Erica De Mane

Recipes:

Italian Sausages with Grilled Grapes and Rosemary
Grilled Zucchini a Scapece
Potato Salad with Summer Garlic
Cantaloupe with Sweet Marsala

Italian Sausages with Grilled Grapes and Rosemary

Buy two or three Italian pork sausages per person. Place them on a medium grill about 3 or 4 inches from the flame, and grill them, turning them several times, until they’re browned all over and cooked through, about 10 minutes. While the sausages are grilling, place a large handful of seedless red grapes, a few small sprigs of chopped rosemary, a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a few grindings of black pepper on a large piece of aluminum foil. Close up the foil, and place the package on a low-heat area of the grill. Heat just until the grapes are fragrant and starting to soften but not fall apart, about 4 minutes. Place the sausages on a serving platter, and pour the grapes on top, along with any juices they’ve thrown off. Serve hot.

Grilled Zucchini a Scapece

The Sicilian term a scapece refers to a method of cooking where you sauté something, usually a vegetable, and then marinate it in vinegar, garlic, mint, or basil, or sometimes hot chilies. You then serve it at room temperature. For a grilled version, cut 4 medium-sized zucchini horizontally into approximately 1/4-inch slices (you want long, thin strips), brush them with olive oil, and grill them on a low area of the fire just until grill marks appear, turning once, about 2 minutes per side. Lay the slices on a platter. Sprinkle them with a bit of chopped fresh garlic, salt, and black pepper. Drizzle on a bit of good white wine or champagne vinegar (not more than about 1/2 teaspoon), and add a drizzle of fresh olive oil. Scatter on chopped mint leaves. Let the dish sit for about 15 minutes before serving, so it can develop flavor.

Potato Salad with Summer Garlic

I often wrap little new potatoes or fingerlings in aluminum foil and throw them on the grill, but making a simple potato salad with fresh herbs and summer garlic is easy enough too, and I love that. What you want to do is cut about 1 1/2 pounds or so of small potatoes in half and place them in a pot of warm water with a generous amount of salt. Put the pot on the hottest part of the grill and bring it to a boil. Cook until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain very well, and place the potatoes in a serving bowl. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of white wine over the potatoes and give them a toss. Let them sit for a few minutes, soaking up the wine. Place a heaping tablespoon of bottled mayonnaise into a small bowl, along with about a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Add a finely minced summer garlic clove and a thinly sliced shallot. Now slowly drizzle in about a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, whisking to blend it well (it’s amazing how a bit of good olive oil can make jarred mayonnaise taste like homemade). Season with salt and black pepper. Add a few chopped sprigs each of flat-leaf parsley and tarragon, and mix everything well. Pour this over the potatoes and toss. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cantaloupe with Sweet Marsala

Here’s an amazing flavor combination I learned about in Sicily. Take a ripe summer cantaloupe, seed it, and cut it into small cubes (you can use a melon baller if you have one). Place the cantaloupe in a serving bowl, and pour on about 1/2 cup of sweet Marsala. Toss and let sit for a few minutes to develop flavor before serving. Garnish with mint sprigs, if you like.

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Recipes:

Lamb Spiedini with Peppers, Savory, and Ricotta Salata on Herb Salad
Grilled Eggplant Salad
Grilled Plums with Grappa and Mascarpone

Lamb Spiedini with Peppers, Savory, and Ricotta Salata on Herb Salad

Leg of lamb is perfect for grilling. It is tender and cooks quickly. You can grill a large, boneless piece or cut it into chunks for kebabs. For this dish, take about 2 pounds of boneless leg of lamb and cut it into approximately 2-inch chunks. Skewer them on four long skewers, alternating them with pieces of green bell pepper and sweet onion (Vidalia, for instance). Lay these spiedini (spiedini is Italian for shish kebab) on a platter, drizzle them with olive oil, and give them a splash of red wine. Grate on some lemon zest, and sprinkle on a few chopped sprigs of summer savory. Sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar over the spiedini (this will help them brown), and let them marinate for about 1/2 hour before cooking.

