I have to confess, cooking has been such a pain lately that I was going to call this dish “Angry Shrimp.” But it’s not all that hot, and besides, I’m really feeling more stressed out and annoyed rather than out-right angry. It seems like I’ve suddenly lost my knife skills, am getting way better at spilling than stirring, my temperature control is iffy, and I can never find the ingredient I need when I need it. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

But since this blog is called “Food & Fire” not “Food & Therapy” let’s get on with the cooking…

This recipe started out as Weight Watchers Sesame Noodles with Chicken, but I switched to shrimp, bumped up the veggies and heat, and stir-fried the whole works.

6 ounces gluten-free spaghetti
1/2 cup uncooked scallion, green parts only, chopped
1 pound raw large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1 cup carrots, shredded
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 gluten-free soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (get the real stuff made with plums if you can)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon chili sauce with garlic
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper or Szechuan peppercorns
2 tsp sesame seeds

Arrive home with barely enough time to make dinner before heading out to yoga class. Change clothes and head to the kitchen to discover that your dear wife has the veggies chopped and the water boiling.

Thank dear wife.

Realize that the peeled and deveined shrimp aren’t. Prep shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and stash in the fridge.

Snap spaghetti in half, sending broken bits flying across stove top. Cook noodles according to package directions. Hunt for colander with one hand while trying to hold sauce pan full of boiling water in the other hand. Drain, rinse, and set aside.

Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, chili sauce, honey, and corn starch. Find out that you don’t have enough rice vinegar. Call to dear wife to see if there is any more. No. Curse. Make do. Whisk to combine, making sure to break up and corn starch lumps that just don’t seem to want to break up.

Heat oil in a wok or large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Dump in the still wet broccoli and bob and weave to avoid the splattering oil. Curse. Dig for the slotted wok spoon and stir to coat with oil. Sauté for about a minute. Add the carrots and sauté for another minute.

Add the soy sauce mixture to the pan. Bring to a simmer and add the shrimp. Simmer for another 2 or 3 minutes, or until the shrimp is pink and just cooked through.

Remove pan from heat and add the noodles, which have congealed into a stringy lump. Try to break pasta apart with tongs – no go. Look in three different places for pasta scoop. Break up noodles, add scallions and mix well to combine. Serve with more sesame seeds and some Sriracha hot sauce.

Pause, breathe, enjoy the meal, smile at dear wife, and then run off to class.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
This is a very tasty dish that even shone through despite the rushed and disorganized cooking process. Love the sweet and tangy sauce that has just enough heat to make it interesting. For the next version I’m going to try grilling the meat and making the pasta and veggies as a side dish.

However, I was not at all happy with the whole prep and cooking process – too much stress and mess, not enough fun. It’s my hope that a combination of better menu planning, sharing some of the sous chef duties, taking some more yoga, and making a big effort on my part to get my cooking act together (the French call this mise en place, look for a post about this soon) will make it fun again.

The Nutrition:
Makes about 4, 1 1/2 cup servings at 10 Weight Watchers points per serving. I think you could easily add more veggies to this dish to make it even healthier.

ONE YEAR AGO -  Chicken Thighs & Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

TWO YEARS AGO - Pulled Pork – Hot & Fast Butts

Mother’s Day is fast approaching. I won’t be cooking since we’ll be out of town, but if I where this is what I would make for my dear wife.

2 cups Bisquick Gluten-Free mix
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
3 eggs

1 pound pork breakfast sausage
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons Bisquick Gluten-Free mix
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Heat oven to 400°F. In a medium bowl, combine Bisquick mix and butter. Cut in the butter into the mix using pastry blender or fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and eggs and mix just until a soft dough forms. Try not to over-work the dough.

Drop dough by large spoonfuls onto an cookie sheet. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Do not drain.  Add the Bisquick and cook over low heat for 5 minutes until it forms a roux and begins to brown.

