The Next Bobby Flay

Guess who has a new grill...

I'll give you a hint:

Yep, thanks to Bill & Sue, we are now the proud owners of a grill!  This was an early birthday present to Patrick/anniversary gift that we picked up right before moving to Evanston.

Since then, we've been anxious to test it out, but between unpacking, a trip to Uruguay, and a crazy orientation week at Kellogg, we just got around to assembling it this past week.

And it's a beauty.  We're (I'm) still trying to come up with a good name for it.  Maybe Roger?  Or something that starts with a G?  I'm open to suggestions.

Also, a huge shout-out to Susan, Adam, & Claire Bear for gifting Patrick a fancy new grill set to go along with our new grill.

For the inaugural meal, we decided on burgers.  What better way to put our new grill to good use?  Without realizing it, however, the burgers I bought from the store were super thin (think McDonalds thin), and so we decided to make it a double instead.  I substituted one of the patties for a veggie burger, which I definitely recommend.

We also grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms to sit atop our masterpieces.

The next day, we grilled some chicken breasts for dinner (marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, lemon zest, sugar, garlic cloves, jalapeño, and oil) and topped it with some Mango Salsa.

It was accompanied by some grilled whole-wheat baguette slices, simply drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

A quick word about this mango salsa:  YOU MUST TRY IT.

I'm including the recipe below so that you can do just that.

MANGO SALSA
Servings: ~4

2 Mangoes, diced
2 Plum Tomatoes, diced
2 Avocados, diced
1 Shallot, thinly sliced (or 1/4 Red Onion finely diced)
2 tablespoons Cilantro, roughly chopped
1 Jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)
1 Garlic Clove, finely minced (optional)
Juice of 1 Lime or Lemon
Salt + Pepper to taste

-Combine all ingredients.

Eat on top of fish, chicken, carnitas, shrimp, or simply dig in with tortilla chips.

Any recommendations for our next grilling endeavor?  Maybe pizza, beer-can chicken, or Korean Ribs?  Also open to suggestions!

Happy eating :)

oo,