Christmas Eve

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We’re in the middle of a blizzard so no cooking on the Big Green Egg ’til the snow stops. Tonight it’s roasted chestnuts for a snack and oyster stew for dinner.

Roasted Chestnuts

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Set chestnuts on a cutting board, flat side down. With a small, sharp knife cut an X in each chestnut. This lets the steam to escape while they are cooking and makes them a lot easier to peel.

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Put chestnuts cut side up in a low rimmed pan and bake 20-30 minutes until the shells burst open and the chestnut are golden brown. Pour into a dish towel-lined bowl, cover, and let cool for 10 minutes.

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As they are cool enough to handle, peel and enjoy!

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Oyster Stew

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2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 pint oysters and liquor, separated
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (Frank’s or Tabasco works well)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, and celery and sweat until translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add celery seed and hot pepper sauce.  Add the reserved oyster liquor, cream, and milk and bring to a simmer. Do not let boil.  Add the oysters, lemon juice, and parsley and simmer until the oysters start to curl, about 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

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Serve with crackers and more hot sauce.

Carnivore BBQ Sauce – Hot Chipotle Prawns

I’ve been hearing great things about Carnivore BBQ sauces on the Big Green Egg Forum for some time now, and finally decided to give them a try.

Being allergic to wheat gluten, I first sent them as email asking if their product was gluten-free. I was pleasantly surprised that instead of the usual corporate response, I got a nice email from the owner himself,  asking for more information on gluten allergies and what products might contain gluten. We exchanged a few emails, and while his sauces aren’t certified gluten-free, we couldn’t identify any ingredients that would be an issue.

I ordered up a bottle of each of their 3 sauces – Robust, Sweet, and Hot Chipotle. Of course, the day the sauces arrived I wanted to taste all 3 of them, but after my dear wife (kindly and with much love in her heart) pointed out that I already had 6 bottles of other barbecue sauce in the fridge I decided that maybe it would be best to start with the Hot Chipotle.

Initial tasting –  plenty of heat right up front. Hot, but transitory and balanced with some sweetness, so it’s not overwhelming.  Some smokiness, but it doesn’t scream CHIPOTLE, which is nice. Has a very rich base with plenty of herbs that doesn’t get lost in the heat. Wow, there’s a lot going on in there. This is a very, very nice hot barbecue sauce. I can’t wait to try out the others.

Now, what food to pair it with for grilling? We’d just picked up some nice-sized prawns, so I decided to make some skewers and use the Carnivore sauce both as part of the marinade and drizzled over the finished product.


Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds large (21/25 count) prawns or shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 cup Carnivore Hot Chipotle BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6-8 bamboo skewers

Directions


Place skewers in water to soak.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high heat (about 450°F).

Combine barbecue sauce, olive oil, lime juice, and salt in a lidded container. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Skewer the shrimp – run one skewer through the head end and then another through the tail.

Grill 2-3 minutes per side, or until shrimp turn pink. Don’t over cook.

Serve with more barbecue sauce on the side.

This recipe turned out really well. The sweetness of the shrimp paired nicely with the heat of the sauce. I plan on using the Carnivore Hot Chipotle instead of the usual hot sauce in my next batch of  buffalo wings.

Grilled Whole Red Snapper Veracruz

This is a dish that shows how Spanish cooking influenced Mexican cooking – combining fresh fish with both the heat of peppers and the salty tang of capers and olives. Grilling is an excellent way to do whole fish as the fish stays moist while the skin gets nice and crispy, and all the fishy smells stay outside.

The fish

2  – 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-pound whole red snappers, cleaned and scaled
Juice of 1 lime (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon Ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Put the salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the remaining ingredients, except the fish, and give them a whirl until they are well-combined.

Rinse the fish inside and out and pat dry. Make 3 cuts on each side of the fish, about 1/2 inch deep. Place the fish in a shallow pan and coat with the lime marinade, making sure to work some of it into the cuts.


The sauce

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 4-ounce can green chillies
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
1/4 cup pickled jalapeños, chopped
2 tablespoons capers
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 bay leaves

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic.  Cook until onion is soft, about 2 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, green chillies, and bay leaves. Cook for 1 minute.  Add olives,  jalapeños, and capers. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Cover and keep warm.


The cook

Set your grill up for a direct cook over medium heat, about 350°F. Generously oil the grate. Put the fish on and grill for 7-10  minutes. Turn and grill until the skin is golden brown and the flesh is just opaque, about another 7-10 minutes.  Carefully remove the fish so it doesn’t stick.

You can serve just the fillets by running a knife between the flesh and the bones and lifting off the meat. But there’s so much good eating on the head and along the bones that we often just serve the fish whole on the plate.  Top with the sauce and serve with refried black beans and plenty of corn tortillas to soak up the juice.

Paella

Paella is Spain’s classic dish of saffron-infused rice combined with various meats and seafood. I love making this simple version on our Big Green Egg. It’s one of my favorite dishes to make for guests as an early dinner on Sunday afternoons.

It looks a little complicated, but it’s really only about a half hour or so of prep work, and another 45 minutes or so on the grill.

