One of the things I was looking forward to from the brisket cook was making burnt ends for the first time. Normally they are made as soon as the brisket is done cooking but since that happened at 7:30pm, I was not inclined to make them for a 11pm meal, so I waited until the next day.
I’d had a Choice Angus brisket in the fridge for a little while and have been looking forward to cooking it on my nearly year-old RecTec Smoker and it was now time. At 18 pounds, this thing must have come from an elephant steer and it is the biggest one I’ve ever cooked. I used Chris Lilly’s recipe from the Kingsford University as found on the “Grill Girl” blog. I followed the ingredients list but I amended the directions quite a bit - the original recipe can be by clicking on the above link.
Ming Tree
Our Kia was due for it's annual service so we drove both cars to town, dropped off the Kia at the dealership, and went to lunch at the Ming Tree Chinese Restaurant in Alcoa.
When Bev came home from Sam’s Club recently with a corned beef brisket flat, I went to my saved recipes to see if I could find something different to do with it and I discovered the recipe for Savory Reuben Bake on the “Mia Recipes” blog. I cooked the corned beef in a crockpot with potatoes and carrots the previous day then used the remaining for the Savory Reuben Bake.
When I saw this recipe for Creamy Chicken Fajita Pasta on Chef Dennis’ “Ask Chef Dennis” blog, I thought it would work well for our Friday get together so on the menu it went. To increase the number of servings, I increased the ingredients by 50% except for the pasta amount but the original recipe along with excellent how-to pics can be found by clicking on the link. Dennis’ son, Chef Ryan Littley, says “This creamy chicken fajita pasta brings together juicy chicken, sizzling peppers, and bold Tex-Mex flavors in one easy skillet dinner. Ready in about 35 minutes, it's a family favorite that's as quick as it is delicious.”
I’ve mentioned this in previous post but due to scheduling issues, it took nine months for me to give good friend, Kathy, her Christmas present of five free lunches but we final made it to the last one – I hope to do better next year. At the suggestion of neighbor, Steve, I decided to make this outing more special than just driving to a local restaurant, so we picked the date and rode the pontoon boat down the lake to the Tellico Village Yacht Club. Tellico Village is a large 5000 acre retirement community stretching several miles along the west side of Tellico Lake.
SIL, Pat also joined us for our lunch excursion and here we
are starting out of our cove.
