Fourth of July BBQ Primer: No Time to Waste, Make a Spice Paste

Unfortunately, sometimes being a lawyer means eating take out for three weeks straight. Sometimes being lazy also means eating out more times than I care to share. However, there are times when using compressed wood as an uneven and inconsistent cooking element takes priority. People tend to shy away from charcoal because they think it takes too long or it's too complicated. With a little practice, you can quickly learn the quirkiness but amazing qualities of charcoal grilling which should alay any qualms you may currently hold. All other things withstanding, summer necessarily means grilling and July 4th weekend absolutely means grilling.

With all that said, I tried to do a fast dinner on the grill before the recklessness of July 4th festivities get underway.

Recipe:

Cooking chicken on the grill can be tricky. How long do you cook it for? What marinade do I use? Since traditional marinades do take some time to....marinate into meats I opted for a spice paste. What's the difference between a marinade and spice paste? Not much. However, you do want to to keep in mind the that a spice paste has the consistency (or viscosity) that is much thicker. So you don't use a lot of liquid in a spice paste.

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Salt/Pepper : Marinades/Spice Paste, Grilling : July 4th Weekend

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To this spice paste, I added garlic powder, paprika, curry powder, and tumeric.

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I used canola oil as my liquid. You can pretty much use anything but keep in mind if your liquid contains sugar, then it'll tend to burn easier.

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Olive v. Canola oil? For grilling I prefer canola oil on meats and olive oil on vegetables. For meats, I don't want to taste anything besides the spices I put in there and the protein. For veggies, I like the olive oil taste with grilled onions, squash, and other grilled vegetables.

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Clean and pat dry your chicken breast. If your chicken is wet, then it won't hold the paste, esspecially a paste made from oil. Something about oil and water not mixing well.

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Spread on your spice paste evenly. With a paste you tend to get clumps of spice paste that needs to be spread. You don't want one bite to be bland and the next bite to be salty.

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To grill corn, I like to leave them in the husks. To help prevent them from burning and to help steam the corn, soak them in water a few minutes before grilling.

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Grilled vidalia onions never hurt anyone. Put onions and other vegetables you want a nice char on in the "hot spot' of the grill.

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Grilled bell peppers are nice.

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Make sure you have clean grates before you put anything on the grill. You don't need to put any oil on the grates. First it'll have a tendency to smoke and burn before you put any meat on it. Second, it's a fire hazard so safety first. All you really need to make sure is that the grates are hot. If they are hot and you leave your chicken on their to cook, it should not stick.

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This is the shot I almost dropped my phone into the grill. It's hot!

We decided to burgers as well. Try to only flip the burgers once.

Grilling tips..

1. Either stack your charcoal like a pyramid and light them, or use a charcoal chimney.

2. If you use the former, don't move the charcoal or start cooking with it until the all the lighter fluid has burned off.

3. You'll know when the lighter fluid is all burned away, when there is a red glow in the center of the pyramid, the charcoals are not flaming, and the charcoals turn white.

4. Only at that point do you want to spread them.

5. The way you spread them is also important. I didn't spread them this time...someone else did. But, you want to have a hot spot where most of the charcoal is at. The hot spot should be the size of a sheet of paper (it really depends on what you are trying to cook). The hot spot should be located the farthest away from you, at the other end of the grill (so build your pyramid and spread your charcoal accordingly). The reason you want the hot spot away on the other side of the grill is because if it was closer to you, you would have to reach over it to flip something on the other side of the grill.

6. Then have some areas with less charcoal and some areas with no charcoal. So effectively you created different cooking stations with charcoal. One to char/sear, one to grill more evenly, and one for indirect cooking.

7. Using the lid and air vents also change the dynamics of the grill. Try all these out and after awhile you'll learn different tricks you can do with the grill.

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Give the chicken about four minutes on the first side before you decide to flip it. It really depends on the temperature of the grill. The point is don't flip it too soon!

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What a pretty looking grill :)

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Bleu cheese on the burger. You can put the lid on to melt the cheese faster.

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Nothing says summer like a Bud Light Lime (hereinafter referred to as "BLL"). Nothing says friendship like taking the BLL when there are only two cold beers left and none of you like above-referenced BLL.

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That's grilling. Happy Fourth of July.

