This recipe is from Barney Louck's a Real Estate Broker with John L. Scott in Federal Way.
This time of year the pears are so sweet, that we cut the top and bottom off, hollow out with melon baller, stuff with oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, and bake at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour, till a knife tip slides in easily…served warm with Greek yogurt sweetened with agave syrup.
Yum!
[Editors Note: LIVE POST!]
I've attempted smoking a whole turkey on the Big Green Egg once before. This time, after enjoying a fantastic turkey on Thanskgiving at my little sisters home that my brother in law brined, I decided to do the same. I have a 10 pound turkey that has been soaking in this brine just shy of 24 hours from one of my favorite cooks, The Pioneer Woman. This is a fresh bird - it has not been frozen.
I've rinced the brine off the turkey and its had a nice rub down (inside and out) consisting of fresh chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary and sage) and garlic mashed into butter with a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper.
The Big Green Egg has been heated up to about 500 degrees - I know once the place setter and bird are in the egg, the temp will be closer to 300 - 325%. I have alder chips soaking that I'll be using to enhance the smoke.
While this is all taking place, I have sauteed the giblets in some butter with onion, celery, garlic and a little andoulie sausage for gravy later. Once the giblets were golden and onions were soft, I added water to fill the pot and have continued to add water as this has been simmering for a few hours.
After the bird was buttered up, I stuffed it with fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic and a few slices of sweet onion and lemon. A few recipes I've seen call for spashing the turkey with a half bottle of white wine - I gave it closer to one glass. I can't bear to sacrifice a half-bottle of wine on the outside of a turkey!
It's on the grill as of 2:55 pm. We'll see if it's ready in time for dinner! My goal is to baste the turkey every half hour and add additional soaked chips at that time.
4:45 pm: the house smells great thanks to the giblets that have been simmering most of the day and the bird is looking pretty good too! I've been faithfully basting it and adding soaked wood chips every half hour or so.
By the way, don't judge my bird by this photo...she ain't done yet!
6:45 pm: turkey is still on the egg and the coals are starting to give out... we may have to finish this bird in the oven - stay tuned!
7:20 pm: made an executive decision, the coals are not getting warmer and we're all starting to get a bit hungry so we moved the bird inside into the temp controlled oven. Before submitting the bird to the 350 oven, we flipped it (yes we flipped the bird) after moving it to a new pan (on the same v-rack) and reserving the juices and fat for the gravy.
Back to the gravy, I poured the liquids from the backing pan into a big glass measuring cup and moved it to the fridge so the fat and juice can part their ways. BUT WAIT!! I still have my simmering giblets that I have strained to remove the veggies and have cut the giblets into smaller chunks. I have a fresh large fry pan that I have melted about 1-2 tablespoons of butter and I'm using about 1/4 cup of fat from the drippings to start my gravy. I've sprinkled in some Wondra (fancy flour) to start my gravy. Once the fat and juice is cleary separated in my glass measuring cup in the fridge, I'll remove the fat and add those tasty juices to my gravy. I did take a couple ladles of my giblet brew to my pan that I was smoking the turkey in the BGE to help retrieve the "good bits" and added that back to the gravy.
It's all about gravy - no, it's the bird, or is it the gravy? I do have some potatoes boiling for garlic mashers...yep!
okay... I'm going to spare you an updated photo of the carcass.
Dinner was a hit! Gravy and the bird were terrific. I did use my Viking hand blender to make to swirl the gizzards into tasty chunkless goo.
Cut one jalapeno in half and remove the stem and seeds (carefully!) and add to food processor with a bunch (roughly a cup) of cilantro leaves. Chop for 10 - 20 seconds in food processor.
Add juice of one lime and some salt and pepper to taste and give a couple pulses to mix. NOTE: the next time I make this salsa, I think I'm going to finely grate some of the rind off of the lime to add to the salsa.
Add 5 medium tomatoes roughly chopped to the food processor. I did not seed my tomatoes as they weren't overly watery. Pulse a couple times until in large chunks.