Grill the spiedini over medium heat about 3 or 4 inches from the coals. Season them with salt and black pepper as you turn them. You want a nice browned crust all around, but the middle should still be pink (aim for medium rare). About 10 to 12 minutes of grilling should do it.

While the spiedini are grilling, place a large bunch of flat-leaf parsley leaves, a smaller amount of basil leaves, and a few mint leaves or some tarragon on a large platter. You want enough whole herb leaves to make a nice bed for the spiedini. Dress with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Place the spiedini on top, and scatter crumbled ricotta salata over the top of everything. Serve right away.

Grilled Eggplant Salad

Choose eggplants that are long and on the thin side. Coat three medium eggplants with olive oil and place them on a medium-low grill about 3 to 4 inches from the coals. Grill them slowly, turning them often, until they’re charred all over and soft through when poked with a knife. This should take about 20 minutes. At the same time grill a red bell pepper and a jalapeño pepper until charred all over. Skin the peppers and the eggplants, removing as much black as possible. Chop the peppers into small bits, and place them along with the eggplant in a serving bowl. Add a dollop of yogurt, a minced shallot, a minced garlic clove, salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, a tiny drizzle of honey, and a pinch of cinnamon. Add about a tablespoon of fresh olive oil and a few chopped mint and parsley leaves, and mix everything together. Serve with pita bread that you’ve lightly toasted on the grill.

Grilled Plums with Grappa and Mascarpone

Halve about 2 plums per person and remove their pits. Place them in a bowl, and add a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of grappa, and a tablespoon of sugar. Toss. Place the plums, cut side down, on a low grill, preferably a clean part where no meat was cooked. Grill slowly until grill marks appear and the fruit feels just slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Place the plums on a platter, sprinkle with a bit more grappa, and fill each plum with a dollop of mascarpone. Garnish with mint or basil sprigs. Eat hot.

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Recipes:

Tuna Spiedini with a Fennel Marinade
Green Tomato Salad with Mozzarella, Pine Nuts, and Basil
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Peaches with Red Wine

Tuna Spiedini with a Fennel Marinade

Take about 2 pounds of thick tuna steak and cut it into approximately 2-inch chunks. Thread them onto 4 long skewers, alternating with chunks of red onion, bulb fennel, and lemon slices. Lay the skewers on a platter. Sprinkle them with fennel seeds, olive oil, and a splash of Pernod or another pastis. Turn them around a few times to distribute all the ingredients. Cover and let sit for about 1/2 hour to develop flavor.

Grill the spiedini (spiedini is the Italian word for shish kebab) over medium heat, about 4 inches from the flame, turning them once or twice and seasoning them with salt and black pepper as you grill them. About 4 or 5 minutes of total grilling should do it (you’ll want to leave the fish pink at the center). Place the spiedini on a serving platter, and drizzle on some fresh olive oil and a tiny splash more of pastis. Garnish with chervil or a few sprigs of tarragon. Serve hot. I’d choose a medium-bodied, slightly acidic red wine to serve with this. Try a Cerasuola di Vittoria from Sicily.

Green Tomato Salad with Mozzarella, Pine Nuts, and Basil

You can toast pine nuts on the low-heat area of your grill if you lay them out on a sheet of aluminum foil, but keep a close eye on them, as they can go from creamy white to black in a matter of seconds. I’d just use them raw. Take about 3 green tomatoes and slice them into thin rounds (I like them when they’re slightly tinged with red). Slice a small ball of mozzarella. Alternate slices of both, along with basil leaves, on a serving platter. Top with the pine nuts, drizzle on your best olive oil, and give it all a sprinkle of sea salt. Garnish with a few chopped chives, if you like. I think this salad is best without black pepper, so you can appreciate its creamy and sour notes in their pure form.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Select about two ears per person, and pull the corn’s husk back, leaving it still attached at the base. Now pull out as much of the corn silk as possible. Drizzle the ears with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Then pull the husk back up, to cover the ears as much as possible. Twist the top of the husk so it closes. Dunk the husks in water for a few seconds, and then throw them on a slow grill, letting them steam-grill and turning them every few minutes, until they are hot and tender. This will probably take about 10 minutes of grilling in all.