Remove pan from heat and stir in the milk a little at a time. Scape the bottom to get up any brown bits. Return to medium-high heat and stir occasionally until gravy comes to a simmer and starts to thicken, about 10 minutes. Add the hot sauce, salt, and black pepper and stir to combine. Remove from heat and ladle over warm biscuits.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I really have done my best to avoid tempting us with much non-diet-friendly food. But my dear wife was out of town for the weekend, so I had to make up a batch of hot wings.

1 1/2 pounds chicken wings (about 6 wings)
1 – 2 tablespoons of your favorite barbecue rub (General Purpose Rub v1.5, in this case)
1 cup cider vinegar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons raw sugar

Set your grill up for a raised direct cook at 350°F. On the Big Green Egg I used an extender to move the grate up to the level of the rim, putting the chicken further away from the heat.

While the grill is heating up, season the wings with the barbecue rub. Make the hot sauce by combining the vinegar, butter, Worcestershire, peppers, salt, garlic powder, balsamic vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, until it has reduced a bit and thickened up. Remove sauce from heat, but keep warm.

When the grill is ready, put the wings on the grill and cook undisturbed for 30 minutes. Flip and cook for another 20 minutes, or until brown and crispy.

Pour about three-quarters of the sauce into a large bowl, reserve the remaining sauce. Move the wings from the grill to the bowl and toss to coat well. Move the wings back to the grill and cook for another 10 minutes. Move them back into the bowl again, toss them with the sauce, and then move to a plate to serve.

Serve with bleu cheese dressing and the reserved sauce for dipping.

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Again, I am really liking General Purpose Rub v1.5, but I was not a fan of the sauce. Between the heat of the rub and the heat of the sauce, it was just too much. Not head-explodingly hot, but it reminded me of one of my ex-inlaws – thin and bitter with not enough other redeeming qualities to make it worth the heat.

Also, despite the allure of batching it for the weekend, it’s never much fun to eat alone .

ONE YEAR AGO -  Alice Springs-ish Chicken

TWO YEARS AGO – Tiger Sauce Shrimp

The latest version of my home-made barbecue sauce. I switched to a little less honey, and a little more raw sugar (in place of the brown sugar I used to use), and used my General Purpose Rub v1.5 as the seasoning base.

The raw sugar makes a huge difference in the taste. The sauce had a kind of fruity/floral sweetness that rocks when balanced with the heat from the peppers.
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or  pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons Barbecue Seasoning Base

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).

Bottle and store in the fridge. Makes about 2 cups.

I recently had the opportunity to cook up a mess of barbecued baby back ribs for some friends. The only kicker was that we were to bring them over to their place. No problem.

The ribs need to be almost fully cooked, travel for 30 minutes, and finish cooking in our friend’s oven. Since I wanted to make sure there were leftovers for everyone, I figured on one rack of baby backs per adult, so 5 racks total.

The first thing I did was rub the racks heavily with my General Purpose Rub v1.5. Then I set the Big Green Egg up for an indirect cook at 250°F

When the Egg was up to temp, I added both a plate setter and a drip pan to diffuse the heat and keep the ends of the racks from burning. I added a little hickory wood for smoke and when it burned clean I loaded up the ribs.

This is more ribs than I’ve ever tried on the Egg, and an inverted roasting rack really came in handy to keep the ribs from crowding each other so they’d cook as evenly as possible.

I let the ribs cook for an hour and then flipped the racks end for end. I let them go another hour and then rotated the whole roasting rack 180°. I let them go an hour and a half undisturbed, then moved them out of the rack and onto the grate and sauced them.

Honey Hog Barbecue Sauce v2.0
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or  pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons General Purpose Rub v1.5

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).

I sauced the racks fairly heavily and let them cook for another 30 minutes. I then sauced them one more time and moved them to a large baking pan. I sealed the pan up with 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and we hit the road.

Once at our friend’s house, the ribs went into a 350°F oven for an hour.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
I have to say that I am really liking General Purpose Rub v1.5. It’s got a lot of flavor, a bit of heat, some herbiness, and it all works well together. The Honey Hog Barbecue Sauce v2.0 is also a winner, with all the goodness of the rub plus a tangy, almost fruity, sweetness.

