Garden Kebobs

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 6 as a side dish
Ingredients:

* 2 ears corn-on-the-cob, husked and cut into 3 pieces each
* 3 small zucchini, each cut into 4 pieces
* 1 large onion, cut into 12 wedges
* 12 large fresh mushroom caps
* 2 bell peppers, cut into 2-inch pieces
* 6 cherry tomatoes
* Baste:
* 1/2 cup butter, melted
* 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh chives, chopped
* 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh dill weed, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
* 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Preparation:
Preheat grill and prepare for indirect grilling. Boil corn for about 5 to 8 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool enough to handle. Place vegetables on kebabs alternating between vegetables. Stir together baste ingredients and brush over kebabs. Place kebabs on hot grill over the unlit part. Grill for 10 to 15 minutes or until vegetables are cooked. Brush occasionally with baste.

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Grilled Pizza

Grilled pizza. What's there to say about it but that it's pretty awesome and that, yes, you can grill a pizza. It's much more fun and interesting that that other stuff you're thinking about grilling. Burgers? Hot dogs? Steak? Hmmph. Don't you do those every year? And anyway, even if you still want to grill that boring run-of-the-mill stuff, you have three days this Memorial Day weekend, so shake it up, homie.

So here's my quickie guide to doing grilled pizza. It's not a step-by-step, hold-your-hand guide—because I don't think doing grilled pizza is that difficult. Are you going to get it right the first time? Maybe. But it takes some practice. So, to get you started, here's what you'll need, along with some helpful tips and links to some good recipes.
What You'll Need

So you're probably askin': What do I need to grill a pizza? That's not an altogether unreasonable inquiry. Get your answer after the jump.

* A grill: Duh. Charcoal or gas will work. If you're a beginner, gas is much easier because you can regulate the temperature. Coal is fine, too, but you have to be on top of things to keep your fire at the right temperature
* A grill with a clean grate: You don't want your dough to stick, right?
* Pizza peels: You'll need at least two. Ideally, you'd get one wooden peel to build pies on and one metal peel to remove them from the grill. Myself, I use wooden peels for both. It's not like the peel is coming into contact with the grill for any significant amount of time (and if you've done things right, the pizza should come release from the grate easily). If your'e going to get serious about grilling pizza, you should pick up a total of three peels—either three wooden or two wooden and one metal
* Grilling tongs: If you're using wooden peels, these can assist you in flipping the pizza; use them to grasp the dough by the edge and slide it onto the peel for flipping. They're not 100 percent necessary if you have the metal peel, which you can use as a humongoid spatula
* Swiftness and attentiveness: The dough cooks quickly. You need an eagle eye and lightning reflexes to flip it at the proper moment
* Dough: Try your local mom-and-pop pizzeria and see if they'll sell you some dough. Your grocery store may have pizza dough, too. Or, you could always make it yourself. I recommend this recipe; but start it tonight when you get home; it requires at least 24 hours in the fridge
* Sauce: Easiest is a store-bought sauce that you like. You can also make a quick sauce by following this recipe (but just omit the lemon zest)
* Prepped toppings: Get your toppings organized and within easy reach. Once you flip the dough, you need to top it quickly because you don't have much wiggle room as far as cooking time goes. If you want any meats that need to be cooked, do so beforehand; on-grill time is too short to allow for cooking all the way through
* Finely sliced or grated cheese: This should be in "toppings" above, but I wanted to call this out in a separate line. Make sure to finely grate or slice your cheese so it melts faster
* Plenty of olive oil, a wide-mouth container, a pastry brush: You'll need lots of olive oil it to brush the dough to keep it from sticking to the grill. Pour it in a mason jar so you have easy access to it. Use the pastry brush to apply it

Preheating the Grill

Once you have all the tools and your topping prep work done, light your grill.

Gas: If you're using gas, preheat to medium. Done.

Coals: They're a bit trickier. Before you light them, pour enough in the grill to completely cover the bottom; then stack that amount in a pyramid for lighting or load it into a starter chimney. Light it and let it go till the coals are uniformly covered in gray ash. At that point, spread them around evenly. You'll want to cook over a moderately hot fire. To test this, hold your hand about 4 inches over the coals. It's moderately hot if you can keep your hand there for no longer than 3 seconds.

