Eat It, Kid.

When it’s 100 degrees outside, I make dinner one of two ways. I either make something like a cold main course salad that requires no actual cooking or I go outside and grill. Our utility bill is running high right now and turning on the stove and/or the oven just heats up the house further.

This year we’ve been grilling a bunch. We have a gas grill, which makes things super quick and easy. Eric likes it when we grill because it keeps the kitchen clean and really cuts back on his time spent doing the dishes after dinner, which means he has time to relax before we start the hour-plus ritual required to put Neko to bed each night.

Mark Bittman is a cookbook author and food writer for the New York Times, and he is the king of quick, simple meals. He recently wrote an article entitled “101 Fast Recipes for Grilling,” and it was just what I needed to inspire me enough to continue cooking dinner through the dog days of summer.

I’m not sure if all kids like shrimp like Neko does or if I’m just lucky. She had her first taste of shellfish right before her first birthday at a sushi restaurant. Eric and I watched her closely for signs of an allergic reaction, but none ever came, and she’s been tearing up shrimp and scallops ever since.

When most people crank up the grill, they use it to prepare burgers, hot dogs, maybe some chicken. But cooking shrimp on the grill is so ridiculously easy that everyone should do it. Shrimp cook so quickly it almost feels like cheating. With school being back in session, I’m sure a lot of parents are looking for ways to make dinner in 15 minutes or less. And shrimp are robust little creatures—they don’t have the flakiness issues that can make grilling fish a bit nerve-wracking.

And maybe if your kid gets used to eating shrimp, she won’t grow up to be like the woman who once actually said “Ew.” to me when I mentioned I was making shrimp for dinner (a dinner she wasn’t even invited to.) Of course, even if your kid hates shrimp, he or she hopefully won’t ever be so rude.

Simple Grilled Shrimp
adapted from Mark Bittman

Rub peeled, deveined shrimp with olive oil, salt and cumin. Grill shrimp until done, about 5 minutes. Serve with grilled lemon halves and fresh chopped marjoram or parsley.

This is another one of my delicious failures. Delicious to me, delicious to Eric, but apparently inedible to Miss Neko. I previously thought that I could get Neko to eat anything as long as I served it with goat cheese on top, but I proved myself wrong with these grilled figs.

I even tried two different topping techniques—drizzling balsamic vinegar over half and honey over the other half, but the kid just wasn’t having it. I’ve heard that grilled figs are especially delicious when you wrap them in prosciutto before cooking them. Maybe I’ll try that next time, since bacon seems to have eclipsed goat cheese as Neko’s favorite food.

Grilled Figs with Goat Cheese and Balsamic
12 fresh figs
4 oz. fresh goat cheese
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

Wash your figs and slice them in half. Brush them with olive oil and grill them over low heat, turning once, until both sides have grill marks and the figs are softened.

Remove figs from the grill and let them cool to room temperature. Top each fig with a generous teaspoon of goat cheese. Drizzle balsamic over the plate, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

If you want your kid to like okra, fry it. That’s a no-brainer. Who can resist, crispy, crunchy okra? My hope is that by exposing Neko to fried okra at a young age, she’ll be more likely to enjoy okra in other delicious forms later in life. Because roasted okra is just as delicious as fried. As is tender young okra stewed with end-of-summer tomatoes.

It’s okra season right now, and I think Eric would revolt if I didn’t fry okra at least once during the summer. It’s not a tricky dish to make, just hot and messy. The kind that leaves you sweaty and your stove top covered with a spattering of grease.

But it is so worth the sweat and grease. Especially if you end up creating a little life-long okra lover.

Fried Okra

1 lb. fresh okra, washed and sliced into rounds, stems discareded
3 c. canola oil for frying
¼ cup cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup milk or buttermilk
salt
pepper

Heat your oil in a deep, wide skillet over medium heat until it reaches 350 degrees.

Soak your sliced okra in the milk or buttermilk while the oil heats.

In a pie pan, toss together the cornmeal, flour and salt and pepper.

Use a slotted spoon to move the okra from the milk to the cornmeal mixture. Toss to coat the okra with cornmeal.

