Cooking Creations: Grilling with Sandy

"It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so," wrote William Shakespeare.  Well, I don't know about that.  Hurricane Sandy was unequivocally "bad."  My heart goes out to all of the people who lost their homes, property, and are still struggling.  However, I do think that it is possible to find pockets of joy in even the most horrific situations.  The following blogpost is not to make light of a dark situation.  Rather, it is to find light in a dark situation.

Dear Top Chef Producers,
I have a great idea for an upcoming elimination challenge!  Contestants will be forced to create a delicious dinner without the use of power.  No ovens.  No microwaves.  No appliances.  And no light to see with!  As for ingredients, they will be limited to small quanitities of whatever protein and vegetables are still fresh in a distant grocery store.  They will also have a small amounts of non-perishable and unrefrigerated items like cooking oil and vinegars.  Oh, and as an added bonus, the water supply is compromised so any food washing must be done with bottled water and paper towels.  This might seem ridiculous, but I assure you, it can be done!  And it actually can be a lot of fun....

Hurricane Sandy uprooted me from my apartment and back to my childhood home with my parents.  I moved relatively recently, and it's been a long time since I've cooked up a meal for the three of us and we sat down together at the table.  There was a time when I did that every evening, and that's probably the thing I miss most since venturing out on my own.  As devastating as Sandy was, it gave us an opportunity to resurrect this family tradition.  Well, sort of.  This time had to do it without power or a steady food supply.

I'm obsessed with grilling, so I figured I could do my cooking on our little charcoal Webber.  A few phone calls revealed that a grocery market on the other side of town had mantained power and still had some groceries to sell.  I drove past downed trees, wires, and took a few detours to see what I could find.  I wound up with just over a pound of chicken breasts, 3 beefsteak tomatoes, 2 green zucchinis, and fresh basil.  There were other choices available, but that was the combination that spoke to me.  I knew that I couldn't buy much because I couldn't refrigerate anything, but I also wanted a few items that would fit nicely together.

As soon as I saw my produce selections, I thought, "Deconstructed ratatouille!"  I blame Mike Isabella and Brian Voltagio for the "deconstruction" component.  Moments before the power went down, my Dad and I had been watching the past episode of Top Chef where they win with a deconstructed Bernaise Sauce.  As for the ratatoille, I guess the dish pretty much originated from times like this.  The humble, "peasant" dish came from people having to make deliciousness from what they had.

The view from the deck... and the fence that fell over

I decided to make my version of ratatouille on skewers that I could then roast on the grill.  I soaked the basil leaves, cut the tomatoes into wedges, and cut the zucchini into slices.  I marinated the vegetables in a large ziploc bag with equal parts balsamic vinegar and red wine (2 tbsp of each).  Once they marinated for about a half hour, I threaded a wedge, a slice, and whole leaf on the skewer, repeating until the stick was full. I prepared the chicken relatively simply.  I sprinkled it with lemon zest, pepper, salt, and garlic powder.  I then marinated in it in a touch of balsamic and red wine.  The lemon zest was meant to enhance some of the citrus notes I smelled in the wine.

I did all of that in the dark. There was a bit of light coming in from outside and I had fashioned my small flashlight in a way that provided a small stream of light, though.

Side note: I should mention that we don't have many oils/vinegars here any more. My parents are in the process of moving, so they've been throwing out kitchen items. And I'll be honest... I took most of our ingredients (spices, vinegars, etc) to my own apartment. They were mine, after all; I do the cooking :).  Fortunately, the Balsamic vinegar was on hand and as soon as the storm reports started coming in I made sure there was plenty of red wine in the house!

The grilling itself was more difficult than expected due to the lack of light.  Note to self: should this happen again, I should probably start grilling before 6pm and before the sun sets for the night!!  Fortunately, my mom located a larger flashlight that she strategically shone on me as I worked.  Also, everything takes longer to cook when it's cold and windy.  Should you ever attempt this, expect your chicken to go about 10 minutes a side rather than 5-6.

It all turned out delicious though!!  The chicken reminded us all of steak; very moist and tender.  I don't like the local Grade A for much, but I will say that their store brand chicken breast always delivers on the grill.  I'll also take a little credit for it, though.  As I've mentioned before, I'm pretty sure I have chicken on the grill ESP.  Cooking time always vary, but for some reason I can put it on the grill, walk away, start doing other things (in this case reading the paper), and then suddenly look up and decide like I feel it's ready.  And that sense has never been wrong.  This doesn't work for anything else... just chicken breast, just on the grill.  Weird.  And the deconstructed ratatouille was fun too!  We all enjoyed the whole basil leaves.  Since they'd been skewered whole, they roasted up nicely.  On the other hand, they still broke apart or were cut apart as we ate through the dish.

Alright, Top Cheftestants, your challenge starts... NOW!