Tag Archives: BBQ

Jerk Chicken

Posted on May 11, 2012 by | 5 Comments

Recipe from Food & Fire, slightly modified

“Artistic” photographic rendering of Jerk Chicken.
Or, in other words, the photo was dark and blurry…

Last week, our Whole Foods had a sale on locally raised, pastured, whole chickens.  I got four of them since the price was so good!  However, my ability to cut up a raw chicken (or rather, lack thereof) is an insult to the bird and a danger to myself and anyone nearby.  I did a decent job removing the thigh and leg quarters, but the breast and wings ended up in pieces of unidentifiable origin.  Zooarchaeologists would be stymied trying to figure out what happened to this poor chicken.  I would have done myself a favor by watching this video of how to cut up a chicken beforehand…it looks so easy when someone else does it!

Although this wasn’t the most attractive chicken, it tasted the same as a professionally cut up chicken.  This Jerk Chicken recipe comes from Dave at Food & Fire, and it is something we have enjoyed on many occasions.  Yes indeed it is spicy, but there is a nice blend of flavors behind the heat – and of course you can adjust the spiciness to a level that you are comfortable with.  Dave’s recipe calls for 4-6 habanero peppers – this time I wimped out and used 3, and it was plentifully hot.  In the past I have used dried peppers, but I had fresh peppers for this batch.  Following his directions to use gloves to cut up the peppers would have been a good idea, because even after washing my hands numerous times, my skin felt irritated.  Whatever you do, keep your hands away from your face!

Another good idea is to serve this chicken with something on the acidic side.  Acids (such as those found in citrus juices or other tropical fruits) are extremely effective at taking away the burning sensation from hot peppers.  Margaritas, of course, are a great option, but I would also suggest something like this Citrus and Avocado Salad, or grilled pineapple, or a mango salsa.  Having some lime slices to bite into also helps.

Ingredients

  • 8 chicken thighs, or 1 chicken, cut into pieces
  • 4 to 6 Habanero or Scotch Bonnet peppers (or whatever you can withstand)
  • 1 to 2 jalapeno peppers (because they were in the refrigerator)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 6 green onions, white and pale green parts, coarsely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dark rum
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wearing gloves, seed and de-vein the peppers.  (Ignore the gloves at your own risk…)  In a small food processor or blender, add salt and garlic.  Pulse until the garlic is minced.  Add the remaining ingredients (except the chicken) and process until well-combined.

Place the chicken in a resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade.  Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal.  Massage the marinade all over the chicken, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before grilling.  The longer the better (up to 24 hours).

Set up the grill to cook at 375-400F.  (If using a Big Green Egg – we used a spacer ring to raise the grill surface level with the grill opening.)  Grill the chicken, turning every 6-8 minutes, until the internal temperature of the thighs have reached 180F (usually 30-40 minutes).  When chicken is done, remove it to a warm plate and let it rest around 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

No other music for Jerk Chicken than reggae, of course! If all you know of it is Bob Marley, then you have some great listening ahead. To get you started, a former member of Bob Marley Wailers, Bunny Wailer with Blackheart Man. Legend has it he disappeared into the jungle and emerged a year later with this album…who’s to say, but its one of the most moving and reactionary statements of personal freedom and morality you can find. Essential.

Now, the crazy man, the mad scientist of dub, the legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry with Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread. Created in his Black Ark studio- before he burned it down- this is primal reggae, created by one whacked out weed head and his patched together equipment. He’s still going strong, but living the high life in Sweden these days, but this album…whew. I and I like.

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Pulled Pork (Smoked Pork Butt)

Posted on May 6, 2012 by | 2 Comments

This may well be my laziest, virtually no-effort attempt at smoked Boston Butt yet….and I think it was one of the best.  Sometimes the less you do, the better things turn out.  No brine, no overnight rub, not much tinkering with the cooking…just a generous application of Dizzy Pig “Dizzy Dust” and onto the Big Green Egg.

When you are not working with many ingredients, it is especially important that those ingredients are of high quality.  When buying pork, support farms with pastured animals that are compassionately and sustainably raised.  Look for Heritage breeds of pork, like Berkshire, which unlike “factory farm” animals that are raised indoors for maximum size in the minimum time, are traditionally bred and raised in a natural environment for the best tasting meat.  Use fresh spices when making your own rub, or buy spice blends that have all natural ingredients and no preservatives.  I like the the assortment of rubs offered by Dizzy Pig Barbeque Company, which are also gluten-free and have no MSG.