Sunday Roast-ess with the Most-ess

Story: In England, most pubs and restaurants offer a Roast that is only available on Sunday evenings. The "Sunday Roast" as it is creatively called usually consists of hearty food such as roast beef, rotisserie chicken, or a pork loin. The sides range from potatoes to broccoli to turnips. The veggies are traditionally prepared very simply with salt, pepper, and the drippings from the roasting meat.

The Sunday Roast first started when medieval squires provided their serfs with a meal on Sundays to reward them for a week of hard work. The meal would usually center around a roast boar or roast oxen.

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So as this story goes, my roommate and I had a ridiculous work schedule this week. In the spirit of our English forefathers, I made my version of a Sunday roast in which my roommate took part.*

*In no way should this be directly construed as my roommate being my serf, however; if it walks and talks like a duck...

The Meal: My version of dinner starts with a spiral sliced ham. I didn't have time to prepare an entire ham myself so I took the short cut of getting prepared ham. This one was from Trader Joes (hopefully one day I can get them to sponsor me).

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As far as my first side goes, I made a Hawaiian-style mac salad. Mac salad can be found all over the islands where they famously accompany sweet Korean short ribs. Tourists and locals alike

devour Hawaiian lunch plates consisting of a protein, a heap of mac salad, and a mound of white rice.

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Cook farfalle pasta with boiling salt water. I prefer farfalle pasta since I think the dressing coats it better than elbow noodles. For some reason, a few recipes will tell you to "overcook" the pasta (or cook it longer than you would al dente) since the pasta seems to soak up the dressing better.

Once the pasta is cooked all the way through, rinse it thoroughly with cold water to stop the cooking process.

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Once the pasta is cooled to room temperature, add the juice of half a lemon into the pasta.

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Take a heaping spoon of non-fat sour cream and a spoon of low fat mayo into the pasta. Most recipes don't require sour cream but most people I know are weirded out with eating that much mayo (the non-fat sour cream makes this dish a tad bit healthier).

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Add in salt, seasoned salt, pepper, and paprika into the mix.

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Finally, throw in a handful of shredded carrots. The carrots add a sweet crunch into the dish that works well with the salty creaminess of the pasta.

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Mac salad's close up.

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Put your "salad" into the fridge. Here, the longer it stays in the refrigerator the better the dish. You should give the pasta a chance to soak up the dressing and for the pasta to firm up.

Asparagus

For my second side, I decide to make a roasted balsamic asparagus. This is a very simple dish.

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Ingredients: Asparagus, olive oil, lemon, balsamic vinegar, blue cheese, salt and pepper.

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A trick that I just recently learned. If you take the asparagus and snap it while holding it at both ends, the stalk will snap into two parts. The top of the stalk is edible and the bottom is the part you throw away.

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You can use the snapped asparagus as a ruler to cut the rest of the asparagus.

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Season the stalks with salt, pepper, and olive oil and put them into a 400F oven for 7 minutes.

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When the asparagus start to slightly wilt take the asparagus out. Crumble some blue cheese and sprinkle balsamic vinegar onto the stalks.

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Put the dish back into the oven for 3-5 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and the asparagus is done.

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We hammed it up. This ham from Trader Joes was organic and nitrate free. I really don't know what that means but it sounds healthy.

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Sunday Roast is done. I added a biscuit it seemed fitting.

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Cheers!

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Picnic with a Friend: A (Medjool) Date to Remember

Story: My friend and apparently an avid reader of this blog was passing through Charlotte so I decided to treat her to some "home cooking". The day before, I was at a Beer, Bourbon and BBQ festival. I enjoyed the weather and food so much that I wanted to spend as much time outside as I could for the remainder of the weekend. I thought that there is no better way to enjoy the outdoors and the company of a good friend than a picnic.

I picked up my friend from the airport on Mother's day. After "very little" searching, we found a nice, quaint spot to set up. I just tried to make things easy to eat and that would hold up well in the heat (so little dairy). Needless to say, I had a great time.

The Food:

One of my favorites foods in the world is bacon-wrapped dates. It's super easy to make, surprisingly tasty, and very versatile. There are several types of dates out there but I prefer Medjool dates since they usually have a good size and are widely available.

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Why did the banana ask out the prune?

Answer: Because he wanted a date!

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The experience of biting into a delicious and juicy date with a seed is the pits! Speaking of, be sure to take the pits out of the dates. It's as easy as taking a paring knife and cutting half way into the date and then digging out the seed.

