On Mother's Day, the kettle had a 12-inch Lodge skillet of peach cobbler on one side and six ears of corn in their husks on the other, and Nora was timing both on my old phone between pictures. My only job was to sit in a patio chair and not get up. I lasted about eleven minutes.
May is when our grills stop being only for meat. The kitchen warms up fast in the afternoons, nobody wants the oven on, and once a chimney of charcoal is lit it seems wasteful to cook just one thing over it. These are the four things that came off our grills that Sunday, and they'll be on repeat until the tomatoes come in.
Smoked pimento cheese. Ryan's favorite pimento cheese has always been the smoky one. In May, it goes in a foil pie pan on the pellet grill until it bubbles at the edges, and we eat it warm with Ritz crackers.
Corn in the husk. The first sweet corn of the year comes up from Georgia, weeks ahead of Dad's patch in Lewisburg. Ryan's one rule: "No foil. The husk is the foil." The husk holds the corn's own moisture in, so the kernels steam inside while the outside chars, and the silk comes off with the husk at the end.
Grilled peaches. The first peaches at Publix come up from Florida in early May, firm and not very sweet raw, which is exactly when grilling helps. Five minutes over the coals softens them and caramelizes their sugar.
A cast iron cobbler on the kettle. This one used the last quart bag of the peaches we froze last July. Granny June's 10-inch skillet does not go on the grill. The 12-inch Lodge does.
Ingredients
- Pimento cheese: 8 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded; 4 ounces cream cheese, softened; 1/2 cup Duke's mayonnaise; a 4-ounce jar of diced pimentos, drained; 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika; black pepper; a sleeve of Ritz crackers
- Corn: 6 ears in the husk, butter and salt
- Peaches: 4 firm peaches, halved and pitted; 1 tablespoon melted butter; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; vanilla ice cream
- Cobbler: 1 quart bag frozen sliced peaches (about 4 cups), thawed, with their juice; 1/4 cup sugar for the fruit; 1 stick butter; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup milk; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- A full chimney of charcoal for the kettle, and a few pounds of pellets for the pimento cheese
How we grill them
- Mix the pimento cheese, spread it in a foil pie pan and smoke it on the pellet grill at 250°F for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring once, until it bubbles at the edges.
- Light a full chimney and pour it onto one side of the kettle for a two-zone fire.
- Toss the thawed peaches with 1/4 cup sugar. Melt the butter in the 12-inch skillet on the cool side. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and milk into a batter and pour it over the butter without stirring. Spoon the peaches and juice on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Close the lid with the vents half open, aiming for about 350°F. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, turning the skillet a quarter turn every 10 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick in the batter comes out clean.
- While the cobbler bakes, lay the corn over the coals and turn it every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes. Peel the husks back with an oven mitt and butter it.
- Last, brush the cut sides of the peaches with butter and brown sugar and grill them cut side down over the coals for 4 to 5 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.
The thing that went wrong was the cobbler. Nora was so busy taking pictures of the corn that we skipped a turn at the thirty-minute mark, and the side of the skillet facing the coals came out dark brown. Not burned, but close. Ryan ate that side without a word of complaint, which is what husbands are for.
Pimento cheese is cheese and mayonnaise, so on a warm May afternoon it gets an hour on the patio table, and then the leftovers go inside to the fridge. Nobody has to be reminded about the ice cream.
The pimento cheese, corn and fresh peaches cost about $17 for the four of us, and the cobbler's peaches were paid for last July.
