Grilled Chicken With BBQ Sauce

As an anal BBQ purest type guy, I cannot bring myself to call this dish BBQ chicken, because I’m cooking it on the grill over direct heat – hence the title. Several posts lately described various chicken brines which inspired me to use one that I’d gotten from a competitive BBQ’er and agreed to keep secret, but it contains the normal things – water, salt, brown sugar, garlic, etc. I added all the ingredients to half the water amount and brought to a simmer to be sure the salt and sugar dissolved. I then added the equivalent of half the water in ice to a one gallon plastic freezer bag and slowly poured the brine over the ice. After a few massages, the ice was melted and the brine was cold and ready for the chicken – 6 of the fryer-sized breasts I’d recently frozen.

I brined them for about 5 ½ hours, removed, rinsed lightly, and coated with Wolfe Citrus Rub and back into the fridge for 1½ hours – it was going to be an hour but we had a heavy downpour (2 Inches in a short period – hope it didn’t all run off) just before I started cooking. I fired up the grill and cooked them to 165* inside, applying some Smack Yo Mama Big Kahuna Polynesian BBQ Sauce the last few minutes. I cook the bone-in breast at least twice on the top, bottom and ends, like this.


About ready for the sauce.


I painted sauce on each surface once then cooked it on that side.


Then after removal, I painted another coat on the top. We had a choice of no black, lightly black, or heavy black.


I was going to make up a pasta side dish, but we still had some pasta left (less the shrimp) from the shrimp scampi pasta we had on July 13 and couldn’t come with anything we thought we’d like better. So Bev added a few more tomatoes before she nuked it and once again, we both loved it - I believe I could eat it once a week. We also had one piece of ciabatta left which Bev split, buttered, sprinkled with garlic powder and toasted. Here's my plate and I obviously chose the blacker one.


The meat was moist and tender and the meal turned out delicious - I liked the flavor profile created by the brine, rub, and sauce. This was our first ever ciabatta and it will be a staple around here from now on - I like the flavor, the chewiness, and it's ability to hold together.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Blueberries, Maters, & Mayo

Since we planted blueberry varieties that ripen at different times, we’ve been enjoying them for about three weeks so far and the final bush is still loaded. While we’re not berried-out yet (just had some for breakfast), we had no specific plans for these that Bev picked this morning, so we decided to freeze them for later enjoyment. I read several sites on the subject with one saying wash thoroughly and others saying not to wash. Since we know there are no chemicals on them I went with the no wash option. I just spread them on a jelly role pan and stuck them in the freezer for a couple of hours - they turned into marbles, then quickly bagged them in a quart ziptop freezer bag - so we can get in the bag to get what we want and easily reseal.


While we’ve been getting enough tomatoes to eat since late June, this is the first major picking of mostly paste tomatoes for canning. I basically just picked the bottom cluster from each plant. It takes a full peach basket (half bushel) to make a full 7 quart canner run and I’m a little short (need about 20 more), so I washed these up and in a couple of days there should be enough. Is “doing a run of tomatoes” (or beans, etc) a Southern term or East Tennessee term or maybe just a neighborhood term?


I was asked earlier about the term paste tomato and what varieties I grew. First the terms paste, plum, Roma, and maybe some others get used interchangeably but in the seed catalogs, they are generally all listed under “Paste Tomatoes” and Roma is an actual variety. After many, many trials, the two varieties I’ve settled on are Kada Hybrid and Quimbaya both of which I get the seeds for from Totally Tomatoes. I like these because of their size, high amount of pulp to low amount of water, and their reliable, heavy crop. Here is a picture that shows the size difference - from left: Kada (I admit this one is unusually large), Quimbaya, Roma (not an actual Roma but about the same size). A juice making post will be coming soon.


I also picked a couple of nice peppers, see picture 2 above – the elongated one is a Giant Marconi and I’m not sure about the bell variety. I pick them before they're completely ripe so the stop-growing-I've-made-seeds gene doesn't kick in.

I love sandwiches and yesterday I had a great reason to make one - ciabatta bread and lunch meat that needed to be eaten. So I cut just a little green off the bread and made a basic sandwich - deli ham, turkey & salami, sliced provalone cheese, some sliced olives, chopped green onion, mayo and mustard. I meant for the picture to not show the two bites I'd already taken from the other side.


