apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If anyone is fortunate enough to have a gas grill on their balcony I would highly recommend using it for a summer breakfast. As long as you have a heavy, all metal pan you can fire the grill up with the pan directly on the grill and let it heat up. You could fry some bacon, or not, scramble some eggs with fresh herbs from your ecoforms planter, brush some slices of rustic bread with good olive oil, grill them until they're nice and toasty. Leftover potatoes from the night before, or whole boiled potatoes could be sliced up, marinated and grilled. All this in under 30 minutes and you didn't even heat up your kitchen.

Of course this is just a basic idea, you could go as crazy as you want. Grilled figs and stone fruit with some reduced balsamico and fresh mint, french toast, even cornbread in a tiny cast iron skillet. The key to a smooth operation is a good heavy, oven proof skillet and let it get hot, hot.

Okay, this isn't a grilling question, but I figured this might be an okay place for it.

What can one do with armfuls of basil, besides make pesto?

I'm allergic to nuts, so pesto is out, and as much as I love basil with mozzarella, on pizza, etc., it's getting a bit old.

Any thoughts for something new and exciting?

Erin:
if you're in possession of an ice cream maker, perhaps strawberry-basil sorbet? Or, you could whir the basil up in a food processor or shred v finely, then add to a a generous amont of cooled strawberry puree and top with cava- strawberry basil mimosas! Or, muddle with a bit of ginger ale and whiskey (or vodka) for a spicy, easy cocktail.

Art - that sounds fantastic!

Just chiming in to say that I'm seriously loving the CSA basket experience so far (only two weeks in). All the "new to me" vegetables have led me on a number of fun cooking adventures, including: strawberry-rhubarb tarts, salmon and swiss chard quiche and kale puttanesca. Can't wait to see what this week's bounty will be!

Not a grilling question/comment, but I need help figuring out what to do with some lovely beets that my sister-in-law gave me from her garden yesterday—I've got the roots and the tops.

It's about 100 degrees in NYC and I can't bear to put the oven on to roast them the way I normally would. Does anyone have a simple, quick recipe uses either raw (preferred) or steamed/sauteed beets?

A million thanks!