Archive for the 'on the grill' Category
Yes, hello. I’m still here. It’s funny how a mere 4 days’ absence can feel like a decade when I’m used to being umbilically connected to this place. I have missed you guys, but didn’t want to be the little raincloud that popped up over your head every time you stopped by for a visit.
(Also, I’ve been teaching in Red Deer the past two evenings, arriving home tonight and last at close to midnight. Yesterday, having been up since 5:30, I couldn’t bring myself to open my laptop.)
To bring you up to speed on the past few days, I’ll give you the Coles notes: I survived Saturday, in no small part due to Pierre. A chili cook-off at the Ramsay Christmas Fair on Sunday, more sad news from friends, and the arrival of other friends from BC, whose coming provided ample excuse to make beef bourguignon and open some wine.
Monday we baked dark fruitcake (the very best therapy, I’m telling you) and took the kids to see
A Christmas Carol (the movie) which – by the way? SCARY. Dark. Heavy. Very traditional Dickens (save for the occasional poke at religion, which I don’t recall in any versions I’ve seen) – spectacular effects, but all in all not as lightened/humoured by Jim Carrey or the Disney title as I expected. The kids aren’t particularly inclined to be scared of stuff, but we spent half the movie covering their 3D glasses with our hands. I may have nightmares. About the $45 popcorn tab and over $100 admission between the 8 of us, at least.
And today, after the dog park and W’s gymnastics and before I drove to Red Deer, I retrieved some sausages from the freezer, grilled them and topped them with spiced figs from last week. It was a tapas menu item I stumbled upon that struck me as particularly tasty, and it was.
Grilled Pork Sausages with Spiced Figs
adapted from Bon Appétit, September 2007
1 cup red wine vinegar
3/4-1 cup sugar
1 pkg. dried black Mission figs (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cinnamon stick or 1 sprig of rosemary
1 tsp. cornstarch (optional)
5 sweet Italian link pork sausages (about 1 pound)
In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, figs and cinnamon stick or rosemary and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat for about half an hour, until the figs are plump and the liquid is syrupy. If you like, dissolve the cornstarch in about 2 tsp. water and add it to the mixture to thicken it a little; bring back to a boil for at least 2 minutes to allow it to thicken and get rid of any starchy texture.
Meanwhile, grill the sausages until almost cooked through; holding them with tongs, cut them in half lengthwise, then throw them back on the grill for a few minutes, cut-side down, until char-marked on the bottom.
Serve each sausage half topped with a few figs and some sauce. Serves 10.
One Year Ago: Crab, Spinach and Artichoke Omelets
November 26 2009 | appetizers and on the grill | 19 Comments »
So hey, it turns out I can cook Vietnamese. Who knew?
There are some things that I have a ton of interest in eating, but none whatsoever in making. Vietnamese food falls into this category. So does Chinese food, Korean food; anything I feel like I have no authority to create. I mean besides the basics. I attempted homemade ginger beef once and for all the effort that went into it I’d rather call up the place down the street and slap down a 10 spot for them to do it for me.
Besides, the mystique is taken away when you make something yourself. Do you ever get that sense that everything you make tastes like slightly different versions of the same thing? You know what went in there, and you’re intimately familiar with the process that made it taste the way it does. I’d rather focus my energies elsewhere and leave some things up to the pros.
But then recently I had the occasion to try, and I’m so glad I was shoved out of my comfort zone. Because that’s how you learn – when you expand your horizons beyond what you already know. (Whether voluntarily or by force.)
Satay aren’t really out of my comfort zone – they’d be more accurately classified as a staple around here. But the marinade is different from my usual. I kind of winged it; using about a pound of skinless chicken thighs and cutting them across into half strips, half chunks, and then mashing them more closely together than my usual slightly graceful (if anything about me could be described as such) “S” shape. I liked it this way.
Vietnamese Chicken or Pork Satay
1-2 lb. skinless chicken thighs or pork tenderloin, cut into strips or chunks
2 Tbsp. honey or sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
1 Tbsp. lime juice
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. Sriracha or a pinch of dried red chili flakes
Put the chicken or pork in a bowl or ziplock bag; stir together the rest of the ingredients and pour overtop. Marinate for at least an hour, or preferably overnight.
Soak bamboo skewers in water for at least 10 minutes to prevent them from burning, and thread the meat onto them, squishing the pieces together. Grill or broil for a few minutes per side, just until cooked through.
Fried rice is one of those things I tend to go about on my own. Even when I find a recipe I’m one to ignore it, thinking I know what I’m doing, and right here is a perfect example of something I make that always comes out tasting the same, with the occasional fluctuation depending on how heavy-handed I am with the soy sauce, or whether or not I opted to add curry paste.
But this. It elicited as many oohs and aahs as I’ve received for anything that has come out of my kitchen. The first time I made it, the recipient (who shall remain anonymous to protect his reputation as a mostly generous person) didn’t even share. I think it was the seasoning – the rice vinegar and sugar and fish sauce – but wow. It’s like fried rice that really means it.