Ingredients

3 cups chicken broth
1/2 pound small raw shrimp, shelled
1/2 pound cleaned calamari, cut in rings
1/2 pound bay scallops
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2 inch chunks and lightly salted
1/4 lb of Spanish cooking chorizo, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 red or yellow bell pepper, cut into 2 inch strips
1 1/2 cups Bomba or Calasparra rice
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons of sweet smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 teaspoon of saffron
Olive oil
Lemon wedges, to garnish

Heat the broth with the saffron and the paprika. Keep warm and nearby.

Get your grill up to medium-high (about 400°F). You want to provide a wide, even heat that can be maintained with the lid open. You don’t want any hot spots. You can do this on most grills by cooking indirectly, or by using a diffuser like a pizza stone under the pan.

Use a shallow metal pan with about a 13-14 inch bottom. I really like this enameled paellera, but you could also use a chef’s pan. Add enough olive oil to cover to the bottom well. Heat the oil for a few minutes and then add the chicken pieces and fry until brown. Remove the chicken to a plate.

Add the chopped onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is soft. Add the tomatoes and cook until they break down and the mixture thickens and darkens. Add more oil if needed. This is the sofrito – it adds a lot of depth to the dish and provides a base for the rest of the dish.

Add the rice and chorizo and saute 1-2 minutes.

Stir in the chicken broth and try to spread the rice out as evenly as possible. Once you have a relatively uniform layer, leave it alone. The rice needs to sit undisturbed on the bottom of the pan to developed the tasty brown crust called the soccarat.

Arrange the browned chicken, scallops, shrimp, calamari, pepper, and peas on top of the rice. Try to make it even and pretty. Close the lid and lower your grill temperature to 350°F degrees. Cook undisturbed until all the liquid is absorbed – about 30 minutes.

Once the liquid is gone, bump the heat up to 400°F and start listening closely. The paella will start to crackle, and you might smell a toasted odor that tells you the rice is browning and forming the soccarat. Test by running a spatula under the rice to feel for a slightly bumpy bottom. Once you feel this, remove the paella from the heat.

Let the paella rest 5  minutes before serving.

Planked Salmon

One of the sure signs of spring is when Copper River salmon starts showing up in our local markets. Only available mid-May through mid-June, this is some of the richest, tastiest salmon out there.

I almost always take a pretty simple approach and just grill the salmon on a cedar or alder plank. Smoke from the plank deepens the rich, nutty flavor of the fish while protecting it from the flames so you can use higher temperatures to seal in the juices.

Use a food-grade plank that’s been soaked in water for at least an hour. Set your grill up for direct cooking at medium-high heat (about 450°F).

Oil the skin side of the salmon and season both sides with a little sea salt and maybe a grind or two of black pepper.

Put the plank on the grill by itself for about 5 minutes, or until you see the first wisps of smoke coming from the board. Flip the plank over and put the salmon on skin side down on the hot side of the plank.

Close the lid on the grill and cook for 10-15 minutes. I like salmon when it’s a juicy medium rare, so take the fillet off when it starts to flake, but is still a little translucent red inside – about 130°F internal. Remember that the fish will continue to cook a little once it’s off the heat, so you want it to be slightly underdone when you take it off.

I served it hot off the grill with a squeeze of lemon and a side of fresh peas and new potatoes.

Terikyaki Shrimp Skewers

Quick, easy, and tasty – what more do you want? These grilled shrimp work great as appetizers or as part of a meal. Double skewering the shrimp makes it easier to flip them. Feel free to add bell pepper slices or pineapple hunks to the mix.

Ingredients

1 lb large shrimp (26-30 count), shelled and deveined
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon 5 spice powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6-8 bamboo skewers

Directions

Place skewers in water to soak.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high heat (about 400°F).

Combine teriyaki sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, 5 spice powder, and garlic powder in a lidded container. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Skewer the shrimp – run one skewer through the head end and then another through the tail.

Grill 2 minutes per side, or until shrimp turn pink. Do not over cook.

Steak and King Crab on a Budget

We love to eat out, but with the way the economy has been, we just can’t afford to do it nearly as often as we’d like. Our solution has been to eat at home, but we still like our fine dinning experience.  By doing some bargain shopping and taking full advantage of our FoodSaver and freezer, we were able to put together this gourmet meal for a fraction of what it would have cost in a restaurant.

The Cook

Make sure your steak and crab are well-thawed. Pull the steak out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking.

Set your grill up for direct cooking at high heat (about 500-700°F).

Season the steak on both sides with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Put the steak over the hottest part of the grill and close the lid. Give it 60 seconds of undisturbed searing. After a minute, flip it over. If the steak won’t come away from the grill easily, give it another 30 seconds. Once flipped, close the lid and give it another 60 seconds of undisturbed searing.

Now open the lip and leave it open for the rest of the cook.  Flip the steak again – flipping the steak often minimizes flareup and maximizes the amount of steak that’s done the way you like it. Keep flipping the steak once a  minute until they are done to your taste. Press on the center of the steak or use an instant-read thermometer to determine doneness. I like mine medium-rare, which  is 135°F internal with a mostly pink center with a hint of red and yields easily to a little pressure.