The ribs? They were tasty, but they were big baby backs (average 2 1/2 pounds per rack) and I overestimated how much they would cook in the foil while being transported. They ended up good, but chewier than I would have liked. On the plus side, a rack per adult was way too much food, so we all enjoyed leftovers.

The Nutrition
Ribs never will be diet food. A four bone serving is 600 calories and 10 Weight Watchers points with the rub and the sauce.

ONE YEAR AGO -  Corned Beef Hash

TWO YEARS AGO - Tri-tip Roast

It was 74°F Saturday and today it’s spitting snow!?! Go figure. It’s been one crazy spring, but never let it be said that I am one to waste a chance to grill and eat outside. So before Mother Nature had a chance to change her mind, I whipped up a quick batch of fajitas while it was still nice out.

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken pieces (I used tenders, but breasts or thighs work great, too)
8 ounces Mexican chorizo
3 bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 yellow onion, sliced into strips
4 cloves garlic (chopped to go in the veggies)
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
3 cloves garlic (whole for the marinade)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon raw sugar
1 tablespoon worcestershire or soy sauce
2 tablespoons achiote oil (or 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon paprika)
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded

Toss lime juice, 3 cloves of the garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, worcestershire, oil, and jalapeño into the food processor and blend to combine.

Put the bell pepper, onion and chopped garlic in zip-top bag and cover with half the marinade.  Do the same with the chicken. Stash both in the fridge while you get the grill fired up.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high heat (450°F). You can use a grilling basket or pan to cook the meat and veggies, but I like using a cast iron griddle.

Set the griddle on the grate and let it heat up for about 15 minutes.

Fry the chorizo on the griddle. I rolled the meat up into little balls, but you could also break it up. When it’s browned, move the meat off to a warm plate.

Put the chicken on the griddle and cook until until browned on both sides and cooked through, about three to five minutes per side. Remove from the griddle and put with the chorizo.

Put the veggies on the griddle. Cook, stirring often, until they are soft and nicely browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.

When the veggies are done, add back in the chorizo and chicken. Stir and cook until just warmed through, about 2 minutes.

Move the whole works off to a serving platter. Serve with warm tortillas and some guacamole or sour cream.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Lightly charred veggies, tender meat, and just the right amount of heat from the marinade came together to make this a very tasty dish. It’s similar to, but not as greasy as, the parrillada platter at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. The only thing that would have made this better would have been to crumble the chorizo and fry it loosely so it would be distributed throughout the dish.

The Nutrition
Two fajitas with corn tortillas are 361 calories and 9 Weight Watchers points, so if you go easy on the sour cream this is a very healthy, veggie-packed meal.

ONE YEAR AGO -  Lemon Pepper Chicken

TWO YEARS AGO - Spring Sirloin & Asparagus

This is the second version of what I hope will be a stock barbecue seasoning that I can use as the base for a variety of recipes. For the code geeks out there, this is a “dot release” with a few little tweaks, but no major changes. I increased the sugar and salt, dialed down the lemon zest, added some thyme and chili powder, and bumped up the allspice.

3 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar
2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried lemon or orange zest
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Combine everything in a shaker jar and stir to combine and break up any lumps. Makes about 2/3 cup.

The rub smells and tastes great, but the real test will be when it meets a rack of ribs. Soon, very soon…

If you haven’t figured this out by now, I really dig my tagine. At first I thought it was just a funny-looking Dutch oven, but I’m discovering that its unusual design is the reason everything that comes out of this North African cooking pot tastes so good.

The tagine’s wide, shallow base lets you start a dish uncovered on the stove top to brown meat and veggies or reduce stock like a sauté pan. Once your stock/sauce is ready, you can just add your remaining ingredients, put the lid on, and keep cooking on the stove top or move everything off to the oven for longer cooks.

