‘Cue the Grill

‘Cue The Grill Memorial Day Weekend Grilling

By Chef Kelly Ross

Hey Lakes Region. I hope this fi nds you all well as we creep to the end of May. It cracks me up how time is fl ying like the speed of light as we get into the fun time of year while winter creeps by like a pregnant turtle. The great news is that we have three solid months of summer and still a couple of months beyond as we move into the fall season. A great fi ve months for sure. I have always joked that the start of summer to me, who has worked in the restaurant business all my life, is on Mother’s Day as that’s the fi rst day of insanity in the business since Valentine’s Day.

Many believe that the start of summer is right in our face, Memorial Day Weekend, and I can’t argue that mentality either as that’s a long weekend for most and the fi rst time since last summer/fall that many will fi nally break out their grill. I must say if that doesn’t scream the start of summer, I’m not sure what does. Just like fall and winter seasons have a tendency of having the smell of burning wood from bonfi res and wood stoves, the summer incense is usually the smell of food being cooked on the grill, especially if you live anywhere near my home.

Some of the best cooking compliments I have ever been given have come from people who hadn’t eaten my cooking, but people just walking by the house, telling me how the smells coming from my yard have their mouths watering. For obvious reasons, they were invited to my next cookout.

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Well, since Memorial Day weekend is literally coming right at us, I think it’s time for me to share some stellar cookout recipes to get your mouths watering. I’m going to share some fun app’s, a salad, and a few main entrees, but no desserts! Well ok, a dessert as well since I don’t want any hate mail from anybody. Also, I’ll share a wide array of items, including quite a bit of seafood since it is summer.

Since I like to start most of my articles with appetizers, that’s where we are going today as well. I mentioned seafood, and I have a couple of real fun recipes which most have likely not seen on the grill. The fi rst is with littleneck clams, and the second is with oysters. Both are fi nished with a great compound butter and then can be slurped right out of the shell like me and most of my friends, or they can be done in a more sophisticated way with a fork. My thought is a real cookout is not a success unless everyone has a messy face and has used about a dozen paper towels each.

Although there a few different ways to cook the clams on the grill, my vote is to do in foil packets, one for each eater. Also, I did say I am listing this under the appetizer category, mainly because when I think clams, I usually think steamers, which is generally an appetizer. This clam recipe, the way I have it described and portioned, is more like a meal, but the choice is obviously yours. As when cooking steamers, it’s vital to soak the clams under cold running water to properly get the sand out of them. Nobody wants gritty clams. This recipe is for 5 pounds of clams, portioned into 4 foil packs, which is why I say this seems like more of a meal than an app. If you prefer this as an app like me, you can make smaller packets if you are feeding more than 4, or just have 2 people split each packet. The soaking and prepping of the clams will take you a half hour or a little more and cooking time is maybe 10 minutes

Grilled Clams with a Garlic Parmesan Butter

5 lbs. littleneck clams 1 ½ sticks of salted butter, room temp 1/3 cup parmesan cheese 4 ½ tbsp fresh chopped basil 3 cloves of garlic, minced

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• Carol Lake

continued from page 10

She answers, “My primary inspiration to create comes from a compelling desire to share what I see. My children will tell you jokingly that I was forever exclaiming to ‘look at that beautiful cloud, or bird, or tree’, or whatever happened to be in their line of sight on car trips, even just to the store…often pulling over to watch the way the light played over the landscape.

“To me, noticing and appreciating the profound beauty around us is a way to reaffi rm our place in the world, and to connect to our collective and private spirituality. Seeking out beauty is, for me, a gentle reminder to be grateful, and that all is not darkness in this world, no matter what we hear on the news, or scroll past on our screens. I’ve noticed that the more we seek beauty, the more we fi nd, even in the smallest or most unex-pected places.”

In the future, Carol will be limiting her wedding painting and live-event work as she explores and refi nes her glass and ceramic work. She says, “I’m looking forward to creating unique, large architectural glass pieces for private collectors and businesses, as I adore the way the light plays through the translucent glass and paintings.”

Reach Carol by email (carol@carollakestudios.com) and follow her work at www.carollakestudios.com, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/carollakestudios or TikTok www.tiktok. com/@clakestudios.

