. Give the bowl a good stir, making sure every piece of shrimp and sausage is lightly covered. Cover and place in fridge to marinate for about 1 hour. You should also soak your skewers in water for around an hour before placing them on the grill.

Skewer the shrimp and sausage alternately after they’ve had enough time to marinate. Grill on each side for roughly 3 minutes or until shrimp is thoroughly cooked.

Pork Chops with Herb Rub and Mustard Cream Sauce

I love being outside and I love cooking, so grilling is a great combination of both. I first tried this recipe this past winter over the stove and loved it, so I adapted it for the grill. I’m a big Julia Child fan and have been steadily working my way through some of her cookbooks. These two are from the first volume of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which she wrote with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. — Colleen Harrison

Pork Chops with Herb Rub ingredients

1 pound-worth of pork chops

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground thyme

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

1/8 teaspoon ground bay leaf

1 pinch allspice

1/2 garlic clove, minced or mashed

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together and rub them into the surface of the pork. Leave in a covered bowl until ready to grill. Grilling time will depend on thickness of your pork chops; this time I used thinner chops, so I cooked them for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the chops have an internal temperature of 145 degrees.

Mustard Cream Sauce ingredients

1/3 cup cider vinegar

10 crushed peppercorns

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

2 teaspoons dry mustard mixed with 2 teaspoons water

2 tablespoons softened butter

Directions

Pour the cider vinegar and peppercorns into a saucepan and boil until the vinegar has reduced to about a tablespoon, several minutes. Add the whipping cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Beat in the mustard combined with water, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more. To thicken the sauce, add softened unsalted butter and continue whisking until thickened.

Bloomin’ Grilled Apples

My coworkers are amazing cooks, and I enjoy the fruits of their labor every year when we do this feature, but I honestly try to go the path of least resistance when it comes to cooking. In other words, the fewer steps, ingredients and dishes used, the better, so this delish.com recipe was right up my alley. — Kelly Wassenberg

Ingredients

4 apples, (I used galas)

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon cinnamon-sugar

1/2 cup caramel, (I used part of a jar of the caramel sauce you can buy in the ice cream toppings section)

Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Slice off the top quarter of the apple and scoop out the core.

Using a paring knife or an apple slicer, make cuts around the core of the apple to make wedges, but make sure not to cut all the way through the apple.

Combine butter, sugar and cinnamon and melt in microwave. Stir and brush the mixture over all of the apples’ surfaces.

Fill the center with caramel.

Wrap in tin foil.

Grill for 15 minutes or until the apples are tender.

Top with ice cream and drizzle with more caramel.