In Episode 007, Taryn talks to Chef Megan Mitchell about what to grill for Mother’s Day! Megan is a new mom who appreciates how grilling can really be a fast and easy way to get a meal on the table. They discuss what it’s like to be a new mom, what they’d like to grill for Mother’s Day, and a ton of fantastic recipes like grilled scrambled eggs, cedar plank salmon, and grilled baby peppers with lemon and feta. Listen in for a ton of great options that either you or your loved ones can grill up to celebrate Mom!
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.
Guest Details
Connect with Megan
Bio: Megan Mitchell is an-LA based chef focusing on healthy, approachable, and easy cooking. After culinary school, she worked as a pastry chef and food stylist for television. She then stepped in front of the camera for her grilling series, Grill Next Door, which led to hosting other cooking and grilling shows.
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Resources Mentioned
- Grilling for Beginners on Magnolia Network
- Grill Next Door show
- Secrets of a Food Stylist show
- PK Grill Charcoal Grill & Smoker (affiliate link)
- Cedar Grilling Planks (affiliate link)
- Grill Basket (affiliate link)
Recipes Mentioned
These are some of the recipes mentioned by Megan in the episode, and they are all on her website.
- Grilled Eggs
- Grilled Bacon & Avocado Breakfast Sandwiches
- Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon
- Lemon & Herb Grilled Chicken Thighs
- Grilled Potato Salad
- Grilled Spicy Broccolini
- Grilled Baby Peppers with Lemon & Feta
- Grilled Pizza Carbonara
- Brined Grilled Chicken Breasts
Transcript
Taryn Solie: Hello, hi, how you doing? We are back with another episode and I want to know if you are getting excited for Mother’s Day? Because it is coming up this weekend! If you’re a mom I hope you’re able to relax a little the day of. And if you’re cooking for a mom, then today’s episode is going to give you some great ideas about what you can grill up for Mother’s Day! Or maybe even have a husband or partner grill for you.
Before we get to the episode, a quick reminder to subscribe to this podcast wherever you’re listening, as well as leave a rating and review. It really does help the podcast be seen by more people who are interested in grilling and cooking in general, and I would just really appreciate it.
Now, on to the episode!
Taryn Solie: Today on the podcast. We have Megan Mitchell. Megan is an LA based chef, focusing on healthy, approachable, and easy cooking. After culinary school, she worked as a pastry chef and food stylist for television. She then stepped in front of the camera for her grilling series Grill Next Door, which led to hosting other cooking and grilling shows.
Megan, welcome to the podcast.
Megan Mitchell: Hi, thanks for having me.
Taryn Solie: Yeah, thanks for being here. I’m excited to dig into our conversation today, which is going to be focused on grilling for, and kind of around Mother’s Day. But before we get into that, can you tell people a little bit more about your food background and how you got into grilling.
Megan Mitchell: When you introduced me as a pastry chef, someone’s like next, I’m not going to listen to this girl. She was a pastry chef, wait, what? Um, so I went to culinary school, uh, and then through that, I worked in a restaurant and then I also got an internship with Food Network. So I started kind of working in that world as a food stylist and food shopper and, um, then being in that production world, um, I was connected to a lot of different people and I got a show called Secrets of a Food Stylist, many, many, many moons ago. It sounds very fancy, but, um, and then from there I had a grilling show called Grill Next Door with Yahoo and I’ve always loved grilling. And so any other show that I do, I kind of lean towards grilling.
Like I did a series with Tastemade and it was all outdoor and grilling and, um. And then I actually just shot a series with Magnolia where it was called Grilling for Beginners. So I just, I cook and people film me. Sometimes it’s very bizarre that, you know, you can do this. And, uh, but I get to cook and grill for a living and it’s amazing.
Taryn Solie: Oh, I love it. I mean, that sounds amazing to me, like cooking and grilling for living, for sure.
Megan Mitchell: Bizarro. Yeah.
Taryn Solie: So, okay. So you’re grilling now and you’re also a mom now. You have a new little baby. How has that been?
