Grilled Toast

Part of this blog's reason for being is to record my triumphs and (usually spectacular) failures in the kitchen. I haven't yet shown the "my cup runneth over" chocolate pound cake because it makes me so mad every time I make it. It's to do with both the type of flour I'm using and the fact that I keep putting extra goodies in it. I've gone so far as to write, "TOO DAMN BIG FOR CHA-CHA'S BUNDT CAKE PAN," in pen in my favorite cookbook, over which I'm sure the generations to come will laugh.

But I digress.

Most of theses dishes are completely experimental, meaning I'm sitting on the couch thinking, "Hmm.... I like bacon. And I like corn. Let's try them together!" And if it's good enough to remember, I have to put it up here so I can look back to it myself. That being said, I in no way mean for this post to be patronizing, but Mike and I didn't even know you could make toast on the grill. Yeah, fire + bread = toast, but who thinks like that anyway? Light dawns on yonder brow.

Back to Mayberry? Yeah, try back to the Copper Age.

So planning ahead, I knew I would be grilling steaks to go with my bruschetta last night, and I figured it was a shame to waste all that good hot grill space when I had toast to make too. So here's what I did:

• Go buy a loaf of Italian or French bread. You can most likely get your baker to pre-slice it for you, but I forgot to ask mine to do it on the diagonal to make it more authentic.
• With a pastry brush, brush both sides with olive oil.
• Rub with fresh garlic.
• Follow with some freshly-cracked pepper.
• Lay it out on the grill, usually close to the hottest part until brown.
• Flip.

This exercsise is also a GREAT way to find out exactly which spots on the grill are hotter than others. For instance, I learned that the back of our grill is much more warm than the front, which stands to reason with how our grill top opens. And I didn't burn any pieces to a crisp or have to pull out the fire extinguisher. Cha-Cha would be proud.