Here’s how our lazy day went…

About an hour before cooking, I took the boneless pork butt (around 3.5 pounds) out of the refrigerator.  It got a nice rub down with olive oil, then I liberally applied the Dizzy Dust all over the butt.  (No snickering…)  The butt was then tied up with kitchen twine.  We let it sit there on the counter to come to room temperature while the spice rub melded on the surface of the meat.

In the meantime, Mr. “He Cleans” got the Big Green Egg set up for smoking, with plenty of charcoal since we anticipated this would need to cook for 7-8 hours (roughly 2 hours per pound).  When the Egg was showing a stable temperature around 225F, we threw in several handfuls of Jack Daniel’s Barrel Wood Chips for smoke, put in the inverted plate setter and grill for indirect cooking, and set that pork butt in there right on the grill.  To really notch up the effort, we also had a slab of pork belly there with the butt.   We closed up the Egg and watched the smoke pour out, hoping that our annoying, loudmouth neighbors were getting a good whiff of it and burning with jealousy.

The weather was really pleasant, so we sat on the screened-in porch…reading, playing Sudoku, browsing the interwebs.  We peeked in the Egg after 2 hours had passed; the little rush of ventilation gave the woods chips a boost and picked the smoke up again.  Then back to porch sitting, occasionally wiping drool off our chins.  After 4 or 5 hours (what is time, really?), we pulled the pork belly out of the smoker and had a little snack.  More time passed – jalapeno slaw and bbq sauce were made, more Suduku, Words with Friends, checking on what people were up to on Facebook.  Next thing you know, it’s about drinking time!

After about 6 hours, the temperature of the butt seemed to be stuck in the 160F range.  This, I found from reading blogs about meat smoking, is known as the “Stall”.  We want the meat to get above 170F, because that’s where the magic happens.  Around 170F is when the collagen in the meat begin to melt and turn gelatinous, and the meat becomes more tender and juicy and scrumptious.  One way to get around the “Stall” is to cover that butt to keep the juices from evaporating, and thereby cooling the meat.  I plopped it in a cast iron pot with a little apple juice, sealed it up with foil, and put it back on the grill.  If you don’t have a pot handy that you want to stick in a grill, you can also wrap it securely with foil.

Now that it was drinking time, the wait became a little easier.  We cooked the butt for another hour, and checked the temperature.  It was just under 180F – but more importantly, the butt passed the “fork test”.  Basically, if you can stick a fork in it and twist it easily, it’s done!  At this point, the butt should rest for about 30 minutes.  I think we made it for 15 before deciding that surely that was enough.  We put the butt in a lasagna-sized pan to make sure we got all the juices, and pulled it apart with these nifty “Bear Paws“.  The Bear Paws make easy work of picking up hot meat off the grill or out of a roasting pan, as well as shredding it.  If you don’t have Bear Paws, you can also shred the meat with forks.  When the meat had cooled down a little, I also picked through it to remove any gristly or extra-fatty parts (and only ate a little of the delicious bark while doing so).

We ate our pulled pork with hot tortillas, spicy jalapeno slaw, and smoky barbeque sauce.  Pork with guacamole and pineapple-mango salsa was also a hit.  Delicious!  What a nice ending for a lazy day!

We said goodbye on April 19 to one of America’s greatest artists, Levon Helm of The Band. His wonderful voice and unerring ear for music will never be forgotten. Eerily a week before his passing I picked up Ramble at the Ryman, and it’s a great evening of music, Levon with special guests such as John Hiatt, Sam Bush and Buddy Miller raising the roof at the legendary Ryman Auditorium.

And speaking of legendary, you can’t go wrong with Rock of Ages. The Band at the height of their formidable powers, with horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint. A must have for fans of one of America’s most beloved bands.

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Grilled Chicken Wings Mole

Posted on February 11, 2012 by | 6 Comments

Greetings Huffington Post readers! Join us on Facebook for more treats!

