By the end of this summer, I will be able to write a book on how to cook exclusively outside.
As I’ve mentioned, probably too often, I live in Texas, where it is currently HOT. My house is small, but tragically under-cooled in the summer, so when I turn on the stove or oven, it gets too stuffy to manage—and I move the kitchen outside.
For the last few years, I’ve only had a charcoal grill, because I believe the general consensus in the grilling universe is that charcoal is better than gas, and I am a rule follower. But this year, we invested in a gas grill because, cool or not, charcoal is just not an efficient way to grill nightly. It’s a big process, and one we just weren’t committed to on most weeknights.
Now that we have a gas grill, we are using it literally every night, and I have started exploring cooking inside recipes outside.
It’s going great.
I’m coming to realize that I can cook literally anything on a grill if I think of it as an outdoor stove and oven all-in-one, which expands my summer dinner repertoire beyond grilled veggies and steaks. We don’t need special tools to cook on a grill, despite what the folks at fancy cooking stores have made us think all of these years. We just need cast-iron or stainless steel pots and pans (the grill can get too hot for most non-stick) and an adventurous spirit.
That’s why this week, when my husband asked for roasted sausage and broccoli (a la this recipe) over pasta, I said, “Light the grill!” I used my stainless roasting pan for the veggies and sausage and my usual pasta-boiling pot. Nothing ever touched the grill directly, but we were still grilling!
Because I was replicating the heat of the oven, I kept the lid closed and the heat cranked to medium-high. The thermometer on my grill indicated that we were cooking at about 400°F for most of the time, which was just right. My veggies and sausage cooked evenly and browned nicely, and actually in less time than they would usually take in the oven.
Here’s what I used to make about 5 servings:
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 heads broccoli, florets trimmed and stems thinly sliced
- 1 lb bulk Italian sausage or links, removed from casings
For serving:
- 1 lb pasta, optional – we used capellini (the broccoli mix has enough sauce to coat the pasta). You can serve this with pasta like we did, if you like, or grains, toasted bread, roasted potatoes, or just a green salad on the side.
Directions
- Preheat a grill to medium high (about 400°F).
- In a large bowl, combine the garlic, mustard, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then mix to combine.
- Add the broccoli and toss to coat. Transfer the broccoli to a roasting pan. Drop pieces of sausage, about 2 tbsp each, onto the broccoli, nestling it in and around the florets.
- Place the roasting pan directly on the grill grates and close the lid. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is tender and browned and the sausage is cooked through, about 25 minutes.
- Toss the mixture with cooked pasta, if using.
- Your grill might get hotter than your stove or oven would, so keep an eye on whatever you’re cooking and adjust the heat, as needed. If your grill has levels, take advantage of your ability to move delicate items away from the heat source.
- Never put glass on the grill. Only use cast-iron or stainless steel pans that are suitable for high-heat cooking.
- You can sauté on your grill, so don't be afraid to create a quick pan sauce to go alongside your more traditional grilled items.
- I bought a few disposable aluminum trays in assorted sizes, which, if you treat them right, don’t have to be single-use. I pull them out when I need to save space on the grill (the loaf pan size comes in handy) or don’t have a grill-safe pan to suit my needs.
- Posted by Laura, DISH editor