Remember – you need leftover cold rice to make a good fried rice – the time in the fridge gives the grains a chance to separate, so that they won’t clump together and get all sticky in the pan.
Vietnamese Fried Rice
This is a bit of a spinoff of one I found on Epicurious
Seasoning:
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
canola or mild olive oil, for cooking
5 cups cold long-grain rice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
big pinch dried red chili flakes
1 small bunch of green onions, chopped
1-2 large carrots, coarsely grated
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups bean sprouts (optional)
fresh cilantro and chopped salted peanuts, for garnish
In a small bowl stir together the sugar, fish sauce and vinegar.
In a large, heavy skillet, heat a slick of oil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook for a few minutes, until heated through. Push over to one side and pour in the eggs; stir-fry until the eggs are scrambled, allowing them to cook without mixing them into the rice completely (so that you end up with detectable bits of egg); add the chili flakes, then the green onions, carrots and garlic; cook for a few more minutes.
Pour over the fish sauce mixture, then add the bean sprouts and cook for a minute, tossing with tongs, just until heated through. Serve immediately, in shallow bowls topped with cilantro and peanuts. Serves 4.
One Year Ago: Meatloaf, (S)Mashed Potatoes and Peas
October 20 2009 | chicken & turkey and grains and on the grill and one dish and pork | 10 Comments »
I’m going to take a stab at posting nightly again for awhile, even when it’s late and I’m tired. Lack of time and energy isn’t always a good excuse not to do stuff.
Had a barbecue late this afternoon, with neighbours and friends that brought 4 boys between them.
W was in big-boy heaven. Our chef neighbour smoked some chicken wings – after an afternoon in the smoker, he doused them with a cup of Jack Daniels and a half cup of maple syrup, with a few drops of Tabasco. We ate a few just like that, but then I threw them on a hot grill, just to crisp them up a bit. I probably don’t have to tell you how fantastic they were.
I used a yard full of boys as an excuse to make burgers. Since I rarely do this, I consulted my friend Ron, Canada’s Barbecue Champion and self-proclaimed barbecue evangelist. This is his recipe, the one he makes for his teenagers. It fit the bill quite well, and likely would have been cooked perfectly had W not peeled the tip off his toe riding his new go-cart barefoot down the front sidewalk.
The biggest thing to remember, I think, when making a burger from scratch is to not overhandle the meat, which can make it tough. (I think the very best burgers I ever made were thrown together in a hurry, and were no more than barely thawed ground beef, hardly formed into patties.) Make them a little concave in the middle if you like, to prevent them from ending up baseball-shaped.
(Whitecap let me use their photo – thanks! Our ketchup and mustard weren’t so eloquently placed…)
Classic Dadburger Deluxe
from Barbecue Secrets by Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk (Whitecap)
Burger patties:
6 lb (2.7 kg) ground beef (or combine equal amounts ground beef and ground pork)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 head roasted garlic, cloves squeezed out and mashed with a fork
1 Tbsp. sesame oil (preferably the kind that says “toasted” on the label)
2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce or a combination
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cayenne (optional – or more, if you like more heat)
lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
Fixin’s:
barbecue sauce
12–16 cheese slices (optional)
12–16 hamburger buns
Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.
Gently combine the burger ingredients in a large bowl with your hands, taking care not to overwork the meat. Wet your hands in cold water before you form the mixture into chunks the size of tennis balls. Flatten them into patties, placing them on the baking sheet. Each patty will be about 1/2 lb before cooking. Place them in the freezer for 1 hour to firm them up.
Preheat your grill for medium direct heat. Take the burgers out of the freezer and grill them for 6 minutes per side, or until they are springy to the touch, glazing them on both sides with barbecue sauce. Top each patty with a slice of cheese for the last couple of minutes of cooking. Serve the burgers on buns with your favorite condiments.
Makes 12–16 patties, depending on how big you like them.
One Year Ago: Bacon, Tomato and Avocado Salad with Pesto Dressing
August 22 2009 | on the grill | 9 Comments »
Check this out. Sometimes this all-encompassing obsession with food has its benefits. (Excuse me, please, while I pat myself on the back for this one. Although I’m quite certain someone somewhere has already thought of it – they can get equal kudos for their obvious culinary brilliance.)
So I was driving recently, or rather I was daydreaming in the passenger seat, imagining myself eating a meatloaf sandwich. Some fantasize about George Clooney; my mind wanders to meatloaf. Can you blame me, really? Meatloaf sandwiches are the best, aren’t they? I mean, they are more often than not my motivation for making meatloaf in the first place. That, and ketchup.
So it occurred to me that one could morph meatloaf and burgers on the barbecue. Although I am a longtime fan of the grilled burger, I don’t make them often at home. (This could be partly due to my underlying prejudice against homemade burgers, instilled at an early age when my Dad would broil patties made with extra-lean ground beef and oat bran in approximately a 50-50 ratio. He’s a gastroenterologist; I suppose this excuses him for being a particularly vocal advocate of fiber. Needless to say, my first fast-food burger was a mind-blowing revelation.)
