It’s spring, and you’re energized and fresh out of hibernation like a bunch of twitterpated Bambi characters on a mission to have some fun. In my case, the fun is on my new Blackstone 28 Inch Griddle, where it’s the best time of year to fire up the burners and get cooking.
We’re over all those hearty soups and cold-weather comfort foods, at least for a little while. It’s a time to embrace the garden’s new offerings and fresh produce at local street markets like our weekly Saturday Market on the waterfront in St. Pete. It’s go time for grilling and here are just 11 recipes to consider whether you’re in the backyard or taking your Blackstone on the road:
1. Play Ball: St. Pete-Style Sausage, Onion And Mango Dogs
The start of baseball season got us thinking about some of our favorite hot dogs and sausages around MLB ballparks, from Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks to Busch Stadium Brats to Chicago Style Dogs at Wrigley. So the maiden voyage of my new Blackstone 28 Inch Griddle was inspired by that tradition that most of us know all so well.
The Blackstone 28 Griddle has two burner units so you have two cooking zones on your griddle with temperature control on each. Five sweet sausages and five brats had the left cooking zone, and on the right were two yellow bell peppers and two red peppers, along with a yellow onion. We live in St. Petersburg, Florida, home of the always-contending Rays, so a little hometown flair was added by dicing mangoes into hash brown-sized cubes for a subtropical zing.
I bought two French breads at Publix with different crunchy crusts, one a sesame seed and the other poppy and sesame seeds, and cut each one in half. Then I sliced each bun down the middle, careful not to cut all the way through. When the fixins were about ready, I drizzled some oil onto both sides of the bread and placed them on the griddle so they were a little scorched and warm. Mango was like adding a condiment, but I went for the mustard anyway because baseball.
2. Leftover Sausage, Onions and Mangoes
Every once in a while, a leftover is so good that it deserves its own special mention in a recipe roundup post like this, because it comes alive the next day with its own character and presentation. That was the case with the St. Pete-Style Sausage dinner we made with our first griddle outing. Just toss it in a large skillet and serve with crispy pickles or sauerkraut.
3. Time for Fat Bears And You To Start Eating More Wild Salmon
Picture the fattest Alaskan brown bear you possibly can, only remember that it was that fat going INTO the winter so all those fat reserves are now expended and it’s time to go out and find more salmon to munch on. We don’t exactly go into that same kind of hibernation in the winter, but we were outdoors less on the average day so it’s sort of the same principle with us humans.
In the spring, we’re looking to load up on protein in the form of salmon as well. My favorite way to do it is with Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon on the Blackstone. Buy a full-length filet, coat it with your choice of seasonings or the one in our recipe here, and Blackenstone it! (See what we did there. It’s spring and we’re creative at last.) Farm-raised is fine, not quite as assuredly healthy as wild salmon but just as pleasurable to make on the griddle. You can enjoy Salmon Burgers as well, because unlike fat bears you have hands to hold them.
4. School’s Out And Smash Burgers Are In
Spring means classes gradually end and there is more time to do fun stuff as a family. Find a dream Airbnb on a lake or beach or national park, stuff the 28-inch Blackstone Griddle in the back, and make your own food to cut down on expenses and add more quality time. Smash burgers and Smashed Potatoes will make everyone happy, and best of all the cooking is fast and easy so you have more time to fish or hike or just breathe in the spring air.
5. Blackstone Cuban Sandwich
I don’t know about you, but down here in Florida my life is sometimes a continuous hunt for the perfect Cuban Sandwich. That usually means finding an outdoor setting where you can sit in the warm sun and enjoy a Cuban with a good Modelo. Use a Blackstone cooking griddle and you can qualify as a contender yourself, as long as you have quality bread and ingredients.
Here’s an easy recipe for a crisp and tasty Cuban that will knock your socks off. Start by oiling and preheating to low-medium. Add mustard to both French bread halves, then layer on sliced ham and shredded pork on one half. Then add Swiss cheese and sliced pickles, close the sandwich, brush it with oil and use a griddle press to clamp down for 3-4 minutes. Flip and repeat.
