Chef’s kiss: Cooking inspiration for your new cast-iron grill pan

If you take home a Lodge Cast-Iron Grill Pan dur­ing the 2024 Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers reg­is­tra­tion and vot­ing (see this mon­th’s GEORGIA Mag­a­zine cov­er wrap for more info), you might enjoy this bit of culi­nary inspi­ra­tion, cour­tesy of Lodge. For more deli­cious recipe ideas, vis­it the Lodge web­site.

A griddle pan is pictured with a beautiful steak

Want to learn more about how to clean and care for your new Lodge Cast-Iron Grill Pan? Scan the QR code or vis­it the Lodge web­site.

Engraved Coastal griddle is featured

Recipes

Grilled veggies are pictured with pasta

Grilled Squash Pasta Salad

8 ounces gemel­li pas­ta
3/4 cup olive oil, divid­ed
1 cup basil, packed
1/2 cup wal­nuts, toast­ed and chopped
3 table­spoons lemon juice
1 table­spoon lemon zest
1/4 tea­spoon cayenne pep­per
Fresh­ly ground pep­per, to taste
2 medi­um yel­low squash, cubed
16 ounces green beans, ends trimmed, sliced in 2‑inch pieces
Basil leaves, gar­nish

In a large pot of boil­ing, salt­ed water, cook pas­ta, 7–8 min­utes. Strain the pas­ta and cool com­plete­ly under run­ning water. Coat the pas­ta with 2 table­spoons olive oil and reserve for lat­er.

Make the pesto: In a high-speed blender, blend the basil, wal­nuts, lemon juice, lemon zest and cayenne pep­per on high speed. In a steady stream, add 1/2 cup olive oil. Sea­son the pesto with salt and pep­per.

In a medi­um bowl, toss the squash with the remain­ing olive oil and sea­son with salt and pep­per.

In a grill pan pre­heat­ed to medi­um-high heat, add the squash and grill until soft, 6–8 min­utes. Allow the squash to get good grill marks; do not over mix the squash. Mix in the green beans and con­tin­ue cook­ing, 2–3 min­utes.

Mix the pas­ta and grilled veg­eta­bles, then sea­son to taste with the pesto. Trans­fer to a serv­ing plat­ter and gar­nish with basil leaves.

Grilled Peaches are displayed on a plate

Grilled Peaches with Ricotta

4 cups milk
3 table­spoons lemon juice, divid­ed
2 peach­es, quar­tered with pits removed
2 table­spoons olive oil
3 table­spoons hon­ey
4 table­spoons wal­nuts, roast­ed, chopped and divid­ed
1 tea­spoon lemon zest
1/4 tea­spoon ground all­spice
Salt and fresh­ly ground pep­per

In a small pot, bring milk to a sim­mer over medi­um-low heat for 10 min­utes. Stir in 2 table­spoons lemon juice and 1/2 tea­spoon salt, then let the mix­ture sit, 1–2 min­utes. Once the milk begins to cur­dle, slow­ly stir to con­tin­ue the process. When the milk solids have com­plete­ly sep­a­rat­ed, slow­ly strain through a cheese­cloth-lined, fine-mesh strain­er. Keep the solids and dis­card the whey. Let the cheese cool and con­tin­ue to drain.

Mean­while, driz­zle the peach­es with olive oil, and sea­son with salt and pep­per. In a grill pan pre­heat­ed to medi­um-high heat, grill the peach­es on 1 side until marks appear, 2–3 min­utes. Flip on the oth­er cut side and cook until grill marks appear on that side, 2–3 min­utes.

Trans­fer the peach­es to a bowl and dress with hon­ey, 3 table­spoons of wal­nuts, remain­ing lemon juice, lemon zest, all­spice and 1/4 tea­spoon salt.

Spread the ricot­ta cheese even­ly on a serv­ing plat­ter, place the grilled peach mix­ture on top and gar­nish with the remain­ing wal­nuts.

