The Shabbat table: you go, grill!

(Marilyn Glick photo)

Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom! Are you fed up with dairy after feasting on cheesecakes, blintzes and ice cream for Shavuot? It’s time to uncover the barbecue, pull out the patio furniture and gather around the grill. Here are some delectable main dishes that will expand your grilling repertoire, resulting in fabulous fare for your next family cookout.

Also be sure to check out these scrumptious, guilt-free salads that make a perfect accompaniment. If you don’t have a barbecue, or the weather isn’t amenable, you can always cook up a batch of Corn Flake Chicken.

Although my friend Marilyn Glick lives in Edmonton and I live in Toronto, we’re never more than a click away from each other, thanks to modern technology. We love to share recipes via Facebook, phone and email, and I love exploring her charming home-style cooking blog, Marilyn Dishes…the Food & the Story. I asked Marilyn if she would share some of her favourite grilling recipes, along with her helpful how-to photos, and she kindly obliged.

Marilyn’s Kobe Marinade for Chicken on the BBQ

The recipe is a simple one, with only a few ingredients, yet it gives chicken a lovely flavour. You can marinate your chicken pieces in the refrigerator overnight. If you are going to put this together just before dinner, let the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes, while you are getting your other dinner food ready, then put the chicken on the grill.

It takes a while for chicken to thoroughly cook on the barbecue, so make sure you have enough time before you want to eat. If you want to use your microwave, as well as the barbecue, you can take the chicken out of the marinade, put the pieces in a microwave-safe baking dish, microwave the pieces for about 6 minutes and then finish them on the barbecue.

  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) soy sauce
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) water
  • 4 green onions, chopped (just use the whites and the light green part)
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) sesame seeds (optional)
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) pepper
  • 1 cut up chicken, about 1.4 kg (use whatever type of chicken pieces you prefer)

Combine the ingredients in a bowl or measuring cup.

Put the chicken pieces into a resealable bag, pour the marinade over the chicken pieces, seal the bag and make sure the marinade gets all over each piece of chicken by moving the chicken pieces around in the bag. Marinate at least 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to barbecue the chicken pieces, take the chicken out of the bag and discard the marinade.

Barbecue the chicken, making sure it is cooked thoroughly. Enjoy!

Murray Loves Lamb Chops

I don’t like lamb, but my husband Murray does, so I put some lamb chops on the barbecue for him. They are not a first-cut lamb chop, but these have more meat per chop and are thick, so he was a happy guy!

I made a quick spice rub and then put the lamb chops on the grill. I just looked in my spice drawer and put this together. Murray said it was delicious, so we will have to take his word for it since I do not eat lamb, but he said the spice rub was ‘blog-worthy,’ so here it is! Murray does not like everything I cook – so we can trust him on this!

  • 4 lamb shoulder chops, or any cut of lamb you prefer
  • vegetable oil
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) paprika
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) dry mustard powder
  • 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) garlic powder
  • 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
  • pinch onion powder
  • pepper, to taste

Preheat the barbecue, just below high.

Get the oil and a pastry brush ready.

To make the spice rub, combine the paprika, dry mustard powder, garlic powder, salt, onion powder and pepper together in a bowl and mix well.

Sprinkle the spice rub on both sides of the lamb chops and rub it in.

Put the chops on the barbecue.

Sear the chops on the first side and turn them over when they release easily from the grill.

Brush the side that was just on the grill with some oil.

When the second side is seared but not completely cooked, turn the lamb chops over so that the first side that was on the grill is now on the heat again.

Taking the same pastry brush, brush some oil on the second side.

Turn the chops over again to cook the second side.

The oil sears it up nicely.

I did not put the oil on the chops before I started to cook them because I did not want the oil to burn before the chops would be cooked enough (they were thick). If your lamb chops are not thick, brush some oil on them right before putting them on the grill, after you have used the spice rub.

Just before removing the lamb chops from the grill, I turn them on their side to cook the fat that is along the edges of the meat. I do not like the fat to be uncooked, so I sear all the visible fat. If there is too much fat on the chops, I trim it first, but these just had a bit, so I seared it. Enjoy!


Recipes adapted from Marilyn Dishes…The Food & the Story.