But there was something different - a mayo taste test. I like Hellmans mayo, not Kraft, not salad dressing, just Hellman's. I've made several attempts to make my own but am always disappointed when I compare them to Hellman's. But Duke's, which I'd never heard of, has been doing such a good job with recent advertising around here, they inspired me to buy a little squeeze bottle of it. The Hellman's was cold and the Dukes warm, which may have had a little taste impact, but Bev and I both thought they were very similar with the Duke's perhaps a little more tangy - which I liked. I'll try them again with both cold to see which I like, but for right now, I think I'd buy whichever is cheaper - and I'm surprised.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Grilled Ground Beef Sandwich On Ciabatta

The original title of this post was “Cheese Relish Burgers” – read on to find out why it changed. I say this a lot, but we had some baby Swiss cheese that needed to be used and the following recipe showed up courtesy of Matt and Ted Lee in the July 7th Maryville newspaper, so we decided to give it a try. Bev and her sister were off to one of their little indulgences – getting there fingernails painted – and it was too hot to go outside, so I made up the cheese relish part. We didn’t have any banana peppers but did have the correct amount of Pepperoncini’s that had been taking up a valuable spot on the fridge door. I called Bev for advice and we decided they would have a similar taste to the banana peppers and provide a nice little wang that we like. I made half a recipe to give it a try, but this is the full recipe.

Cheese Relish – makes 2 cups (enough for 16 burgers)

10 oz Swiss cheese
12 oz Jar banana peppers, drained (1 tbsp liquid reserved), finely minced
2 tbsp Minced fresh chives or scallions
2 Tbsp Drained capers
¼ tsp Red pepper flakes
¼ tsp Black pepper
Kosher salt, to taste

In a large bowl, combine the cheese, banana peppers, reserved banana pepper liquid, chives or scallions, capers, pepper flakes and black pepper. Use your hands to knead the mixture together until evenly blended. Season with salt, then mix again. The relish can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

For their burgers, they used 2 tbsp of the cheese relish each along with lettuce, onion and your favorite condiment, but I used the entire half recipe on our four pretty big burgers.

We invited our new friends, Laurie and David, over for a cookout at the dock and decided to have the burgers and side them with some family favorites – fried okra and fried corn. Being from the North this is not regular fare around their place.

Since we typically build big juicy burgers, a regular bun has generally turned to mush by the time it’s eaten, so for this meal we decided to give ciabatta a try. We bought two loaves and used one and a third for the burgers. I made half pound burgers in a square shape to match the bread – I’m not aware of a rule that says a burger must be round and Krystals are square. The tile under the bread is 12 inch for size reference.




I really liked the cheese relish on the burger and the bread worked perfectly, but Bev said it didn’t seem like a hamburger to her. So, I’ll call it a grilled ground beef sandwich on ciabatta :-). Certain items just cannot be altered for her and I’ve found two recently – deviled eggs is the other one. In all fairness, I have a few of them myself. David and Laurie said they had found a source for ciabatta sandwich buns in Knoxville, so we’ll get some for me to use while Bev sticks with the normal bun. I thought mine was very good, even though I didn’t manage to make the meat large enough to cover the bun and got them more done than I wanted – I believe this grill cooks hotter than the one at the house.



Since we’re still getting lots of blueberries (Bev picked a quart the evening before this meal), we decided on To Die For Blueberry Muffins as posted by Penny over at Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen. Bev, the family baker, just made them per the recipe and we served with a sweet mead (honey wine) from a local meadery discovered by our son, Eric. They went together very well. I didn't get any pics but you can check them out at Penny's site.

After dinner, David fished and caught several small brim (local term for blue gill, sunfish) and one nice eating size catfish – none of us like turning animals into meat so everything went back. We also watched the bats do their thing at dusk and visited until after 11pm – I know I enjoy spending time with them as I didn’t realize it was that late.

