Welcoming Spring -- Time to Fire up that Grill

Now that we are enjoying a little more sunlight in the evenings, my thoughts turn to grilling. Yes, I have been known to grill chicken or a steak during the cold winter months. But, as we approach the first day of Spring, Mother Nature starts whispering in my ear, "Get out there and grill, girl!"

Everyone has their old standbys. Mine include chicken breasts marinaded in Italian dressing or a yummy sesame teriyaki sauce; burgers and dogs; shishkabob; corn on the cob; and London broil. Traditionally, I take the easy route with London broil and marinade the meat in Italian dressing. I always have a bottle on hand and it tastes good, but doesn't really knock your socks off.

This week, I did a little research on London broil. My goals were simple: use ingredients I have on hand and create a memorable feast for our inaugural Spring grilling. One of the first recipes I stumbled upon was by Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network site. It received great reviews and used items found in my pantry (a big bonus).

Ok, so I didn't have all of the ingredients, but found enough to create a delicious marinade using his recipe as a starting point. I call my version "Pantry Raid Marinade" and am pretty sure it would work well with some ingredients missing or replaced. Maybe next time I'll try adding some fresh citrus, chili pepper and ginger in replace of the mustard and cajun seasonings.

Note: Some people might find the vinegar taste to be a little overpowering. I like vinegar and felt it was balanced by the other ingredients, but my husband is not a fan of vinegar so next time I'll try just 2 Tbs. of wine vinegar.

Pantry Raid Marinade
1/4 c. (or 2 Tbs., depending on taste) white wine vinegar (or red wine, or balsalmic)
1/4 c. red wine
2 T. olive oil
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. worcestershire sauce
2 T. brown spicy mustard
2 tsp. cajun seasoning
1 tsp. each fresh ground salt and pepper
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced

Whisk ingredients together. Marinade meat for several hours, or over night. Preheat grill or broiler. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Grill or broil meat about 6 to 8 minutes per side (depending on desired rareness). Let stand at least 5 minutes before cutting thin slices (against the grain).

If desired, place reserved marinade into sauce pan and reduce to create a sauce. (Before doing this, I browned some pearl onions I had hanging around in a little butter and olive oil. Then I added the marinade liquid and simmered for about 15 minutes.)