Brad Wise loves fire. The Trust Restaurant Group’s chef/owner has been working the flames since his days on California’s Central Coast, where he experimented with Santa Maria-style grilling, cooking meats and vegetables in an open-pit grill over coals of native coast live oak, known as red oak wood.
It is a passion that he has since extended to a suite of restaurants.
Wise opened the first restaurant, Trust, in 2016 in Hillcrest, but he has since launched Fort Oak in Mission Hills; Rare Society, with locations in University Heights, Solana Beach, Santa Barbara, Mill Creek and San Clemente; and Cardellino in Mission Hills.
While many of us may associate grilling primarily with long summer days, remember that we live in San Diego. The weather may be a bit cooler and the days shorter, but that’s no reason to move back to strictly indoor cooking. And, come Thanksgiving, moving some dishes out to the grill can make life in the kitchen a little less stressful — and we’re not just talking turkey.
In fact, we’re talking vegetables. Delicious vegetables that benefit from a bit of char.
Love the traditional Thanksgiving dishes you or other family members make year after year? Keep some, and try out new ones to shake things up a little — maybe create your own traditions that are rooted in Southern California’s gentle autumns and winters. (And that may be a little healthier.)
Chef/owner Brad Wise of the Trust Restaurant Group offers three easy-to-prepare recipes for home cooks at Thanksgiving that reflect the way he both develops dishes for his restaurants and eats at home with his family.
(Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Wise has given us three recipes that are easy to prepare, taste crazy good and reflect the way he both develops dishes for his restaurants and eats at home with his wife and two young daughters. And don’t worry if you have only a gas grill — or no grill. These will still taste excellent.
The first, Beet and Feta Salad, isn’t actually centered around grilling, but it takes him back to Thanksgivings as a kid when his mom served up canned beet jelly.
“I try to do everything I can to replicate something like that but not have to eat the jelly,” he said with a laugh. “So, this is something red that’s still a little bit bitter.”
It’s also related to an approach Wise adopted during the pandemic that shifted his approach to holiday foods.
“Instead of having 50 things on my table for, say, a Thanksgiving spread, we try to invest time and have just five things that take us a little bit longer to make, with a few more steps, so we can spend the day cooking and sipping wine together. For Thanksgiving, the inspiration was, how could I come up with a fun beet salad that I enjoy that’s going to be a little different on my dinner table?”
The beet and feta salad preparation is pretty straightforward. First, roast the beets, then remove their skin once they’ve cooled and dice all but one, which will be pureed with feta cheese and heavy cream to literally make the foundation for the dish.
The other component is a cumin vinaigrette. Wise’s recipe makes a quart of vinaigrette: You won’t need nearly that much, but it’s a popular dressing at Trust, so he’s convinced you’ll want to keep some on hand. Here, the dressing is tossed with the diced beets in a large bowl, before they’re placed over the feta and beet mixture already spread on a serving dish.
“Instead of having 50 things on my table for, say, a Thanksgiving spread, we try to invest time and have just five things that take us a little bit longer to make, with a few more steps, so we can spend the day cooking and sipping wine together.”
— Chef Brad Wise
What makes the salad really pop is what’s sprinkled in layers over the beets: diced red onions, raw minced ginger, fresh thyme leaves and fresh mint leaves, with a finale of extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on top.
I detest beets, so I was concerned about having to take one for the team in tasting the salad. (You never want to gag in front of a chef.) So, I reluctantly took a bite — and found myself enjoying that bite, then another. Somehow, Wise had coaxed out the beets’ flavor and texture and married them with the ginger, mint, thyme and hazelnuts, along with the tang of the feta and beet spread in a way that made my mouth happy. I can imagine people who truly love beets being thrilled to enjoy them in this novel way.
Next up is broccolini, a vegetable I cook at home a lot. Mostly, I roast it in a little olive oil and lemon juice at the end of cooking chicken or fish. Wise elevates this easy cooking method to create a dish that’s Thanksgiving table-worthy.
Broccolini is cooked on the grill after being tossed with vegetable oil and a little salt and pepper. When the broccolini is a little charred, remove it from the heat.
(Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Wise places the broccolini directly on the grill grates, but if you’re preparing it at home, you can lay out the vegetables on a grill pan and place it over the fire if you’re concerned that they will fall through the grates. You can also quickly roast the broccolini in a pan in the oven if grilling isn’t an option. Just remember that you’ll toss the vegetables with vegetable oil, salt and pepper before grilling and, if roasting, that will come after. In both cases, you’ll also toss the cooked broccolini with lemon juice.
While the broccolini is cooking, you can make Wise’s Sumac Yogurt. It’s a simple mixture of Greek yogurt, ground sumac, lemon juice and kosher salt. Spread that across a serving dish, then place the broccolini over the yogurt in layers facing the same direction. Then sprinkle the broccolini with za’atar, a spice blend, and lemon zest.
“If I cook five nights a week at home, broccolini is on my table three of those nights just because I enjoy that vegetable and my kids eat it as well, so it’s a double win,” Wise said.
Pee wee potatoes are blanched in hot water until tender, then transferred to the grill to char.
(Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
I have to admit the third dish was my favorite because, well, potatoes. And this is something I would happily sub out mashed potatoes for at a Thanksgiving table. Imagine small potatoes gently blanched until fork tender, then hitting the high heat of the grill until they emerge with a dark, crunchy exterior. Imagine those same potatoes then doused in a radish compound butter — a little lemon juice, minced garlic and salt mixed in, along with minced chives.