Remove the steak the a warm plate and let it rest while you cook the crab and asparagus.

Decrease the heat of the grill to medium-high (about 400°F).

Place the legs on the grill with the spiny side up. Close the lid and let cook for 5 minutes. Flip the legs and add the asparagus to the grill. Leave the lid open and grill for about 5 minutes, turning frequently, until the spears begin to brown and caramelize and the crab is heated through.

Remove the asparagus to a plate and drizzle with olive oil and a little lemon juice. Keep warm.

Wearing food prep gloves, or using a thick disk towel, break the legs at the joints. Use a seafood cracker or pair of kitchen shears to further crack the leg segments. Serve with melted butter.

The Math

We bought 2 full clusters of crab legs at a significant discount from a local yuppiemart that had ordered way too many of them. We bought the value-pack of steaks from Cosco. Everything got separated into meal-sized portions, sealed in FoodSaver bags, and frozen.

5 pounds of King Crab clusters @ $9.99/pound = $49.95
5 pounds of beef tenderloins @ $6.99/pound = $34.95

So, for $80.90 we got enough steak and crab for 4 meals for 2. That’s $20.26 a meal. Add $10 for a  bottle tasty, mid-priced red wine, a couple bucks for the veggies and dessert, light a candle and we’re still talking fine dining at under $40 a couple.

Planked Steak and Scallops

This dish makes good use of plank cooking to not only flavor the food, but to create a simple yet mildly-dramatic “one pot” meal on the grill. Don’t skimp on the chipotle or cayenne. The chilies help to balance the robust woodsiness of the cedar, and provide an unexpected kick without overwhelming the meat.

Bacon-wrapped Tenderloins with Smokey Compound Butter (stolen largely from Pinch My Salt)

For the Steaks:

2 beef tenderloin steaks, 1 1/2 inches thick or better
2 slices bacon
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Tightly wrap one slice of bacon around each steak, securing with with a toothpick. Season both sides with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

For the Compound Butter:

1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature, divided in half
1 tablespoon Smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder or cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Melt half of the butter and pour into a mixing bowl. Add the spices and mix until until well-combined. Let cool until mostly solid. Add the remaining butter and whisk to combine. Spoon mixture onto a large ramekin, cover with a sheet of waxed paper, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chili Lime Scallops

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon chipotle chili powder or cayenne pepper
1 lb sea scallops

Whisk lime juice, oil, garlic, chili powder, salt, and cayenne together in small bowl. Add scallops and toss to cover with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate, basting once with marinade, for about 30 minutes.

Asparagus

1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Please the spears on a plate and drizzle with a little oil and vinegar. Turn to coat then sprinkle with salt.

The Cook


The goal is to put everything on the grill at the right time so that it’s all done at once. It’s important to work quickly, so have your mis en place, some warmed plates stacked nearby, and an oven set on low as a backup in case you need to stash a dish that finishes early.

Use a food-grade plank that’s been soaked in water for at least an hour. Set your grill up for direct cooking at high heat (about 500°F).

When the grill is up to temperature, put the plank on by itself for about 5 minutes, or until you see the first wisps of smoke coming from the board. Flip the plank over and set it beside the grill with the warm side up.

Sear the steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side. Put the plank back on the grill with the warm side up and move the steaks and the scallops to the plank. Close the lid and cook until the steaks and scallops are right around 120°F internal, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the asparagus to the grill. Leave the lid open and grill for about 5 minutes, turning frequently, until the spears begin to brown and caramelize.

Ideally, the asparagus should be done at the same time the steaks have reached 135°F internal (medium-rare) and the scallops are opaque and have just started to flake a bit. Remove everything to warm plates, top the steaks with a pat of the compound butter, and serve.

Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

Meaty portobellos stuffed with a spicy crab and cheese filling. This was a big hit as an appetizer on Valentine’s Day. You could do them in an oven, but since the rest of the meal was grilled (of course), it was just as easy to throw these on beforehand. Many thanks to my very tolerant and understanding wife for waiting for me snap this photo before we dug in.

Ingredients

1 can (6 ounces) crab meat, drained
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Chesapeake Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-3 portobello mushroom caps, stems removed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
Olive oil

Directions

Set the grill up for an direct cook over medium-high heat (400°F). Grease the bottom of a small, smoke-proof baking dish (a disposable, 9-inch pie pan works fine) with a little olive oil.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine crab meat, cream cheese, parsley, onion, Parmesan, Chesapeake Bay seasoning, garlic powder, black pepper, red pepper, and the diced stems. Mix well to combine.

Stuff the mushroom caps with the crab mixture, top with bread crumbs and a drizzle of olive oil.

Arrange the stuffed mushroom on the baking dish and grill for about 20 minutes, or until the caps are tender and the tops are brown and bubbly.

Smoked Salmon

We usually make up a batch of this recipe for the holidays. The cured salmon makes a great appetizer served on crusty bread spread with a little cream cheese and topped with capers.

1 cup Kosher salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
Several grinds of fresh black pepper
2 Salmon fillets (about 4-5 pounds) Continue reading “Smoked Salmon”

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