When we abandoned the suburban comfort for the fast city life, there were quite a few niceties we had to leave behind. A grill in the backyard being one. Now there is a common grill for the condo, on our beautiful rooftop garden. It is actually a lot better arrangement in some ways, first of all the grill is bigger, better and more powerful. Also, it is a great place to hang out with amazing views of the Puget sound and the harbor and Mount Rainier, but to me it is a major hassle going up there to grill something. We invariably forget to take something, then one of us has to go down for it. Since it is a common terrace and there are always people hanging out up there, I choose to go down versus staying back and socializing with our neighbors. I am sure they are all extremely nice and fun people, but I hate small talk, quite frankly I am incapable of doing any kind of small talk with strangers. So I volunteer to go down to bring the wine or oil or spatula or whatever that we forgot that day, leaving Siv behind, who is only slightly better than me at the small talk department. So we normally go up to grill only when we have friends over for a BBQ. With a big group there, we can safely ignore the neighbors.

Siv and I still do some grilling once in a while on our own when we are in the mood for some quick and easy dinner with minimal cleaning up afterwards. This Rosemary-Garlic marinade is my favorite grill recipe. I have been making this for years, the recipe is adapted from the Williams-Sonoma -Grilling book. The original marinade was for lamb, but whenever we have people over for BBQ, there will be at least one vegetarian in the group. So I end up making a big batch of this and use it for mushrooms and paneer as well as lamb. One thing I have noticed is that the spice level has to be reduced a bit for paneer, since the same marinade turns out much hotter in paneer compared to the lamb.

Some lamb and corn getting grilled: Grilling

Portobellos getting marinated in the rosemary-garlic marinade:Grilling

And finally the portobellos on the grill:Grilling

Ingredients

Method

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process to make a coarse paste.

Apply the marinade liberally on lamb chops, marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the refrigerator. If using on veggies or paneer, marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

This is my first entry for Monthly Mingle, originated by Meeta and hosted this month by yours truly. The theme this month of course is Grill It!

MM-Grill-It-August-2008

So, what are you planning to grill this month?



Comments

29 Responses to “Grilling - Rosemary Garlic Marinade”

  1. Rajtha on July 27th, 2008 8:57 pm

    yaaaayyyy i am first to comment…and for that i get????…i am with you on small talk..many ppl. have thought i am arrogant coz i give a strained smile and move outta that place :D…i gotta try this marinade on paneer….maybe that may be my entry!!

    You get a big pat on the back… there there… :)
    Yeah, people tend to conclude that we are biatches… I am okay with it though… :) Oh and yeah, put this marinade on paneer or tofu or whatever and send me an entry SOON…….. :mad:

  2. Mythili on July 27th, 2008 9:22 pm

    I love the light in your second photo - the one with mushrooms in a bowl. Very well captured!! Nicely done.

    The marinade you say goes with paneer? Gotta try that one.

    :) hey thanks! I didn’t really do anything, the sun was just there! :)

  3. Laavanya on July 27th, 2008 9:56 pm

    That sounds like a flavorful marinade and I would love to try that plump portobello - yummy!

    Yeah, this marinade is strong enough to flavor the big fat portobellos… :) Try and let me know!

  4. nags on July 27th, 2008 10:33 pm

    we are yet to move to a condo in singapore and i hear they have barbeque pits here. and lap pools :D in a year, we shud be able to move there. till then, i have to make do with the microwave and that sucks.

    but i am in hyderabad and guess what;s there in the guesthouse apartment here? a grill oven!! i have asked for some chicken breasts so once its here, i start grilling ;)

    that condo sure sounds good… Have fun in Hyd, and if you do get around to grilling, send some over… :)

  5. Shantanu on July 27th, 2008 11:56 pm

    OMG! Portobellos have never looked so well turned out. :smile:

    Thanks Shantanu! :)

  6. Raaga on July 27th, 2008 11:57 pm

    I haven’t thought about it yet… your grilled food looks so good!

    You haven’t thought about what to grill? :mad: Hurry up girl! :)

  7. Rachel on July 28th, 2008 1:27 am

    I cant talk just for the sake of a conversation…can talk only when I get comfortable with the other…people brand me —– :smile:

    Love ur marinade…it’ll have to be put to use once I get to my hometown…where I can grill at peace with my loved ones :smile:

    LOL I get the —– all the time too … :)
    Grilling is always fun with loved ones… Hope you get back there soon!

  8. noobcook on July 28th, 2008 3:58 am

    The marinade looks fantastic .. and woah, you have a rooftop garden, how nice!

    Thanks noob… It is the common rooftop garden for the whole condo community… :)

  9. Shreya on July 28th, 2008 4:29 am

    looks amazing.. have never grilled.. maybe someday!:-) till then will drool over all the stuff being grilled on all the blogs, esply yours!:-)

    Never grilled? What are you waiting for? it is the easiest way to cook… :)

  10. sra on July 28th, 2008 5:50 am

    All of you who can’t/don’t make small talk are SNOBS! :grin:
    And I’m going to turn into one because the latest bout of small talk I made was torturous, quite torturous :cry:
    Those mushroom pix look good!