6. Blackstone Breakfast Hash And Grits
Spring weather means getting up early and taking off Blackstone cover and firing up the burners for some breakfast hash everyone will love. You’ll need a 28-ounce bag of frozen hash brown potatoes, a pound of ground breakfast sausage, six slices of bacon diced well, six eggs, a half onion chopped and spices. Don’t stop there: Throw in mushrooms, Jalapeno peppers, red peppers . . . be creative! The whole point here is to use up what’s in your refrigerator so it’s an easy and efficient way to start the day, then serve it with fruit, sliced avocado, and toast or biscuits. Make some grits on the side and you’re a crowd-pleaser.
Here’s where your Blackstone Adventure Ready Griddle pays off big-time out on the road as well. This unit is made for portability, so if you are camping and have this set up next to your RV or favorite campground spot, a breakfast hash dish lets everything cook evenly at the same time and it makes for easy cleanup.
7. Blackstone Diner Style Protein Pancakes
Spring cleaning means you have high ambition and boundless energy these days. You need a great start to your morning to get that engine going. Follow this recipe, but go with protein pancake mix to fuel your big goals for the day.
The cold-rolled steel griddle surface of the Blackstone delivers both the high heat you want and the non-stick surface you want. As long as your griddle is well-seasoned, it is going to make you want pancakes far more than you ever did in the past. Toss in some blueberries for an extra burst of antioxidants, and feel the high of flipping with your special griddle spatula then watch the crispy edges and golden-brown color form. It tastes like diner pancakes, and those are the best, but protein pancakes mean you will get more done.
8. Spring Means Pancake Creativity And Art
Here’s a bonus tip: Have fun with the size and shapes of your flapjacks! Kids will especially love your inventiveness on the griddle, and it’s a way they can participate in good wholesome fun. They’re going to be hanging around more with those long hazy days and free time. We have an iconic diner down here called Tripp’s that is known for its Hubcakes, which are giant pancakes as big as an old car’s hubcap, hence the name. Your guests will be amazed. Or you can shape pancakes as Mickey Mouse or other characters. Make them look like baseballs. Whatever you do, you’d better have your syrup A game ready! Blueberry and elderberry syrup, anyone?
9. Fresh Zucchini From Garden Straight To Griddle
The last frost is long gone, and now we’re planting veggies in the garden across the temperate zone and that includes spring zucchini. It’s a summer vegetable that won’t be ready to pick for a while, but it’s always in supply at our grocery store so we’re in the mood! Julienne diagonally or slice circles, and load up your griddle with these zucchini slices over Canola oil. Season profusely and in just 10 minutes you have a pile of fresh bliss to serve as a side dish.
10. Blackstone Surf And Turf With Chocolate Covered Strawberries
In our own house, springtime means it’s time to start planning a summer trip to Cape Cod. So of course, we are constantly thinking about lobster. The days are starting to get longer, and that means more time to enjoy cooking a powerhouse dinner entrée like surf and turf on your Blackstone standup grill. The Griddle Guys posted this video recipe a few years back, and it’s pretty mouth-watering, but the Flat Top King’s video is even better because spring also is strawberry season in Florida and these chocolate-covered strawberries make this even more exciting. Make a perfect ribeye steak on the Blackstone with this recipe, and you can use a Blackstone dome lid to ensure that your lobster tails become tender at the same time you are ready to pull off the steaks.
11. Blackstone Spring Vegetable Pasta
This one is straight off Blackstone’s website, and if they’re saying it’s a spring dish than who are we to argue? “Fresh seasonal vegetables are lightly sautéed and tossed in a light lemon cream sauce, then paired with tender chicken and served over a bed of pasta.” This is garden-to-table so experiment with whatever fresh veggies you find. Here’s a similarly scrumptious Blackstone Griddle Pasta Primavera recipe that is basically saying the same thing but with a lot more beautiful pictures and how-to advice.
We’ve got Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations and Memorial Day. We’ve got sports galore, from the national pastime to March Madness to The Masters to the Indy 500 to Wimbledon. It’s a time of gathering and appreciating friends and family.
That’s what I think of mostly when I think of spring. Whether you’re waving spatulas around on the griddle, making barbecue food on the Weber gas grill, using direct and indirect heat on the Big Green Egg kamado ceramic cooker, barbecuing on the Traeger pellet grill, or smoking brisket low and slow on a Pit Boss smoker, it’s a time of happiness.
We come alive again with a sense of rebirth and renewal, and food is a big way we show that with each other. It’s your time to bring that joy of cooking and these proven perennial recipes to life while everyone hangs around and admires your work over the conversation and the sound of the birds. If you have a Blackstone, you are ready for the season.