Either way, the conical top allows air to circulate above the food without the flavors escaping. The food both steams and roasts (aka braising) at the same time. Yes, you can get a similar effect in a Dutch oven, but because the tagine is wider and shallower, more of the food gets braised rather than boiled.

Finally, it’s hard to beat the presentation when you set the tagine in the middle of the table, pull the lid away, and let all of the wonderful aromas billow out in a cloud of steam. That said, watch your fingers around that steam! I always open it by grabbing the top with an oven mitt.

The Chermoula
A fancy name, but this is just a flavorful Morrocan herb and lemon based marinade that’s traditionally used on fish, but would work well for veggies and chicken too.

1 1/2 pounds cod (or other firm, white fish) fillets
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Put the garlic cloves and salt in a food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the cilantro, paprika, cumin, ginger, cayenne pepper, oil, and lemon juice and give everything a whirl until it is well-combined.

Put the fish in a zip-top bag and cover with the marinade. Toss to coat and stash in the fridge while you’re putting the pilaf together.

 Moroccan Rice Pilaf
1 cup long grain rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 dried cranberries, chopped
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/8 teaspoon saffron threads

Heat the butter and oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook until the onions are translucent and the rice begins to color.

I’m trying out a new home-made barbecue rub. Yes, I still have more shelf space devoted to jars of commercially-made rubs than I care to admit to, but I’ve got some good reasons for venturing out on my own:

Availability – as much as I love the rubs by folks like Dizzy Pig, John Henry, and Tasty Licks, I always feel bad when I recommend a specific rub in a recipe because I know that not everyone has ready access to them. If somebody gave me a recipe that specifically called for Uncle Crunchy’s Pecan Butt Rub, and Uncle Crunchy wants $12 for a jar of rub plus $6 shipping, I wouldn’t be jumping up to make that recipe. My goal is to have a couple of stock rub and sauce recipes on this site, so folks can just make it themselves.

Experience – the more I learn, the less I know. Combining herbs and spices to create a specific flavor combination is a whole lot harder than it looks. Working out my own spice blends helps me learn more about how the individual ingredients work together.

Versatility – ultimately, I’d love to come up with a base rub that can be used on almost everything, and then create a half dozen variations that can be made with that base. Want a poultry rub? Take X amount of base and add these poultry-specific ingredients. Want an Asian barbecue sauce? Take that same base and add it to so much hoisin sauce. Stay tuned for more on this work in progress.

That said, here’s my General Purpose Rub 1.0 on some chicken thighs.

3-5 pounds chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
2 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Combine everything but the chicken in a shaker jar. Stir to combine and break up any lumps. Makes about 1/2 cup.

At least 2 hours before cooking, dust the thighs heavily with the rub (1-2 tablespoons per pound of chicken), then lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan and let them sit uncovered in the fridge. This lets the seasoning work its way into the thighs and also helps to dry out the skin a bit to make it crispy.

Set the grill up for a raised indirect cook over medium-high  (400°F) heat. On the Big Green Egg, I used the plate setter to diffuse the heat.

Put the thighs on the grill skin side down, close the lid, and let them cook for 20. Flip them and let them go another 20 minutes.

Check the thighs for doneness. Chicken is technically done when the juices run clear and the internal temperature hits 160°F, but I like my thighs cooked a little longer to at least 180°F.

So leave the thighs skin side up and continue to cook until they hit 180°F, then remove them to a warm plate and let sit 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The chicken turned out tasty and crispy, but the rub could use some more work. It had plenty of heat, but almost all of it was at the end, nothing up front. There were lots of individual flavors going on, but it needed a little more sugar and salt to unify them. So it’s a good rub, but not a great one, yet.

This is one of the first times I’ve used turbinado sugar (raw sugar crystallized from the initial pressing of the sugar cane), and I can highly recommend it.  Raw sugar is a different beast than regular brown sugar (which is just highly processed white sugar that’s had some molasses added back into it). It has an almost floral aroma to it and a nice caramel flavor that’s more complex than the strong molasses flavor of brown sugar.