Transfer the okra to the hot oil, frying in batches if necessary. When the okra is golden, after about 5 minutes, use a slotted spoon to strain the fried okra to paper-towel-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt and serve.

I recently discovered that Neko loves eating soft tacos. We were out at a taqueria and I ordered Neko a bean and cheese soft taco. She picked it up like an expert and went to town, not even pausing to set the taco down until she was full, about three-quarters of the way through the taco.

The last time I did a build-your-own-taco night at home, the results weren’t great. Neko piled her tortilla with too much stuff and cried when it inevitably fell apart as she tried to eat it.

This time things went much better. Neko used a more judicious hand as she sprinkled shredded chicken, pinto beans, cabbage, queso fresco and crème fraiche on her tortilla. She asked for help rolling it up, but then she held it like a pro, not squeezing hard enough to displace any of the filling, and she ate almost the entire thing before setting down the remnants and asking to be excused with an “Excuse me.”

One of the best things about taco night is that each person can decorate his taco however he likes. Set out hot salsa for the adventurous, beans for the vegetarians, etc. All rolled up in a warm tortilla, it’s a perfect meal.

Chicken Soft Tacos
Serves 4

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can of black or pinto beans
½ head of green or red cabbage
homemade or jarred salsa
1 avocado
crumbled queso fresco
crème fraiche or Mexican crema or sour cream or Greek yogurt
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 lime
tortillas

Cook the chicken by roasting or poaching or grilling. I just sprinkled mine with salt, pepper, olive oil and lime juice and quickly cooked it in a grill pan. You can also buy a rotisserie chicken if you don’t feel like messing with cooking your own chicken. When cook enough to handle, shred the chicken and set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, drain and rinse the beans and put them in a pot with a cup of water, a pinch of salt and some fresh ground pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the water is reduced and the mixture resembles refried beans. Mash some of the beans with a wooden spoon to help thicken the mixture. You can add further seasoning to your liking—sometimes I use cumin, you could also use smoked paprika.

Put the beans and chicken out with the warmed tortillas (brush tortillas with olive oil and warm for 5 mins. in a 350 degree oven). Serve with crème fraiche, sliced avocado, shredded cabbage, salsa and crumbled queso fresco.

While Mother’s Day seems to be the holiday for breakfast in bed, I think most dads end up getting a steak and potatoes dinner on their equivalent holiday. I offered to make Eric a steak this year, but he requested something lighter.

So he got quail. I’ve only recently started cooking quail, but I am absolutely in love. I can get local semi-boneless quail at the store, which means just the leg and wing bones are intact, leaving the breasts boneless and super easy to eat.

I always did my quail the same way—covered in crushed cumin and grilled, which is excellent—until my mom sent me this recipe from Lee Bailey’s book Long Weekends. And Neko went nuts. So this is how I do my quail now, and this is what Eric got for his Father’s Day dinner, served with small baked potatoes and a green salad full of tomatoes and sweet peppers from our yard.

Neko ate an entire quail, and kept calling it “bacon,” which tells you how good the recipe is. The skin gets super crunchy and delicious.

I promise that cooking and eating quail this way is less fiddly than you’d think. Look for semi-boneless quail (or even just boneless breasts). The tiny birds cook much quicker than chicken and are easily twice as delicious.

Fried Quail

From Long Weekends by Lee Bailey
Feeds 2 adults and 2 toddler

4 semi-boneless quail
Tabasco (optional)
Salt
Pepper
All-purpose flour
Peanut oil (or canola oil)
Butter

Split each quail in half and rub with a drop of tabasco on each side. (I skip this step due to the kiddo, but I tried it this way once and it didn’t add too much heat.)

Sprinkle well with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off excess.

Heat a large skillet with 1 1/2 tablespoons each of peanut oil and butter, when bubbly place quail halves in, skin side down.

Cook for about 3 minutes over low medium heat, turn and cook another 3 minutes.

Use a small heavy skillet to weight the quail down and cook an additional 2 minutes.

Remove weight and turn, cooking until golden on the other side, about 3 minutes.

If quail are not golden by this time, turn the heat up to finish them.