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Archive for the ‘Grilling’ Category
Beloved and I are leaving at noon today, heading to Wisconsin for his family reunion. We’re looking forward to it, especially the drive, since we love to road trip and the weather is knock-your-eyes out gorgeous today. However, I can’t be sure if I’ll have time or internet access while we’re gone, so I may not post again or get around to reading blogs until our return Sunday night. Also, today is the last day of the month; my NaBloPoMo obligation is over and the thought of a break is rather welcome.
But we’ll see.
We’ll be stopping in Chicago overnight, and I made reservations at Roy Yamaguchi’s restaurant for dinner. Why Roy’s? Well, we love the place, for one. For another, it won’t require us to A) dress as if we’re attending Princess Diana’s wedding and 2) take a second mortgage out on the house. Seriously – Google “fine dining in Chicago”; the prices you’ll see will make your eyes hemorrhage. You know me – I love good food and am willing to pay for it, but $200? Per person? At those kinds of prices, I’ll worship it from afar, thank you very much.
Anyhoo. Another easy recipe today, especially if you like to grill/smoke/barbecue (or, in Beloved’s case, all three). The instructions for this require simple, indirect heat on your grill, but we put them in the smoker with the brisket this weekend and they were just fine. In fact, we’ve had to restrain ourselves from eating them all so we’d have some road trip snack food for today (Chicago is a six hour drive from our house).
Have a lovely day, y’all.
Smoked Almonds
Smoked Almonds
makes..a lot
1 pound natural (raw) almonds
1 1/2 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce
2 teaspoons of your favorite barbecue rub
Set up the grill for indirect grilling.
Toss together all the ingredients until the nuts are well coated with the hot sauce and rub, then pour into a disposable aluminum pan (at least 9″ square) in an even layer. Cover and smoke until the nuts are crisp, about 3 hours.
Cool completely. Store in an airtight container if you have any leftover to store.
Printable version (requires Adobe Reader)
This weekend was a tad on the carby side for me. Not because of rich desserts or decadent cocktails. No, it was due entirely to this:
Sweet Corn
Yes, it is the extremely tasty evil Georgia sweet corn, and is entirely the fault of the guy at the farmer’s market who forced six ears on us Saturday morning, shortly before the guy at the meat market twisted our arms and made us buy 3 racks of baby back ribs. All of which we were then compelled to grill, then consume, later that evening, entirely against our will. And we won’t even go into the watermelon. *sobs*
It was a heartbreaking experience.
So we smoked a turkey breast and beef brisket on Sunday. And I felt the need to do something with the three ears of roasted corn we had leftover from our excess Saturday evening. Once I realized I had a bag of dried black beans in the pantry, this dish was on the menu. (You can, of course, make it with canned black beans.)
We ate it as a side with our brisket and turkey, but it would be marvelous served with good quality tortilla chips.
Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa
Black Bean Salsa
makes…a lot
4 cups (or two cans) black beans, drained and rinsed
3 ears roasted corn, kernels cut away (about 2 cups)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, torn
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cover (and refrigerate if desired) for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to develop. Bring to room temperature and stir before serving.
Printable version (requires Adobe Reader)
Well, Spring is definitely here now, despite freezing temperatures overnight this weekend (which we missed, because we were in Cincinnati spoiling a certain G Man). It is raining now, and is likely going to rain all week, so we took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday to use the grill – one of Beloved’s great joys in life.
There’s just something about men, meat and fire. *insert Tim Allen “Ar-ar-ar-ar” here*
The Young One (naturally) loves burgers, and frankly so do I – I just don’t put them on a bun. Yesterday we made regular burgers out of ground chuck (lean ground beef makes for a dry burger) and these little gems. Comprised of ground pork (you could use ground turkey if you don’t eat pork), shredded cheddar cheese, chopped Granny Smith apple and freshly grated ginger, these burgers are wonderfully moist and flavorful. On a bun or not, it’s a great warm-weather dinner when paired with a salad or good coleslaw (my next recipe, I think).
While this recipe gives you directions for grilling they can, of course, be cooked on the stove, under the broiler, or on a counter-top grill.
