In Los Angeles we grill out all year round (sorry to rub it in if you are not local) but come summer the combination of the farmers market and the grill makes me take it up another notch. Perfectly sweet corn on the grill is amazing. Sweet kernels of corn with nice grill marks and a little pesto. Flank steak marinated with dry chile, cumin and lime juice and grilled to medium rare.

I couldn’t resist doing something with today’s bounty at the farmers market. I picked up these perfect little squash and a magical herb, (no, not that) Epazote that I used to always use in my Mexican restaurants. Epazote has a strong, weed like flavor. As weird as that sounds it adds an incredible depth of flavor to black beans. This time I decide it would be a perfect addition to my farmers market tomatoes in the form of a cleansing salsa for my mixed grill. Although it was all about the grill I must say the star of the night was the stuffed squash. I sautéed chorizo (paprika and chile spiked ground pork) with toasted bread crumbs and ground hazelnuts. I cleaned the yummy pan bits with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and stuffed it all into the squash (which I quickly hollowed out with a melon baller). I topped them with a little shredded Parmesan and baked them at 375 while I was on the grill doing the rest.

Another tasty family dinner. The grill is good, the family is even better, no complaints!

Eat well, enjoy life, be happy.