And to top things off, it worked. We’ve had a little rain (3/4”) in the last couple of days, but are still about 7” below normal. But our decision to have a cookout at the dock, resulted in another ½ ” of rain that evening. I’ve known for a long time that we could bring rain by having a lake party, but never realized it would work by inviting just one other couple over.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Larry

Growing Blueberries

I’ve made several comments lately about growing blueberries and thought it might be good to pull them together into one post. A nice thing about them is that they are an attractive shrub and pretty easy to grow if given the right conditions – the right soil, the right variety, some water, fertilizer, and sun and you’re good to go.

First of all, different types of berries grow in different climates, so you must plant the correct one for where you live. In general Highbush varieties grow in zone 7 and north into southern Canada, Rabbiteyes grow in zone 7 and south to all but southern Florida, and Southern Highbush grow in zones 7 and south into the Keys – mine are all rabbiteye’s that cross pollunate well (a must) and bear at different times. Since zone 7 is the transition zone, I first tried 2 Highbush and 2 Rabbiteye, but the Highbush did not do well, so I now have 6 Rabbiteye and they are all doing very well.

Blueberries must have an acidic soil or no matter what else you do good for them, they will not do well. Since I planted mine in a part of my yard where other parts of the lawn drain, I first raised the area for them so when I lime the yard, the runoff will go around the bed. I raised the area 4-6" by tilling in some garden soil & Black Cow composted manure with clay around the edges to repel water. I then tested the soil in the berry bed and lowered the pH by applying the appropriate amount of wettable sulfur, purchased from a garden supply store. After planting, I mulched with pine straw or bark, which unlike hardwood mulch, produces acid when it breaks down. They also like full sun.

So far, we’ve had no disease or pest issues, even the birds, and we’re getting a bounty of delicious berries. The one thing I need to do now is give mine the appropriate pruning next spring, for which I must do a little studying. The following are good sites for info.

http://gardening.about.com/od/berries/a/Blueberries.htm
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8207.html

If you like blueberries and you like to garden and you like pretty shrubs, this may be the thing for you. Here’s a shot from my Jul 6 post.


Bev went for a three mile walk yesterday morning, but it was in the mid 80's by the time she finished. She definately looked hot and announced she was heading for the lake. I don't feel comfortable having her swimming alone so, even though the dogs were with her, I went alone as her bodyguard/lifeguard. We are looking after her sister's dog for a few days and he and Sweetie both like the water, especially riding around on the float. They all looked alot cooler when they got out.



Is that the life or what? Have a good day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Open Faced Omelet And Pizza

How often do I use the words “needed to be used” when it comes to ingredients in our dishes – pretty often. We had some portabella mushrooms in the fridge that needed to be used. Why is that you asked – okay I’ll tell you. Rhett’s youngest, Riley, is a PKU child, which means her body cannot tolerate protein. As a younger child it was virtually zero, but now she can eat just a little – the occasional egg or piece of cheese. If you think eating a low carb diet is difficult, try eating a no protein diet – it’s most of those foods you eat when you’re on the low card diet. It’s hard to believe how many foods contain soy beans or peanuts in some form. So for many years she’s been getting portabella mushrooms in place of meat and Bev had stocked up. Unfortunately Riley announced that she was tired of eating them – so we have some we needed to use.

I got up thinking I’d have another bowl of Grape Nuts and berries, but I could smell the bacon cooking before I got to the kitchen and when I got there Bev said she was fixing an omelet – I didn’t have to asked why. She sautéed the veggies that needed it, then poured the eggs over them and cooked the whole thing in the pan with a lid on it. It had onions, mushrooms, chicken (leftover beer can that needed to be used), bacon, cheese (the last of the 5 cheese blend that needed to be used) and scallions. I guess it was actually a fritatta, but it looked and tasted like an omelet that didn’t get folded over – hence open faced. Whatever it's called, it was delicious.



But we still have more mushrooms that need to be used.

This post originally ended with the sentence above, but when Bev got in from a doctors appointment, she decided we'd best use the piece of dough left over from our recent pizza party . We decided on Greek again and she used the dough and more of the beer can chicken, but no mushrooms. I cooked it on the grill again and forgot to mention the other day, that when it goes back on the grill (after topping) over low direct heat, the bottom crust must be watched carefully. Here's a shot of the crust bottom and it could have gone a little longer, but it passed both tests - brown and crispy. Also, we give both sides a good oil coating to prevent sticking. I laid on the floor and shot up while Bev held the piece of pizza.