Not enough for you? Good. Because accompanying those potatoes is a bowl of an unlikely but astoundingly delicious vinegar whipped cream. You will whisk together (by hand or with an electric or stand mixer) heavy whipping cream, a little champagne vinegar and salt. It’s a savory whipped cream you’ll want to use with every vegetable you make going forward, but that poofy whipped cream combined with the crunchy grilled potatoes is something I could eat all day long.
Wise is just as passionate about the dish, kind of tickled by the idea of grilling potatoes.
“It’s just not something we grill all the time,” he said. “You fry or boil or roast them, but you don’t usually have a potato that’s grilled. The thing is that a potato absorbs so much of that seared flavor. It’s kind of like tofu. It’s very receptive to whatever you put on it.”
He’s also pleased with the radish compound butter.
“The radishes are a great complement to the butter. They bring a touch of bitter flavor to the butter, which helps cut the richness of it and gives the butter some bite. It’s zesty and layered — my favorite way to serve it is over any steak — from filet to ribeyes.”
While the components of each dish are perfectly suited to each other, the recipes here can be a mix and match, with the condiments in each a flexible addition to any of the three vegetables — or as condiments for other dishes you make.
After grilling, the broccolini is tossed with lemon juice, then placed on a platter on top of a sumac yogurt mixture. A sprinkle of za’atar and lemon zest finishes the dish.
(Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Grilled Broccolini With Sumac Yogurt and Za’atar
Makes 8 servings
FOR THE SUMAC YOGURT:
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons ground sumac
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
FOR THE BROCCOLINI:
3 bunches broccolini, stems trimmed
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons za’atar
Zest of half lemon
Make the Sumac Yogurt: Combine all ingredients.
Make the broccolini: If grilling, sprinkle broccolini with salt and pepper, toss with vegetable oil and place on the grill in a single layer over medium heat. Grill until they’re just charred and remove from heat.
If roasting, heat oven to 425 degrees and place on pan in a single layer to roast for 10 minutes, turning over once at 5 minutes, then toss with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper.
After cooking broccolini, toss with lemon juice.
To assemble, spread Sumac Yogurt evenly across a serving dish. Place broccolini on top of yogurt, starting at one end of the platter and layer in the same direction across. Sprinkle with za’atar and lemon zest.
The final touch for the potatoes, after they reach room temp, is tossing them with a radish compound butter and chives.
(Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Oak Fired Inspired Potatoes With Radish Butter and Vinegar Whipped Cream
Makes 8 servings
FOR THE RADISH COMPOUND BUTTER:
¾ cup blended radishes, washed and trimmed
1 pound butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon kosher salt
FOR THE VINEGAR WHIPPED CREAM:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
FOR THE POTATOES:
3 pounds pee wee potatoes
¼ cup vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chives, minced
Make the Compound Radish Butter: Puree the radishes in the blender until smooth. Bring the butter to room temperature. Mix the butter in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment.
Fold the remaining ingredients in with the butter. Transfer butter to an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 month.
Make the Vinegar Whipped Cream: Whisk heavy whipping cream, champagne vinegar and salt together until stiff peaks form.
Make the potatoes: The potatoes should be bite-sized and as close to the same size as possible. You may need to cut larger potatoes for consistent size.
Bring a pot of salted water to a low simmer and blanch the potatoes until tender. Remove and let cool. This can be done ahead of time, and the potatoes can be refrigerated until ready to grill.
Toss potatoes in vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Place on a grill pan and set directly on the coals if using a coal grill or on cooking grates if using a gas grill. Grill for 12 to 15 minutes over high heat, until the outside of the potatoes are charred.
Remove from heat and place in a large mixing bowl. When at room temperature, toss the potatoes with the Radish Compound Butter and chives.
To serve, plate the potatoes on a serving dish with the Vinegar Whipped Cream in a bowl on the side.
Beet and Feta Salad
Makes 8 servings
Cumin Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
6 baseball-size beets, washed and trimmed
8 ounces feta cheese
1 roasted beet
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons red onion, small dice
1 teaspoon raw ginger, peeled and minced
4 tablespoons hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, torn
Extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place beets on a sheet pan and roast for an hour, until they’re fork tender. Let cool, then peel off the skin. Reserve 1 beet and dice the rest into 1-inch cubes. Toss with 4 tablespoons vinaigrette but add more if you like. Set aside.
In a food processor, make the feta and beet spread by adding the feta cheese, remaining beet (roughly chopped), and the heavy cream to the bowl. Puree until smooth.
Spread the feta and beet mixture evenly across a serving dish. Spoon out the diced beets evenly over the spread.
Garnish the top first with red onions, then ginger, followed by hazelnuts, thyme leaves and torn mint leaves. Finally, drizzle the dish with extra-virgin olive oil.
Cumin Vinaigrette
Makes 1 quart
½ cup sherry vinegar
½ cup champagne vinegar
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds
½ cup shallots, chopped
3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup lemon juice
1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1½ cup canola oil
1½ tablespoons honey
10 basil leaves, hand torn
Make the vinaigrette: Whisk all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until combined.
Golden is a San Diego freelance food writer and blogger.
