Actually, there’s no secret at all, and that’s the beauty of grilling your favorite varieties of potatoes. In fact, all varieties do surprisingly well when grilled, and that’s why the kids love them. Unfortunately, we’re only able to grill potatoes for about six months a year, but if we could, we’d grill every week. Over the years, the kids have developed their favorites, to the point where they’ve named the recipes. Here is their top three.
The Cab Driver Special
This was given to us by a taxi driver in Chicago who seemed to be more concerned about the recipe than the road. Take your favorite Wisconsin tubers, we like Round Whites for this one, and cube them into small sizes. Add them to a tin foil pouch along with either some diced onions or scallions, and one or two cloves of finely chopped garlic. Drizzle with some olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste, and add a sprig of fresh rosemary. Depending on the size of the potatoes, this shouldn’t take too long to cook on a medium heated grill – perhaps only 10-12 minutes per side.
Pesto Presto
You’re absolutely going to love this one. Start with some medium size fingerlings and place them directly on the grill. Turn them several times, keeping in mind that fingerlings tend to cook a little quicker than other varieties. While they’re cooking, or in advance, mix together some olive oil and balsamic vinegar just as you were prepping a salad dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste and then add a spoonful of pesto sauce and mix well. After the fingerlings are cooked, place them on a cutting board and slice in nickel size slices. Toss the fingerlings with your presto dressing and serve. But here’s a trick, we think this recipe is just as good cold as it is warm.
The Brick Layer
For this recipe, a tin foil pan will work better than a pouch of tin foil. It’s best if you spray the bottom of the pan with a non-stick cooking spray. Cut some Russets very thin and slice a sweet onion equally thin. Dice a half of a red bell pepper and grate some good Wisconsin cheddar cheese, about a cup full. If you can’t find any real bacon bits around the house (please don’t use the faux bits for this recipe), try grilling a few strips of bacon. We will tell you that bacon on the grill is fantastic, but whatever you do, you’re going to need about one third of a cup of bacon bits or crumbled bacon.
Lay a base of the potatoes in the pan and then half of all the other ingredients on top of it. Then repeat with another layer, seal the tin foil pan tightly with a sheet of tin foil and cook for about 45 minutes. This side dish is a true winner.
So let’s get out there people and start some serious potato grilling. Try the recipes mentioned above to get started.