Steak and asparagus are presented on a griddle pan

Grilled Ribeyes & Summer Vegetables

2 rib­eye steaks
1/2 cup olive oil, divid­ed
2 table­spoons bal­sam­ic vine­gar
1 table­spoon Dijon mus­tard
1 tea­spoon hon­ey
1 clove gar­lic, minced
2 tea­spoons salt, divid­ed, plus
2 tea­spoons pep­per, divid­ed
1 bunch aspara­gus, ends trimmed
1 pint cher­ry toma­toes
1 tea­spoon gar­lic pow­der, divid­ed
1/4 cup crum­bled feta cheese
Chopped pars­ley, gar­nish

Pre­heat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven pre­heats, remove the steaks from the fridge. They don’t have to reach room tem­per­a­ture, but knock­ing the chill out of the steaks for a few min­utes will help them cook more even­ly.

Make the vinai­grette: In a small bowl, whisk togeth­er 1/4 cup olive oil, bal­sam­ic vine­gar, Dijon mus­tard, hon­ey, minced gar­lic, and salt and pep­per to taste. Set aside.

Prep the veg­eta­bles: Bring a medi­um saucepan of salt­ed water to a rolling boil. Add the aspara­gus to the water and blanche for 1 minute. Drain, dunk in an ice bath and then dry on a paper-tow­el-lined plate. To a plas­tic bag­gie, add the aspara­gus, 1/4 cup olive oil, and half of the salt, pep­per and gar­lic pow­der. Toss to coat, then repeat with the toma­toes.

Pre­heat a grill pan over medi­um-high heat. Sea­son the steaks with the remain­ing salt, pep­per and gar­lic pow­der, then driz­zle them with olive oil and brush to coat. Sear for 3–4 min­utes, then rotate the steaks 45 degrees and cook for 2–3 min­utes more for per­fect grill marks. Flip steaks and repeat.

Remove steaks to a plat­ter and tent with alu­minum foil.

In the grill pan pre­heat­ed over medi­um-high heat, add the veg­gies and cook undis­turbed for 3–5 min­utes. The aspara­gus should run per­pen­dic­u­lar to the ridges on the grill pan. Turn veg­gies and cook for 2 more min­utes. Set the steaks back in the skil­let and bake in the pre­heat­ed oven until desired done­ness, 3–5 min­utes depend­ing on thick­ness.

Remove grill pan from the oven and rest steaks for 5 min­utes. Remove the aspara­gus and cut into 1‑inch pieces.

Toss aspara­gus togeth­er with toma­toes and driz­zle with vinai­grette. Top with feta. Slice steaks against the grain or serve whole. Gar­nish steaks with pars­ley and serve.

Grilled shrimp are fanned out on a plate

Grilled Shrimp with Garlic Oil

1/2 cup pars­ley, rough­ly chopped, divid­ed
1/4 cup plus 2 table­spoons olive oil, divid­ed
2 table­spoons oregano, minced
3 table­spoons lemon juice
1 table­spoon lemon zest
3 cloves gar­lic, minced
1–1/2 tea­spoons salt
1/4 tea­spoon cayenne pep­per
1/4 tea­spoon onion pow­der
2 pounds (40–50) shrimp, peeled and deveined
*We rec­om­mend local Geor­gia White Shrimp

Make gar­lic-herb oil: In a medi­um bowl, mix 1/3 cup pars­ley, 1/4 cup olive oil, oregano, lemon juice, lemon zest, gar­lic, salt, cayenne pep­per and onion pow­der. Set aside for lat­er.

In a grill pan pre­heat­ed to medi­um-high heat, add 2 table­spoons olive oil and sear the shrimp on 1 side until gold­en brown, 3 min­utes. Flip the shrimp and cook for 2 min­utes. Mix in the gar­lic-herb oil and cook until aro­mat­ic, 1 minute.

Trans­fer the shrimp onto a serv￾ing plat­ter and gar­nish with remain￾ing pars­ley.