“It feels like summer was here just a minute ago,” LeeLee lamented as we bundled up in long sleeves to head outside for tonight’s cookout. Even with pullovers and flannel shirts, we were still chilly as we embarked on our weekly “read while the meal cooks” date in the back yard. It won’t be long now till we fire up the smoker for the first time this season!
But in the meantime, we poured several dozen charcoal briquettes into our trusty red grill and proceeded with yet another summertime-style cookout! Tonight the Match Light wouldn’t, well, light right away, but a couple of paper towel balls soon sorted things out and the next thing we knew, it was time to cook.
I prepped all of the dishes prior to cooking out, so by the time the coals were heated, we were ready for business. Tonight was a two-grill-pan sort of night – first, I placed the slices from two delicata squashes (from our friends at Great Country Farms, of course), cut into half-moons, into one disposable pie pan and tossed them with olive oil and a hint of cherry pepper/cinnamon seasoning. Next, for the other pie pan, I diced a yellow zucchini (also from GCF), tossed it with some cherry tomatoes, and added a pat of butter and some salt, pepper, and onion powder. I covered both pans with foil and put them on the grill once the coals had died down!
Each of the squash pans cooked for about half an hour in total – I took the foil off the zucchini with 10 minutes to go in the cooking process and added some cheddar cheese and bread crumbs to the top, making it a true-blue zucchini bake. After that, I placed four Tofurky Italian sausage links onto the grill as well and let them heat through, which took about 10 minutes.
Once the sausages were hot and slightly crispy on the outside, I took them up, threw two hot-dog buns on in their stead, and then removed both pie pans from the grill. The buns didn’t take but a minute to heat up, and before we knew it we’d trundled back inside to eat! (It was just too cool to comfortably eat outside tonight! The end of a summertime era. Sigh.)
I don’t mind telling you, we mowed down our food tonight as though we were in the 400-meter dash. We both took care of an Italian sausage apiece and all of the zucchini between us, and we made a goodly dent in the delicata squash. Finally, to round out the meal, we each enjoyed several helpings of some pickled beets, purchased this weekend from our friends at No. 1 Sons. What could be better?
I’m pleased to know that we’ve got two sausages left for lunch tomorrow, plus enough delicata slices to pull us through the tough times of a normal Monday. If only we had some more zucchini bake, as well! But alas, we just weren’t planning that far ahead.
:)