Tag: grilled

By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Well, its been a while but things have finally started to slow down around here to the point where we can creatively cook again, just in the nick of time too.  Our annual fourth of July camping trip is coming up quickly and just like years past we are in charge of one meal.  In preparation for this year I thought I would get ahead of the game and actually try cooking something at home before we head out.  In addition to the meat and dessert, which you will likely find on here at the end of the week I am making Bacon Cheddar Cheese Scones on the fire, nothing like tending an all day fire for the meat in 100°F weather.  So to practice I got a bag of lump charcoal and fired up the grill.  If you were making these at home in the oven you could form the scones by hand and bake them on a cookie sheet, but in trying to keep it as real as possible to our trip I broke out the Lodge Cornbread Wedge Pan, cleaned it up and dried it out.  Because I was cooking over a fire (on the grill) I did grease the pan with some leftover bacon grease, which I think was a must.

To get started I cooked my bacon, chopped it up finely with my Pampered Chef Chopper, its like the Slap Chop but way better, it allows me to easily chop the bacon extremely fine.  Once my bacon was ready, I got a chimney of lump charcoal fired up and completed the recipe as outlined below.  I then formed the scones into the wedges in the pan, brushed the top with cream and finished getting the grill ready.  Then it was onto the grill on the cooler side, the side away from the coals.

Scones on the grill

While the scones were cooking, being the meat eater I am, I plopped a steak on there as well.  It took about 15 minutes for the scones to cook, which I judged by when the tops began to brown, once they were browned, using heavy gloves, I removed the skillet and promptly removed the scones.

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Scones ready to be eaten

Then came the taste test, now I am not experienced in the likes of scones but what resulted was delicious, they we tasty and well rounded.  No one taste jumped out more than another, the outside was a bit crispy on the bottom but the inside as flaky and delicious.  I have had two since pulling them off and will likely get a third once I am done writing this.

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In keeping with the camping theme the recipe calls for the dough to be turned out onto a floured surface, well I don’t foresee myself using the picnic table so I practiced doing it all in the bowl and it worked out quite well.  I can’t wait to make these later this week at camp, nothing quite like a little campfire gourmet to take a break from hobo pies and burgers.  Happy Independence Day and eat well!

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Its been a while since I have been able to really cook, like really break down and cook something.  We have been way to busy.  So finally this week I broke down and decided that no matter what I was going to make these tacos tonight.  They have been on my radar for a while and was looking forward to making them.  Its been a long week knowing this is what I had to look forward to on Thursday.  Well today was Thursday and my stomach is full, almost too full after my repeat visits up to the counter.

chipotle pork tacos with grilled pineapple salsa

I must caution that even though they may look delicious, and they are; they do take quite a while to make, I wish I had thought of that prior to starting them that they would take longer than I thought, by you live and learn I guess.  With that one caution here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb pork tenderloin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ancho chile poder
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 slices of fresh pineapple, 1/2″ thick
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
3 tbsp thinly sliced red onion
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper
soft corn tortillas

Instructions
Begin by mincing chipotle, then combine with olive oil and rub evenly over pork.  In another bowl combine oregano, chile powder, cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper.  Sprinkle spice mixture over both sides of pork and let pork stand for 30 minutes.  Prepare the grill for a hot fire.  Once the grill is ready oil the grate with vegetable oil or cooking spray.  Once the grate is good and hot throw pineapple on over indirect heat, cook 5 minutes per side.  Once pineapple is cooked chop roughly and combine with ground chipotle pepper, remaining salt, cilantro, lime juice and onions in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  Grill pork over indirect heat until an instant read thermometer reads 145°F.  Remove from grill and let rest for 5 minutes on the counter.  Roughly chop, prepare tortillas according to their instructions.  Pack each with equal parts pork and pineapple salsa.  Enjoy

Its sweet, its spicy and delicious.  This is a recipe I think that will make its way into the rotation, this was a good dinner and will make an excellent lunch tomorrow.

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Perhaps my favorite way to have pork is like this, grilled and rubbed with dijon mustard and a rosemary/garlic concoction.  It was the first way I had cooked pork in out of my Dutch tradition and has been one of my favorites.  Its simple and the combination of the flavor of pork, rosemary and dijon are always a win.

So in typical fashion in getting ready to put this on the blog I made the pork, tried to stage it nicely and took a bunch of pictures.  Then in my moment of brilliance I decided I needed to organize the pictures before writing this post.  There in lies the problem…I deleted them having thought they were copied off somewhere else.  So you will have to take my word for it the pictures were something to behold, they did the meat such justice.

So without further ado and before I lose the recipe with the pictures here it is.

Ingredients
1 pork loin (4lbs-ish)
2 tbsp dijon mustard (or more)
2 tbsp chopped red onion
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic minced or pressed
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves

Instructions
Several hours before grilling time, mix all ingredients except pork loin and dijon.  Then you have a choice to make either flatten the loin by cutting into it the long way while rotating it to come out with one large and consistently thick piece of pork, like a piece of rolled out dough or just use it whole, both ways are superb.  Rub entire piece of meat with dijon and then the rub the entire piece of meat with the rub made above.  If you did not flatten the meat you can simply wrap it in saran wrap and throw it back in the fridge tell you are ready to cook it.  If you did flatten it you will not need to roll it back up, like a long line of cinnamon rolls and then proceed to wrap it in saran wrap and toss it in the fridge tell cook time.

Once cook time comes around, prepare the grill for indirect cooking.  With charcoal like below or with gas preheat the grill with both burners and turn the one you will be cooking over off.  For gas grills place the loin on a grill rack over a drip pan.  For charcoal you will have a drip pan filled with water in the center of the grill with charcoal on either side.  Just toss the meat on the pre lubricated grate being sure if you flattened and rolled the meat it does not come unrolled.  Cook indirectly until the center of the loin reaches you desired done-ness.  I pulled mine at 148ºF and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing into it.

Indirect cooking over charcoal

Cooking indirectly over charcoal is easy and quite rewarding.  Just prepare a normal amount of charcoal for your grill using a chimney or other method.  Fill a foil pan with boiling water and place it in the center of the grill and tuck the charcoal on opposing sides of the pan.  Be sure to add a half dozen briquettes every 45 minutes or so to keep a consistent fire.  You can also toss on a chunk or two of wood to give it a little smoke flavor.

You will notice that the openings on my grill grate are strategically positioned over my charcoal pockets, this allows for easy replenishment.

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes No Comments

Wednesday night my wife says to me, “We should make Greek burgers with some of the venison we have in the freezer.”  And that is when it was born, the Venison Greek Burger, I became infatuated with the idea for the rest of the week.  All day Thursday, all day Friday, I could not keep it off my mind.  Then finally Saturday came and the burger came to be.  It did not disappoint.  It was tasty, it was worth the thought and the preparation, and truth be told we ate a couple yesterday and are about to eat a couple more.

The Venison Greek Burger

Like so many other recipes, this is just a start, the Greek use any number of seasoning to create their own unique signature when making Gyro meat, which is what this is based off.  So this is more of a template that I used to get going and will likely add in different ingredients each time I make it from here on out.  There is a recipe for the meat, which was excellent and one for the Tzatziki sauce to go on top of the burger as well.

Greek Venison Burger Meat
Ingredients
1 lbs ground venison
1 egg
1 small onion
1 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp ground marjoram
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp fine feta cheese crumbles
2 gloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions
Chop onion and then place in a food processor.  Blend in the processor until the onion is more of an unrecognizable consistent mash.  Remove from blender and place in a couple of pieces of good paper towel.  Squeeze out as much juice as possible.  Add onion as and the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the venison to a bowl.  Mix well.  Add in venison and mix until the seasoning is evenly distributed through the meat.  Form to patties, let set for 30 minutes and grill to desired wellness with light smoke from a few oak chips in the grill.

Should you have no venison you could substitute a half pound of ground beef (lean) and a half pound of ground lamb.

Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
1 1/2 c plain greek yogurt
1 cucumber
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dill weed
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of ground black pepper
pinch of sugar
2 cloves of garlic crushed

Instructions
Peel cucumber, slice and half length wise and with a spoon remove the seeds.  Place the remaining cucumber in a food processor and blend until uniform (kind of like applesauce).  Place cucumber in a couple of paper towels and squeeze out the juice.  Combine the drained cucumber with the remaining ingredients and refrigerated overnight.

The sauce will be a little too garlicky the first day, it mellows over night, but keep the breath mints handy!

Once the burgers are cooked slap ’em on a bun with some lettuce (or spinach), tomato, onion, feta, tzatziki sauce and a dusting of ground sumac; these are wicked tasty.  Or as an alternative they are great without the bun but with everything else in a salad.  Either way give it a try, and remember the meat recipe is just a template customize, customize, customize!

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We are on the chicken kick again and I must say I have a new favorite this year, it is honey mustard marinated chicken on spinach with a honey mustard vinaigrette, made from all the left overs from cooking the chicken…so tasty and so easy.

Honey Mustard Marinated Chicken on Spinach

Like most marinades, the beauty is that once its marinating the only thing left to do is cook it up when its time for some chow.  The problem is that we don’t want to eat the same marinade necessarily when we marinate something and end up with 20 bottles of marinade in the fridge.  So we have started making our own, we make just enough for the two of us, using stuff we have around the house and when we are done, we don’t have to worry about a partially used bottle hanging around.  So without further ado here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1/4 c dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp whole mustard seed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Mix all ingredients together well and pour over chicken in a zip lock.  Squeeze air out of zip lock and seal.  Work marinade around chicken and leave to marinate over night in the refrigerator.  Occasionally redistribute the marinade in the bag.  The next day open the bag and take a huge whiff, it smells fantastic.  Cook chicken however you would like, in a pan on the stove, in the oven or my personal favorite grill it.  You could probably even nuke it but I am not sure, I avoid the microwave like the plague.

Enjoy, I have some more chicken to eat.

Looking for more ways to enjoy chicken?  Here are some ideas for chicken.

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