Always on the lookout for another way to serve chicken wings, I read quite a few recipes before the “big day”.  I am of course referring to Superbowl Sunday, unquestionably the biggest day of the year for chicken wing consumption.  According to the National Chicken Council‘s 2012 Wing Report (really, I am not making this up), more than 1.25 billion wing portions will be consumed during Super Bowl weekend in 2012, totaling more than 100 million pounds of wings.  That’s a lot of freakin’ chicken wings!

Chipotle hot wings sounded interesting, but I decided to take that idea a step further with a nod to mole sauce.  Technically this marinade is not even close to the depth of flavor you would experience from an authentic Oaxacan mole, but it does have discernible elements of chile, cocoa, cinnamon, and honey – - mild heat, sweetness, and smokiness.  This is my “first draft” of the recipe, and it may need to be tweaked a little to get just the right balance.  If you give it a try, I welcome your suggestions to take this recipe from “tasty” to “killer”!

I used apple cider for the base of this sauce since I have a lot of it in the refrigerator, but other fruit juices could potentially be substituted.  I recommend marinating the wings overnight, if possible, or for at least 6 hours.

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 pounds chicken wings (either whole or separated)
  • 1/4 cup apple cider
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo, minced
  • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Lime quarters, for squeezing (optional)

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all the ingredients (except the wings and limes) until well-mixed.  Place the wings and marinade in a large resealable bag; shake and squeeze the bag to coat the wings thoroughly.  Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.  Turn bag occasionally.

Prepare a grill for indirect cooking at 375-400F.  (If using a Big Green Egg with inverted plate setter, add a drip pan to help with clean-up.)

When coals are ready, grill the wings for 15 minutes, then flip the wings and grill for another 15 minutes.  Move them around as necessary to cook the wings evenly.  Keep flipping them until the skin is crispy and they are done  – around 45 minutes for wing portions, or around 60 minutes for whole wings (when they start getting loose at the joints, they are usually done).

Serve with a squeeze of lime and Citrus and Avocado Salad.  Enjoy!

My goodness that’s a bunch of wingless chickens wandering around…but I digress. Couple of new releases this morning. First is a guy I saw perform in a small record store to about 10 people several years ago, and I was struck by his unique sense of place and language, and his haunting, sparse style. His name was Jim White, and his new album, Where It Hits You is a barren, emotional landscape of despair, based on the end of a relationship. Sounds like a downer, but it grows on you.

Mark Lanegan, formerly of the Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age has a new album, Blues Funeral and its already being touted as the album of the year. It’s moody, provocative rock with an edge. Fans of Nick Cave and Tom Waits will dig this.

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BBQ Chicken, Bacon, and Pineapple Pizza (gluten free)

Posted on January 15, 2012 by | 5 Comments

Santa brought me several bags of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free, Dairy Free Pizza Crust mix this past Christmas.  Evidently Santa not only knows when you’ve been bad or good, but he also is aware when you have been suffering a serious craving for pizza!  Since I haven’t experimented with making my own gluten-free crust from scratch, I cannot compare this mix to the many recipes out there.  However I can tell you that I appreciated the convenience of having a pizza mix (instead of buying 5 or 6 kinds of flour), and we really, REALLY enjoyed having a slice of pizza that you could pick up and eat properly with your hands!  Thanks, Santa!

For our first pizza, we decided on one of our old favorites – barbeque chicken with bacon, pineapple, and mozzarella!  Since the last post on the blog was Oven Barbequed Chicken, I think you can follow the trail of leftovers leading to this choice.  In truth, there were not enough chicken leftovers, so I ended up making more barbequed chicken using boneless, skinless thighs baked in Bone Suckin’ Sauce.  The method was the same, except I didn’t brown the chicken since there was no need to crisp the skin, and I baked it for an hour until the chicken was tender enough to shred with a fork.

So, how did this pizza stack up to “real” pizza?  If you’re expecting chewy dough with some “pull” to it, you’re not going to find it here.  I’m not sure there is a gluten-free crust out there that has the same texture and consistency of a gluten-containing crust.  Gluten, unfortunately, is what gives bread that stretchy quality.  The crust of this pizza is crispy, and is more reminiscent of biscuit dough.  Is that bad?  Not in our opinion; we gobbled this down as if we had not eaten in years, stopping only to exclaim “mmm” or to grunt “pizza good, pizza good”.

When the weather warms up, I can’t wait to try this on the Big Green Egg!  There’s nothing like the taste of a wood-fired pizza!

Let’s get started building this pizza!