I did not have white or yellow onions on me so I was reduced to using a bunch of rough chopped green onions and know what, it turned out great! Add green onions to the food processor and give it a few pulses until the salsa is at the consistency you prefer. I like some extra chunks so I diced one more tomato and added it to the salsa.
Hubby thinks we will never buy salsa again!
This is a very easy, delicious dinner and I only dirtied two pans! It's a treat that I like to make when the kids aren't home for dinner.
First I start with boiling the yukon golds or your choice of potatoes in salted water. I prefer yukon golds for mashed potatoes because they're so creamy and I leave the peel on. I often make extra mashed potatoes so we can have potato pancakes later.
While the potatoes are boiling, I roughly chop sliced pancetta (or bacon) and fry in a non-stick pan until crisp. While the pancetta is frying, I clean my mushrooms with a damp paper towel and slice them into thick pieces. I used a combo of chanterelles, crimini and...shoot, the other mushroom is slipping my mind. Shiitake!
Remove pancetta to a bowl and add chopped mushrooms to the lovely grease. Add additional olive oil if needed and saute until they're ready to melt in your mouth. Add fresh ground pepper, thyme and truffle salt. Remove from the pan and set aside in a separate bowl. If you don't want to dirty another bowl, I suppose you could add them to the pancetta...I prefer to keep the pancetta crisp which is why I keep the mushrooms and bacon separate at this stage. Save the grease and mushroom juices in the pan and remove pan from heat.
Blot the sea scallops (I use 10 - 12 for two people) with a paper towel to dry and season with fresh ground pepper and a little truffle salt. When the potatoes are about fork tender, turn down (or off) the heat and fry the scallops in the bacon-mushroom pan. I like to let the scallops sizzle undisturbed for a couple minutes before turning them over.
Drain the potatoes and use your hand mixer to break them up and to mush in a few tablespoons of butter, truffle salt and pepper. Check your scallops to see if they need to be turned over.
Back to the potatoes. Add a few tablespoons of heavy cream (because I had some handy), half and half or chicken stock...your choice! Do a quick mash.
After the scallops have been sizzling to a nice golden color on the other side, add the pancetta back to the pan and the scallops.
After a minute or so of getting reacquainted, give everything in the pan a good stir.
Back to your potatoes - add more cream or butter as needed, season and put a lid on them back on the stove...you'll be devouring them soon.
Spoon some creamy mashed potatoes onto your plate and top with the scallops. We paired this with a 2007 Tablas Creek Vineyard Cotes de Tablas.
We are so lucky to have a bounty of tomatoes from our patio garden this year! After a few summers of dismal results, we are determined to not let any tomatoes be wasted. We always enjoy bruschetta but now my new favorite thing to make with our tomatoes is jam! I actually posted this first on Facebook "live" and I've been tweeking the recipe a little every time I make it.
I used small canning jars that have been cleaned and sterilized. I am not "formally" canning my jams since I'm keeping them and the fridge and it's been gobbled down too quickly.
We have sun golds and either sweet million or sweet hundred cherry tomatoes. I'm a huge fan of the sun golds. This recipe starts with 2.5 pounds of cherry tomatoes cleaned, stemmed and cut in half. Put in a large pot to make your yummy jam.
Add 1 cup of brown sugar, finely grate the rind off on one lime (careful not to grate too far so you just have the sweet outer skin) and then cut the lime in half and squeeze all the juice out of that one lime.
Add 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (or less if you don't like things too spicy).
Optional: 1 tablespoon of ginger...I've made it with and without. I'm leaning towards "without" as the jam is more "tomatoey".
Stir all the ingrediants together and slowly bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until it reduces and thickens like jam. This process has taken me anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours.
Spoon the hot jam into your hot glass jam jars and seal the lid tightly. I then turn the jam jars upside down while they cool to room temperature before storing them in the fridge. You might want to use more traditional methods for canning or storing your jam.