Megan Mitchell: I created a human, which is just bizarre too. Like so many weird things. Yeah. She’s four months and she’s fantastic and exhausting and incredible and all of the things and more. Um, yeah, new mom.
Taryn Solie: It’s a lot.
Megan Mitchell: It’s a lot. Like I was ready-
Taryn Solie: And this is your first Mother’s Day.
Megan Mitchell: Oh my gosh. I’m very excited about it because when you’re pregnant, you’re thinking about it. I was so excited to become a mom. So, um, my husband just asked me, he’s like, what are we going to do for Mother’s Day?
I was like, hold up. What are we going to, like, what are you going to do? It’s my first Mother’s Day. Come on. Let’s do something big. It’s you know, it’s a big one.
Taryn Solie: Yes, it is a big one. So do you, do you have ideas for what you’re going to do for Mother’s Day?
Megan Mitchell: I, I don’t. I would love just to be with my husband and my daughter and either cook together. I love to grill, but my husband’s also an incredible griller and barbecuer and smoker. I think he has maybe four grills and I’m not even sure. Yeah. I mean a few of them are mine, but he has a smoker and two PK grills, which are charcoal and we have a gas grill. Um, so maybe I’ll have him barbecue me something.
And I can just hang out with the kiddo. Or I cook and he takes care of the baby. Cause I do enjoy cooking and it’s a different experience as a mom. So it might be nice to just unwind and cook something nice for, for us. I don’t know.
Taryn Solie: Yeah, for sure. Well, and I think that that’s a great, I mean, you could do either option. If you’re someone that loves to cook, then maybe you send your kids with your partner for the day. And like that’s what your Mother’s Day looks like. You could be outside enjoying, maybe having a little, sipping a little beverage while you’re grilling.
Megan Mitchell: I was gonna say, yeah. Little glass of rose’. And grilling and then being like, oh, sorry, it’s not, it’s not ready yet. I got to be out here with – that also sounds terrible. It’s my first Mother’s Day.
Taryn Solie: You know I think this was like another two hour smoke, so we’re just going to like, let it go.
Ooo, sorry babe, I can’t do it. Going to be out here. I want to be with my husband and daughter. So hopefully we’ll be together cooking or eating or drinking or doing something fun.
Yeah. How has, so since have a daughter now, how has kind of your cooking and grilling routine changed?
Megan Mitchell: Literally everything about my life is so different, but I, so I, I cook for a living. So sometimes when I post things on social media or to my website or to whatever people are like, how are you cooking with an, an infant or a newborn? It’s like, well, it’s also my job. So I do have to continue to cook.
Taryn Solie: Yeah.
Megan Mitchell: It is, it is fun for me. I know my mother hates to cook. She would, if, if I lived with her and could cook every meal, she would be like done. I’m so happy. So, um, it’s harder in the way that I don’t have all the free time to cook whenever it strikes me. So I kind of have to block it off and certain times, okay. My husband doesn’t have a zoom right now. He can watch the baby. I’m going to cook for an hour and a half. Cause in the middle of cooking, if she needs me and he has to take a call of some sort like, that pasta on the stove is going to come second to my screaming four month old.
So it’s just, it’s, it’s definitely more balanced. It’s a lot more planning. Um, and it’s easier recipes and my recipes always tend to be easier and approachable. I hope. And it’s definitely leaning on the ease because I don’t have time to, to do long recipes anymore.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. Right. And you don’t want to be like grilling and like your, your daughter is screaming and then you look out and there’s like smoke coming out where it shouldn’t be. Not a good situation.
Megan Mitchell: Exactly. Well, and the nice thing about grilling is usually is pretty quick, unless you’re doing like a slow, like ribs or brisket or something like that. But grilling lends itself to quick, fast cooking, which is what I really like about it.
Taryn Solie: Yeah, definitely. So going back to Mother’s Day a little bit, what are, let’s get into maybe some recommendations for others who are in the same boat, either they’re a new mom or they’re more experienced moms.
How I’ll put it. Um, and what are, let’s start with maybe some easy things. So if, if someone is looking to pass off the cooking for the day to a partner who maybe is not as experienced as your husband and doesn’t have four different various grills in their backyard. Um, what are some grilling recipes that would, you would recommend? That would be a good, like starting point.