Note:  The pizza mix makes 2 12-inch pizzas.  The dough can be prepared ahead and stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Ingredients (for one pizza):

  • 1 package Bob’s Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Mix
  • Yeast packet (included with pizza mix)
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil + more to coat pan and to handle the dough
  • Sea salt
  • Barbequed chicken thighs, shredded (~2 thighs/pizza)
  • 6 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, coarsely chopped
  • 3-4 slices pineapple, chopped into small pieces
  • Barbeque sauce
  • Fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into bits

Other handy items:  Electric mixer, 2 bowls, clean kitchen towel, silicone spatula, 12-inch pizza pan, pizza stone

Pizza dough rising...

Arrange one rack in the center of the oven, and another rack at the bottom.  Place a pizza stone (if you have one) on the bottom rack.  Preheat oven to 425F.

In a large bowl, combine the warm water and yeast, and allow to stand a few minutes to activate the yeast.  Whisk in eggs and olive oil.  Add the pizza crust mix; blend with electric mixer at medium speed for around 1 minute, or until well combined and dough is coming together.

Gather the dough together in a ball using a silicone spatula, and split it in half.  Place the second half in a separate bowl.  It helps to handle the dough with wet hands – it is sticky.  Cover both bowls with a clean kitchen towel, and place in a warm place to rise for at least 20-30 minutes.  (Near a warm oven is good enough, or you could put the bowls in lukewarm water if the room is cold.  Also, I left the dough out for several hours before using it, and it was okay.  If you are planning on making only one pizza, after the dough has risen, wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.  When ready to bake, allow to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.)

Ready for the oven!

Grease a 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil.  Rub your hands with olive oil, and place dough in the pizza pan.  Spread the dough out to cover the pizza pan, with more dough at the edges to contain the sauce.  You will notice here that the dough does not stretch – you just have to smush it in place.  Sprinkle the dough with sea salt and place on the center rack of the oven.  Bake the crust without toppings for 7-9 minutes.

Toppings added - it's starting to look like pizza!

Remove from oven.  Spread a thin layer of barbeque sauce over the surface of the pizza (just a few tablespoons).  Distribute the desired amount of shredded chicken, chopped bacon, pineapple, and mozzarella cheese over the crust.  Slide the pizza from the pizza pan onto the hot pizza stone, and bake for 15-20 minutes until crust and cheese are browned and topping is bubbling hot.  If you aren’t using a pizza stone, you could bake the pizza in the pan, or for a crisper crust, bake directly on the oven rack.

Cut the pizza into slices and serve.  Don’t be like me and burn the roof of your mouth – let it cool some before shoveling it in!

Bellissimo!

Pizza is back! My goodness I’ve missed it! Thank you Santa…! The soundtrack today features a pair of rock’s most “out there” performers. First, the wild-eyed Texan Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators with Easter Everywhere, the bands masterpiece. Loaded on acid and freaking out in Texas in the 1960s, the Elevators somehow created a cult record while Erickson lost his mind. But when it worked- as on “She Lives (In a Time of her Own)” or their version of Dylan’s “Baby Blue”, this is a seminal record, and a look back at a time when hippies walked the earth.

Long before they did The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd was as psychedelic as they came, in large part due to their founder, Syd Barrett. Their 1967 debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is Syd’s finest moment, containing “Astronomy Domine” and “Lucifer Sam” among others, and is a trippy headrush of an album. The band went on of course to become megastars, but their “Crazy Diamond” leader wasn’t along for the ride, releasing a handful of singles and this grand album. It’s groovy, man.

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Oven Barbequed Chicken

Posted on January 13, 2012 by | 5 Comments

…and a product review for Bone Suckin’ Sauce!

I love bbq chicken on the grill – especially the bits of crispy skin with sauce, blackened with caramelized sugar from the flames.  However some days grilling outdoors just isn’t going to happen, for instance when the cold winter wind is blowing rain.  Brrr!  Thankfully,  pretty-fine barbeque chicken can be produced inside.

As the jar says, "We're Talkin' Serious"!