This is crazy good over white cheddar cheese or brie, in sandwhiches, served with pork, chicken or turkey. It's good straight out of the jar!
Enjoy!
I've had this vision of watching Napoleon Dynamite and serving gourmet tator tots. Well that combo hasn't happened yet...but last night, when we were having a couple of New York steaks for dinner and I forgot to pick up a side at the store, I had my chance to create my gourmet tots.
Embarassingly easy and very tasty! I start with: ORE-IDA Tator Tots Crispy Crowns. I sprinkled them with some truffle salt and fresh pepper and then bake them as directed in a 450 degree oven, spread out on a cookie sheet. I flip them at 10 minutes and again in 5 minutes. I like my tots crunchy so if needed, and they did last night, I flipped them one more time and left them in the oven for another 3 minutes.
While the tots are toasting, I chopped a couple tablespoons of fresh parsley and chives.
Once the tots are properly crunchy, I removed them from the oven and flip them one more time. Push the tots together in the middle of cookie sheet so there is not metal showing through your tots. The idea is to keep all the melted cheese goodness on the tots and not on the pan. I topped the tots with crumbled blue cheese, bacon bits ("fresh" from Costco) and the parsley and chives. Add another dusting of fresh pepper (fine) and put back into the hot oven until the cheese starts to melt and you can smell the bacon warming up.
Delish!
I made a sour cream dipping sauce which was pretty much equal parts sour cream and blue cheese dressing, dash of Worcester sauce, chopped fresh chives and parsley, onion salt and fresh pepper.
I can't wait to make more gourmet tots - I see endless possibilities!
I whipped this up to accompany the carnitas tacos I made today. Since this dish was super easy and it's receiving rave reviews, I thought I'd better write it down fast before I forget what I made! This is another "pantry" dish.
I started with a little olive oil and butter in a fry pan. Then added about 1/4 cup (or more) of chopped sweet onion. Saute for a couple minutes and then add 1 cup of white rice. Continue to stir until the rice begins to turn golden.
Add one of my favorite go to items in my pantry: Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chiles - juice and all.
Stir and then add 1 can rinced and drained pinto beans.
Add chicken broth - just shy of two cups...you can add more later if you need to.
Add a good dash of chili powder, cumin, corriander, salt and pepper.
Cook until rice is tender, check every once in a while to see if you need more broth.
Add some chopped fresh cilantro just prior to serving.
Hubby and the kids are hiking around on Mount Baker and won't be home until dinner which gives me plenty of time to (1) enjoy having the house to myself and (2) slow cook something wonderful on the Big Green Egg. I've always wanted to try carnitas so today's my chance. First I had to make a trip to True Value in West Seattle for a cast iron Dutch oven because I just couldn't see using one of my nice pots on the BGE.
The Big Green Egg is heating up to about 300 - 350 with some wood chips soaking (alder only because that's all I have on hand) while I cut 4-5 lbs country style pork ribs into thirds...some have bones and that's okay with me. I'll just pick them out later! I've added 1 diced onion, 1 head of garlic cut in half (I may have gone overboard here), 2 cinnimon sticks, 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of cumin. 1 cup of orange juice (I tried to do fresh squeezed but had to add some store bought juice since I was very shy of the cup) and 1 tablespoon of grated zest from the orange. I top this goodness with chicken broth until everything is submerged...I actually came up a little short on the broth (what I had in the fridge) so instead of opening a whole new box of broth, I'm using a little left over beef broth (shh...don't tell anyone...I love cleaning out the fridge).
It's about 1:45pm and the pork is on the BGE at 350 with no lid on the dutch oven and the BGE lid closed. Now I can go walk my old pug and clean up the kitchen while this cooks for about an hour.
3:00 and the pork is still simmering away. I just gave it a good stir and I'm going to let it simmer some more. I also used this opportunity to add more chips for smoke. I'll check again in about an hour or so... now I'm starting to wonder if this will get done in time for dinner!
4:00 and we have progress! I'm beginning to think we WILL have carnitas for dinner tonight!