Going for It

Strech out your dough on a lightly floured pizza peel so that it's about 1/8-inch thick. At this point, brush olive oil generously over the dough with the pastry brush. Now slap that thing on the grill. Here you're going to have to use some skill. I slap it on the grill by quickly flipping the peel over so the oiled side of the dough smacks right on there quickly. Don't worry: The dough won't fall through the grate. You'd think it would, but it doesn't, and I've tried this on all different grills.

Once the dough is on the grill, you have about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes of cooking time before you need to flip it. But in the meantime, you'll want to quickly brush on a slathering of olive oil on the exposed side. Be careful not to overdo it here; too much oil, and it'll start dripping into the coals, causing dreaded flare-ups. When the dough starts to bubble on exposed side—like a pancake does (right)—it's time to flip. The dough should release easily from the grate at this point, since it frees up after a bit of cooking. Slide the peel under it, and lift off cooking surface.

Flip that thing and sauce and top it like like the devil himself is chasing your ass. This is not the time to go heavy on toppings. You need them to heat through and the cheese to melt. I might add here that it's helpful to have an assistant who serves as the sauce-applier. Once you've got your pizza topped, close the grill lid so heat can reflect down onto the top. Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, checking after about a minute for doneness.

When the pizza's ready, use the metal peel—or tongs and wooden peel—to remove it from the grill. Throw it on a flat pizza pan, slice that sucker, and serve.

Ragin' Cajun Beer Can Chicken

Method: Indirect grilling

Serves 2 to 4

For the beer can chicken:

* 1 can (12 ounces) beer
* 1 chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
* 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke

For the rub:

* 1 1/2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
* 1 1/2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
* 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

You'll need: 2 cups wood chips or chunks (preferably hickory or cherry), soaked for 1 hour in water or beer to cover, then drained; vertical chicken roaster (optional)

1. Pop the tab off the beer can. Using a church key-style can opener, make 2 or 3 additional holes in the top of the can. Pour the Liquid Smoke into one of these holes. Insert a chopstick or skewer and gently stir to mix the Liquid Smoke and beer.

2. Remove the packet of giblets from the body cavity of the chicken and set aside for another use. Remove and discard the fat just inside the body and neck cavities. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water and then drain and blot dry, inside and out, with paper towels. Place the chicken in a large bowl on its side and pour half the smoke-flavored beer over it. Let marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 45 minutes, turning twice. Make sure each breast side and the back have marinated for 15 minutes. Set the can with the remaining smoke-flavored beer aside

3. Make the rub: Put the Cajun and Old Bay seasonings in a small bowl and stir to mix.

4. Set up the grill for indirect grilling (see page 000 for charcoal or page 000 for gas) and preheat to medium. If using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan in center. If using a gas grill, place all the wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch (see page 000) and preheat on high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium.

5. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the rub inside the body and cavity and 1 teaspoon inside the neck cavity of the chicken. Drizzle the oil over the outside of the bird and rub or brush it all over the skin. Sprinkle the outside of the bird with 1 tablespoon rub and rub it all over the skin.

6. Spoon the remaining rub through a hole in the top of the can into the beer. Don't worry if it foams up; this is normal. If grilling the chicken on the beer can, hold the chicken upright, with the opening of the body cavity at the bottom and lower the bird onto the beer can so the can fits into the cavity. If using a vertical chicken roaster, fill it with the beer as described on page 000 and position the chicken on top.

7. If using the beer can, pull the chicken legs forward to form a sort of tripod, so the bird stands upright. The rear leg of the tripod is the beer can. You don't need to do this if using a vertical chicken roaster. Tuck the wing tips behind the chicken's back.

8. When ready to cook, if using a charcoal grill, toss all the wood chips on the coals. Stand the chicken up in the center of the hot grate, over the drip pan, away from the heat. Cover the grill and cook the chicken until the skin is a dark golden brown and very crisp and the meat is cooked through (about 180� F on an instant-read meat thermometer inserted in a thigh), 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. (See page 000 for other tests for doneness.) If using a charcoal grill, you'll need to add 12 fresh coals per side after 1 hour. If the chicken skin starts to brown too much, loosely tent the bird with aluminum foil.

9. Using tongs, grab the bird with tongs by the beer can just below the bottom, carefully transfer it in its upright position to a platter, and present it to your guests. If using a vertical chicken roaster, grab it with oven mitts or pot holders. Let rest for 5 minutes, then carefully lift the chicken off the support. Take care not to spill the hot beer or otherwise burn yourself. Normally I discard the beer, but some people like to save it for making barbecue sauce. Halve, quarter, or carve the chicken and serve.