Playing with my food

Though it isn't officially summer yet, I've felt like summer cooking. To me that means my bbq.

I love my bbq. It's big, it can hold alot of food and let me do a variety of things on different heats all at the same time. And I haven't even hooked up my rotiserie yet!

Saturday saw me outside with my bbq, grilling up our meal. Dry rubbed beef ribs with vegetable kabobs, marinated in a red pepper and parmesan dressing. Mmmmmm.

All the wonderfully grilled vegetables had me thinking though - salad. Couscous salad with left over grilled mushrooms, zucchini, red onions and red and yellow cherry tomatoes. A touch of feta cheese crumbled over it, a sprinkle of olive oil and salt. Sounds like my Monday lunch is planned!

Or would have been. But the vegetables were just too good for left overs. (I should have known better - one of my husband's favorite meals out was from a restaurant in Georgetown, Maine, Robinhood Meeting House, consisting of a plate of grilled vegetables, a sauce at the side for dipping.)

I still had both kinds of tomatoes left, and part of a red onion. Corn would work well with that, plus the children would eat the corn on the cobb that would be left over. Now to play with flavors. A bit of basil and chives from my front garden. Touch of olive oil, a little salt, a little pepper. Something missing. A vinegar, maybe rice wine vinegar. No, balsamic. Mmmmm tasty!

Sometimes I am surprised at what inspires me to make something different. The grill marks on a couple of ordinary vegetables set me on a path to find a summer time salad that would satisfy my lunch time cravings for something fresh and vibrant. I'm glad I decided to follow that path.