Monday, October 27, 2008

Weekend grilling & composting


We spend nearly every Sunday at Guille's family's weekend house in a little town called Funes. In typical Argentine fashion, we eat a ton of food followed by siesta. They've made a little room on the parilla for my vegetarian food too.


Provolone Cheese a la parilla

Add a little olive or vegetable oil and a sprinkle of oregano to a thick slice (about half an inch) of provolone cheese. Use a small pan to grill for about 10 minutes, until a crunchy crust forms.


Grilling veggies
This is what I've been eating recently. It's basically any vegetable rubbed with oil and grilled. If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'd would also add a variety of spices or something as simple as garlic salt for more flavor.

  • Asparagus - rub with a tiny bit of vegetable oil and salt, cook directly on the grill (keep turning) for 10 mintues.
  • Potato/Sweet potato - rub with a little vegetable oil and salt, wrap in tinfoil and grill for 30 minutes, turning every few minutes
  • Corn - Grill either in the husk (just a few leaves, with a bit of oil) or rub ear with a little oil and salt and wrap in tinfoil. Cook for 20 minutes
  • Onion - leave in skin, rub with a little oil and grill for 10-15 minutes (for a small onion) and peel
  • Butternut squash - slice into circles 1/2 inch thick, leaving the skin on. Rub with a little oil and salt, cook on the grill, turning every now and then, for 15 minutes.
Composting!
A few months ago, Guille created a compost area (3'x3') in the backyard with yard waste (dried leaves). Now that its spring we toss in our peels, plant/flower trimmings, and other organic matter, then mix with the dirt (which is about 1 1/2 feet deep). We give it a good watering with the hose and aerate it (Gui taped a blade onto a pole--awesome) once a week. And the soil is already really rich and great for using as a base for new plants and flowers. We've kept it pretty simple but the U of I page is thorough and includes a list of items to leave out of your compost, like dairy and meat scraps. It isn't at all smelly and neither is our garbage can!



Sneak peak!
These little guys will soon turn into uvas (grapes!) fresh for the picking and squishing. And we may be making some Argentine wine of our own.

2 comments:

Color Me Green said...

yay i love your blog! you really do sound domestic, just like your blog title. glad the composting's going well, you can give me tips on that when i have a yard someday. it's so cold here, it's hard to imagine grilling all the time! but it's summer there, right?

Katie said...

How about grilled peppers? You could get them all charred on the outside, put them in a bag so the residual heat steams them a bit, then peel away the black layer. Drizzle some olive oil, hit them with salt and pepper and serve them on bread. I bet even the carnivores would eat that! ;)