Leslie was the person I spoke with most often when working with Girls on a Grill.  Mother to Kate and Alison to whom she lovingly referred to as “the girls” (a phrase which I altered in friendship and fun to “da goyles.”) She was the indefatigable champion of family meals and sent me notes about what they cooked when the girls were home for the weekend, she often included pictures, not for publication but just because.   We would talk – by email or phone – and our correspondence and conversations always perked up my day.  This spring she shared photos from the wedding celebration for one of her daughters and, considering the pictures of Kate and Allison you see in their profile – I was not surprised to see that she too, was lovely. And bald. In more than 2 years of working together she never bothered to mention that she was also fighting cancer.

Her last email to me several months back contained an extra helping of grilling recipes with pictures.  I wondered why she would go to such trouble of stocking me up with posts.  Then last week I received a thoughtful note from her husband informing me of her passing. Even today, as I write this, my heart is full and eyes misty – because in this crazy modern world of virtual cyber friendships, Leslie connected with me on a very human level.  We never met in person but it seemed to me I got to know her a little bit. I thank her family for sharing her with me and all of us and look forward to many opportunities to share meals, in person or virtually, with “the goyles” as we all move forward.

Recently I commissioned a poem from my friend Meredith. Nearly every Sunday at the local Ballard Farmer’s Market Meredith perches herself on a wooden crate and balances a manual typewriter on her lap. For nothing more than a kind word (I do recommend a donation!) she’ll engage you in a short conversation and, as you walk about the stalls of freshly harvested vegetables, fruits and food vendors, she composes. When you return she will have written a poem for you.  Sometimes I’ve enjoyed being the patron for little kidlets who happen along with their parents in tow – delighting in their reaction to the experience of hearing a real person read aloud a poem written just for them.

I share the poem Meredith composed for me and dedicate it to Leslie and her family. I think she would like it. I hope you do.

Sizzle on the Grill

Lay out the last days
of late summer find
the perfect hours in them,
heat the grill ’till the flames
burn blue. Brush the cuts
of meat, cook them through
with sweet smoke, slowly.
The season is finishing well,
slowly in the backyard. The light,
the coals, our sticky fingers prove it.

©M. Clark
The Poem Store
All rights reserved.

Before you say anything – please look at this photo I took last evening:

CB's variation on insalata caprese with ... huh? What are those ingredients? (see below)

The classic construction of “insalata caprese” is, essentially, four ingredients:

1. freshly picked and sliced garden tomatoes – still warm from the morning sun.

2. freshly made buffalo mozzarella cheese sliced into rounds nearly identical is size and thickness to the tomatoes

3. freshly pick leaves of basil snuggled between and around the first two ingredients

4. rich extra virgin olive oil drizzled onto the entire plate of tomatoes, cheese and basil.

OK maybe, just maybe add some freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of exceptionally wonderful and, of course, authentic – aged balsamic vinegar.  But only if you are a radical!

In the appetizing picture above I played around with that list of simple ingredients to please my mood and taste buds…

“Grilled haloumi cheese, sliced fresh tomatoes, prosciutto ham, fresh basil all drizzled with Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil and aged balsamic vinegar and a couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper.” (more…)

John is a member of the Sizzle on the Grill Users Forums and man-oh-man have I learned a lot from him. If you post an outdoor cooking question on the forum, chances are he’ll read and ponder it – and post his answer after others have added theirs.  While all the answers are generally helpful – ol’John can really zero in on some precise information that nearly always has me slapping my forehead and saying – “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that!” (more…)

Beef Chuck Short Ribs

“Beef short ribs are cut from the chuck and plate primals. A full slab of short ribs is typically about 10 inches square, ranges from 3-5 inches thick, and contains three or four ribs, intercostal muscle and tendon, and a layer of boneless meat and fat which is thick on one end of the slab and thins down to almost nothing on the other. There is a variety of ways to butcher short ribs. The ribs can be separated and cut into short lengths (typically about 2 inches long), called an “English cut”, “flanken cut” across the bones (typically about 1/2 inch thick), or cut into boneless steaks (a style recently introduced in the U.S.A. as a cheaper alternative to rib steak).” – Wikipedia

I’ve written several posts over the years about cooking short ribs – all of which have pretty much used the flanken cut.

