You can even get tips about how to safely turn on your new Grill when you watch the Hallmark “Grilling Secrets of the Master Chefs” brought to you by Martha Stewart and her favorite posse of people who know how to grill.

Martha Stewart’s Grilling Secrets of the Master Chefs blog post

I recorded and watched the first annual Grilling show. It was set at Martha’s property which was the perfect place to bring a group of people outdoors to cook and eat together while filming. The kids got to make smores with toasted marshmallows, home-made graham cookies, and melting chocolate with Martha and Emeril. The rest of the chefs who were in attendance all took turns with the food preparations for their respective segments.

I liked the grilling of the produce the best. Beets, radicchio, and potatoes were the stars of the grill. I would eat those beets with the goat cheese dressing sprinkled with chive flowers from Martha’s garden! I loved the potato salad with the apple cider vinegar pickling liquid and the young garlic to season the spuds to perfection. I even liked the idea of using pine nuts and lemon juice to add zest to the grilled radicchio. You can do the same foods in your oven, but there’s something about the added touch of the outside Grill that makes these healthy selections even more delectable.

I would have left out the bread crumbs with the topping that Emeril concocted for his steak. The blue cheese and other ingredients would melt and yet maintain their textural integrity without added panko. The belly of Emeril and others who eat grilled foods don’t need all that bread.

The lobster and other seafood that featured clams, shrimp, and oysters was enlightening. I usually won’t eat seafood unless it comes from pristine waters now that the ocean is so polluted, but when the ease of preparing shellfish on the Grill became obvious…it gave me some ideas.

You can still get sustainable seafood from VitalChoice, especially when you don’t live close to the ocean or a healthy body of water. I would have liked to see Divers Scallops on the Grill, but then I already know how to prepare those delicacies. While Martha did a good job of sourcing local ingredients to grill, most people don’t know much about their local Farmer’s Markets and CSAs. It’s a good idea to explore your area for food finds that bring you fresh produce, fresh seafood, and fresh meats like that chicken on the beer cans. If you can’t, then there are online solutions like VitalChoice.

VitalChoice Sustainable Seafood

Martha supplied plenty of refreshing beverages to beat the heat and many activities for the families while they were waiting for the food to be grilled and served. Even that pig took four hours to prepare to make it succulent… There was plenty of beer for the people and the chicken.

The grilling of peaches with pits that wouldn’t cling to the fruit offered even more ideas for grilling types of foods that usually don’t see the inside of the Weber or Viking equipment. The lemons that accompanied the potatoes made me think that these Chefs have really got a grasp of their cuisine. I hope that next year brings more unique foods to grill like tofu, tempeh, and mochi! That would warm my sweet grilling heart…

With all of the tips and the featured Chef’s restaurants, this show will keep you busy with hankering for more grilled goodies for the rest of the summer and then you’ll have to go indoors to enjoy the establishment’s fine fare in the cities where these Chefs prepare their favorites on the Grill all the time. Personally, I would like to be invited to next year’s Grilling show and I will share my special secrets for the healthier foods that most chefs never learn to grill. I would leave the char behind and bring out the big guns that will bring an even bigger crowd to Martha’s beautiful spread.

While you can enjoy grilling, there’s a lot more to say about eating ‘raw food’ dishes this summer to improve your health. Martha shares some great recipes and ideas at her Whole Living website here:

Martha Stewart’s Whole Living No-Cook Recipes

There are even some sustainable seafood recipes available on this website. Raw Foods are going to be more and more relevant as people learn how valuable they are for bringing about a substantial change in one’s health and Lifestyle. A nice balance of both cooked and raw foods will become the ‘ideal’ for many people in the future.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2011 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.