Apple Cheddar Pork Burgers
makes 4 – 6 burgers
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pre-heat your grill according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
In a large mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients well, but gently. Form into 4 – 6 thick burgers and grill using indirect heat – never place these directly over the heat source – about 8 to 10 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for a moment or two before serving.
Printable version (requires Adobe Reader)
Well, we’re back home. At least, Beloved and I are – The Young One and Jacki will be winging their way down to Texas this afternoon. Fortunately for me, Beloved is going to be in town for two whole weeks, so I won’t be immediately abandoned the way I was last year.
At any rate, I’ve found that getting back into the swing of things after more than a week off was surprisingly difficult, and I was faced with coming up with a recipe for my Monday morning post, when I hadn’t thought much about blogging at all for nearly 10 days.
The rich and decadent chocolate ice cream I made a couple of weeks ago? Or perhaps the three cheese manicotti with sweet Italian sausage? My renowned chicken and dumplings? Cheese bread! I have an absolutely incredible cheese bread recipe. But, in the end, I decided to take pity on poor Jen, who has been begging asking for a healthy recipe. And, believe it or not, I do have a few of those.
Beloved loved this recipe, and he’s not a big fan of salmon. But it allowed him to fire up the grill and burn wood – and it tasted really, really good, so it was definitely a winner. If you don’t have any cedar planks, I’m sure it would still be good simply grilled; if you don’t wish to grill (or don’t have one), I imagine it would do well broiled in the oven.
If you do use cedar planks, make sure to soak them in water for at least half an hour (several hours would be preferable) to prevent them catching fire.
Spicy Ginger Citrus Salmon
serves 2
2 skinless salmon fillets
2 cedar planks, soaked
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely chopped
2 teaspoons orange zest, finely chopped
olive oil
Cajun Spice Mix
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Preheat grill; if using charcoal, the briquettes are ready when they are ashy-grey on the outside, but glowing red on the inside.
Brush one side of the cedar planks with a little olive oil; sprinkle them with a little of the Cajun seasoning. Place the salmon fillets on the planks and sprinkle with more of the Cajun seasoning, to taste (you can use all of it if you like spicy). Top each fillet with a tablespoon of the chopped ginger and a teaspoon each of the orange and lemon zest.
Place each plank with the salmon on the grill directly over the heat source (the coals if using charcoal). Close the lid, and leave for 15 minutes; some smoke will issue from the grill due to the wet cedar planks. After the 15 minutes is up, check the salmon – if it flakes easily, it is ready. If not, give it another 2 or 3 minutes.
The original recipe I adapted this from suggested scraping off the ginger and zest before serving because it might be overwhelming, but I didn’t find that it was at all – the ginger and zests complimented it well without overpowering the fish, which was very moist.
My week has just been all out of whack! No Random Tuesday Thoughts and this is the first chance I’ve had to post a recipe.
But oh – it’s a doozy. Delicious and simple.
We’re enjoying the hell out of our new grill – I think Beloved misses it almost as much as he misses us when he’s gone out of town on business. We’ve done burgers and dogs and chicken and steak to death, so when I found this recipe I was like “Oh, yes – let’s give it a whirl” even though I’m not a big fan of beer.
Marinate the pork loin 24 hours, if you can – the flavors are really wonderful. Reserve the marinade and boil it for 3 minutes to kill any harmful bacteria, and baste the loin frequently to help keep moist. It also forms a wonderful glaze on the pork.
If you can’t grill this for whatever reason, you can roast it in the oven, covered, at 250 for about 4 hours; again, basting frequently with the reserved marinade.
Edited 11-15-09 to add: I made this recently and roasted it in the oven, uncovered in a small cast iron skillet, at 350° F for about an hour and a half, basting it every 15 or 20 minutes with the reserved, boiled (and strained) marinade. It was quite good – a delicious and easy cold-weather dish.
Honey Rosemary Grilled Pork Loin
serves 6 to 8
3 to 4 pound pork loin, trimmed of fat
1/2 cup honey
1 cup beer
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Mix all ingredients and marinate pork roast for several hours or (preferably) overnight.
Remove roast from marinade, and grill over indirect, low heat (between 225°F and 250°F) to an internal temperature of 160°F, about 4 – 4 1/2 hours.