Grilled Asian Chicken - Looks Good, and Almost Simple Enough to Consider

BBQ & Grilling
allrecipes.com

That link is to the home page. They've got information about sauces, marinades, and rubs; appetizers; beef; burgers; chicken; desserts; lamb; pork; seafood; side Dishes; skewers and kabobs; smoked; even vegetarian. All "-grilling" I presume.

There's also a "Today's Recipe" - today it's "Grilled Asian Chicken."

The recipe calls for soy sauce, which is a deal-killer for this family: I can eat it, but others can't. Also sesame oil, honey, ginger root, crushed cloves of garlic - two of them - so you know it's going to taste good, and - finally - chicken breasts.

They claim it only takes 15 minutes of preparation - which seems about right.

Given my family's dietary limitations, I doubt we'll try it - but this is close to being simple enough for me to grill.

As I've written before: I appreciate and applaud people who toil over fancy dishes. But I can't see me doing that. There's too much good taste in simple, well-grilled foods.

Okra, "they feel like bug eggs" and an Delicious-Sounding Recipe

"Grilled Okra With Tomato Vinaigrette"
The Washington Post (September 14, 2009)

"Green Spring Gardens assistant director Cindy Brown loves fried okra. 'It isn’t summer until I fry a big batch and my son and I burn our mouths as we eat them straight out of the pan,' she says. 'My husband never joins in the annual ritual because he thinks okra is slimy, and he hates the little tapioca-like seeds. I love the way they pop in my mouth. He thinks they feel like bug eggs.

" 'Well, my son is at college, and my husband and I are trying to lose weight, so no fried okra for dinner tonight...'...."

Any time that "feel like bug eggs" is used to describe food, the odds are pretty good that it's not on my 'top ten' list of favorites.

I don't know what I think about okra: I've never, to my knowledge, eaten any. And, since I can't remember eating something that felt like bug eggs, I probably haven't even had okra operating under an assumed identity.

"...like little bug eggs?!"

Princeton's WordNet defines okra as (among other things) "long green edible beaked pods of the okra plant" - also, in the context of gumbo, "long mucilaginous green pods; may be simmered or sauteed but used especially in soups and stews".

Okay: it says they're edible; and I believe it. Human beings have been described as opportunistic omnivores. There's precious little on this planet that we can't eat. In a way we're the opposite of Koalas, with their dependence on eucalyptus leaves.

On the other hand, just because we can eat something and live to tell: that doesn't mean that I'm particularly fond of everything that's "edible."

Let's see what happened to the the lady, the okra, and her husband:

"...'grilling okra reduces the calories and the sliminess. I haven’t converted my husband to an okra lover, but at least he didn’t make a face when he ate it.'..."

Wouldn't you know it: grilling not only is less calorific than frying (shazam!), but it de-slimes okra. To a certain extent.

This household isn't likely to try okra any time soon - but if we do, I'll recommend grilling those little bug eggs.

Yeah, There's a Recipe in That Okra Article

I took a quick look at the recipe in that Washington Post article. Okra or not, the ingredients had me getting hungry. Not the best situation for someone who's trying to lose weight - so you'll have to read it on your own.

Steaks and Philosophy

As I posted earlier in another blog (Through One Dad's Eye (September 15, 2009)), yesterday my wife asked me if I'd like to grill steak for supper.

That was a welcome question, after a grill-less weekend.

It took me about 25 minutes to finish the steaks - flipping them three times to get that crisscross pattern. I like the pattern: but it also helps me keep track of how many times the meat's been on that side.

The steaks were tender - probably as much due to the selection of meat, as to what happened on the grill.

'And What This Teaches Us Is - - -'

Grilling burgers and steaks is a socially-acceptable way to 'play with your food.'