Peaches with Red Wine

Here’s a backyard barbecue dish from my childhood. My father always made it with an acidy Chianti wine, but if you choose the Cerasuola di Vittoria I suggest with this meal, that will do perfectly. All you need to do is slice a few peaches into thick wedges and place them in a large bowl. Pour in enough red wine to cover them about halfway. Toss a few times and serve.

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Recipes:

Grill-Roasted Black Olives with Garlic and Thyme
Grilled Calamari with Pomodoro Crudo and Couscous
Grilled Figs with Caciocavallo

Grill-Roasted Black Olives with Garlic and Thyme

Pile a few handfuls of whole black olives onto a large piece of aluminum foil (Gaeta or Niçoise are good choices for this). Drizzle with olive oil, add two or three peeled, whole garlic cloves, the leaves from a few thyme sprigs, a few small pieces of lemon peel, and a grinding or two of black pepper. Mix everything well with your hands and close up the foil. Put the package on the slow part of the grill until the olives smell fragrant, about 5 minutes. Open up the package and eat warm.

Grilled Calamari with Pomodoro Crudo and Couscous

Couscous is an easy way to round out a barbecue, for the quick-cooking variety actually needs no cooking at all. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of couscous into a serving bowl. Pour 2 cups of low-salt chicken broth into a small saucepan, and put it on the fire. Add a drizzle of olive oil, a large lump of butter, a bay leaf, a pinch of sugar, a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, and a generous pinch of salt. Let this come to a boil, and then pour it over the couscous. Cover the bowl and let it sit for about 20 minutes, so the couscous absorbs all the liquid. Now fluff the couscous with a fork, adding a handful of pine nuts and some chopped parsley.

To make the pomodoro crudo, or raw tomato sauce, chop 3 ripe summer tomatoes and let them drain in a colander for about 20 minutes. Pour them into a large serving bowl. Add a generous drizzle of olive oil, a small amount of minced summer garlic, a small, minced fresh chili, a few chopped marjoram sprigs, salt, and the zest from 1/2 a lemon. Mix everything together, and let it sit while you cook the squid. You’ll need about 2 pounds of cleaned squid, left whole, the tentacles detached. Chose squid that’s on the small size; it will be more tender. Toss the squid in olive oil and season it with salt. Grill it over a hot but not flaming fire until good grill marks appear. Turn and grill the other side. The squid will take only about 3 or 4 minutes. When it’s opaque, with good grill marks, it is done (if you cook it any longer, it’ll get tough). Slice it into thick rings, and drop it, along with the grilled tentacles, into the tomatoes. Add a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and toss everything quickly. Serve right away, with the couscous. I’d make a green salad to go with this as well.

Grilled Figs with Caciocavallo

Take about 8 ripe figs, either green-skinned or purple-skinned, and cut them in half lengthwise. Coat them lightly with olive oil and stick them, cut side down, on a slow part of the grill (try to find an area free of any remains of squid). Grill until you see light grill marks, about 2 to 3 minutes. Line a serving platter with thin slices of Caciocavallo cheese (look for Caciocavallo Ragusano, from Sicily). Place the figs on top of the cheese, grilled side up, give everything a few grindings of fresh black pepper, and garnish with mint leaves, if you like. Serve right away.

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Recipes:

Ricotta with Black Olives and Thyme
Bruschetta
Avocado, Tomato, and Red Onion Salad with Anchovies
Skillet-Grilled Mussels with White Wine, Tarragon, and Shallots
Strawberries with White Wine and Vanilla

Ricotta with Black Olives and Thyme

Drain about a cup of whole-milk ricotta in a colander for a few minutes to get rid of excess water, and then put the ricotta in a shallow bowl. Scatter black olives all around it (Gaeta are a good choice), drizzle it with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with a mix of chopped flat-leaf parsley and a smaller amount of fresh thyme. Give everything a sprinkle of sea salt and a few grindings of fresh black pepper. Serve with bruschetta (see right below).

Bruschetta

Classic Italian bruschetta is simply grilled bread slices brushed with olive oil. It makes a great accompaniment for the mussels and also a very nice one for the ricotta. Cut half-inch-thick slices of good Italian bread and place them on a slow part of the grill. When grill marks appear, turn and grill the other side. Pull the slices from the grill and brush them with extra-virgin olive oil. Season with sea salt and a little freshly chopped parsley.

Avocado, Tomato, and Red Onion Salad with Anchovies

Line a serving platter with arugula leaves. Slice a ripe Hass avocado and arrange the slices on top of the arugula. Slice a large summer tomato and arrange the slices on top of the avocado. Scatter on a few anchovy fillets and a few very thin slices of red onion. In a small bowl mix together a dressing of extra-virgin olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Add a crushed garlic clove and a pinch of sea salt, and mix again for a few seconds. Pour this over the salad and serve right away.

Skillet-Grilled Mussels with White Wine, Tarragon, and Shallots

When I remember to bring a large skillet to the country with me, I like to fill it with clams or mussels and let them open up on the grill. It’s much easier than cooking the shellfish directly on the grill rack, where they wind up loosing juices, yet they still pick up a slight smoky taste. Choose a large straight-sided skillet (one with enough rim to catch all the mussel juices), and place it on the grill. Medium to high heat is best for this. Add a generous amount of olive oil to the skillet and let it heat for a few seconds. Add three sliced shallots and let them sauté for a minute, just to start them softening. Add 2 pounds of cleaned mussels (I always buy cultivated ones for this, so I don’t have to debeard them and worry too much about dirt; a brief soaking in a pot of cold water is all they need). Add about 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and a small wineglass of dry white wine (Orvieto is a good wine to drink with mussels and also to cook them in). Stir the mussels around so they can heat evenly. When they start to steam, cover them loosely, either with a skillet lid or a piece of aluminum foil. Let them cook a few minutes more, then uncover and stir them around again. They should start opening after about 5 minutes. When they’ve all opened, take the skillet from the fire, and add a few large sprigs of chopped tarragon and a few sprigs of chopped flat-leaf parsley. Add a little sea salt and a more generous amount of black pepper. Give everything a toss. Ladle the mussels and broth directly from the skillet into serving bowls.

Strawberries with White Wine and Vanilla

Take about a cup of the white wine you’re drinking with the mussels, and pour it into a small saucepan. Place this on a hot spot on the fire. Open a small piece of vanilla bean lengthwise and drop it into the wine, along with about 2 tablespoons of sugar and a piece of lemon peel. Let this boil and reduce to about 1/4 cup of liquid. Take it off the fire and let it cool for a few minutes. Meanwhile hull, but otherwise leave whole, a pint of sweet local strawberries. Place the strawberries in a serving bowl, and pour the warm wine syrup on top. Toss a few times, and then let sit for about 15 minutes. You’ll now have strawberries with a sweet, bright-pink, winy syrup. Add a few mint leaves if you like.

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Recipes:

New York State Trout Wrapped in Pancetta and Filled with Sage
Grilled Asparagus and Scallions with Capers
Green Salad with Sorrel
Pecorino with Wildflower Honey

New York State Trout Wrapped in Pancetta and Filled with Sage

You’ll want four whole trout, not more than a pound apiece, gutted but with their heads and tails left on. Season them inside and out with salt and black pepper and stuff the inside of each with a few large sprigs of fresh sage and a roughly chopped scallion. Drizzle the trout inside and out with olive oil, and drape four very thin slices of pancetta around each trout (just press them into the fish; the heat of the grill will almost immediately cause the pancetta to adhere to the skin). Grill over a medium heat about 4 inches from the coals, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. The skin should be browned and the pancetta crisp and stuck to the trout. Scatter a bit of chopped sage over each fish, and serve with lemon wedges. I’ve always like a very lightly chilled Beaujolais with trout, and that is what I would serve here.