The Nutrition
Chicken thighs are 4 Weight Watchers point a piece (3 points without the skin, but who wants to live without crispy chicken skin)? As for the rub, even at 2 tablespoon of rub per pounds of chicken, there is so little raw sugar in it that it doesn’t even merit a point.

ONE YEAR AGO -  Smoked Salmon Dip

TWO YEARS AGO - Shrimp & Corn Chowder

I don’t want to jinx anything, but our spring has been phenomenal so far. A steady string of 70+°F days has woken up our flowers and allowed me to get in lots of grilling time. Considering that the same time last year it was 18°F, with 4-foot drifts, and our driveway slowing shrinking to a car-sized tunnel, I am one happy grillmeister!

To celebrate the arrival of ‘sitting outside’ weather, I decided to do up a couple of monster ribeyes. My dear wife also wanted some onions and mushrooms, so I tried a technique I use a lot with chicken and slow-roasted the steaks over the pan of veggies.

I set the Big Green Egg up for an indirect cook at 350°F, using a trivet to help diffuse the heat, and just a little bit of pecan for smoke.

I trimmed the asparagus and started it marinating in one glug of olive oil, 2 glugs of balsamic vinegar, a squirt of dark mustard, and a dash of kosher salt. I filled a foil pan with mushrooms, onions, a shot of olive oil, and a couple of frozen cubes of beef stock. The pan went on the trivet, the grate went over the pan, and the steaks (seasoned with just a few grinds of black pepper and sea salt) went on top of that.

I closed the whole thing up and let all the goodies roast for 20 minutes. I flipped the steak, gave the mushrooms and onions a shake, and put them back on for another 20 minutes more. By now the largest ribeye was at 130°F internal and  the mushroom and onions were  nicely soft and caramelized.

I laid the steaks on top of the veggies and moved the entire pan to a warm oven to rest.

I removed the trivet, and with the lid open grilled the asparagus for about 5 minutes, turning frequently, until the spears started to get tender and pick up a bit of char.

While it was warm enough to dine outside, it’s still only late March and we lost the sun just before the steaks were done, so we moved the party indoors.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
This may very well be my new favorite way to do big steaks. While the steaks didn’t have any sear to them, they were butter knife tender. The longer cooking time let the steaks pick up more of the wood smoke than they usually do. I wouldn’t want any more smoke on the meat, but it provided a nice, hot, note on the back of the your tongue. I would probably switch to a little lighter wood next time, or a little less of it.

The mushrooms and onions were outstanding – very intense with a  rich, (slightly) beefy taste.

My only big mistake on this cook was putting the steaks back on top the mushrooms and onions – the residual heat pushed the meat past medium-rare to just shy of medium-well. Still, I am surprised and how tender and juicy the steaks were even when a little over-cooked.

The Nutrition
Ribeye is 2.1 points per ounce, so we made those monster steaks cover 4 meals. A serving of the asparagus and the mushroom and onions are probably a point a piece just from the oil and those lovely beef drippings. Watch the size of your glugs to keep them healthy.

ONE YEAR AGO -  What Eggs are Supposed to Look Like

TWO YEARS AGO - Simple Carnitas

What makes for a good, all-around barbecue seasoning?

For me, it’s a mix of herbs and spices that gives you a layered, well rounded flavor with enough heat to make it interesting, and enough tangy sweetness to balance the rich flavor of the meat without overwhelming it.

I’ve had a lot of fun creating my own barbecue sauces. After playing with sweet chili sauce in my Thai Sweet Chili Spareribs recipe, I wanted to try a recipe that uses traditional barbecue spices but uses sweet chili sauce for the tang and sweetness.

2 pounds pork country-style ribs
1 tablespoon barbecue rub (Penzys Barbecue of the Americas, this time)
1 cup sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy is good and ubiquitous, but The Ginger People’s Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce rocks if you can find it), divided

Combine the rub with a 1/4 cup of the chili sauce. Put the ribs in a zip-top bag. Pour the sauce over the ribs, turning to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and stash in the fridge overnight.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook at 300°F. I used the inverted plate setter on the Big Green Egg and a drip pan filled with water to diffuse the heat. Add your smoking wood (apple, in this case) and when the grill reaches temp and the smoke has turned blue, arrange the ribs over the drip pan. Close the lid and let them cook, flipping every hour, until they reach 160°F internal (about 3 hours).

