Grills Gone Wild

John and Kathy Klag toast with Bellinis on their back patio. Surrounded by their daughter, Caitlin, and friends Bev and Bruce Gilbert, the couple can entertain with minimal effort. That's because today, the Gilberts, owners of Regarding Kitchens and designers of the Klags' indoor and outdoor kitchens, have brought corporate chef Silverio Pagano along to show them how to do so.

A simple menu and a few items prepared beforehand made a light, quick and healthy meal for this crowd. “With this type of food, they can actually spend time with their guests,” Silverio says, adding that no one has to be a grill master to prepare the dishes.

On the menu: smoked shrimp wrapped in snow pea with remoulade sauce and chicken quesadillas with raspberry chipotle sauce. Sound enticing yet? Add some Prosecco and peaches, and a delicious afternoon is ahead.

Before arriving, Silverio mixed raspberry seedless jelly with chipotle peppers from a can. He whipped up the remoulade ingredients a few days ahead and chopped the veggies for the quesadillas that morning. Ready to begin, he placed a sauté pan directly on   the grill to sear the chicken before grilling to hold in the juice. “Most people think you can't do this, but you don't have to go inside for this part,” Silverio says. “The grill is a heat source, right?” In fact, his first experience with a grill was making soup. Yes, soup. Silverio also blanched the peas in a saucepan on the grill before cooling them in the nearby sink. He can even keep them cool in the undercounter fridge, along with other snacks and drinks. In one 30-minute lesson, he has shown how versatile and easy an outdoor kitchen can be, something the Klags are glad to know now that they've committed to owning one.

The couple hadn't done much outdoor cooking before, but they've always enjoyed using their backyard, with its extensive landscaping and crystal clear pool. When they decided to redo their indoor kitchen, Bev saw an opportunity for a two-in-one deal. The kitchen wall to the outside had a small porch overhang that wasn't doing much, so she grabbed the space and integrated it into the design, using plumbing and electrical already in place to create a kitchen on both sides.

“We bumped out the kitchen on the inside because it was too small for the size of the house,” Bev explains. “Then we realized they would have everything but an outdoor kitchen.”

Installing an outdoor kitchen was a   new concept for the Klags, but only because they had never considered it for themselves. “Doing both kitchens at the same time made it easier, and it was about the same price for both as some of the other bids for just the indoor kitchen,” Kathy says.

The design is a simple “L” shape with room enough to prepare and plate food. If the Klags do want to use the indoor kitchen simultaneously, the window has a ledge beneath it that allows food to be passed through. A compartmentalized sink keeps condiments and ice at hand.

Amazingly, the stucco on the kitchen's base perfectly matches that of the house. “We wanted it to look like it had been there all along,” Bev says. Hand-painted tiles and mosaic glass tiles the color of the pool water accent the countertop.

So, while the kitchen looks good and the food tastes great, the Klags can simply relax, enjoy and toast with a second (or third) Bellini.

Sign up for a class
Regarding Kitchens hosts cooking classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays featuring Silverio. Classes are about two hours long, cost $40-$50 per person and vary in menu selection. Visit www.regardingkitchens.com for a schedule.

Click to the next page to see Silverio's patio party recipes.

Web Exclusive: Patio Party Food

Presented by Chef Silverio

Italian Peach Bellinis
Serves 6

Ingredients
3 each, white peaches, skin removed, cut into small pieces and pureed
2 oz. lemon juice
1 each, white peach sliced thin and placed in lemon juice
18 oz. peach nectar, preferably white
16 oz. Prosecco Italian sparkling wine
4 Tbsp. sugar

Preparation
1.    Place skinned peaches into blender with lemon juice and puree until smooth.
2.    Add peach nectar, Prosecco and sugar and blend smooth.
3.    Add crushed ice on glass and pour Bellini over and serve in fluted glass or white wine glass with a slice of white peach.

