The backyard feast that Paul Petersen created at our invitation is grilled all the way. “I am the self-proclaimed grill master,” he says, with the modesty of Muhammad Ali. “I live it and love it.” A salad of grilled romaine and endive in lemon-basil vinaigrette leads to an entrée of chile-spiced scallops and shrimp sided by grilled sweet-potato-and-corn hash. The spread concludes with a grilled banana-pineapple split topped by maraschino cherry ice cream.
Aside from the salad dressing and a couple of sauces—oh, and the ice cream—it’s all cooked over coals. And it works well on any backyard grill, soot-blackened or not.
Ingredients
Ice Cream
- 1 pint vanilla-bean ice cream (not slow-churned style)
- ½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
Pineapple and Bananas
- ½ cup spiced rum
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- Pinch ground cinnamon
- 4 fresh pineapple rings, cut 1 inch thick, rind trimmed off, core removed
- 4 underripe bananas, peeled
Caramel and Garnish
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup coconut flakes, toasted in 350-degree oven for 2 minutes
- 4 fresh mint sprigs
Directions
Ice Cream
- In a mixing bowl, allow ice cream to soften slightly, then mix in maraschino cherries. Refreeze (slow-churned style does not refreeze well).
Pineapple and Bananas
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together rum, sugar, and cinnamon until completely incorporated.
- Marinate pineapple and banana slices for 20 minutes in rum mixture.
- Heat grill to about 350 degrees and oil grate. Place pineapple on grill, cook for 1 minute, then rotate rings about 45 degrees to produce an attractive crisscross grill pattern; continue to cook for 1 minute.
- Flip pineapple rings over, glaze with rum marinade, and cook for 1 minute; rotate as described above and cook for 1 minute longer. Remove from grill.
- Re-oil grate. Cut about 1 ½ inches off each end of bananas; discard ends. Slice remaining center pieces in half lengthwise.
- Place slices, cut side down, on grate so grill marks will be on the diagonal. Cook for 45 seconds, rotate slices about 45 degrees, and cook for another 45 seconds.
- Flip bananas over, glaze with marinade, and cook for 45 seconds; rotate and cook for another 45 seconds. Remove from grill.
Caramel and Garnish
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar and water to a boil.
- Lower heat to medium; cook until brown and bubbly, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Whisk in coconut milk vigorously until completely incorporated, about 5 minutes. (Be careful; sauce will be very hot.)
- Remove from heat and set aside; sauce will thicken to consistency of condensed milk as it cools.