Lay down a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil and move the ribs to the center of the sheet. Pour 1/4 cup of the chili sauce over the ribs. Fold the foil over the ribs and crimp tightly. Move the foiled ribs back to the grill and cook for another hour.

After an hour, carefully pull back the foil and check to see if the ribs are done. Their internal temp should be around 190°F and the meat should fall apart when you poke at it with a fork. If they are done, remove the foiled pack of ribs from the grill and let them rest for 15 minutes before slicing. If they’re not done, reseal and return them to the grill until they are.

I thinly sliced the rib meat and served it over rice with the remainder of the chili sauce on the side.

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The combination of barbecue spices and sweet chili sauce is a real winner. The chili sauce just melts into the ribs and pulls all those lovely herbs and spices with it. As far as cuisine, it could really go either way – served over rice it was a great Asain-ish dish, but it would have gone just as well with baked beans and coleslaw. The next step is to build a  barbecue sauce using sweet chili sauce as the base.

Sadly, the pack of “boneless” country ribs I picked up looked a whole lot better in the store than they did on the grill. They were certainly not boneless, and had a bunch of nasty cartilage. What meat there was was very tender and tasted great,  there just wasn’t a whole lot of it.

The Nutrition
Three ounces of meat is 387 calories and 10 Weight Watchers points, so this is best in a meat-in-a-minor key recipe. A few flavorful slices over a veggie-laden rice pilaf makes a great meal.

ONE YEAR AGO -  Oven-Baked Oatmeal

TWO YEARS AGO – Suck Creek Thighs & Corn Pudding

One of the great joys in traveling is getting the chance to try out new foods. In Vieques, we rented a place with a kitchen so that we could hit the markets and do some of our own cooking with local ingredients.

Puerto Rico has a pretty unique cuisine. The Taíno Indians, Spanish, Africans, and Americans all brought foods to the modern Puerto Rican table. So you get yuca and plantains happily coexisting with pineapples and chicharones.

I got excited when we drove by an outdoor fruit market and they had a big sign out front advertising longaniza sausage. We wandered the market for a good 15 minutes, picking out some fresh pineapples and papayas, but couldn’t find the sausages. I finally asked somebody and they pointed to what looked like a trailer truck full of tires. I walked over and, sure enough, there were two freezers full of sausage tucked behind the Uniroyals.

I got a couple of pounds of links, and when we checked out the cashier assured me that they made it themselves and that it was very good.

That night I slapped them on the grill along with some pineapple. The minute they hit the grate you could smell the garlic . I cooked them over medium heat for about 15 minutes, until they were well browned, but still juicy.

I served them with some tostones and the grilled pineapple spears.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I’d never had longaniza before so I really didn’t know what to expect. They tasted like a cross between a garlicky brat and Spanish chorizo. Not too spicy, but with a little kick of paprika and the earthy flavors of achiote. They had a coarse grind that looked to be a combination of ground pork and some larger chunks of cured ham. They were wonderful for dinner and then later chopped up into some eggs for breakfast.

The Nutrition
Again, what happens on vacation stays on vacation.

ONE YEAR AGO – Corned Beef

TWO YEARS AGO – Spring is in the Air

I’m back! Had a lovely time in Vieques, Puerto Rico. The island was beautiful, the people were friendly, and the food was outstanding. One of the highlights of our trip was being able to buy fresh local foods from the small markets around the island.

The pescaderia (fish market) was just down the street from the house we rented. When we wandered in there one day and discovered that they had a whole ice chest full of just-caught-this-morning lobster, we knew exactly what/who we were having for dinner that night.