5:00pm: my BGE has been stuck at 300 degrees for the last hour which would be great if we were having dinner at 7:00... I had to remove the cast iron pot of pork, the indirect plate insert and add more lump coal. I need this to get cranked up closer to 350 or I'll be making frozen pizza for a hungry son.
6:00pm: my hikers aren't back home yet but I know they will be any minute! And the carnitas are doing great... I've seen some recipes where they add peanut oil to help it carmalize and crisp...it just doesn't sound good to me. I'm adding a tablespoon of bacon grease (I save my bacon grease drippings)...this is a pork dinner, right?
I'm roasting some jalepenos on the side and I'm making a rice, tomato & bean dish...if it turns out, I'll try to remember my recipe. UPDATE: it turned out pretty darn good! Click the link above for the recipe.
I'll update this post with a photo of the finished product: DINNER!!
A few weeks ago we celebrated my son's birthday and decided to have a gourmet hot dog party with plenty of toppings for guest to chose from. Here's a photo of my dog:
yes... there's a spicy hot dog down there somewhere! The party was a lot of fun...I wish I would have taken photos of the other creations or had cameras available for others to. I made a couple of "menus" (aka The Weiner Circle") just to provide everyone with a few ideas to help them get started. We served classic beef hot dogs along with spicy jalepeno hot dogs and had potato buns, wheat and poppy seed available. Here's the menu:
Chili Cheese Dog: chili, cheese, onions. NOTE: I made my own chili with some left-over rib-eye from night before...but a good canned chili would work just fine too.
Frito Dog: add Frito's to Chili Cheese Dog
Seattle Dog: cream cheese & green onions
Chicago Dog: pickles, tomato, relish, onions & mustard
New York Dog: sauerkraut & spicy mustard
Philly Dog: grilled peppers & onions with cheese
Nacho Dog: cheese sauce, jalepenos, green onions & corn chips
Mac & Cheese Dog: mac & cheese topped with cheese. NOTE: I used store bought mac & cheese and the kids loved this.
The possibilities are endless. I think my son did combo mac & cheese w/chili dog! Bottom line, it was a lot of fun for teens and adults alike. My dining room table was loaded with all the typical condiments includig various types of mustard, ketchups and relishes. And then I added:
I think another tasty version that could be added to the menu is "The Sloppy Joe" Dog.
What are your favorite hot dog toppings?
We're enjoying a beautiful end of summer in Seattle this year and we decided to celebrate with having some friends join us for dinner. It all began the night before at our fire pit when the cave-men husbands were talking about how cool it would be to cook dinner over the fire. We agreed to bring dishes to cook on the open flame at our house the next evening at 7:00.
My husband and I decided to roast shrimp over the fire using a wire mesh "fry pan" which worked great.
I bought 1 pound of shrimp (or prawns?) pre-peeled and cleaned and marinated them for a half hour in a 2 T of fresh squeezed lime juice; 1 T of olive oil, 1 T of minced garlic and a T of Emeril's Essence with an extra dash of chili powder.
We also had some fresh cherry tomatoes from our patio garden that I mixed with some spicy olives I had on hand. I also split a loaf of ciabatta bread and spread it with butter and garlic and wrapped it in foil. We tried cooking it next to the flame but found it actually worked best to take the bread out (I also pre-sliced it) and kind of toss it in the fry pan over the flames. I wound up taking smaller chunks of bread (buttered w/garlic) and roasting it on a skewer.
The neighbors delighted us with an assortment of goodies to cook on the fire including: scallops, prawns, cubes of marinated steak, par boiled potatoes and corn and sweet onions. We used skewers and the fry pan to cook the dinner feast. They also brought some tasty green beans that were served room temp in a balsamic reduction sauce with almonds. (Do we have great neighbors or what??)
Desert was consisted of roasted marshmallows...of course!
The movie? Endless Summer. We used a projector and watched it on our neighbors home...it was a very fun evening.
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