Press release of the day: Keith Urban grills white bread, exclusively for the Daily Planet

by Jay Gabler | 5/11/09 • On Friday afternoon I received an e-mail from one Shannon McGovern. "Hi Jay," she wrote. "Any interest in using an exclusive charcoal grill recipe and/or photo from country music superstar, Keith Urban, in anticipation of his visit to Saint Paul, Minn. on May 14th for his 'Escape Together' World Tour? After all, nothing says warm weather, country music like a BBQ.

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"I’m not sure that you’re a charcoal griller," she continued (and here I thought everything there was to know about me was already out on the Internet), "but also wanted to pass along news that Kingsford™ just launched a brand new product—Kingsford™ Competition Briquets." I quickly responded affirming that yes, we would like an exclusive recipe and a high-res version of the small photo above; I haven't heard back yet, but a Web search confirms that the Daily Planet™ indeed has a global media exclusive on the recipe below, which McGovern included in her e-mail; it's an "official tour recipe" that has previously appeared only on Urban's Web site. I like the note explaining that Urban "created" the recipe on behalf of Kingsford™ charcoal. How long do you think he had to experiment before he hit on the inspiration of grilling white bread?

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Grilled White Bread Country Salad Keith’s Note: This grilled bread salad is the perfect side dish for any summer barbecue spread. The cucumbers and tomatoes give it a fresh flavor, especially when served up with some ranch dressing. Makes: 4-6 servings Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Ingredients: 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and then diced 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise 2 red onions; cut into ½-inch rings 1 green pepper, seeded and cut in half 4 slices Texas toast (use regular sliced white bread if Texas toast is unavailable) ⅓ cup Hidden Valley™ The Original Ranch™ dressing ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper Directions: Heat charcoal grill. Combine the tomatoes and cucumbers in a large bowl and set aside. Once grill is heated, cook onion slices and pepper halves on grill over a hot fire for about five minutes or until the onions start to become transparent and appear charred on the sides. Flip over onions and peppers and continue cooking for about another three minutes. Place Texas toast slices over heat and toast for several minutes, and then flip and toast the other side for another minute. Watch the toast so it doesn’t burn. The toast should just be a slight brown color with grill marks. Remove the sliced onions, peppers and toast from the grill and dice into bite-sized pieces, about 1-inch in size. Combine the sliced onions and peppers in the bowl with tomatoes and cucumbers. Add the Hidden Valley™ The Original Ranch™ dressing, salt and pepper and toss thoroughly to coat all the vegetables with the dressing. Add the toasted bread cubes and toss to combine the flavors. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes before serving so all the flavors meld. Recipe created by Keith Urban on Behalf of Kingsford™ charcoal and KC Masterpiece™. Both brands are sponsoring Urban's “Escape Together” World Tour together with KC Masterpiece™ barbecue sauce and Kingsford™ charcoal.

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