Megan Mitchell: Uh, so I feel like Mother’s Day is usually we go out to brunch or something. So if you wanted to do a brunch, you could do, um, like grilled eggs, which sounds weird, but you take a cast iron skillet has to be a cast iron skillet. So it’s, you know, flame, oven, high heat proof. And I put it directly on my grill and I scramble eggs in it.
And if you do like breakfast, tacos or breakfast toast, you can char up the tortilla next to it or the bread. And it’s quick, it’s easy. You’re not in the kitchen. Your wife’s not going to get mad that you made a huge mess, like they’re splattering on the stove and she’s like, wait, I have to clean – it’s Mother’s Day and I have to clean after you.
Taryn Solie: Which is the worst – that’s like the worst feeling.
Megan Mitchell: It’s the absolute worst. And you could even, I mean, you can grill bacon, you can grill some avocados. We do like smoky grilled avocado toast with eggs. Um, I think it sounds a lot fancier than, than it is. And maybe if you’re more experienced, do you do a dinner and you do. I don’t know, like a grilled fish, a Cedar plank salmon, or grilled chicken of some sort.
I think any mom will probably not want to cook on Mother’s Day. So whatever you make will make her very happy.
Taryn Solie: So what- I, I agree. I mean, I, there is what you were saying before about it is nice to have the time if you’re doing, even if it’s a quick grill, right? Like to have the time outside, near a grill where you’re maybe, you know, sipping a glass of rosé or what have you, but it is nice to also pass that off.
So you mentioned like a grilled fish or a grilled chicken. What are maybe a little more detail for somebody who is like, I just don’t know, like what, what would I do with that.
Megan Mitchell: I think grilling fish seems very daunting to people because often it sticks or they’re not sure how long to cook it. And going back, I have a episode on my Magnolia show.
It’s just about fish and I show you either two or three, like foolproof grilling fish recipes. One is on Cedar plank. I love that because not only does it impart incredible flavor from the Cedar plank, but you don’t have to worry about it sticking cause it never directly, the fish never directly touches the grill.
So I think that’s a great recipe to do, whether you’re a beginner or intermediate. And then I think I also share how to do it, like in foil packets. Um, but my go-to is like a quick herb sauce pile it on salmon. Put it on a Cedar plank, high, high heat. Cause you, you know, you want to cook fish pretty quick and hot. You’re not going to slowly, you know, linger it out.
Taryn Solie: Unless you’re smoking it. Which would be different.
Megan Mitchell: Yeah, exactly. That’s a, that’s a different thing, but yeah, those that would probably be my go-to fish recipe.
Taryn Solie: Okay. Okay. And then are you, because you mentioned you have several grills, are you cooking it on a gas grill? Is that what you’re gearing towards?
Megan Mitchell: I think quick and easy, go gas. You don’t have to deal with the massive charcoal, but if you’re, you know. It can be done on either one. It depends. Some people only have gas, some people only have charcoal, so that recipe can be done on either. You just need a hot side and a slightly cooler side.
Taryn Solie: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. For sure. So fish is a great option. I love that. How would you recommend somebody cooking a chicken? Like what would be a good, like all over or just general kind of. I don’t know what I should cook my wife or my mom or whatever. What’s a good chicken recipe that you could recommend.
Megan Mitchell: Yeah. I always lean towards chicken because I don’t know. I love a good, I love a good chicken, but, uh, you could do a whole chicken cut up in pieces. I, I love chicken thighs, um, because they tend to be okay if you over cook them. Like chicken breasts, you have to be pretty careful that it’s not gonna over cook and it’s dry. And you’re like, ruined Mother’s Day I’ve ruined Mother’s Day with this bland chicken. So I like a chicken thigh. Chicken thighs lend themselves to being slightly overcooked. So marinade, lemon zest, chili flakes, fresh herbs, grill it up, serve it with a grilled potato salad and maybe some broccolini.
Taryn Solie: Yeah.
Megan Mitchell: I just got hungry.