Smoked Shrimp Wrapped in Snow Peas with Remoulade Sauce
Serves 6

Smoking shrimp ingredients
18 shrimp 26/32 ct. peeled and deveined
2 c. pecan wood chips, soaked in hot water overnight
2 big handfuls of natural charcoal
Chipotle dry spice

18 each, snow peas, tip ends removed, blanched *see note
1 red cabbage head, hollowed out just at the top four inches diameter and four inches deep
18 frill picks

Remoulade sauce ingredients
1 ½ c. mayonnaise, cold
1 tsp. capers, minced
½ medium onion, small dice
Juice of one lemon
½ c. Italian flat leaf parsley
1 tsp. granulated garlic

*Blanching technique
½ gal. boiling water
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar

Drop snow peas into boiling water for one minute. Remove and shock into cold water bath with ice. Hold cold until ready for service.

Preparation
1.    On grill, remove grate and set up hot natural charcoal that was started in a chimney on one corner or area closest to side of grill.
2.    Place half of soaked pecan wood chips over hot charcoal and place grate back over charcoal. Away from charcoal to create indirect heat, place shrimp on grill laid out not on top of each other and place lid on grill. Leave about 1/8 inch open on the air vents to allow airflow with a little smoke to be released. This will keep the hot charcoal from going out and give enough air to wood chips to stay at a smoldering stage.
3.    Allow to smoke for about 10 minutes and place the rest of the wood chips over hot charcoal and smoke for an additional 10 minutes.
4.    While shrimp are smoking, mix together all ingredients for the remoulade sauce and place into the hollow part of the red cabbage. Place in refrigerator until ready for service.
5.    When shrimp have been smoked, remove and place in fridge covered with plastic film in a pan.
6.    Remove from fridge and wrap blanched snow peas around the fattest part of the shrimp. Place a frill pick through the snow pea and shrimp and attach them to the red cabbage with the tail pointing down. Arrange them in the same manner around the cabbage until it is filled. Place on decorative plate or tray, and if you have excess shrimp, arrange them on the tray next to the cabbage.
7.    Serve immediately.
 

Chicken Quesadillas with Raspberry Chipotle Sauce
Serves 6

Ingredients
6 each flour tortillas, 8 inches wide
12 oz. olive oil
5 each chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
Granulated garlic, to taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Chipotle dry seasoning, to taste
Smoked paprika, to taste
12 oz. shredded Monterrey Jack and cheddar cheese blend
3/4 c. onion, julienne
3/4 c. red bell pepper, julienne
3/4 c. yellow bell pepper, julienne
10 oz. raspberry jam, seedless
2 each chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

Preparation
1.    Mix jam and peppers together and set aside.
2.    Heat up charcoal grill or turn propane grill to high heat.
3.    On a flat top made for grills, add sauté pan and olive oil and heat until sizzling.
4.    Place chicken breasts on it and allow to sear on each side for about one minute and move just a little with tongs to prevent from sticking. Hold chicken on side to sear the sides of the breast. Place on grill away from heat and season with granulated garlic, salt, pepper, chipotle dry seasoning and smoked paprika on both sides.
5.    Place chicken on grill and grill chicken until grill marks show up and outer surface is golden brown. At this point, the chicken's internal temperature is about 130 degrees. Remove from direct heat and place in an area of grill where there is not heat underneath and close the lid, continuing to roast chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. About another six to eight minutes in grill temperature reaches 350 degrees.
6.    Remove from grill, slice and set aside.
7.    Assemble all ingredients around you before beginning to make quesadillas.
8.    On medium heat, on the flat top, griddle or sauté pan, begin by letting griddle get hot and adding olive oil then a tortilla on top, beginning to place 3 oz. chicken, 2 oz. cheese, 1 oz. onion and pepper strips and 2 oz. raspberry chipotle glaze. Fold in half and turn over immediately but carefully with the seam side down and rounded edges up so the filling doesn't come out. The other side should be golden brown.
9.    Grill until both sides are golden then remove from grill.
10.  Cut into pie wedges from round side to seam side. Serve immediately.