Friends, customers and grilling enthusiasts,

Welcome to the new issue of Hot Off the Grill! In this issue we are sharing the first in a series of holiday grilling menus from Michael Chiarello.

We created Hot Off the Grill! in order to share content that helps you maximize the joy and satisfaction of your outdoor grilling and entertaining experience. Thank you for your warm response to previous issues; please keep your stories, suggestions, and comments coming to hotg@kalamazoogourmet.com.

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May, 2006
Inside This Issue...

Master Grilling

Grilling the Perfect Seared Tuna

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Check Out the Updated KalamazooGourmet.com

Updated Recipes Section

We've put more recipes online in our Recipes & Tips section, including consolidating all our past newsletter recipes into a searchable recipes database.

New recipe highlights include a Grilled Pineapple, Macadamia Nut & Dark Chocolate dessert as well as a Grilled Peach & Goat Cheese Bruschetta appetizer.

Guides for Perfect Grilling

With such great response to our perfect grilling guides in past issues of Hot Off The Grill!, we decided to gather all our Master Grilling Guides into a new sub-section of the website under Recipes & Tips.

Our newest guide, Grilling the Perfect Seared Tuna, is also featured in this newsletter.

If you have any recipes or grilling tips you would like to share with fellow grilling enthusiasts, please email them to hotg@kalamazoogourmet.com.

A Steven Raichlen Favorite

Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet's Revolutionary Dual-Fuel Hybrid Grill Technology

The June 2006 issue of Food & Wine Magazine is about to hit newsstands. In it, Steven Raichlen picks our Bread Breaker™ Two Dual-Fuel Grill to his top seven list. We had the pleasure of grilling with him on one, and he recommended it based on its outstanding overall cooking performance and its ability to cook with charcoal, hardwood and gas — switching seamlessly between any combination of grilling fuels.

The Bread Breaker™ Two Dual-Fuel Grill features 154,000 BTUs of total cooking power, a massive 864 square inch main cooking surface, side by side gourmet hybrid grilling system drawers, and all the advantages of a Kalamazoo grill.

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Memorial Day Grill Menu from Michael Chiarello

Chef Michael Chiarello of NapaStyle and Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello fame has created a signature Memorial Day Grilling Menu for Kalamazoo Outdoor gourmet to share. These are dishes he likes to serve off his own Kalamazoo Steadfast® Two Plus Smoker Box. Delight your guests with this easy-to-prepare menu: Stuffed Roasted Garlic Paste and Blue Cheese Hamburgers Green Goddess Dressing over Iceberg Wedges Chocolate Panini Michael will also be sharing menus for your Fourth of July and Father's Day barbecues in coming issues of Hot Off the Grill! Back to top

Stuffed Roasted Garlic Paste and Blue Cheese Hamburgers

Directions:
Preheat the grill. In a bowl, mix the meat. Form 4 (3-ounce patties) by using a scoop. Push them down and make little indentations in the middle to hold the flavors. Place a teaspoon of garlic paste in the middle of each patty and add a little chunk of blue cheese tucked right on top of the garlic paste. Add a good twist of black pepper. Take another 3 ounce scoop of meat, make it flat in your hand and place right on top of the other half.

Take your fingers and just seal the 2 patties up and refrigerate until you are ready to grill.

Meanwhile: Split the pieces of bread, and pull out some of the soft center to make a hole for the burger. Place the bread face down on the grill to toast.

Place the burger in the bread, and top with your favorite condiments.

Roasted Garlic Paste

For me, this is a kitchen staple. If you like, you can draw off part of the oil remaining in the baking dish after roasting the garlic to use separately as a flavored oil.

Directions:
Preheat the grill for 350 degree indirect cooking, or preheat the oven to 375 F. Peel the outermost layers of skin off the heads of garlic. Cut off the top one-third of the heads to open the cloves. Save the small pieces of garlic for another use (see Chef's Note). Put the heads, cut sides up, in a small baking dish and pour the olive oil over them. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover tightly and roast until about three-fourths cooked, about 45 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking until the cloves begin to pop out of their skins and brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

When cool enough to handle easily, squeeze the roasted garlic into a small bowl. Press against the skins very well to get out all the sweet roasted garlic you can. Add the oil from the baking dish and mix well until a paste forms. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.

Chef's Note: It is hard to have too much roasted garlic around. You can roast the little bits from the tips of the garlic heads. Put them in a separate small baking container, such as an individual custard cup. Season with salt and pepper, douse with olive oil, cover, and bake along with the whole garlic heads. Depending on their size, they will be soft and browned in about half the time needed for the whole heads. The little pieces make a good "cook's snack" while preparing dinner, or can be squeezed into tomato sauce or onto pasta.

