Feeling Like Bobby Flay - 07 March 2022 - Plague Journal Day 725

Micah 6:8
Isaiah 44:19-20
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Why did I feel like Bobby Flay yesterday? It was all down to grilling, then chilling!
06 March is normally a bit early to break out the charcoal, but yesterday we topped 61F (16C) under sunny skies, so who was I to refuse?
As is my wont, I didn't just do one item - that's a waste of time and charcoal - so I ended up grilling up a mess of hot dogs, some smoked sausage, some chicken tenders, a bunch of little bell peppers, a large eggplant, and some lamb kofta. We shall see how it all tastes in the days to come, but the aromas were quite lovely. (Quelle est cette odeur agréable? C'est mes viandes!)

OK, that says the grilling, but what about the chilling?

We took Billie over to Dad's house to do some more emptying, but she obviously needed a walk, so I hooked her up and we headed over to Dave & Sue's to see if Jax might be out. He was, and they had a nice, short visit. Then we headed down to Lakeshore to go back to Dad's. Well, those blocks are really very long down there in the Shores, and the wind was really blowing, and the temperature had dropped quite a bit, now it was more like 40F (4C) with a strong wind. I was chilled by the time we got back.

So there you have it. I'll report back on the carnages des jours as they come up.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

First Bratwurst of Spring - 22 March 2021 - Plague Journal Day 375

Micah 6:8
Isaiah 44:19
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

At last, the weather was conducive to firing up the grill, so fire it up we did!

The first bratwursts of Spring were a very nice treat for the first Sunday of Spring. Even if we had given up brats for Lent, Sundays don't count! (and who would be so foolish as to give up brats for Lent? sure, it's supposed to be a sacrifice, but it should be something that one can actually do - not an invitation to failure.)

If you want to learn how to cook brats properly, just enter "how to cook bratwurst" in the search box here on the blog. You'll be glad you did (and so will I).

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

13 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 153

Micah 6:8
Judges 3:15-23
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is International Left-Handers Day! While only semi-left-handed myself (in fact, I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!), I do sympathise with my lefty brethren and sistern - even to the point of founding the formerly-annual Sinister Invitational.
You can read the lore and results of this spectacular do here.

To show my solidarity with the sinestral downtrodden, I mouse and eat left-handed (I can't even use chopsticks in my right hand), however I will not go so far as to chant "Kill Righty" at any left-handed protests. Don't even ask.

Speaking of Simon (as in Bar Sinister) leads to Symon (as in Chef Michael), and the fact that today is also National Filet Mignon Day. Why not hit the grill and do a left-handed compliment to a filet mignon by having a ribeye(or delmonico if you prefer) since that's a much tastier option.

Cheers! (oh, you can toast it all with a glass of prosecco, since it's also National Prosecco Day!)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

Vegage du Jour - 22 July 2019

Ratatouille.
No, not the movie, the dish.

Sure, people make this nice blend of tomatoes, eggplant (or aubergine if you prefer), onions, squash, and all that all the time, so why bother posting about it here?

Ah - simply because it was all done on the grill!

Over varying amounts of direct heat I cooked a whole Japanese eggplant (from the garden), a zucchini (likewise), a yellow squash (ditto), two halves of an onion, and a passle of grape tomatoes (both of these last were store-bought, more's the pity). All had been coated with a bit of canola oil and a dusting of lemon zest before they hit the grill, and as with the tenderloin of a week or so prior, there was a tray with some hickory chips to add a subtle smokiness.

Once each had cooked and been removed from the grill (each at its own time, of course), the eggplant, zucchini, squash, and onion were sliced fairly thinly and uniformly, mixed with the tomatoes (which had collapsed into a near-sauce under the relentless heat) along with a bit of garlic salt and a dash of white balsamic vinegar.

The results were beyond adequate - this was a delicious dish, and one that will be repeated as the garden provides her bounty through these coming weeks and months.

Highly recommended.

Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 14 July 2019

Pork Tenderloin.
Yes, pork tenderloin again.

As you know, I think it the most versatile of meats, and I've found yet another preparation that was proclaimed to be "probably the best pork I've ever eaten" by Heidi. I think it was right up there with any I've made or had as well.

What did I do that was so different and so successful?
I marinaded the pork in a tub of apricot Greek yogurt with a very healthy dose (perhaps 1t) of ground ginger.
Then it was on the grill with indirect heat and a small tray of hickory chips to add some smoke to the whole process.

The meat was flavourful, juicy, tender, everything one could want from a piece of pork.