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Take some good thick cut bacon and wrap it around each date. Use a toothpick to secure the bacon around the date. Make sure you soak the toothpicks in some water so that they don't catch on fire or char.

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Bake the bacon-wrapped dates in the oven for 15 minutes at 350F. Then turn on your broiler for 5 minutes to crisp up the bacon. Enjoy these little treats! I enjoy them because of the contrast between the salty crispiness of the bacon with the sweet, delicate texture of the dates.

Variations: You can stuff the dates with blue cheese or fruit marmalade. I prefer the blue cheese since the marmalade can make the dates too sweet. I didn't use blue cheese here since my guest doesn't eat moldy cheese (know your audience).

Pesto-Chicken Sandwich

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Grill some chicken breasts with some salt and pepper.

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After the chicken is 75% done- take them off the grill and let them rest for a bit. Dice the chicken into cubes and throw the chicken cubes into a pan with olive oil and browned garlic.

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Add some pesto to the chicken and turn off the pan. The heat should finish cooking the chicken, You really don't want to over cook or for that matter under cook poultry. Refrigerate.

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I decided to use snow pea sprouts, tomatoes, and roasted bell peppers to accompany the pesto chicken. Snow pea sprouts are a great alternative to lettuce because they are sweeter and are easily layered in a sandwich.

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After putting on all the veggies, place the pesto chicken (preferably refrigerated for a couple hours) on top.

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To Drink:

I took pineapple cubes and mango slices and soaked them in vodka. I put the mix into the freezer for a couple of hours.

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The pineapples and mango would act as "ice cubes" and keep the drink cold.

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When it was time to drink, I combined the pineapple/mango mix with an orange soda (I actually used a drink that was very similar to Orangina).

No picnic would be complete without dessert. I admit I don't have a sweet tooth so I really don't know how to make desserts. Because my lack of desserting diligence, I picked up a serving of banana pudding (or nana pudding as it was called) believe it or not at a local gas station. It was my first time ever having it and hopefully not my last.

All in all---a good first attempt at picnic-ing. Would love to do it again....in Hawaii.

Peek-A-Bleu Porkchops!

Story: This is one of my favorite meals. While I was in Athens for school, I would get my fix of fried pork chops at Wilson's Soul Food. They would fry a bone-in porkchop and serve it with spicy chow chow. Although those ladies over at Wilson's do a great job, I think the addition of moldy cheese (there really is no other way of describing it) makes a regular pork chop into a mean pork chop. I think I was first introduced to these cheesy chops at my sister's house and have been making my chops this way ever since.

Picking your chops are important. Make sure you trim most of the fat off, but be sure to leave a little on for flavor. I usually use the cuts from the tenderloin of the pig. You can buy the loin yourself and cut them (usually into 1-1.5 inch slices) or get them already pre-sliced.

Once you wash and pat dry the cuts, take a sharp knife and make a pocket in the chop. This is made easier with a thicker piece of meat. Be sure to make your cut deep into the piece but not too far where you cut all the way through.

You want to make the incision deep enough so that you can stuff it with cheese and the stuffing won't fall out during cooking (or bacon--yes you can stuff pork with pork, or a garlic paste, or olives).

You want to season the chops with salt and pepper pretty generously since the cuts are thick.

* One word of caution--don't have too heavy of a hand with the seasoning since the cheese adds salt as well.

In another plate, season white flour with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. You may think it is overkill to season the pork chops AND also season the flour, but it really does make a difference.

Once covered on both sides with the seasoned flour, place the covered chops into a pan with a thin coat of H-O-T vegetable oil. I don't like to use olive oil when frying like this for two reasons---first olive oil doesn't do so well in a hot pan and imparts flavor in the food (usually I don't mind this) and second using vegetable oil makes more cents/sense (bwahaha!). I think that was three reasons.

Fry the chops on each side for 3-4 minutes until they are nice and brown on each side.

After you have fried both sides, take the chops out and put them into a 350F oven for 10 minutes. The chops are thick so you need to put them into an oven for them to cook all the way through.

A picture of the chops with a pocket of bleu cheese inside...peak-a-bleu! For sides, I made white jasmine rice and some sauteed bok choy with garlic and soy sauce.

It's quite a delicious meal and relatively easy to make. You won't regret making it.