Ham Sandwich Indicted!

It's the first of February, but yesterday it was fifty-some degrees and sunny.  With weather that nice in mid-winter, in Ohio, there's only one thing to do: fire up the grill.  My freezer had a complete dearth of grillable items, however, but thankfully,  The Greener Grocer at the North Market has this great thing called the Weekly Fresh Market Bag .  It's essentially a mini-CSA, and they offer a summer and winter season, with seasonal, if not local produce, grains, and cheeses.  I don't have a WFMB myself, but am lucky enough to have a boyfriend that does, and is willing to share. Since this week's bag had (among other things) kale, shiitake mushrooms, and fingerling potatoes in it, we decided to throw an impromptu grilled, winter veggie pizza party. Topped with a variety of cheeses pulled out of my fridge (fontina, goat, and Parmesan) and infused with the smoke from a super-hot grill, it made for a delightful taste of winter with the slightest hint of...

With almost every issue of Bon Appetit or Saveur that I get, there's always at least one recipe that catches my eye and holds on with an obsessive make-me-right-now quality that doesn't abate until I, in fact, drop all other plans I may have had and set to work.  Last month's Bon Appetit had an article on grilled lobster paella , and before I even finished the story I was already mentally calculating what ingredients I had in my pantry.  I managed to hold off on firing up the grill until a Friday evening, when I was able to wrangle up some friends to come eat it all.  The great thing about paella--especially on the grill--is that you can prep everything before hand, and just add to the pans while you sip cocktails on the patio with your guests.  It doesn't require a great deal of careful attention, in fact, you eventually want to stop touching the paella altogether and let the rice at the bottom of the dish crisp up and caramelize into th...

Not to brag or anything, but I've been incredibly lucky enough to find a completely awesome boyfriend who loves to cook (and eat!) as much as I do. At least one or two evenings a week, we get together and make a dinner that can range from a tomatillo and chicken soup to a potato and chickpea curry. Recipes usually start with the random ingredients we have on hand, and then cookbooks and websites are scoured for inspiration and ideas. Sometimes, however, a simple meat well seasoned and grilled is really all we need, and we recently made what we both agreed was "the best" chicken dinner we've made to date. Roast chicken is one of those dishes that can be pure, juicy heaven when done well, or a tasteless, dry hell if not. The chicken above (and below), was definitely the former. This particular (whole) chicken was purchased at Whole Foods, split in half, and brined for several hours. Then, with some help from the awesome, spice-geniuses at Penzey's, The Grillmaster ...