I think next time I do this, I'll make a batch of rice with some compatible seasoning (garam masala, perhaps?) and add some caramelized onions, some sultanas (that's golden grapes on this side of the pond), and some pistachios to it. That just seems like the best way to accompany it.

At any rate, this was a delicious new preparation, and it is highly recommended.

Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 28 May 2017

This will be a huge departure for me - dessert.

That's right, I'm actually going to recommend a dessert here.

Over the years our family has often enjoyed a very simple dessert of angel food cake and strawberry cream. That's what I'm going to suggest here, but with a twist.

The strawberry cream is simply a blend of whipped cream and (thawed) frozen strawberries in their juicy/syrupy stuff. Just thaw them and stir into whipped cream until it seems like the right proportion for you, add a dollop onto the cake and enjoy.

Now for the upgrade.

First, fire up the grill.
Next, slice the cake into serving-sized pieces.
Then simply spray a little cooking spray on the cake (that's just so it doesn't stick) and drop it on the grill.
Turn it to the other cut (and sprayed) side once you have nice grill marks on the first side, and remove when both of them look nice and toasty.

That's it. Remove from the grill, place on a plate, pop some strawberry cream on that cake, and enjoy.

It's actually wonderful - the cake almost tastes like a toasted marshmallow.

Highly recommended,
Enjoy!

Cornage du Jour - 21 June 2015

I know, my normal usage would be for this to be a Vegage du Jour, but this corn was good enough for its own coinage.

Corn on the cob on the grill.
Sure, it's trendy, it's hip, it's all those things I normally avoid.
Still, it's also delicious, so I had to ignore my normal behaviour and do it anyway.

When I have grilled corn in the past, I have simply soaked the corn (still in the husk) and grilled it until it was done - basically steaming it until it almost smokes from the char on the husk.

I may have noted here in the past that when I boil corn on the cob, I like to add sugar and chipotle powder to the water to give the corn a bit of extra flavour.

The corn we had was partly shucked, so I knew I couldn't do it quite the way I always do, but it wasn't going to be all that different.

It being Father's Day, my flavour consultant, Christian, was in the house.
Something had been said about something or other that made me think of coconut. I have no real recollection of what that might have been, but hold that in mind for a moment.

I decided to soak the partially shucked corn in my normal water with sugar and chipotle before dropping it on the grill. Then inspiration struck.
Do you remember the coconut? Well I did, and I asked Christian to check the combined scent of the flavours, and he concurred: this could be great.

After about a 10 minute (15?) soak, the corn went on the grill (covered, wet husk side down) with some rotation and such - including a final flip to corn side down - until it was steamy hot and delicious.

Oh, did I mention it was delicious? It was.

This is definitely to be repeated, and is highly recommended,
Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 02 June 2015

Lamb chops.

Better: lamb chops on the grill.

I was perusing some old carnages des jours passés and came across a few things that made me want to try them again.
Well, almost - I seldom actually repeat a full recipe.

In this case, I've merged and modified a couple different carnages to create this wonderful dish.

• Start the grill (charcoal, of course).
• Lamb chops (at room temp before cooking, of course) seasoned with salt, pepper, and curry powder on the first side.
• While those chops took in that flavour, a bunch of asparagus was drizzled with a bit of olive oil and tossed with some herbes de Provence, then straight on the grill (away from the direct flames, of course).
• As those green spears approached roasted perfection, on went the chops (seasoned side down, of course) and a second dose of the same seasonings went on the second side.
• The chops got rotated for nice marks (it didn't really work though) and when they were flipped, I grated the zest of half a lime across the four chops, watching that beautiful green stuff basically dissolve into the juicy surfaces.

A bit of left-over rice was being warmed (it had been cooked in a really delicious mushroom stock a couple days earlier and this was some of the best rice I've ever made), and when the chops came off the grill (the asparagus having preceded them by several minutes), I gave the rice and asparagus one last dose of microwaves to make sure everything was piping hot and served it all up with no butter, no sauces, just the inherent flavours of the ingredients.

Heidi (who likes lamb quite well, but isn't really a lamb chop lover) said it was probably the best lamb she had ever had.

Who am I to argue?
Delicious and highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 28 June 2014

Ah, burgers.
Burgers on the grill.
Burgers on the grill on a Summer evening.

That's pretty darned good, but what if we make the burgers better?

That's just what we did this past weekend, made the burgers better.
A 50/50 mix of ground lamb and ground beef (chuck) was the base, but then we went to town.
Added into the meat were the following:
Old Bay and chipotle powder (a sort of North American harissa, if you will), pine nuts, and capers.
We mixed it all together, but without over-mixing, and onto the grill the patties went (about 6oz patties as an estimate) to cook to perfection.
An added benefit was the mayo with Old Bay and beau monde smeared on the buns.

