Grilling

A plain old grilled chicken breast can be a bit uninspired, so we like to jazz up our breasts (who said that?) in this version of grilled chicken salad that has plenty of moxie. The marinade of fresh lemon juice and zest, olive oil, and fresh herbs infuses the chicken with a bright, sunny flavor (so yummy that you’ll want to use the marinade again and again for grilled meats). Here we team the grilled chicken with potatoes, celery, green olives, pistachios, and a creamy mayonnaise dressing for an over-the-top texture-and-flavor combination. This recipe doubles or triples beautifully, so it’s great for special lunches (think birthday parties, anniversaries, or bridal showers). It’s also great with a glass of chilled white wine and a crackly baguette.

When we fire up the grill to entertain, this side dish is always a big hit with our guests. Now, a lot of people grill corn on the cob for sure, but one thing our friends don’t expect is for Mr. and Mrs. Barbecue to transform it into a salad (we love to surprise folks). The grilled corn imparts a wonderful smoky flavor to this salad, and the red pepper and scallions add great color and crunch. The fresh lime juice and honey create a sweet tart dressing. This is a salad that can be prepared up to 2 days in advance, which is great for people on the go (like us)! And you may want to consider grilled sweet corn alongside most any grilled meat including chicken, steak, or pork chops. It’s the perfect accompaniment.

Gina: Just a few minutes on a hot grill will give shrimp and scallions a wonderful charred, smoky flavor, making an incredible filling for crisp and gooey quesadillas. The smoky flavor is echoed in the guacamole, which is made with chipotle peppers in adobo.

Pat: When the grill is fired up for dinner—as it often is in our house—these toasts make great appetizers. The grilled vegetables and vinegar create an appealing relish that’s the perfect foil for Gorgonzola cheese. The pungent, savory flavors are a fantastic kickoff to a juicy grilled steak and a killer bottle of red wine.

You can use 8-inch or longer metal or wooden skewers for this dish. If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water to cover for an hour or so before threading the ingredients onto them. That should help prevent the skewers from burning as they cook. If you are using fresh bay leaves or rosemary, you can use the thin branches from either herb as skewers, flavoring the ingredients even more. Because these branches will be shorter than store-bought skewers, you will probably need to make more and smaller skewers. Also, handle them carefully as they cook—herb branches aren’t quite as sturdy as metal or wooden skewers.

This dish can be prepared on a charcoal grill or in a cast-iron pan or griddle. Just make sure, in either case, that the temperature is good and hot, so the calamari cook very quickly. For easy handling, especially on the grill, thread the calamari bodies onto a skewer—one or two per skewer, depending on the size. Thread the tentacles onto a separate skewer without crowding them, since they will need a few additional minutes to cook.

Classic Salisbury steak is a patty made of ground beef and seasonings that is fried in butter or oil and smothered in a brown sauce. Although it was once considered health food by its inventor—a 19th-century English-American physician named James Salisbury—it’s really not. This grilled version, made with ground turkey breast and fresh vegetables and smothered in a low-fat cheese sauce, makes the grade.

This was originally a rich chicken dish made with lots of cream and sherry, peas, and pimientos, and served on hot buttered toast points or in pastry shells. There are as many stories about its origin as there are versions of the recipe. It likely made its debut at the Brighton Beach Hotel in New York at the turn of the 19th century, created by the chef in honor of the owner, Mr. E. Clark King II. I went with a green-pepper version and added celery seeds to the sauce because that’s how I like my à la king. If you can’t live without the pimientos, feel free to add them—they will have virtually no impact on the fat and calorie content.

Chicken Parm is one of my all-time favorite dishes. It’s as much an American classic as a burger and fries or angel food cake. The good news is that Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is made from skim milk to start with, so there is no need to replace it with “cheese food” or anything else that’s unsuccessfully impersonating the real thing. In this version, thin chicken cutlets are grilled and topped with reduced-fat mozzarella and then sprinkled with breadcrumbs just before finishing the dish for a crispy browned topping.

Jerk is a style of cooking native to the island of Jamaica that transforms ordinary chicken into a flavorful, highly aromatic eating experience. Meats are dry-rubbed with a spice mixture called jerk seasoning, then grilled. This seasoning relies principally on two elements: allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers (among the hottest peppers on earth). Typically, whole pieces of bone-in, skin-on chicken are barbecued over wood—usually over the wood of the allspice tree. The skin is omitted here—and with that goes about 80 calories per portion.

This is a light and simple chicken dish that’s perfect for a summer barbecue. Although we eat more chicken than any other animal protein in the United States, the problem with most of it is that it is insipid and tired. A fruit-based salsa like this one offers some sweetness and acidity that really sparks up this ubiquitous bird. This recipe is simply too good not to include.

Even a dish as simple as grilled tuna can get out of hand if the sauces and sides are calorically wacky. In this recipe, most of the minimal fat comes from the tuna—and the rest is from toasted sesame oil, which provides a lot of flavor. The ingredient that I really love here is the furikake, a Japanese rice seasoning made with bonito flakes, nori flakes, and other seasonings like sesame seeds, dried anchovies, or bits of egg—the sky is the limit. It can be found, along with prepared seaweed salad, at most Asian markets.

In preparing these burgers, use a food processor to chop the raw tuna, but be careful not to overdo it. Pulse just enough to chop it—too much action can toughen the fish, and you’ll wind up with a dry burger instead of a juicy, flavorful one.

The Big Mac is a great burger—juicy, delicious, and an icon of American culture. So how do I re-create the grandeur of the Big Mac while stripping away a lot of the fat and calories that go with it? First replace the bun with a nutrient-rich, high-fiber sprouted-grain hamburger bun. My “special sauce” is made with charred eggplant and low-fat yogurt, and the beef is extra-lean. A little low-fat Russian dressing, which I consider to be my special sauce, gives it some zest—and all the rest is healthy on its own. (No cheese needed.)

This dish has become a staple on the American menu. From McDonalds to gastro-pubs to fine-dining restaurants, everyone has their own version. I’d venture to say mine is among the tastiest and healthiest out there.

Using low-carb tortillas was just one of the things I did to improve the health of this cheesy snack. La Tortilla Factory makes a great low-carb tortilla—you really can’t tell the difference between it and a traditional tortilla. One other thing you can do to reduce calories is to make sure you remove the skin and any obvious fat from the chicken before shredding it.

No bread crumbs and it’s not fried. Eat two portions. Life is good.

I’m on a never-ending search for different ways to prepare chicken, and I have one rule: Don’t make it different by making it more complicated. This chicken dish is simple, delicious, and different. It’s particularly great if you have company coming over. It will free you up so you can actually hang out, too!