If the crust gets done before the the toppings are ready, merely finish it over indirect heat while keeping the grill (with the lid down) in the 300* range. I usually use the gas grill and have the outside burners on high while I cook the pizza over the center burners on low, so to finish the toppings, I just turn off the burners under the crust. This one could have benefitted from that treatment, but I was having grill burner issues. It was more like warmed fresh veggies than cooked ones.


It was still delicious, except we now have more leftovers to deal with - but leftover pizza generally goes pretty fast around here. I'll be surprized if it survives the day. Needless to say, it was a salad for supper.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Shrimp Scampi Pasta

We made this dish back in May and liked it so well we wanted to make it for the kids – remember Rhett’s request was cook him stuff he’s seen on my blog. They decided to leave on their trip to Disney World a half day early, so we made the dish for lunch and sided it with some garlic cheese Naan bread, left from another meal.

Following is Ina Garten’s recipe for Linguine With Shrimp Scampi, which we doubled for this meal.

Ingredients
· Vegetable oil
· Kosher salt
· 3/4 pound linguine (we used angel hair)
· 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
· 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
· 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
· 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
· 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
· 1/2 lemon, zest grated
· 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
· 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
· 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions
Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often (we tossed in some grape tomatoes that needed to be used). Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve. We decided to serve family style today, so here's the big bowl full.


For the bread, we ran 4 garlic cloves through the press and into about 5 tbsps of melted butter and brushed it on the 2 pieces of bread. Then gave it a light sprinkling of five-blend cheese (couldn’t find the mozzarella) and grated parmesan and put it under the broiler until the cheese melted.

Here’s my plate and once again it was delicious and the bread was a major hit – and I did it off the top of my head, so maybe I’m still making some progress toward being a little more creative.



Time to get the canner cleaned up, it won’t be long now.


Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Leg Of Lamb On The Spit

On Fathers Day, we had a Greek meal because we had some lamb eaters here and Bev doesn’t like it well enough to cook it just for us. Saturday night, we had the lamb lovers here, in Rhett and Beth, and I had another leg of lamb that I’d been saving for them.

Unlike those on Fathers Day, this one was bone in, but I still cooked in on the spit. I had to tie it with butchers twine to force it into a rounder shape, then cooked it using the same method as I’d used previously.


We decided that rather than sides, we’d have two appetizers then just the lamb and Greek salad. For appetizer one, we made Baba Ganoush using a slightly modified recipe from Mary at One Perfect bite. Mary mentioned that her’s was tangy due to the amount of lemon juice, so we added half the recipe amount to start. We decided it could use more lemon but not the additional liquid, so we added the zest of a half lemon and decided it was fine with that, so in the fridge it went for a couple of hours for the flavors to get happy. This is the finished eggplant after about 30 minutes of direct fire grilling.


For appetizer number two, Beth made humus using a recipe that she had developed over the years. This is the two of them ready to eat (hummus on right) with the first round of pitas that I warmed by tossing on the grill with the lamb and closing the lid.


I cooked the lamb on the spit using the infrared burner on the grill's back wall and here's a shot of it resting after being removed. This is my second attempt and I'm 0 for 2 on getting a nice crust, but I think I may know why. I've been cooking with the the lid closed and I think the baking effect this creates is getting the inside done before the crust has a chance to form. So next time I'll allow twice the time and cook with the lid open the entire time - this took 1 1/4 hours.


Here's my plate. The kids like theirs pretty rare so I pulled it at 125* internal and it turned out perfect for them (and me). I found some cooked pink for Bev. It's hard to carve pretty with the bone in and I'll debone next time or only buy boneless. We served it with some tzatiki sauce, which Rhett decided he had to have with lamb from now on.


Rhett and Beth are big fans of Hummus and eat it frequently, but they had never had the Baba Ganoush - we pretty well cleaned both bowls. They loved the lamb (as did I) and wanted the recipe - I was happy since I'd cooked it mainly for them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry