Archive for the 'on the grill' Category
Last week, I was driving with my 10 year old niece and she asked me what my favourite food was. After I stopped laughing at the idea of having to choose just one (I sometimes get panicky at the thought of how much great food there is to eat and only so many hours in a day and months in a year and kilometres on the elliptical trainer - seriously) she countered with favourite type of food. Unable to choose one ethnicity (I’ve always disagreed with the use of that term in relation to food anyway - isn’t all food ethnic? Shouldn’t it more appropriately be “exotic” or “the food that they eat a lot of in Greece” or whatever?) I had to answer: anything with melted cheese on it.
I think I’m still OK with my answer.
Pizza is just always a good thing. I bought a couple portobello mushrooms a few days ago with the intention of making portobello burgers (and because ever since we had those portobello bison burgers, Mike has been asking for seconds) and then remembered today that they make a pretty good support system for personal-size pizzas, too.
As with any pizza, you can put whatever you like on these. You scrape out the gills and bake or grill them first, just to tenderize them and get rid of some of the excess liquid; I have heard of a method where you weigh the mushrooms down as you bake them in order to press out as much liquid as possible - the result is a sort of leathery-textured compact mushroom. You could do this in the oven on a baking sheet with another sheet and perhaps a pan set on top, or you could even cook them in a panini grill, if you happen to have one kicking around.
I didn’t have much in the way of potential pizza toppings around - except mushrooms - but do always keep a jar of Classico extra garlic bruschetta on the shelf. No one pays me to say this. I was actually at a housewarming and asked where they got the bruschetta, and my friend sheepishly admitted it was a $3 jar of Classico. The stuff is good, and has only the usual bruschetta ingredients - nothing unpronouncable. It’s great for an emergency appetizer with baguette, or on top of pasta with crumbled feta cheese, and maybe some shrimp from the freezer.
Tonight I spooned some over the mushrooms, draining most of the liquid off the spoon, and topped them with mozzarella. So easy. And perfect to do in your toaster oven or grill so as to not heat up the house.
Portobello Pizzas with Tomato Bruschetta
2 portobello mushroom caps
1 clove garlic, crushed
olive or canola oil
1/3 cup (ish) chunky tomato bruschetta
grated mozzarella cheese
Preheat the oven to 350°F or your grill to medium.
Remove the mushroom stems and scrape the gills out with a spoon - only because they tend to be bitter. Stir the garlic into the oil and brush it all over the mushroom caps - both sides.
Place the mushroom caps bowl-side up on a baking sheet and bake (or grill) for 8-10 minutes, until tender. Take them out of the oven and increase the oven temperature to 450°F, or turn up your grill a bit.
Top your mushrooms with the bruschetta and cheese. Bake (or grill, with the lid closed) for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese melts.
Serves 2 (recipe doubles or triples easily)
And see? The pizzas are even sturdy enough to eat out of hand, just like the real thing.
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June 28 2008 | on the grill and vegetarian | 2 Comments »
Again, no idea what’s for dinner at 5:47 PM. Fortunately, last time I was at Spolumbos I picked up a bunch of extra chicken-apple and turkey-cranberry sausages for emergencies such as these. A few frozen-solid sausages thaw fairly quickly in a bowl of warm water and take about 10 minutes on the barbecue. I know these are a little more well-done than they should be - I like them that way, but I skinned them a bit for W.
I had mixed up a batch of bean salad earlier in the week when feeling a little vegetable-depleted. A can of green beans, one of yellow, one of kidney beans, one of chick peas. A chunk of leftover purple onion and red pepper. The dressing: equal parts sugar and vinegar, simmered in a small pot on the stove until the sugar dissolves, and then the same amount of canola oil stirred in along with a squirt of mustard and a shake of celery seed.
This will keep well in the fridge for at least a week.
Oh how my Friday nights have changed over the past few years…
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June 13 2008 | beans and on the grill | 2 Comments »
It’s a boy!
We planned to get a new washer and dryer this weekend; instead we got a dog. A border collie-husky cross, 10 weeks old, about the same size as W. So, two toddlers. My sister has been on a mission to find the perfect dog, and brought him home for a trial run on Saturday to ensure she wasn’t allergic. She was, but her allergies didn’t kick in until we spent several hours discovering how mellow and awesome he was, and so this morning we couldn’t bring ourselves to send him back. He is as yet unnamed - we are open to any and all suggestions. I want to name him John Cusack, but Mike won’t go for it.
So between the chaos of suddenly getting a dog (!!) and scrambling to finish Animal, Vegetable, Miracle before I interview Barbara Kingsolver tomorrow morning, there wasn’t a lot of time to make dinner. Luckily, my mom brought over some fresh bison burger patties from Sunterra, which we tossed on the grill alongside a couple Portobello mushrooms. Grilled Portobellos make great burgers on their own, but Mike has always fantastized about topping another burger with one. I must admit, it was far easier and meatier than sautéing a panload of sliced button mushrooms, and fit snugly on top of the burger. To grill a Portobello mushroom, pull out the stem and scrape out the gills with the side of a spoon - the gills tend to be bitter - brush with oil and grill. If you like, marinate it in balsamic vinaigrette first - mushrooms are like sponges and will quickly absorb any flavours they meet.
And that’s it. One of the mushrooms broke into several pieces as W pretended it was his umbrella, but they are meaty enough that we grilled the pieces and it worked out fine. I realize the burger photographed above is lacking anything green; to be truthful I’d far rather have a salad on the side than adorn my burger with a couple measly leaves and a slippery slice of anaemic tomato. (To be even more truthful, I didn’t bother with a salad, just ate the burger. On the couch.)
We have a dog. What have I done??
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May 25 2008 | bison and on the grill and sandwiches | 19 Comments »
Yesterday we spent a big chunk of the afternoon at Prince’s Island Park. Deciding that it had finally warmed up enough to warrant a picnic, we packed up all the leftover salads, a loaf of no-knead bread, chunk of cheese and the rest of the sweet potato cake, grabbed a jug of lemonade out of the fridge, stirred up a batch of peanut sauce and turned a couple of pork tenderloins that had been marinating in the fridge into satay. It was, I think, the Best Picnic Ever. As E (who is from the UK) put it: “this pork is the dogs’ bollocks!” (Apparently this is a good thing.)
Pork tenderloin hands-down makes the best satay. It’s the leanest but also the most tender cut of pork, and its shape naturally lends itself to being cut into long strips. I cut mine in half crosswise first, then lengthwise, making sure the pieces are fairly even. The best thing about satay is that you can freeze the pork in its marinade, which acts as a sort of insulation against freezer burn. So when you buy pork tenderloin, and they are much cheaper when you buy 4 than when you buy 1 or 2, you can slice up the extras, put them in a baggie, pour some sort of marinade over (I’ll pour a glug of orange or lime juice, a glug of soy sauce, a spoonful of brown sugar or honey and a smaller spoonful of grated ginger, and maybe a crushed clove of garlic and a drizzle of sesame oil), knead it a little to blend it all together and stash it in the freezer. When I want satay, I’ll pull it out and let it thaw; in a bowl of warm water if I’m in a hurry.
In this case I had been marinating the pork tenderloins whole in maple syrup, soy sauce, grainy mustard, lemon juice and some chopped rosemary, intending to turn them into something else, but sliced, skewered and grilled they were equally fantastic. We quickly grilled them (it only takes a few minutes), then wrapped them in foil and they were the perfect temperature by the time we spread out our blanket. Peanut sauce is essential: in this case I spooned some peanut butter into a blender and added a squirt of lime juice and some chicken stock to thin it down (coconut milk would work too, but is high in saturated fat), a glug of soy sauce to salt it, and a clove of garlic, spoonful of grated ginger, and a dab of curry paste to jazz it up. Whiz until smooth and it will keep in a jar in the fridge for at least a week. (If you absolutely must have a recipe, I posted one on Day 106.)
All this to say that tonight, after our company packed up and headed toward Drumheller, M and W ate the leftover satay and quinoa salad while I met my friend T for bellinis and pizza.
Pork Satay
2 pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. lime or lemon juice
1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar or honey
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. curry powder and/or 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 green onions, chopped
Combine everything but the pork in a medium bowl. Cut the pork into strips and add to the marinade, stirring well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Soak bamboo skewers in water while the pork is marinating. Thread strips of pork onto the skewers and grill or broil for about 3 minutes per side, just until cooked through. Serve hot, warm or cold with peanut sauce for dipping. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen satay.
Per satay: 56 calories, 1 g total fat (0.3 g saturated fat, 0.4 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 9.3 g protein, 1.2 g carbohydrate, 22.3 mg cholesterol, 0.2 g fiber. 16% calories from fat.
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May 15 2008 | appetizers and on the grill and pork and snacks | No Comments »
It is purely by coincidence that the day I cleaned out my freezer and discovered no fewer than 5 bags of frozen chopped rhubarb I had squirreled away last summer was the very same day I noticed the first few shoots of rhubarb poking out of the ground.
I didn’t have the gumption to bake a pie, and there was at least 5 pies’ worth of rhubarb there anyway. So I stirred some into muffins; a recipe from Nigella’s Feast that she credits to Bev Laing of Edmonton, and the rest I dumped into a pot with the better part of a bag of frozen cranberries, some sugar and a spoonful of orange juice concentrate, and cooked it into cranberry-rhubarb sauce. (Or compote, if you want to be fancy about it.) I mean, why not? Both are red and tart; it’s like they were meant for each other.
I had a thawed pork tenderloin that needed cooking, so I rubbed it down with a bit of cumin, paprika, brown sugar, salt and pepper, then a little oil, and grilled it. I didn’t really care what I did to it; the pork was a mere vehicle for the sauce. While it grilled (or vice versa) I boiled some brown and wild rice the way I’d cook pasta - in lots of water - for about 45 minutes, and threw in some thawed frozen peas for the last 5 minutes. (W will eat rice, and rice with stuff in it, but the peas cannot stand alone.) A great fiber combo - brown and wild rice are of course good sources of fiber, but peas are even better, containing about 4 times as much as the rice.
The leftover sauce went into a bowl with some plain yogurt, oats, raisins and the grated remains of W’s half-eaten apple, and was stirred together to make muesli for breakfast and to dip into for the rest of the week. (The oats will absorb the moisture overnight, making it nice and thick.)
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April 29 2008 | breakfast and on the grill and pork | No Comments »
Mike complained loudly last night as I was pre-roasting pork ribs for CBC that I always make ribs for Jim (Brown, host of the Eyeopener) and never for him.
There is some truth to this. OK, a lot of truth. But who makes ribs for dinner on an average Tuesday night? Or ever, really, unless it’s someone’s birthday, or a BBQ, or some other sort of big event? The only time we ever get ribs is when Mike plays the Palomino or my mom picks up take-out from Swiss Chalet.
I adore ribs, but they are so high in fat that I never feel right about making them for myself. I reserve them for making other people happy. Well-made ribs are the best way to win friends and influence people.
Then again, I’ve eaten a lot of black bean soup this year, dammit. So I bought a big rack of pork back ribs today, and popped them in the oven this afternoon. This is the secret to ultra-tender ribs: prebaking them. Some people boil them, but I find that too messy and awkward, what with the giant pot of water on the stovetop. All I do is plop them on one of my cookie sheets (make sure it’s rimmed - those suckers have a lot of fat on them), cover them with foil and bake them at 300°F for about 2 hours. If you want, you could rub the meat with a dry rub first. This would have been a good idea, except that I planned to make the honey-garlic-ginger-soy version I made for Jim (et al) this morning. Sadly, when I went to mix up the sauce, I discovered there was only about a tablespoon of soy sauce left. Thankfully we have half a case of Canadian Club BBQ sauce in the basement, left over from some samples they sent, so we used that.
(As an aside, I’m always amused when people rave about the depth of flavor Canadian Club whiskey adds to its BBQ sauce; when you read the ingredient list, the whisky comes second to last, after modified corn starch and before xanthan gum. Of course brown sugar and sugar are the first two ingredients.)
I didn’t feel like expending any more energy on this meal beyond the ribs, so threw a few small potatoes on the oven rack above them. Baked potatoes are something I hardly ever make, except as a vehicle for a scoop of chili, but they seem the penultimate ballast to ribs. Great - greasy ribs and buttery baked potatoes. I made some peas and opened up a tub of spring greens to ease my conscience a bit.
Still, it was not a healthy dinner. Mike is now lying on his back on the couch, groaning. I’m thankful for my stretchy pants, and am already anticipating a nice meal of barley and lentils tomorrow. Neither of us feel like taking W to the park now, despite the fact that it’s still sunny and beautiful outside. Ribs seemed like a good idea at the time.
I have to go digest now.
Honey, Ginger & Garlic Ribs (from this morning on CBC)
2 racks pork spareribs
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
canola oil, for cooking with
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp. cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the ribs meat side up on a rimmed baking sheet, and cover the pan completely with foil. Bake them for 2 hours. (This part can be done in advance; you can then refrigerate the ribs for up to a day or so.)
Sauté the garlic and ginger in a drizzle of oil in a fairly large pot – one that will accommodate the ribs. Add the honey, rice vinegar and soy sauce to the garlic and ginger. After baking the ribs in the foil, let them cool slightly, cut them into individual ribs, and then add them to the pot. Simmer for 45 minutes, until the ribs are very tender. Dissolve cornstarch in about a tablespoon of cold water and add it to the sauce; cook until it bubbles and thickens slightly. Add more cornstarch and water if you want the sauce even thicker. Serve the ribs and sauce over steamed rice.
Oven-Roasted Barbecue Ribs (which I actually made tonight, minus the dry rub)
If you want to grill your ribs, you can do the initial cooking in the oven (up to a day or two in advance) and then finish them off on the grill.
Dry Rub (enough for about 4 big racks of ribs)
2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
2 racks spareribs, trimmed of excess fat
1-2 cups barbecue sauce
If you want to use the dry rub, combine all the ingredients for it and rub the ribs all over with the mixture, covering both sides. Let them stand at room temperature for an hour, or wrap them well in plastic and refrigerate them for up to 24 hours to intensify the flavors. If you aren’t using the rub, just sprinkle the ribs with salt and pepper. Keep any extra rub in an airtight container – it will last for about a year before it starts to lose its punch.
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the ribs meat side up on a rimmed baking sheet, and cover the pan completely with foil. Bake them for 2 hours. Remove the foil and slather the ribs generously with barbecue sauce. Roast for another hour, until the meat is very tender and starting to fall off the bone.
If you want to grill your ribs, cook them in the foil for 2 1/2 hours. (They can be made ahead up to this point, and then refrigerated for up to a day before you need them.) Brush the ribs with sauce and grill over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes.
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March 11 2008 | on the grill and pork | 3 Comments »
