Family Dinner with JP

I did not grow up eating grits. The only time I tried them in my "youth" was during college, headed to the Warped Tour at Hampton Colosseum with my friends Jed and Ty and Graham and Dan, Jed insisting we head to Waffle House for breakfast before the show. When in Virginia ...? I remember the menu included variations of grits to include, but certainly not limited to, Covered, Smothered, Buttered, Sputtered, Stuttered, possibly Mothered. I may be making some of those up. Point is, I was incredibly underwhelmed and a little bit grossed out. It wasn't until years later, watching Michael Chiarello's "You'll Never Live in Napa and Never Be Unawaredly Rich Like Me" cooking show, when I first heard of polenta. He made it look good, elevated, exquisitely delicate and complex. And then he said the words: polenta is basically just Italian grits. So, I decided to give polenta a try, and I liked it. And then I discovered actually complex, not-covered-in-chee...

Easy weekday meal, perfect for the summer! Plus - totally cheap! I made this meal for $7, and I got two servings out of it. I think the first time I ever had grilled lemon, it was used in a cocktail at Del Campo. The smoky, citrusy, sweet flavor of the lemon, grilled to a slight char over an open flame, was used to accentuate the Limonada Sucia to perfection. It wasn't until a subsequent trip, celebrating multiple life successes of three friends, that we tried out ALL of the grilled Latin American meats. With the giant platter of delicacies (steak upon steak upon steak) was a large portion of grilled lemon halves. Life changing. Truth is, this recipe is simplicity unto itself. This is the perfect way to grill for a weeknight, with just enough pop to make it special. For those who don't know, adding an acid to finish any entree is the quickest shortcut to making your food go from good to great (or at least fooling people into thinking you did something more complicated t...