CM

Memorial Day is the week that kicks us into Summer gear and cooking/dining in the great outdoors. Here in New England we wait through what seems an endless Winter before we can get back out there.

I don't know about you, but when the sun comes out and I've got my lawn furniture set up and the grill is ready for another season, the last thing I want to do is head into the kitchen to cook. So this week, I'm making up foil packets of various barbecue-friendly meats and stacking them up in the freezer for impromptu grilling sessions.

When you freeze them before they have much of a chance to marinade, they're just right after a few days in the freezer. For freezer marinades, I reduce the vinegar/acidic/soy component and increase the oil slightly over the average ratio.

Glazed sweet pork ribs, pork sausages marinated in red sauce or molasses/honey/duck sauce, pork cubes in honey bbq sauce, chicken breast in lemon/oil/ginger marinade, beef strips in teriyaki sauce and chicken wings in a thinned out buffalo wing sauce (add half sauce/half tomato sauce) are all good candidates for packets!

And the night before, a simple potato or pasta salad can be made up to accompany the main dish. Or scrub baby potatoes with coarse kosher salt under cold water to roughen up the skin (no need to peel), then rub with olive oil. Wrap in buttered foil and tuck in a sprig of rosemary. 1 inch thick onion slices dipped in olive oil and sprinkled with onion powder make another great touch. (Be sure to grill them by the indirect method).

Another complete meal foil packet I make occasionally is kielbasa chunks in baked beans with lots of thinly sliced onions (all in one packet). For extra flavor, you can even add a strip of bacon to each packet (an idea that also works with chicken breasts).

To top it all off, I brush corn cobs with a mixture of melted butter and olive oil, then wrap with foil and put it to the back of the grill until tender. Whole red peppers or green Italian or Cubanelle peppers rubbed in olive oil are pretty on the grill and become much sweeter when tender. And I will be making some grilled jalapeno poppers, too!

My grill is close by to my kitchen herb garden. I like to pick chives, rosemary, basil, parsley and green onions and toss onto chops and steaks as they grill, or wrap them up in the foil. You can dip them in water or spray them with a little oil first to keep them from drying out, but when they do, just crumble them on as seasoning.

I have a pizza stone that I put on the grill for flatbreads and pizza, too, if I have a little extra time. And I'd like to do a little bit of mesquite smoking, too, if the weather cooperates. Maybe a brisket, a flank steak or a pork loin. Can't wait for Summer!