July 27 – August 2, 2026

Tuesday:                  Sausage, White Bean Soup with Chard and Croutons

Wednesday:          Spaghetti and Meatballs

We took few pictures for this week – but here’s Peter Preparing son Teddy for the PGA

Thursday:                Diebold Tavern

Saturday:                Margherita with Sausage Pizza (also didn’t take a picture of this – but here’s a previous Margherita with anchovies carefully sequestered on my side of the pizza – Barbara likes to keep a minimum foot between her and an anchovy)

Sunday:                   BBQ-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Salsa and Chipotle/Lime Beans

The Height of Summer (Grilling)

Here is the promised second post of the week.  Last week’s meals – see above – were fine and the Glazed Pork was spectacular, but I’m going to go back to the food we cooked two Sundays ago – a sort of uber-grilling concoction. The Celery-Salt-Seasoned d Chicken grilled on a rack over a skillet full of potatoes, summer squash, and shallots, finished with a touch of balsamic and some sliced jalapeños was life-changing. Have I mentioned that hyperbole is one of the rules of food writing?

If there is anything more satisfying to Neanderthal and modern American males than cooking food over fire, it is something that can’t be talked about in a family-friendly blog like this.  There is, first of all, being outdoors which is a lot more manly than slaving over a stove.  There is the fire itself which appeals to the pyromaniac that still lives inside any man who has had an American childhood with Fourth of July celebrations and campfires and, when I grew up, the bonfire where the neighborhood burned their Christmas trees and the kids roasted marshmallows while the adults got fairly squiffed.  And there is the agency that comes from tending the food – particular meat – and feeding the family, not just bringing home the bacon.  [I’ve never grilled bacon, but I’m beginning to think about it right now.]

This recipe, from the great, impeccably dressed, Geoffrey Zakarian, involves a whole chicken, with ½ lb. of salty, herbed butter worked under its skin, being cooked and crisped over a skillet of potatoes, squash and shallots, into which the butter and sizzling chicken fat drips and . . . the caramelized shallots are to die for, with the potatoes and the squash not far behind.  And the chicken with its crispy skin enhanced by the slightly bitter tang of celery-salt is about as good as any bird could ever hope to be.

Zucchini of titanic proportions and summer squash are at their peak right now, so get yourself a chicken, something to lay a cooling rack across so that you can scoot a cast-iron skillet full of vegetables beneath the chicken and have yourself an end-of-summer feast that will keep you out of the kitchen, while you remain in charge of the cooking.

Alas, we took no picture of this marvelous dinner, but here’s an illustration that might help

Stove-Free Chicken, Potatoes, Summer Squash and Chile-Garlic Butter

(adapted from Geoffrey Zakarian)

Timing:                                                   85 minutes

Ingredients:

4 lb. chicken at room temperature (we had a nearly 6 lb. behemoth and had to adjust the cooking time)

2 sticks of butter, softened (1/2 lb.)

3 shallots quartered

1 zucchini and 1 summer squash sliced (about ¼-inch thickness)

1 ½ lb. red potatoes, quartered

Cup of basil leaves, torn

Jalapeño, thinly sliced and tempered in ice water for 12 minutes

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (more, if you like heat)

2 teaspoons celery salt

4 cloves garlic, chopped (we used about 1 teaspoon of garlic powder)

1 lemon, halved

Kosher salt and pepper

[Note: you will need a cooling rack or some sort of rack on which to roast the chicken, and you will need bricks or some other heat-proof material to provide support for the rack and a space beneath it for the skillet of vegetables.]

Prep:

Heat a grill on medium or start a charcoal fire (you want a lower temperature – maybe 350 F – so you’re going to need a grill where you can lower or raise the grill or the charcoal).

Meanwhile:

Mix the celery salt with a few pinches of Kosher salt.  In a separate bowl, stir the butter, red pepper flakes, garlic, juice of ½ lemon and ½ of the celery-salt mixture.

Work the butter under the skin of the chicken, over the breasts and thighs and drumsticks.  Some butter will pop out – that’s okay.

Season the chicken inside and out with the remaining celery salt mixture and ground black pepper.

Cut up the potatoes, slice the zucchini, and quarter the shallots.

Place the potatoes in a large cast-iron skillet, drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place bricks on the grill – you’ll need four or two placed on edge – so that you can lay a cooling rack across the bricks on which the chicken can roast and you have room beneath the rack for a cast-iron skillet with the vegetables.

Cook:

Place the chicken on the cooking rack, place the skillet between the bricks and cover the grill.  [Note: we have a grill with a shelf built into the led so that we couldn’t cover the chicken without squashing it.  We used the lid of our Weber Grill to cover the chicken and vegetables increased the cooking time slightly.

Roast chicken for 30 minutes – more, if you have a large bird.

While chicken is roasting, tear the basil.

After the initial 30 minute roast, add the shallots and squash to the skillet, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and roast for 30 more minutes.  Check chicken temperature – you want about 165F.

Remove chicken and vegetables from grill – let chicken rest for 5 minutes and place the vegetables on a platter (you can serve them directly from the skillet, if you wish) and dress with the basil, juice of ½ lemon and some pepper and salt.

Carve the chicken and serve with the vegetables.