Taryn Solie: It is the afternoon where you and I are at we’re both Pacific time. So, you know, I also, I, I will admit when I do this podcast and we start talking about food, I get, I do get really hungry.
Megan Mitchell: I mean, I think about food all day, every day, just as a human who loves food, but doing what we do and cooking for a living and we’re, you know, working in the food space, you think about food all the time and you’re pretty much always hungry.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. For the most part. Yeah. I love it. So these are some really great suggestions and I think that there’s something that anyone from any level of experience can take. And we’ve talked about on the grill. Do you have any suggestions for maybe sides or like accompaniments that would be off the grill?
Megan Mitchell: Off the grill. Oh.
Taryn Solie: Or, you know, on the grill.
Megan Mitchell: Yeah, I was. I immediately thought like what you could cook as you’re making things. I think when you’re planning grilling, whatever the meal is, you have to kind of think of how to do it in stages. So you’re not overwhelmed and you’re not trying to cook everything at the exact same time.
So I would always do maybe something raw, like a raw salad of tomatoes and cucumbers and chickpeas and everything. So that can be done. It can sit in the fridge. I don’t have to worry about it being too warm or too cold or whatever.
And then you could do the chicken and then as the chicken slowly cooking or fast cooking, however, you just said, let me say that again.
So as the chicken’s grilling, um, maybe as it’s finishing up, you can throw some baby bell peppers on it. So it all comes off at the same time. My favorite is baby bell peppers, grilled, tossed in lemon, basil, and feta cheese, and olive oil. And it sounds very simple. You’re like, okay, cool. Like what’s the big deal, but the way that they’re grilled, they become like roasted red bell peppers, but they’re still, they’re not as soft as roasted bells, but they have that sweetness and a little bit of char and the tang of the feta and then the brightness of the lemon. It’s just like a very simple grilled veggie side dish. So that would maybe be my go to.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. That’s that sounds really good. And I love that because sometimes you’re right. When you grill, like traditionally grill a bell pepper, it gets quite soft, which is good if you’re eating it in like a fajita or something, but maybe not for a salad in that case.
Megan Mitchell: Yeah. Yeah. So I do a sear on them. And if I, if you have a grill basket, which I think is a great grill tool that most people should, have just saw it, you know, saute it almost in the grill basket. So you get that char that high heat, but it’s not becoming super soft, like a traditional roasted bell.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That’s such a fantastic idea. So, okay. Lots of good ideas for Mother’s Day or even for not Mother’s Day, right. Now, what are some of your favorite grilling recipes in general?
Megan Mitchell: Some of my favorite. I always lean towards pizza. I love a grilled pizza because it’s quick, it’s easy. It adds that smoke and that char that you don’t always get from an oven.
Um, so we do a lot of grilled pizzas. Um, that’s in – I’m actually, I have to test a grilled pizza recipe with some zucchini and ricotta, fresh thyme. And I was going to do like a drizzle of honey.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. Oh, that’s how, oh my gosh. Speaking of being hungry now, I’m like, oh my God, that sounds amazing.
Megan Mitchell: I think that’s what I’m gonna, I’m gonna to do maybe some chili flakes for heat. Um, so we always do grilled pizzas and I love a grilled, um, chicken kebab that I then wrap in a pita. So I’ll, I’ll marinate the chicken. It also looks really pretty when you come out with a platter of the grilled skewered chicken and like pita on sat- on the side and like, it may be a cucumber salad and make it themselves, but as simple marinade of cumin and turmeric and lemon and garlic and, um, a little bit of cinnamon. That’s that’s one of my go-to, uh, grilling recipes.
Taryn Solie: Oh, I love that. And it’s almost like it’s kind of like a, make your own gyro.
Megan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some feta cheese and maybe some olives in there.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. Oh, that sounds so. Yeah, I’m definitely hungry. Okay. So you’re in, like, Southern California, which is very, I was just there and I was so jealous of the weather because in Seattle, you know, we don’t get as nice of weather. Um, but it’s, you’re able to grill almost year round really.