    :) Another reason I avoid small talk, most of those end up torturous… So welcome to the dark side, I guess? :)

  11. arundati on July 28th, 2008 7:21 am

    i agree with the small talk….infact i hate being stuck in the lift with ppl from the apt where we live cos i dont like to indulge in small talk!! the marinade sounds good…

    Yeah, elevators… I pretend like I am reading something important on my cellphone… :) I am glad I am not the only weird around…

  12. Mishmash! on July 28th, 2008 9:55 am

    I will try this marinade soon, Sig as i have a small rosemary plant this year and we do that grillin on our small tabletop one….and on the small talk side, as Sra said, ppl have a feeling that i am one of that species and may be they re right too, but me too very bad in this small talk dept, unless otherwise the other person is really a nice warm friendly one :D

    Your own rosemary plant? Wow…. that is great! I should invest in a tabletop grill too, I just have a small grill pan…
    BTW I always assumed you will be great at small talk from the way you write :)

  13. shilpa on July 28th, 2008 11:14 am

    I love the picture of mushroom on the grill Sig. Lovely. I am also like Shn…if the next person is warm n friendly, I can do smalltalk, but otherwise, I just shut off (even when the next person is warm and friendly, I sometimes shut off bcos I don’t understand what to talk).

    Yeah, I never know what to talk either… How many times can you talk about weather, and that is so boring too… :) Easiest way out is to just shut up, I guess… :)

  14. Dee on July 28th, 2008 12:11 pm

    small talk yeah… i am a snob :wink: I hate getting stuck like that! i love grilled portobellos ,a recipe coming up just for monthly mingle.

    Another fellow snob… that is great! :) Waiting for that entry in the mail… :)

  15. musy on July 28th, 2008 3:22 pm

    Ooh la la, totally my kind of food! I am a big fan of the rosemary-garlic combination, so this is just perfect!

    Btw, i totally suck at making small talk :???:

    LOL, even if you were good at small talk, I am sure you would want to keep up that nerdy scientist image, huh? Try the marinade on paneer or tofu, I am sure you will love it…

  16. richa on July 28th, 2008 8:54 pm

    lovely marinade! loved the pic of the porto.. on the grill :drool:
    btw, i just sent in my entry, had missed it earlier :oops:

    Thanks sweetie… for the comment and for sending the entry… :)

  17. Lakshmi on July 28th, 2008 10:38 pm

    umm..marinade sounds good, will try it over corn..

    Thanks Lakshmi.. let me know how it turns out!

  18. Aparna on July 29th, 2008 2:49 am

    Grilling is unchartered territory for me!
    So maybe this will get me going. :neutral:

    :) I hope it does, and soon… The deadline is Aug 15th ;)

  19. Roopa V Shetty on July 29th, 2008 7:35 am

    Dear Sigma,
    Great to read about your cookery website. Just was talking to one of my colleagues, and close Bindu who is an ardent fan of yours and got to know from her about your passion for cooking :(Yes): . Really cool photos and recipes. I will surely try out the mushroon BBQ. Love to you and best regards to Siv and the gang :smile:
    Proud of you, Sig too :cool:

    Talk to you sometime in FB
    Roopa

    Hi Roopa, good to see you here! How are you doing? Hope you are doing great…. Will catch up soon on fb… :)

  20. Roopa V Shetty on July 29th, 2008 7:37 am

    :nerd: OOps I meant my close pal, Bindu…hey please do say hi to Sheeba and Maya for me…Man you are a celebrity of sorts here :)
    Roops

  21. sia on July 29th, 2008 7:58 am

    not just u girl, i too am not good at small talk dept :smile: may be thats why i ramble so much in my blog :evil:
    loved the marinade u made and it will be put into good use shortly.

    LOL, I always thought all you ramblers might be big time small talkers :) Good to know you are in this camp… :)

  22. A&N on July 29th, 2008 9:08 am

    Hey Sig, the marinade is great and the last pic of the mushroom looks like a fancy hat :) I bet you had fun grilling them!

    LOL, it does look like a hat, now that you mentioned it… :)

  23. Meeta on July 29th, 2008 3:09 pm

    this is my kind of food Sig! I love the look of that lamb!

    Thanks Meeta! I know you’d enjoy it… :)

  24. JZ @ Tasty treats on July 30th, 2008 5:44 pm

    oh wow Sig!! I guess that look more tempting than it wouldve been on the lamb! ;-) JM and I have very bad grilling skill-set!! Atleast u guys know how to do that!! ;-)

    LOL, I wouldn’t call it skill… luck may be? :) Oh and it is always better on lamb… :)

  25. Namratha on July 30th, 2008 7:42 pm

    Did you say Paneer too….hmm that’s for me! Rosemary is a flavourful herb, I haven’t tried it with Paneer though. Thanks for the recipe! :)

    Yep, panner, that is tried and tested… so go ahead and give it a try :)

  26. Padma on July 30th, 2008 9:44 pm

    Lovely and delectable, I am not sure if I can participate in this event, I don;t have an outdoor grill :sad:

    hah, did you read the rules? you don’t need an outdoor grill… :) So, no more excuses, okay? :)

  27. arundati on July 31st, 2008 8:50 am

    i have something for you over at my blog…hop by!!

    Thanks darlin’ :)

  28. Suganya on August 14th, 2008 5:56 pm

    I would throw in few potatoes too. Whats better than rosemary, garlic and taters?

  29. Monthly Mingle - Grill It! Event Round-up : Live To Eat on August 17th, 2008 12:05 pm

    […] Salad with Coconut Milk Mythreyee - Paajaka recipes Grilled mango chutney Sig - Live to Eat Grilled Mushrooms with Rosemary Garlic Marinade Chris - Mele Cotte Grilled Pineapple Corn Salad Victoria - feed yourself Grilled Pizza […]

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