Grilled Asparagus and Scallions with Capers

For four people, take about 20 medium spears of asparagus and trim their bottoms. Poke a few tiny holes in a large piece of aluminum foil, and lay the asparagus on top of it. Trim about 5 scallions and place them on top of the asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and black pepper. Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Close up the foil to make a little package, and grill over medium heat about 4 inches from the coals until the asparagus is tender and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Unwrap, and slide the asparagus onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with a generous amount of capers and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Green Salad with Sorrel

I always find sorrel at farmer’s markets in upstate New York in early summer. A straight sorrel salad is too sour for me, but if I mix a handful of the leaves, cut into thin strips, with mild, ruffly green-leaf or red-leaf lettuce, I get a good balance of mild and tangy. To that blend add a few thinly sliced radishes and a sliced shallot, if you have them. Dress the salad with extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper (I find I don’t want lemon or vinegar with sorrel).

Pecorino with Wildflower Honey

Choose a young Pecorino cheese such as a Fior di Sardegna or a Cacio di Roma. Cut it into thick slices, and arrange it on a plate. Drizzle with acacia or mixed-wildflower honey. Garnish with a few chopped lavender sprigs.

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Recipes:

Raw Cremini, Pecorino, and Celery Salad
Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Sea Salt, Orange Zext, and Mint
Blackberries with Sweet Wine and Basil

Raw Cremini, Pecorino, and Celery Salad

This is a raw mushroom salad I first learned about in Sicily. It’s very simple and surprisingly flavorful. If you happen to have a few wild mushrooms such as porcini on hand, they’ll do wonderfully in it, but cremini will work fine too. All you need to do is thinly slice more or less equal amounts of mushrooms and celery and put them in a bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a handful of lightly chopped celery leaves. Shave a bit of aged Pecorino cheese on top. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice, and toss gently. Eat right away. Fresh bulb fennel is a good substitute for the celery, if you like.

Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Sea Salt, Orange Zest, and Mint

Get about 2 pounds of the biggest shrimp you can find. If you find ones with the heads still attached, all the better. Leave the shells and tails on. Thread the shrimp onto long metal skewers. Drizzle them with enough olive oil to coat them well. Grill over a medium flame at least 3 inches from the heat for about 2 to 3 minutes per side (a little less if the shrimp are smaller), seasoning each side with sea salt as you turn them. Place the skewers on a serving dish. Season the shrimp with the zest from a large orange, a few turns of fresh black pepper, and a few large sprigs of chopped mint. Halve the orange and squeeze a generous amount of its juice over the shrimp. Serve hot. In my experience, a dry but fruity rosé wine, such as a Tavel, is a perfect match for this dish.

Blackberries with Sweet Wine and Basil

Summer blackberries can be tart, but here’s an elegant way to sweeten them up. Place about a pint or so of ripe blackberries in a serving bowl. Sprinkle on about a tablespoon of sugar, and pour on about 1/2 cup of a sweet white wine such as a Muscat de Beaume de Venise. Toss and let sit for about 10 minutes, so the flavors can blend. Right before serving, tear a few basil leaves into bits and scatter them on top.

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For the past several summers, my husband and I (and usually a friend or two) have been spending occasional weekends in Ulster County in Upstate New York, renting small rooms at a simple inn that happens to be on green, open land with a large pond at one end of the property and a lively stream near the house. There’s no kitchen in our rooms, but my determination to cook summer meals and eat outside drives me into high-gear improvisation mode, using a small Weber charcoal grill, mostly local ingredients, and a few fancy bottles of Italian condiments I bring up from the city, mainly good olive oil, capers, anchovies, and olives. And my need to rise above the primitive has led to some beautiful meals (and also, at least in the beginning, to a few out-of-control evenings full of flames, drunkenness, and not much edible food). Grilling is, for the most part, something I’ve realized I need to really focus on when I’m doing it.Even when you concentrate, grilling is never a sure thing. There are always variables that prevent you from having complete control over your heat. You need to just accept this, and be flexible when surprises occur. I spend a lot of time moving pieces of meat or fish from a hot flame area to a low-heat part of the grill and back, or tempering grease flare-ups with a spray bottle of water, or covering the grill for a few moments. One thing I’ve begun to learn from my bare-bones streamside grilling is patience. Waiting for the fire to burn down to a nice glow is highly recommended. Roaring flames can be exciting, but they’re actually useless for cooking. I do get anxious waiting for the coals to settle, especially if I realize it’s getting dark and soon I’ll be unable to see what I’m doing (the area is usually lit with only a few bug candles), but if I can occupy myself with a little wine, or by identifying bird songs, or waiting for the bats to start coming out and swooping down near the grill, I can pleasantly pass the time until the coals are ready. With beautifully orange-blue coals, you have a much better chance of avoiding the charred-black-but-raw grill syndrome, which can be infuriating.