This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a product review, since I didn’t make my own barbeque sauce.  I have one recipe for barbeque sauce here, but if you don’t want to take the time, it is possible to find a great sauce with no high fructose corn syrup, no MSG, no gluten, no preservatives, and no fat (if you care about fats in your sauce; I do not).  My new favorite sauce out there is Bone Suckin’ Sauce, produced for Ford’s Foods in Raleigh, NC.  The best thing about this sauce, aside from the taste and the name, is it is made using REAL ingredients.  It is sweetened with honey and molasses, spiced up with horseradish, garlic and peppers, and has a really nice balance of tomato vs. vinegar.  This might sound insignificant, but I also love the color of this sauce – a nice rich, vibrant red, not the dull, tired looking colors of other sauces on the grocery shelf.

Oh, beautiful sauce...

If you can’t find Bone Suckin’ Sauce at your grocer’s, you can pick from a lot of styles (thicker, hotter) and flavors (original, mustard), here.

Back to the chicken… the goal was to bake the chicken in the sauce until it was fork tender.  I used chicken thighs, skin-on.  No one likes pale, flabby skin, so before these thighs went into the sauce, I browned them well on both sides in a skillet.  Not only did this avoid the flabby skin problem, but browning the chicken also adds another dimension to the taste, as well as renders out some of the chicken fat that would otherwise end up as a greasy layer on top of the barbeque sauce after baking.

Look, the sauce has a recipe right on the side of the jar!

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
  • Kosher salt and pepper (or bbq seasoning)
  • extra-virgin olive oil, or fat of choice for browning chicken
  • Bone Suckin’ Sauce, or bbq sauce of choice

Preheat oven to 350F.  Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, working in batches, brown the chicken thighs well on both sides (about 4 minutes/side). Do not crowd the skillet.  Transfer the browned chicken to a baking dish that will hold the chicken in a single layer.

Cover the chicken with barbeque sauce.  Cover the baking dish with foil, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.  Pour off any excess grease.  Increase the oven temperature to 400F and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, uncovered, to thicken up the sauce and “recrisp” the chicken.  Serve it hot!

Boy howdy that’s good bbq! And so is the soundtrack. First, the official house music for SCHC’s Santa Fe headquarters is John Prine- something about his wry worldview and a fire is how we spend most evenings. His new one, The Singing Mailman Delivers will be a favorite, I’m sure. Drawn from recordings made before his first album, this is classic Prine. Illegal smile, indeed!

Guy Clark is a legend among songwriters- “LA Freeway”, “The Randall Knife” and more are well-loved. His new live album, Songs & Stories is a glimpse behind the songwriting process with Clark and a great band.

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London Broil with Lime-Garlic-Ginger Marinade

Posted on January 9, 2012 by | 4 Comments

Last year we bought a 1/4 grass-fed cattle share – most of which has been consumed.  There were a few odd cuts of steak remaining, like this large package labeled “London Broil”.  Now best I can tell, “London Broil” is not the name of a cut of meat, it is more of a preparation method.  My guess is this piece of meat is a top round steak because it is very lean and it is pretty large (around 2 pounds).  Top round steak has a nice beefy taste, but it can also be chewy and tough unless prepared correctly.  You could also use flank steak, sirloin, or skirt steak for this recipe.

I marinated this steak for about 6 hours for additional flavor, using a marinade recipe with lime, garlic, and ginger slightly modified from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything.  He suggests leaving the meat in the marinade for 1 to 2 days to really soak up those flavors, which I would recommend.  At six hours, the garlic and ginger flavors were there, but subtle.  However, I probably overcooked our steak a little, trying to photograph it in the dark by lantern light.  Even so, the steak turned out pretty well and was great with grilled multi-color bell peppers and eggplant slices!

Since this is not a tender cut of meat, it should be sliced thinly across the grain when serving – this keeps it from being chewy.

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 pounds top round steak, flank steak, sirloin, or skirt steak
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon coconut aminos (gluten-free, soy-free sauce)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 heaping teaspoon minced or grated fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine lime juice, fish sauce, coconut aminos, garlic, ginger, and honey.

Make shallow slashes across the surface of the steak with a knife.  Place the steak in a resealable bag or shallow glass dish.  Pour the marinade over the steak and rub it into the surface well.  Marinate, refrigerated, for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.  Turn occasionally so that all surfaces of the steak have good contact with the marinade.  When near the end of the marinating time, remove from the refrigerator and allow to return to room temperature.

Prepare a grill for direct cooking at 450-500 degrees.  Dry the steak well with paper towels.  Season with freshly ground pepper and salt.  (Go lightly on the salt since coconut aminos and fish sauce may be salty.)

