Memorial Day Meals: Traditional American Grilling

Call me un-American, but I hate grilled food. On any given day I'll immediately reject a grilled meal and opt to cook in my kitchen instead. Something about burnt food that tastes like lighter fluid just doesn't appeal to me.

Although there's one time of year it's not hard for me to tolerate it. In fact, Memorial Day weekend I actually prefer a nice medium rare stake straight from the grill. If you love to grill, you absolutely have to make all your meats straight from the grill for Memorial Day weekend.

With steak must go potatoes, and there's only one kind in my book - homemade! To start, you'll need to cook your potatoes. My mom's favorite way of doing this (and the way I was taught to make my favorite of all easy potato recipes), was to boil them. Wash and cut potatoes into pieces first. Peel them if you would rather not have the skins. Fill a pot up with water, add your washed potatoes, and bring to a boil. Usually it takes 10-15 minutes to fully cook the potatoes, and you'll be able to tell if they are done just by sticking a fork in them. If they are soft and break apart easy, they are done.

Drain the potatoes and put them in a bowl. Add a few tablespoons of butter, and a small amount of salt and pepper. You'll need an electric hand mixer as well, so make sure you have that out. Slowly add your milk while mashing the potatoes with the mixer. Do keep an eye on this, and add more milk only if needed. As my mom use to say "you can always add more milk, but never more potatoes".

Another version of my favorite of all easy potato recipes is using garlic salt instead of regular salt with red potatoes. When using red potatoes, I always leave the skins on for more flavor. Garlic mashed potatoes seem to go better with steak, so this is probably the version you'll want to use on Memorial Day weekend.

You'll also need a cold dish of some sort while your grilling out for the day. My favorite cold pasta is pretty simple. You'll need fettucini pasta, sliced mushrooms (in a jar), minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, and tomatoes. Cook pasta as directed, drain and cool a bit. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Amounts will depend on your own taste, so do test as you go. I don't usually use more than one tomato or more than 3 TBS of minced garlic. Add in other ingredients like walnuts or other spices for new easy pasta recipes of your own. Make sure it's in the fridge at least an hour before you eat.

Other favorites for Memorial Day weekend include potato salad, deviled eggs, and other side dishes. Personally I think those are all too much work and tend to stick with the traditional potatoes and pasta.

What you decide to make this weekend is completely up to you, but the ideas here should get you started!