Grill Marks....

When the heat of summer is upon us, and we feel a little less-than-enthusiastic about turning our ovens to a blazing four hundred degrees, creativity has a chance to help us out. How? Well, I decided that on one particularly steamy day, I was going to make the entire meal on one pan....my grill pan! The rules of the game were simple, I  must have a protein, a starch/carbohydrate, and a vegetable. How did I do?  Let's have a look....first, I marinated some beautiful New York strip steaks with grill seasoning, Worcestershire, and steak sauce, overnight.

Then, I got together some ingredients for the veggie kebabs. Cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and a lovely red onion. Feel free to change these around as needed..bell pepper and summer squashes are excellent in this dish, too...

Once again, my pretty-but-versatile appetizer tray became the perfect vessel for soaking the wooden skewers for the veggie kebabs.

I cut the mushrooms in halves or quarters, dependant on their size, chunked the onion & separated the leaves, and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

If you would like to duplicate these wonderful kebabs, get ye these ingredients....

From left to right; kosher salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and, of course, garlic...
Finely mince the garlic, and put 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 Tablespoon Italian seasoning, and 3 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into a bowl with the veggies, and toss...like so..

If the vegetables seem like they are soaking up too much of the marinade, feel free to keep adding dashes of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, until they are nice and saturated. Marinate at room temperature for as long or short of a time as you need!  I have marinated the mixture for as short as 20 minutes, or for hours. Obviously, the longer the better, but you do not strictly have to marinate for a long time.  Let's recap, you've got the steaks marinating in the fridge, the wooden skewers soaking, and the veggie kebab happily marinating by now...

Our one-pan grill supper is moving along just fine! Now our starch, peel four potatoes (for two people, increase as necessary)...

Slice them lengthwise, about 1/4 inch thick, and toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper....

Begin to grill them on your oiled grill pan, in a single layer, over medium to medium-high heat...turning to achieve nice grill marks...

Now, let those cool for a few minutes, then chop into potato-salad sized chunks. Add; 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper, 1 Tablespoon brown mustard, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, some chopped celery, green onion (any type onion will do) and chopped pickles. Sprinkle dried parsley in there as well, about 1 teaspoon. Toss all while those taters are still warm, and set aside.

OK, now bring your steaks out of the fridge, trim off the line of fat down each side, and let them start to come up to room temperature...

Now, remove those wooden skewers and thread your marinated veggies on them, and grill on medium-high heat, turning every now and again, so that they do not burn..

Then, simply slide them off the skewers when the veggies are tender, and on to a serving tray...hmmmmm, now where have we seen this tray before?

Now on to the last, and easiest part of the meal, grill those steaks!  I am not going to  go on about poking or prematurely flipping your steaks, you know better than that. P.S., when you throw mine on, I like it medium-rare! Thank you.  :)

Tent them loosely, to allow all the juices to redistribute, but not so tightly that you are "steaming" the steaks...like this

Well, how did our grill-tacular meal come out?

Absolutely fantastic! I will not hesitate to use the grill for the entire meal again! And....since it is hot, you know of course what dessert was....

What did Kitchen Angel think?  Well, I know it's hot and all.....but, seriously? My scrubby sponge is NOT a pool float, Missy!

Eat well, my friends, and happy Summer grilling! Love and kindness to all,

Pixie