Greatness For Your Grill

Award-winning cookbook author and chef Alfred Portale drops by The Early Show for Part Three of the "Culinary Inspirations" series with a great menu for your grill.

Portale is the executive chef and co-owner of Gotham Bar and Grill in New York City, and is the 2006 winner of the James Beard Foundation's award for Outstanding Chef (for the entire United States, not just New York).

Here are his recipes:

Grilled Maine Lobster with Lemon Chive and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

For Lobster
1 quart of water
4 live lobsters weighing 1 1/2 pounds each
Coarse salt to taste

Using a large stockpot, bring the water and salt to a boil over a high heat. Add the lobsters and cover the pot. Return to the boil and boil for about 2 minutes. Using tongs, lift the lobsters from the pot (the lobsters are par cooked at the stage). Set them aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, break off the claws and crack them. Turn the lobster bodies upside down on a cutting board and split them in half lengthwise with a sharp knife. Remove the intestines.

Put the claws and lobster bodies, cut side down, on the grill and cook for 1 to 2 minutes (until slightly browned). Turn the bodies over. Cover the grill with its lid and grill the lobsters for about 4 to 6 minutes longer (until they are cooked through).

Lemon Chive and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette:
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon roast garlic purée
1 shallot — peeled and finely minced
Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
2 plum tomatoes — halved, seeded and cut into ¼ inch dice
2 tablespoons finely minced chives

In a small bowl, stir together the oil, lemon juice, garlic purée and shallot, and season with salt and pepper. Just before serving, stir in the tomatoes and chives.

Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna with Lemon Caper and Anchovy Dressing

Lemon Caper and Anchovy Vinaigrette:
6 to 8 anchovy fillets in oil (drained)
1 clove garlic — peeled, sprinkled with coarse salt and mashed to a paste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 shallot — minced
1 tablespoon capers — drained and chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat leaf parsley

In a stainless steel bowl, whisk together the garlic, anchovy, lemon juice and vinegar. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Taste, and adjust the acidity (if necessary). Stir in the shallot, capers and parsley.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon olive oil (plus more for oiling the grate)
1 1/2 pounds of sushi quality yellow fin tuna — cut into 4 to 6 ounce steaks
Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
4 cups loosely packed salad greens (such as friseé, red oak, lola rosa and watercress)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe beefsteak tomatoes — cored and cut into thick wedges

Build a charcoal fire in a grill and let the coals burn until covered with white ash (spread them out evenly on the grill). Lightly oil a (very clean) grill grate. Lightly oil the tuna with olive oil and season it with salt and pepper. Grill, turning once (about 3 minutes for rare and 4 to 5 minutes for medium-rare). Transfer the tuna to a clean cutting board and carve it into thick slices. Arrange the slices on 4 individual plates.

In a mixing bowl, toss the greens with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange the greens and tomatoes on the plates. Drizzle the tuna and the plate with the dressing.

Salad of Local Wax Beans, Shell Beans, Mint and Corn

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh cranberry beans
1/2 pound wax beans - trimmed
1/2 cup fresh peas
1/2 cup shelled fresh fava or lima beans
1/2 pound haricots verts — trimmed
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 ears sweet corn
Lemon vinaigrette
Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves — cut into chiffonade

In a saucepan, cook the cranberry beans in boiling salted water over a high heat for about 20 minutes (until just tender). Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to a large bowl filled with ice water (to stop the cooking and set their color). Return the water to the boil and cook the wax beans and peas for about 5 minutes (until just cooked). Transfer them to the ice water bath. Repeat with the fava beans, cooking them for about 4 minutes. Transfer to the ice water bath. Return the water to the boil and cook the haricots verts for about 4 minutes (until just tender). Transfer to the ice water bath.

Cook the corn ears for 4 minutes and drain. When cool enough to handle, cut the kernels from the cob using a sharp knife. Seat aside.

Drain the beans and pat them dry with paper towels. Rub the thin brown skin from the fava beans.

In a bowl, combine the beans, corn and shallots. Add the vinaigrette and toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the mint chiffonade.

Lemon Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

In a small bowl, stir together the oil, lemon juice and mustard, and season with salt and pepper.