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continued from page 12 1 ½ tbsp lemon zest 8 lemon wedges

Place the clams in 1-2 large bowls with cold water and allow to soak for 20-30 minutes. Drain and soak/rinse again for a few minutes to rid the remaining sand from the shells. While soaking, shape four large pieces of heavy-duty foil into a bowl and divide the shells evenly among the 4 foiled bowls. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix the butter, cheese, basil, garlic, and lemon zest with a fork until thoroughly combined. Divide the butter into four equal soft pieces. Place one piece of butter into each of the four packets and then fold the edges of the foil together to seal. If you want to wrap each packet a second time, go for it, especially if the foil isn’t heavy duty. To cook properly, you don’t want any holes or tears to the foil as the idea is for the clams to steam within the foil. Place the foil packets on the grill over high heat and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the clams have opened. You can check by peeking inside one packet but be careful because the steam is going to be extremely hot. Once the clams are cooked, remove the foil packets from the grill and serve with lemon wedges and grilled bread, if desired. These are awesome, but if this butter isn’t your thing, you can use just plain butter in the foil, or make your own version of a compound butter.

So now to the bigger brother of the clam, that being the oyster. If you wanted to, this could easily be done in a similar fashion to the littlenecks, but a different approach is a good idea I believe. For those experienced in preparing oysters, it’s no mystery that the biggest obstacle is to pry the shells apart. The oysters’ jaws are as strong as those on a pit bull. Unless you are a professional shucker, it’s no easy task and it can also be quite dangerous as I am one of many that I know who has stuck an oyster knife into his hand before. Not fun! The good news is that there is no need to shuck these oysters as we let the grill do all the work. Besides how tasty they are, the other plus is they don’t need to be rinsed of sand like the clams as oysters are so strong their shells are airtight. They do need to be scrubbed however as they do have a lot of dirt and usually a beard of sorts on the outside. The butter for these is more labor intensive than the last, but still fairly simple. This recipe is for 36 oysters, usually enough for appetizers for 6 of you and you will have these prepped and cooked in a half hour. The butter for this oyster recipe is phenomenal.

Grilled Oysters with Spiced Tequila Butter

½ tsp fennel seeds ¼ tsp crushed red pepper 1 stick unsalted butter ¼ cup of small to medium sage leaves, plus 36 small leaves for garnish 1 tsp dried oregano 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 2 tbsp tequila

Kosher salt

Rock salt 3 dozen medium oysters, scrubbed well

In a skillet, toast the fennel seeds and crushed red pepper over moderate heat until fragrant, 1 minute. Transfer to a mortar and let cool completely. With a pestle, grind the spices to a course powder and transfer to a bowl. In the same skillet, cook 3 ½ tbsp of the butter over moderate heat until it starts to brown, 2 minutes. Add the ¼ cup of sage and cook, turning once, until crisp, 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the sage to a plate. Pour the browned butter into the bowl with the spices. Repeat with the remaining butter and the 36 sage leaves. Reserve the leaves for garnish. Add the fi rst batch of fried sage leaves to the mortar and crush them with the pestle. Add the crushed sage to the butter along with the oregano, lemon juice and tequila and season with salt. Keep warm. Light your grill. Line a platter with rock salt. Grill the oysters, fl at side up, over high heat until they open, usually about 2 minutes. Discard the fl at top shell and place the oysters on the rock salt, open side up, being careful not to spill their juices. Spoon the warm tequila butter over the oysters, garnish each one with a crisp sage leaf and start slurping them down.

I would be most defi nitely remiss to throw some great summer grilling app’s your way without adding what is arguably my favorite type of eating ever, and that is chicken wings. I have never met a wing I didn’t like, and this is a great one from the book of recipes. In my humble opinion, the best wings are the ones that combine sweet and spicy, and this batch fi ts the bill. If you read my articles off and on, you may know that my method of grilling wings may be a little different than most, but trust me, this process I use is incredible regardless of the sauce used. I have delegated a specifi c large plastic container, such as a large Tupperware sort of thing, for ALL my wing grilling. Most sauces will permanently stain any plastic container, which is why I use the same one for all marinades. Once washed, it’s all the same, so why stain a bunch of Tupperware containers, right? I have been using the same one for years and believe me, it’s not even close to being the see-thru container it used to be. The secret when grilling

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