Simple Vegetables: Zucchini

This one was not really sparked by the dining hall, but more by Wollaston's actually having zucchini in the fresh produce section. I believe I bought one zucchini, and it came in slices instead of the whole thing, changing my recipe slightly, but not by that much. It's really simple, and only requires something resembling a grill to make. (My cast-iron grilling pan worked well.) This is a very popular way to make vegetables, so its not very original, but at least very tasty.

1. Obtain a grilling implement. Preheat to just over medium heat, as we're trying to soften up the veggie a little, not blacken it entirely. Aim for a temperature that will place gentle grill marks on the vegetable, to give slight hints of flavor, but beware of burning.
2. If using a whole zucchini, I would usually simply cut them in half, and grill. As I was using pre-sliced zucchini and a cast-iron grilling skillet, after greasing the cast-iron with some olive oil, you can olive oil the slices and grill. Regardless, leave the skin on. Removing the skin is a waste of time, and helps hold together the rest of the zucchini from turning to mush.
   
3. If you've placed the grill/skillet on the right temperature, you should be looking at quiet sizzling, and a couple minutes per side for the chips, maybe five minutes for the halves. The zucchini will become a little bit squishy as it cooks (a good sign), and pretty much once you heat it through it can be served.
4. Upon completion of the cooking step, remove from heat, and add a little salt and pepper, if so desired.
   

Several notes to be noted:

• I attempted this recipe indoors with olive oil on the zucchini and I mixed in garlic powder, salt and pepper. When grilling, a limited amount of smoke arose from the zucchini, as I think the garlic powder and peppercorns burned slightly. In the future, I would just use oil to keep them from sticking, and add spices after cooking, or while cooking the last side to prevent burning.
• With zucchini halves, I suggest a slightly lower heat, and a slightly longer time. This will allow the zucchini to cook through more, which makes it taste better. The other nice thing about zucchini halves is you only grill the seed-side, and the skin side stays nicely crunchy even after cooking.
• This recipe works for yellow squash too (zucchini is a summer squash, lesson learned), and maybe cucumbers and any other vegetable you might care to try it with. Except tomatoes. I can imagine they would just kinda lose all the seeds, making a terrible mess on the grill.
  

Cooking Burgers on a Grill: A Tutorial

Prompted by the dining hall, it has come to my attention that a vast number of people who are in the business of food need some help figuring out how to turn something resembling this:



Into something that doesn't look like this on a bun:



Now then, I should preface this and say that my methods are not official, I am in no way a professional chef, but I can safely say that my methods lead to delicious tasty burgers, even when made from frozen, not fresh meat.

1. Preheat grill, usually around medium, or just above medium heat.
   
2. Place frozen patty on the grill, and there should not be direct flames on the burgers. Cover if possible.
   
3. Crucial point: DO NOT TOUCH THE BURGER. Every time you poke it, or prod it, or squish it down to test how cooked it is, you push more of the limited amount of moisture in a burger patty out of it. Also, let's face the truth, diamond marks are kind of worthless, since the burger will be smothered with condiments anyway.
   
4. Wait until the burger has lots of little pink puddles on top. This step usually takes around five or so minutes, depending on the grill.
   
5. Flip burger once.
6. Leave burger on grill until once again there are small pinkish puddles. This step also takes around four to five minutes, depending on how rare you like your burger.
   
7. Now, you can pick one burger to test for firmness. If it's as firm as a burger you would want to eat, congrats, they're prolly done.
8. Flip the burgers once more to get excess burger juice off, and remove from heat.
9. If not going to be eaten right away, place in a covered container to prevent from cooling immediately, else, add condiments and enjoy.

Congratulations, if you follow these steps, you should end up with something resembling this: