Fire Up The Grill and Let's EAT! Potato Packets & Marinated Veggies

Singing:  "Oh the weather outside is beautiful and the sun is so delightful."  Here in the Southwest of Arizona spring has sprung.  We've been in the upper 70's and as high as 92.  Focusing on such beautiful weather our grill has been uncovered and raring to go.  We celebrate anytime our grill is fired up, it's our favorite way to 'eat out'.  The grill a grillin' and sitting outside a eatin', especially with family and friends.

One of our first grilling expeditions of course had Tastefully Simple involved that swept us off our feet.  There were potato packets, wild rice bratwurst basting in the glory with Burger and Brat Mustard, of course, along with some gorgeous marinated veggies.

 

 I think you will love this as much as we did.

Jamie,
Your TS Consultant

Potato Packets

• 4 potatoes (I always use baking potatoes)
• 2 strips bacon
• Onion Onion™ to taste
• Seasoned Salt to taste
• Italian Garlic Bread Seasoning to taste

Preheat the grill. Scrub the potatoes well; slice them about ¼-inch thick, keeping the slices close together as you cut so that you can kind of “fan” them out (see photo for details). Transfer each potato to a piece of heavy-duty foil or a double sheet of regular foil. Cut the bacon in half crosswise; lay a strip over the top of each fanned-out potato. Top with Onion Onion (I’d say about 1 tsp. for a medium baker), Seasoned Salt and a few shakes of Italian Garlic Bread Seasoning. Seal the whole thing up in the foil and place it on the top rack of your grill. The key here is “low and slow” – I made these first and got them on my grill before I prepared anything else. I rotated them about every 15 minutes for about an hour.

Marinated Veggies

The amounts here are extremely flexible, depending on how many you are serving, how much you like grilled veggies, how hungry you are, etc. I’ll give you a basic guide, but this particular recipe is pretty much gonna work no matter what or how much you have in it.
4 cups assorted veggies, cut into chunks

• I used bell peppers and mushrooms this time, but I’ve also made it with broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus (yum!), parboiled potatoes and/or carrots, onions, eggplant, Brussels sprouts … practically any veggie will work.

2-4 Tbsp. Balsamic & Basil Dipping Oil

• Start with 2 Tbsp., then stir everything up and see how it looks. You want a light coating of oil on pretty much everything. Some veggies, like broccoli and cauliflower, have nooks and crannies, so it takes a little more oil to get that nice coating. Honestly, you can just eyeball it.

Scant tsp. Seasoned Salt or to taste

Place veggies in a shallow pan. Drizzle with Balsamic & Basil Dipping Oil Gently toss the veggies to coat; add a little more oil if you need to. Add the Seasoned Salt and stir again. Let marinate for 10 minutes to an hour, stirring a few times so the veggies get good and marinated and the oil doesn’t all stay on the bottom of the pan. Grill in a mesh basket over direct heat a little hotter than low. Let the veggies get nice and browned before you flip them. (Our grill is small, so we did this in two batches.) Cook until the veggies are browned to your liking and tender.






Potato Packets & Marinated Veggies

Testing Notes

For the Potato Packets:

• Preheat the grill while you prep these, and don’t prep them early as the potatoes will discolor (quite unattractively … trust me on this one).
• Try not to cut them too thick, or the cook time will increase and you risk burning the bacon.
• I usually add a very light sprinkling of salt, because I have been known to get a bit heavy handed and over salt them. Remember that bacon and Onion Onion both contain salt.
• Remember, the secret to success is cooking them “low and slow”… and remember to turn them at least a couple of times, or again, you risk burning the bacon.
• This is one of my family’s favorite things in the whole wide world. We have made them many, many times.

For the Marinated Veggies:

• If you like mushrooms, I highly recommend that you include them in your mix … mushrooms are divine when grilled in this marinade. Oh, my stars.
• I cut the veggies in chunks, usually 1-1½ inches. Otherwise it’s difficult to manage them on the grill. I cut denser veggies such as broccoli and cauliflower thin, but not in tiny pieces. Remember that everything will shrink a little on the grill.
• The reason you coat the veggies with the oil first and then add the salt is that the salt will distribute more evenly if the veggies are oiled first.
• Honestly, there is not much more to say. This recipe is so easy and delicious! It’s another family favorite that we make all summer long.

Happy Grillin'

Jamie, Your TS Consultant
www.tastefullysimple.com/web/jvolner