Oh dear, these were quite the tasty burgers.
Highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 27 Apr 2013

Another beautiful day in the neighbourhood, so back to the grill, eh?

We had a nice porterhouse steak waiting for the flames, but what should accompany it?
Well, there were a couple sweet potatoes in the cellar, and a nice head of radicchio in the fridge, so out they came.

While the fire got ready for cooking, I peeled the sweet potatoes gave them a bit of a head start in the microwave. They were halved lengthwise to present a nice surface for some flame-induced caramelization. Oh, fear not, I didn't leave them on their own in this endeavour - I created a nice maple chipotle butter as a glaze.
As to the radicchio, I simply halved the head and let it drink in a bit of nice Italian dressing as they waited their turn on the fire.

Everything actually finished at the same time (thanks to my microwave head-start trick), and one of nicest comments I can imagine was Heidi's "I can't decide which of the three I like the best."
In fact, I found myself in much the same quandary - and if I'm going to be in a quandary, that's one of the nicest ones I can imagine.

Yes, maple chipotle butter: highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 09 June 2012

It's been a while since I've written about a good chicken meal, and this one was too good to skip. Granted, I've waited well over a week, but I can still remember it well, so it must be worth a post.

Manhattan Grilled Chicken Breasts.

Sounds interesting, no? Well, it's much more than that - it's delicious. Oh, and it has nothing to do with clam chowder or a style of cooking from the East Coast (as far as I know).

It's called Manhattan chicken because the marinade for the boneless, skinless breasts is simply a Manhattan cocktail with a bit of oil added in.
That's right - into a plastic bag I added a nice dose of Southern Comfort and some sweet vermouth (aha!) along with a dash of garlic juice and a bit of olive oil.
The chicken marinated in the marinade for almost an hour while the fire got ready in the Weber kettle in the back yard (it's charcoal only chez nous, mes amis). The fairly huge breasts cooked nicely over the fire, picking up some of that smoke flavour to go with the Manhattan that had soaked in, leaving a wonderfully juicy piece of meat.
I sliced them into about 1/4 inch slices, and added them to some pasta along with the juice that had accumulated on the platter. A dollop or so of quark made it creamy with a nice tang, and then a batch of spinach was stirred in with a few mushrooms to make a nice single-serving-dish meal.

Tasty, simple, elegant, and easy.
Try it, and enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 09 May 2011

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

I'm not a big fan of mixed drinks - I'm more of a purist, really - but we just had a lovely Manhattan-marinated chicken breast on the grill, and I'd certainly do it again.

We recently took possession of a couple bottles of Southern Comfort (no, I'm not going to drink that straight - I tried it and that once was quite enough, thank you very much), so Southern Comfort Manhattans seemed a logical use.
Well, what about these two chicken breasts? Why not soak them in that stuff for a while before grilling?
Why not indeed.

So, a ziploc bag took on a pair of chicken breasts (boneless and skinless, btw) and then we added in the Southern Comfort, some sweet Vermouth (Stock, in case you wondered), a bit of garlic powder, and some olive oil, just to make it all stick.
Once the fire in the grill was ready and the batch of bratwurst had finished (I'll detail the "correct" way to cook brats in another post), on went the chicken.
I must say, it was tender, juicy, and flavourful - all one could ask of that cut, really.

The grilling added the needed snap to the surface which is normally lost from the skinless versions, and the marinade added its own special savour as well.
Highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 11 August 2010

"There is simply no more versatile cut of meat than the pork tenderloin." 
- Antonin Lavoris

 OK, I actually made that up, but had Antonin Lavoris said that (or even existed), I would agree most heartily, and last night's meal was a particularly tasty example of that versatility.

A whole tenderloin was rubbed with a mix of chipotle chili powder and beau monde, then slow roasted on the charcoal grill, using the indirect cooking method.
This let the flavour of the charcoal permeate the meat - mixing beautifully with the chipotle's own smokiness - whilst not charring the outside.
In about 20 minutes (it's hard to know for sure, as I was also mowing the lawn as I cooked the tenderloin), with a couple flips and turns in there, the internal temperature was north of 160F and all was well with the pork. (I love my instant read thermometer!)

The side dish was a delicious chick-pea salad that Heidi made using scallions, tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, and white balsamic vinegar.

All in all, a delicious repast, and a wonderful end to an overly hot day.

Try it - you'll like it!