But – meatloaf. You could bake a meatloaf, and then chill it, and then grill thick slabs to heat it through, brushing with barbecue sauce or the sticky glaze normally reserved for the top of a meatloaf. Couldn’t you? Oh yes. You sure could. Especially if you had leftovers.
Bonus: this relieves any pressure of whomever is in charge of the barbecue to ensure they cook the burgers through without overcooking them, as well as the need to break one or two open to see just how pink they are inside. Because hey, the meatloaf is cooked already.
If you need a meatloaf recipe, there are plenty to be found online. Cook it, chill it, slice it thick. If there is a glaze, save it to brush on while you grill. Then all you need to do is add a slab of aged white cheddar (or, you know, whatever) after the first flip, and close the lid so that it melts.
And so it has come to be that W will not carry a homemade burger prejudice on his shoulders into adulthood.
One Year Ago: Black Currant Sorbet & Ginger Ale Floats
August 15 2009 | beef and on the grill | 22 Comments »
Yesterday was Food Day, and the world’s longest barbecue. I caught wind of it last week – too late to really organize anything – I pondered calling a few neighbours over for an impromptu dinner when it occurred to me that cooking a nice meal on the grill for the three of us is just as legit as pulling together a block party. So I thawed a couple of beautiful bison T-bone steaks from a friend’s brother’s farm, cooked up some tiny new potatoes (which were then drizzled with cold-pressed canola oil from Highwood Crossing – Canada’s EVOO), sauteed some chard, and tossed a salad of lettuce leaves plucked from the pots on my back porch (YES! I DIDN”T KILL THEM THIS YEAR!), roasted beets (from another friend’s brother’s farm) and crumbled Fairwinds Farm goat cheese, drizzled with honey-balsamic vinaigrette. The bison steaks were unbelievable – so worth a try – but remember that they are leaner than beef (although these came across not one bit as such – so tender and juicy) so they need less time on the grill. These got 3 minutes per side and then a rest in a foil tent on the counter while I made the salad and finished the chard, and were a perfect medium-rare.
(I should mention breakfast, too: my sister and her kids – plus one friend – came for waffles – this recipe, made with a shake of ground flax and drizzle of flax oil, which they did not notice at all, and in fact the kids declared them the best waffles ever – topped with grilled peaches, blueberries, raspberries from the kids’ backyard, Nanking cherry jelly, Rogers’ Golden Syrup and maple whipped cream. Maple whipped cream is just cream whipped with a drizzle of maple syrup instead of sugar.)
After dinner the plan was to head next door for some sangria and mojitos – a good excuse to bake a blueberry galette. BC blueberries are cheap right now, and when I was shuffling around my freezer for room to fit more in, out fell a roll of puff pastry. I kept it out, and it made a perfect galette with under 5 minutes of actual work. That’s my kind of fast food.
It had just come out of the oven when the windstorm hit. You may have heard of it – and if you’re in Calgary, most likely experienced it. For us it was a little unexpected drama between dinner and dessert; gale-force winds trashing the back yard and forcing us all to rush in for cover. It took the power out for a couple hours, which only meant we’d have to wait for our whipped cream, and W couldn’t watch The Incredibles. We heard sirens in the distance – not uncommon during a storm – and only learned later of the horrific accident downtown, and the stage collapse at Big Valley Jamboree. How do you endure it? I just can’t imagine.
So we ate our pie late, back outside, when the power came back on and we could whip the cream with some maple syrup. When I cut into it the juices ran out (I served it on a cheese board that was $6 at Winners) but not in an uncontrollable way – this is my fear, with berry pies, since that one I made as a kid that wallowed in a half inch of soup. This was runny in a way that kept it from being stodgy – although it was a bit of a trick to catch all the drips, I wouldn’t change a thing. The puff pastry wasn’t too puff, and was lovely pastry. (It was one of two rolled-up logs you get in a package of President’s Choice puff pastry from Superstore – easy because you don’t have to roll it out – and even though it was square, it still worked just fine. In fact, the points made it look even more cool and rustic.)
Blueberry Galette
inspired by this one.
1 pkg. puff pastry, thawed, or pastry for a single-crust pie
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 cups fresh blueberries
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. butter, cut into bits
1 egg, lightly beaten
coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
Put oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 425°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil, parchment or a silpat mat.
In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch to get rid of any lumps. In a large bowl, toss the berries, sugar-cornstarch mixture, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt.
Unwrap the puff pastry onto the sheet, or roll regular pastry into a 10″ (ish) circle. Mound the blueberries into the middle of the dough, leaving an inch or two around the edge. Fold the edges over the filling, just enough to keep the berries from sliding out. It can overlap and look rustic, there is no need for neatness.
Brush the pastry with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden, 25-30 minutes. If it’s browning too quickly, cover loosely with some foil. Cool for a few minutes before sliding out onto a cutting board to cut and serve. Serve warm, with whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup or vanilla ice cream. Serves 6.
Tonight’s dinner can be summed up in four words: SHAKEN’BAKE – DRUMSTICKS – AT – SHIRLEY’S.
One Year Ago:
August 02 2009 | bison and dessert and on the grill | 21 Comments »
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