We picked out one 3-pound and one 2-pound spiny lobster. Caribbean spiny lobsters don’t have claws, so all the meat is in the tail and body.  They aren’t as tender as cold-water lobsters, but have sweet and rich flavor that I prefer.

The fish monger recommended just splitting the live lobsters down the middle and grilling them. But these guys were very active and not at all happy about the prospect of being the guest of honor at dinner. I tried to put the big one on the cutting board and got the distinct feeling that he was sure he could take this gringo in a knife fight.

Time for Plan B – par-boil them first, then remove the tail and split and grill that. No muss, no fuss, and no late night trip to the emergency room with a lobster spine sticking out of my hand.

I brought some salted water to boil in the largest pot I could find. One at a time, I dropped them in the pot, covered the pot, and boiled them for 10 minutes. I then moved them to the sink and sprayed them with cold water to stop the cooking and cool them down enough to handle.

Now safely dead, I flipped the lobsters over, grabbed the tail in one hand and the body in the other and carefully twisted off the tail.

Using the sharpest knife I could find, I split each tail down the middle. I found it easiest to cut through just the back first, and then come back around to cut all the way through the tail.

Once the tails were split, I removed the dark vein that runs along the back. I melted about a half stick of butter and gave them a light basting. Now off to the grill.

No Big Green Egg here, but they did have a very serviceable gas grill. I let the grill preheat with the burners on high for about five minutes. I turned the heat down to medium and put the trails on meat side down for about 5 minutes just to get some nice grill marks.

I flipped the tails over, basted them again with butter, and let them cook another 5 minutes, just until the meat was opaque. I basted them one more time and took them off the grill.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
Sweet, tasty lobster with just a kiss of char from the grill – it doesn’t get much better. The meat was a little tougher than I would have liked, but the flavor rocked. We served them with tostones and some freshly-made pineapple salsa.

The Nutrition
It’s vacation. There are no calories on vacation.

ONE YEAR AGO – Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

TWO YEARS AGO - Where There’s a Grill, There’s a Way

By the time you read this, my dear wife and I will (hopefully) be “knee deep in the water somewhere” in Vieques, Puerto Rico. I’m looking forward to eating as much fresh seafood and tostones as possible, relaxing on the beach, enjoying the local rum, and generally taking it easy.

While I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this video, I love the song and anything with Zac Brown and Jimmy Buffett in it has to be good.

Hasta luego!

My Big Green Egg is so well-insulated, it really doesn’t care how cold it is, so even though I live in a northerly clime, I still pretty much grill year-round. While winter grilling can be more of a challenge, it can still be a lot of fun if you keep these things in mind:

• Dress for the weather, both of them – it’s not just about staying warm outside, it’s also about managing the transition from outside to inside. Dress in layers that you can easily remove. I wear pak boots that I can slip off at the door and have a “landing strip” of rugs both inside and outside so I don’t track all over the house.
• Clear your cooking area – shovel out the grill, your working area, and a path to the door. You do not want to go down in a pile while juggling a plate of food.
• Plan on using more fuel and time – anything below freezing and I add 25% more time and fuel to my projected cook just to be on the safe side.
• Wear insulated/fire-resistant gloves – both heat and cold can burn you and the risk goes up when the temps go down. Slap a bare, damp hand on a MAPP cylinder at  5°F and you’ll feel about as dumb as the kid with his tongue stuck to the the flag pole.
• Cold = dark – if you’re cooking in the late afternoon you need to be prepared to do it in the dark. Grill lights or flood lights are nice, but to see what’s really going on with the food,  I like my headlamp that my dear wife calls a “dork light.”
• Go hot ‘n fast or set ‘n forget – steaks are a joy, even when it’s cold out. Wait inside until the grill is up to temp and then your total outdoor cook time is well under 10 minutes. With ribs or butts you’re only outside to put them on, check the temp every now and then, and take them off when they’re done. Use a remote thermometer and you barely have to get off the couch.

ONE YEAR AGO – Valentine’s Day

TWO YEARS AGO - Wing Sauce – First Try