Grill the steak for approximately 5 minutes per side, until internal temperature reaches 125F.  Let steak rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing, covered, to allow the meat to relax.

Went to Memphis a few weeks ago- talk about food!- but in between bouts of ribs, saw some local history at the Stax Museum. Fascinating place, with loads of exhibits and music of one of American’s foremost and influential labels. For a great look at its history and the legendary artists who recorded there- Otis, Booker T and the MGs, Isaac Hayes and more, I recommend Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story. Vital. America wouldn’t be the same without it.

Before Stax, future members of Booker T. and the MGs- Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and Booker T, hooked up with high school classmate Charles “Packy” Axton and cut a bunch of sides to regional success. Packy was the son of Estelle Axton, who would go on to found Stax with Jim Stewart. These early southern soul sides have been collected on Late Late Party, and it’s great. Raw, gritty blues and soul, and you can tell future Hall of Famer Steve Cropper’s stinging tone early on.

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Korean Honey-Sesame Chicken Skewers

Posted on July 2, 2011 by | 15 Comments

Modified from: Barbecue! Bible by Steven Raichlen

Korean Honey Sesame Chicken Skewers / She Cooks, He Cleans

Yes, this is yet another post about meat on a stick.  We are just plain nuts about grilling meat on skewers (and there are those that would say we are just plain nuts, period).  I’m pretty fond of a good sweet-salty combination, which led me to the recipe for Korean Honey-Sesame Marinade in the Barbeque! Bible.  This marinade combines the salty taste of soy sauce with an assortment of sweet flavors from honey, pears, and ginger.  Then there’s the garlic and the toasted sesame seeds to round it all out.

I modified the recipe to cut down on the sugar, and because I didn’t have all the right ingredients on hand.  The chicken turned out great, but I’d like to try it again and stick closer to the original ingredients.  Also, next time, I would like to set aside some of the marinade to brush onto the chicken while it’s grilling.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup Asian (dark) sesame oil  (I substituted regular sesame oil)
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup sake or dry sherry
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds*
  • 1 tablespoon minced, fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon hot paprika (I used 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper)
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 small Asian pear or firm regular pear, peeled, cored, and diced (I did not have a pear – I used 1/2 gala apple)
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

Combine all ingredients (except chicken) in a food processor or blender; process to a smooth purée.  Place the chicken strips in a resealable plastic bag or glass baking dish.  Cover with the marinade and refrigerate for at least one hour, and up to 4 hours.

Set up a grill for direct cooking around 400F.  Thread chicken onto skewers (I twisted the strips as I threaded them for this thicker, knotted-looking appearance.  Bunching up the chicken may help keep it moist.)

Grill chicken for 3-4 minutes per side.  Serve ‘em up!

*Note about toasting sesame seeds:  Toasting seeds and nuts intensifies their flavors and makes them, well, toasty and better.  Sesame seeds are tiny little buggers and are prone to flying all over the place and burning when you toast them, but this can be overcome.  Just put the seeds in a dry, heavy skillet over medium heat, and stir them and shake the pan until they are lightly brown and you can smell the toasty goodness.  Then immediately get them out of the hot pan or they will burn.  Don’t turn your back on them for a second!

Korean Honey Sesame Chicken Skewers / She Cooks, He Cleans

I’m somewhat of a gadget geek, and my most recent nifty new thing is a Kindle. I love to read, and anything that lets you carry 3500 books at a time, I’m all for. One of the more interesting aspects is the ability to read a sample of a novel. So, I gave The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece a shot, and my, I’m glad I did! The story of the origins of Bach’s masterwork for the cello, its discovery by a 13 year old Pablo Casals in a second-hand music shop and the change it made to the musical world is fascinating!

Of course, you can’t read about Bach: Six Suites for Solo Cello without listening to them at the same time, right? This is a sublime work, one of the greatest classical recordings ever. Now, if I could only find it on vinyl!

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Paprika-Cumin Marinated Sirloin Steak and Medley of Roasted Squash

Posted on June 19, 2011 by | 5 Comments

Adapted from How to Cook Meat

Paprika Cumin Marinated Sirloin

Last week we splurged and ordered 40 pounds of grass-fed, grass-finished Angus beef for the freezer.  If you recall, I had to do a major freezer clean-out to accommodate the giant beef back ribs I had previously ordered.  I don’t know how, but we managed to squeeze almost all of the “new” beef in the freezer.  Needless to say, we’ll be having a little extra red meat this week to eat up what didn’t fit!