For me the most important ingredient in grill cooking is olive oil. Everything, meat, fish, vegetables, and even fruit, gets bathed in it. I use two types, a supermarket oil for whatever gets thrown on the grill, and an estate-bottled extra-virgin oil, often one of my favorite Sicilian brands like Ravida, for salads and for drizzling raw over cooked food. I also keep on hand Sicilian sea salt, a good pepper grinder, lemons, and an assortment of fresh herbs, which can elevate a simple grilled fish or chicken into a dish with the aroma and aura of romantic Mediterranean al fresco dining, which is really what my grill fantasy is all about.

The only real drawback I’ve experienced to this lovely streamside idyll is that last summer during one of my lethargic attempts at out-of-city jogging, I got chased down a quiet country road, for quite a long, isolated stretch, by a black bear. I was truly horrified and later discovered that I’d been clenching my jaw so tightly during what seemed like the race for my life that I had shattered two back teeth. I spat them out into a wineglass at the bar my husband took me to to try and calm my nerves. A five-minute bear chase seems like an eternity (although it’s an excellent workout), and with no cars or people in sight, I really wasn’t sure how or when the episode would end. I knew there was a house coming up, and when I thought I was just about to approach it, I turned to check on the bear, and to my amazement he was suddenly plopped down in the middle of the road just staring at me. A few seconds later I saw him lumbering back into the woods. Jesus. Aside from the bear, the only other problem with this summer arrangement has been having to wash all the dishes in a bathtub.

The recipes here are a bit more freewheeling than my usual, since that seems to be the nature of barbecue cooking. I’ve left ingredient amounts loose, though I have given specific weights for fish and meat. All the dishes feed four.

Happy summer cooking!

See the following menus and their accompanying recipes, posted on the days following this essay:

A Jumbo Shrimp Barbecue

Raw Cremini, Pecorino, and Celery Salad
Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Sea Salt, Orange Zest, and Mint
Blackberries with Sweet Wine and Basil

Trout on the Grill

New York State Trout Wrapped in Pancetta and Filled with Sage
Grilled Asparagus and Scallions with Capers
Green Salad with Sorrel
Pecorino with Wildflower Honey

A Dinner of Skillet-Grilled Mussels and Sweet Strawberries

Ricotta with Black Olives and Thyme
Bruschetta
Avocado, Tomato, and Red Onion Salad with Anchovies
Skillet-Grilled Mussels with White Wine, Tarragon, and Shallots
Strawberries with White Wine and Vanilla

A Grilled Calamari and Couscous Dinner

Grill-Roasted Black Olives with Garlic and Thyme
Grilled Calamari with Pomodoro Crudo and Couscous
Grilled Figs with Caciocavallo

Tuna Spiedini and Corn on the Grill

Tuna Spiedini with a Fennel Marinade
Green Tomato Salad with Mozzarella, Pine Nuts and Basil
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Peaches with Red Wine

A Dinner of Grilled Lamb and Eggplant

Lamb Spiedini with Peppers, Savory, and Ricotta Salata on Herb Salad
Grilled Eggplant Salad
Grilled Plums with Grappa and Mascarpone

Grilled Sausages and Summer Cantaloupe

Italian Sausages with Grilled Grapes and Rosemary
Grilled Zucchini a Scapece
Potato Salad with Summer Garlic
Cantaloupe with Sweet Marsala

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