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Green Goddess Dressing over Iceberg Wedges

Author:	Michael Chiarello
Servings:	5
Ingredients:	2 medium avocados, pitted, peeled, grilled and chopped into cubes
	2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
	1 tablespoon roughly chopped basil leaves
	1 tablespoon roughly chopped tarragon leaves
	1 clove garlic, minced
	1/8 teaspoon asorbic acid or Vitamin C
	1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
	Grey salt
	Freshly ground black pepper
	1 head iceberg lettuce cut into 5 wedges

Directions:
In a food processor, combine avocado cubes, lemon or lime juice, basil, tarragon, garlic, and asorbic acid. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in olive oil to make a thick, creamy dressing. If dressing is too thick to pour, add water, a few tablespoons at a time, to reach the desired consistency. Pour into a bowl, season, to taste, with salt and pepper and cover. Refrigerate until chilled.

To serve, pour dressing over iceberg wedges.

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Chocolate Panini

Directions:
Preheat grill to medium heat. Butter 1 side of each bread slice, then put 4 slices, buttered side down, on a work surface. Top each with chocolate evenly distributed. Top chocolate with second slice of bread, buttered side up. Sprinkle both sides with cinnamon. Grill on both sides, about 3 to 5 minutes each. Serve warm, with creme fraiche on the side.

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Master Grilling

Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet's Guide to Perfect Grilling: Seared Tuna

How do I do seared tuna?" We get this question a fair amount from our customers who own models with infrared searing burners. The answer is to buy the right quality and size cut of fish, and not to sear it too long. The following instructions are primarily for sushi lovers, and patio chefs with searing burners on their grills. Note: Hybrid model Dual-Fuel grills also work well for searing. Use hardwood charcoal chunks and do the searing while the coals are at peak-heat and with your gas burners on high. The coals are at peak heat right as they begin to ash over. Visit the techniques section of our website for more information on searing techniques.

Step One: Fresh Tuna Selection
We have the best luck with fresh Ahi or Yellowfin tuna, and we recommend using sushi-quality fish. Even then, a good question to ask is, "When was the tuna cut?" Any response greater than a few hours ago makes us hesitate to prepare tuna in this raw-in-the-center fashion.

Select pieces of tuna at least 1-1/4" thick and weighing at least half a pound each. Thicker is better.

Grill the tuna the same day you buy it. Also, have wasabi or wasabi powder and your favorite soy sauce on hand. If you can find it, and you like spicy food, also get some togarashi pepper blend spice.

Step Two: Preparing the Tuna
Rinse the tuna under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Rub down each piece of tuna lightly with olive oil on all sides, then coat with sesame seeds. Add an optional dusting of togarashi pepper blend.

Let the tuna come up to room temperature before grilling. Keep lightly covered with plastic wrap.

Before grilling, prepare wasabi and soy sauce so that it is ready to serve. We keep wasabi powder in our kitchens, mixing it with water in a small bowl and then stirring in soy sauce before serving (even though this "wasabi soup" is bad sushi etiquette).

Step Three: Searing the Tuna
Clean your searing surface and bring your searing burner up to temperature. The searing surface should be at least 800 degrees before the tuna goes on.

For 1-1/4" tuna, sear each side for 1 minute. For thicker cuts, sear each side for 1-1/2 minutes. Turn the tuna only once, and use grill tongs to avoid losing all the sesame seeds and spices.

Step Four: Serving the Tuna
Use a very sharp knife to slice the tuna thinly, no more than 1/4-inch thick. Sashimi knives are concave on the side to help keep the fish from sticking to the blade. A santoku knife is a good alternative.

Fan the slices of tuna on plates for presentation and serve with soy sauce for dipping and wasabi.

Suggestions
Serve seared tuna as an appetizer or as a main course. If you are experienced in making sushi, try using the seared tuna for pieces of nigiri or draped over maki.

Look for more in our series of "Guide to Perfect Grilling" articles in future issues of Hot Off The Grill!

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We Want to Hear from You

As we continue our efforts to help our readers maximize the joy and satisfaction of their outdoor grilling and entertaining experience, we would love to know what you think:

• Share with us your favorite grilling recipes or outdoor gourmet entertaining tips
• Provide us with pictures of your grill or grill setting
• Tell us what you like most about your Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet product
• Tell us which product features you would like to see added to or improved on our products
• Let us know if there are any services Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet should offer

Feel free to drop us a line at hotg@kalamazoogourmet.com with your thoughts on any of the above, or just to say hello.

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