Megan Mitchell: Pretty much year round, unless we have a rainy day or rainy couple days, which is – I’m very thankful when we got them because they’re few and far between. But yeah, we were lucky that we can grill all year round. And yeah, it’s not, it’s unf- it’s like 95 degrees here today, which is a little too warm for end of April.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. That is a little warm. I mean, I, I, I would take some of that because we’re at like 55 degrees.
Megan Mitchell: Well, let’s split it. You can take like 15 of the degrees and we’ll like meet in the middle a little bit.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. I would love that. I’ll, I’ll put an, a word. Um, to whoever controls that. Um, but I’m just going to say what is one of, because, because you are able to grill so often. What is something that you’re currently loving or what, maybe even like the last thing that you grilled?
Megan Mitchell: The last thing that I grilled was. Well, my husband made us ribs the other day that were out of sight. But the last thing I grilled was I pounded out chicken. Sounds like I, all I do is eat chicken.
Taryn Solie: But most people that- a lot of people, like chicken is very common thing to eat.
Megan Mitchell: Sounds lame, but whatever. It was, I-
Taryn Solie: You just talked about zucchini pizza, so I think you get a pass. I mean, don’t be too hard on yourself here.
Megan Mitchell: Grilled chicken, like a nerd. Uh, so I pounded out chicken breast. So when I grill chicken, I’ll either- er, specifically chicken breast. I will either brine it, which helps, uh, you know, lock in that moisture and impart a ton of flavor, but, or I’ll pound it out thin. So I pounded out like four breasts quick grill, I made a simple, um, herb sauce from my garden.
I have a- another benefit of living in Southern California, I have a beautiful garden that I’m obsessed with. And so I just picked some herbs and it was just a simple, simple dish. And then I roasted some sweet potatoes. I think that was our last like grilling meal.
Taryn Solie: That sounds really good. I mean, but so it can be simple like that, right? It doesn’t have to be zucchini pizza. It can be whatever.
Megan Mitchell: I mean, most of, most of my dishes, these these days are very simple, quick, easy, nourishing.
Taryn Solie: Yeah.
Megan Mitchell: And that taste good.
Taryn Solie: Yeah. Well, it has to taste good. So if it doesn’t, what do you, why would you eat it?
Megan Mitchell: They’re actually, I really love eating terrible food. So everything I make is just not great. No, I’m just kidding. Can you imagine someone’s like, I, I hate eating delicious food. That’s not my thing.
Taryn Solie: It’s just not my thing. I love it. This has been so much fun talking to you, Megan. I, I have loved this conversation. I do want to give you a chance to let people know where they can connect with you.
Megan Mitchell: Uh, you can follow me on social media, Chef Megan Mitch, and you can check out my new grilling series, uh, Grilling For Beginners on Magnolia Network. And then yeah, ChefMeganMitchell.com. A lot of grilling recipes.
Taryn Solie: I love it. That’s great. And we’ll include links to all of that in the show notes page. So people who, can easily find it as well.
Megan Mitchell: Perfect. Thank you for having me.
Taryn Solie: Great. Thank you. This has been so much fun. I really appreciate you coming on.
Megan Mitchell: Thank you.
Taryn Solie: Isn’t Megan so fun? I love her energy and think she gave some great ideas for grilling, including some easy ones and some that were more unique. Like grilling eggs – I had never thought of that, but it’s totally doable! Or grilled zucchini pizza – how freaking amazing did that sound?
Be sure and check out some of the recipes Megan mentioned on the show notes page. To get to it, you can go to my recipe website Hot Pan Kitchen dot com and click Podcast in the main menu, or just click the link that’s provided on whatever platform you’re listening to this podcast on.
Before we go, I want to do a quick plug for the next What We’re Grilling episode, which will be up this Thursday. I’m bringing my first guest, my friend Susie from Mom’s Dinner and we’re going to discuss what we’ve been grilling over the last week or two. We’ve both got some ideas that would be great for Cinco de Mayo, which works well because that’s the day the podcast will be up, so stay tuned for that.
Thank you for tuning in today, I hope you have a great Mother’s Day, and until next time, keep grilling like a mother.
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