Another fortuitous find was How to Cook Meat, which my sweet husband picked up at the local used book store (shout out to Book Nook).  This tome of meat features a comprehensive discussion of all the different cuts from beef, pork, lamb, and veal…and includes the best cooking methods for each cut and many recipes.  Looking for something different to do with sirloin steaks, I decided to try “Grilled Sirloin Steak High Plains Drifter-Style.”  This recipe appears to be a homage to cowboys of the Old West – although I doubt they traveled with fresh oregano, cumin, and paprika.

Unfortunately, after the grill was started a big thunderstorm blew up with heavy rains and wind.  James bravely manned the grill station holding down the umbrella, with lightening all around and flames shooting out the top of the big green egg.  [No one was harmed during the production of this blog post.]

After calming the fire enough to keep the umbrella from igniting, we opened the airflow back up to cook at 600F.  The steaks were really flavorful, especially for such a lean cut of meat.  I’m sure cowboys would have enjoyed them!

Ingredients (modified from original recipe):

  • 2 10-oz sirloin steaks
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
  • 1 sprig rosemary, leaves chopped fine
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika (I used a mixture of sweet paprika and smoked sweet paprika)
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin seeds
  • 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
  • 2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, except the steak, to form a thick paste.  Place steaks in a shallow glass dish.  Season with salt and pepper, then coat with the paste on both sides.  Allow to marinate in refrigerator for 2-6 hours, turning occasionally.  Remove from refrigerator around an hour before grilling, to allow to come to room temperature.

Set up a grill for direct cooking at high temperature.  When coals are ready, grill the steaks to medium/medium-rare (or desired level of doneness) – 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Allow the steaks to rest for a few minutes (with a pat of butter if you wish), then serve them up!

Pitty-Pat (or Patty-Pan) squash were at the farmer’s market, so we sliced one into wedges and roasted it with chunks of zucchini and onions in the oven.  Just add salt, pepper and a light coating of olive oil – roast at 400F until tender and browned.  They would have been good on the grill too, but no one was anxious to get any wetter standing out there in the rain!

That was a meal worth standing in a rainstorm for! And when I came in, dried off, and had some wine, I cued up J.J. Cale’s Troubador, and it felt so good. You’re familiar with Cale, even if you don’t know the name. He wrote “After Midnight” and “Cocaine” (included here), both big hits for Eric Clapton, but it’s Cale’s versions I prefer. This guy ain’t no sprinter, he ambles to the finish line in a warm, relaxed fashion, very bluesy and soulful. If you can make it to the end of the opening song “Hey Baby” without a smile on your face somethings wrong!

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Posted in Beef, Entrees, Sauces, Marinades, and Rubs, Side dishes

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Lime-Curry Pork Skewers

Posted on June 14, 2011 by | 5 Comments

Lime Curry Pork Skewers (1)

We enjoyed the chicken satay so much last week, we decided to skewer some pork tenderloin!  The Lime-Curry marinade was wonderful with the pork tenderloin, adding multiple layers of spicy flavors to what tends to be a relatively bland-tasting cut of meat.  The recipe for this marinade was inspired by an Epicurious/Gourmet recipe, “Grilled Lime-Curry-Rubbed Hanger Steak with Fresh Melon-Cucumber Chutney“.  Incidentally, we have prepared that recipe a couple of times and it is wonderful.  The Melon-Cucumber Chutney would be great with the pork skewers also, but I didn’t have the ingredients on hand.  Next time I will!

Ingredients:

  • 1 pork tenderloin
  • juice from 2 limes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet curry powder*
  • 1/2 tablespoon hot curry powder*
  • 2 teaspoons honey (or sweetener of choice)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (optional)

* The Spice House has a nice selection of curry blends.  Check it out here.

Lime Curry Pork in marinade

Butterfly the pork tenderloin to bring it all to a relatively even thickness.  (I did this in two parts:  first by cutting the tenderloin lengthwise about 3/4 of the way through into 2 joined sections.  Then slice about 3/4 through the center point of each of the 2 sections so that the meat opens up like a book.)  Cut the tenderloin, lengthwise, into long strips about an inch wide. Place the meat in a resealable bag or glass dish.

Puree the remaining ingredients in a small food processor or blender.  Pour the marinade over the pork strips and refrigerate for 2 to 6 hours.

When ready to grill, thread the pork onto the skewers.  Set up a grill for direct cooking at around 400F.  When coals are ready, grill the pork skewers for 3-4 minutes on each side.  Take them off the grill and garnish with chopped cilantro, if you wish.

We served these curried pork skewers with oven-roasted sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are a great match for curried dishes because the flavors are so complementary.  Another good choice would be roasted or grilled cauliflower.  A mango chutney or the melon-cucumber chutney from Epicurious would also be a refreshing addition – and one that I will include next time I make this!

Enjoy!

First up, a new release (and band) from some long time favorites- the Tedeschi Trucks Band with Revelator. This would be Susan Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks. Now I saw Derek play when he was around 12 or 13 years old- and he was jaw droppingly amazing then, and has only gotten better as a solo artist and as a member of the Allman Brothers. His wife sings with a soulful, bluesy style ala Bonnie Raitt. They’ve joined up and released a great album, very funky and blues filled. Love it!

And speaking of Bonnie Raitt, this first solo record might sound a bit raw to fans of her later, more pop-oriented material, but she’s the real deal. Great vocalist, brilliant slide guitarist, just great. Get funky people!

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Posted in Entrees, Meat on a Stick, Pork, Sauces, Marinades, and Rubs

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Chicken Satay with Grilled Vegetables and Basil

Posted on June 9, 2011 by | 9 Comments

Loosely adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Chicken Satay

Grilling outdoors in 90+ temperatures is a little brutal, but this simple meal will get you back into the air conditioning in no time!  We wished that we had grilled twice as much chicken, it was so good.  The flavors from the marinade really come through, and the grilled vegetables with basil were the perfect accompaniment.  We grilled the vegetables first, then the chicken.  Serve with or without peanut sauce.

Ingredients for Chicken Satay:

  • 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1/3 cup miso tamari sauce, or coconut aminos, or soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 tablespoon honey or coconut palm sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil or olive oil (Note:  I tried to use coconut oil, but it doesn’t remain liquid when the chicken is refrigerated while marinating. D’oh.)

Butterfly the chicken breast halves and cut into thin strips.  Place in resealable bag.

Puree the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Pour the marinade over the chicken and chill for at least one hour, or up to 6 hours.  If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for 2 or 3 hours so they won’t burn on the grill.

Set up a grill for direct cooking around 400F.  Thread chicken onto skewers (I twisted the strips as I threaded them for this thicker, knotted-looking appearance.  It possibly helped keep the meat moist…hard to tell…but it was moist!)

Grill chicken for 3-4 minutes per side.

Grilled Vegs and Basil

Ingredients for Grilled Vegetables:

  • 2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
  • 1 zucchini, halved and cut into ~1-inch chunks
  • 1 yellow squash, halved and cut into ~1-inch chunks
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • kosher salt and freshly ground pepper,  or pepper blend
  • splash of balsamic vinegar
  • handful of sweet basil, julienned

Set up a grill for direct cooking around 400F. Toss vegetables in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper, until well coated.

Place a perforated grill plate or basket on the grill.  Spray with non-stick spray, if necessary, and place vegetables on the grill.  Cook for around 10-12 minutes, occasionally turning the vegetables over, until the vegetables are lightly charred and tender.  Return to bowl – add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a handful of chopped basil, toss to mix.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Let’s have a Neil Young/Stephen Stills night, why not? First up, one of rock’s earliest “supergroups”, Buffalo Springfield on Retrospective, a great collection pulled from their somewhat uneven albums. Nothing second rate here, with Young’s “Mr. Soul” and “I Am A Child” and of course the classic protest moment of Stills, “For What It’s Worth”. They have recently reformed for some extremely expensive reunion shows, but I’ll stick with my old lps, thanks!

And what needs to be said about Deja Vu, the first album from CSNY? “Carry On”, “Teach Your Children”, “Our House”…it just goes on and on. A classic!

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Posted in Appetizers, Entrees, Meat on a Stick, Poultry, Sauces, Marinades, and Rubs, Side dishes

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