CB’s Hawaiian-Style Short Ribs

Girls on a Grill Grilled & Braised Short Ribs

Mr. Jig’s Braised & Grilled Short Ribs

Julie Reinhardt’s Kalbi-Style Short Ribs

CB’s Short Ribs on a “Dark & Stormy” Night

This week my local grocery store butcher offered short ribs in the boneless steak style.  It took all of about 2 seconds for me to scoop up a package and take them home and before I got to the check-out stand I decided to marinate to enhance the natural flavor and layer of flavors by grilling and glazing for the final dish. Here’s what I did: (more…)

A friend of regular contributor and Sizzle on the Grill Guest Chef “Stacey” is a food writer of a blog about Italian cooking called “Ciao Chow Linda.” I enjoy preparing rustic meals using ingredients, cooking methods and techniques that could easily be called Italian-style and Linda has great recipes and tips. With the summer harvest here – either you, your friends or a nearby vegetable stand will have an abundance of peppers.  Now is the time to enjoy them fresh in salads, a quick sauté or, as Linda has done in this post – roast as many as you can fit on your grill, skin and seed them to freeze and enjoy all year long.  Thank you Linda for allowing me to share your step-by-step article and I encourage you to give this a try at home. As I say roasted peppers are “A joy of summer in a land of bounty my friends.”

Welcome to the cook-out!

~~~~~

How To Make Roasted Peppers

"Just plop the peppers on the grill and close the lid."

For all my Italian friends and food blogger buddies, this will seem like a very elementary post. But I’ve had requests from readers to do more of these “How to” posts and I thought I’d start with roast peppers – easy to do and oh-so-much better than that jarred stuff packed in vinegary brine.  Roasted peppers – good, homemade roasted peppers – add pizzazz to a lot of meals and make a nice bruschetta appetizer all by themselves with the addition of a little olive oil and garlic.  While at the Trenton Farmer’s Market yesterday, I bought a bushel of these meaty red peppers for $12. They’ll get even less expensive as September approaches. But they were still cheap enough to lure me since I needed a fresh batch. (more…)

Cantaloupe on the Big Easy SRG Grate

Hiya CB!

Nothing better after a summer dinner than a grilled fruit desert. Tonight it was grilled cantaloupe with home made frozen mango yogurt. Just sliced the cantaloupe, removed the skin with my fillet knife and dropped the slices on the preheated SRG grate. About 5 – 7 minutes then flip and another few minutes they are ready. Add to ice cream (or in this case mango frozen yogurt) and a nice simple, tasty desert.

Cheers,
David

Grilled Cantaloupe with Home-Made Frozen Mango Yogurt

My friends at Wholly Guacamole sent me a care package with samples of their tasty prepared guacamole. It’s not that I’m lazy – but I gotta tell you having a package of the individual servings in the fridge has now become very important to my preparation of burgers, BLT sandwiches and for a quick appetizer whilst grilling.  But I wanted to explore the use a bit more and, while reading the weather reports of the incredibly high heat index much of the country is experiencing – decided I needed to provide a recipe requiring absolutely no cooking! Checking my extensive archives I combined a couple of recipes into one that should satisfy your hunger and cool you off as well!

Ceviche

Civiche (suh-vee-shay) is a technique practiced in many cultures that uses the acid of citrus or other sources to “cook” seafood such as shrimp, scallops, squid, firm flesh fish, etc. – without the use of fire or heat. There are many variations on this technique and I encourage you to play with the ingredients to come up those that most satisfy your palate and makes your guests smile. The essential elements are fresh boneless firm flesh fish or other seafood, a balance between the heat from peppers and/or onions with the sweetness of tomatoes, fruits, herbs, etc.  Add some surprises like fruit, cucumbers, etc.  I’ll add fresh chunks of pineapple or papaya to this dish to give it a little extra flavor. Or use mint or another herb in place of the tarragon – try the prepared dried seaweed called Nori.  Think of a cuisine style you enjoy and use those flavors!

CB’s EZ “Ceviche”
This only takes a few minutes to prepare and can be ready to serve in under 4 hours. Buy fresh fish and use it the same day to ensure the best taste.

Ingredients
•    2 lbs of firm, fresh firm-fleshed fish
•    2 cups of fresh squeezed lemon juice
•    ¼ cup chopped shallots or scallions – your option
•    1 cup of chopped seeded & drained tomatoes (use canned when fresh not available)
•    1 cup finely chopped celery
•    2 tsp of salt
•    Fresh tarragon leaves – about 3 Tbsp roughly chopped
•    Srirachi chili sauce – a little goes a long way! (optional)

For service
•    Cilantro
•    1/2 fresh lime
•    Shredded cabbage
•    Wholly Guacamole
•    Tortillas or tortilla chips

Preparation
•    Have the fish monger completely de-bone and skin the fish. Cut it into 1/2 inch pieces,

Technique
Place all of the ingredients in the first group in a gallon-size plastic bag or glass bowl.  Seal or cover and place in fridge or cooler for about 3 hours – stirring and/or mixing every 45 minutes to ensure all the fish is exposed to the flavors.

What to look for
The acids will “cook” the fish and it will change color to nearly opaque.  That’s when it’s done..

Serving Suggestion
Place the ceviche into a non-reactive service bowl and top with juice from the lime and cilantro.  Serve in warmed tortillas with freshly chopped cabbage and Wholly Guacamole or use large tortilla chips and dip with Wholly Guacamole on the side.

Enjoy! and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

~~~~

Photo Credit: www.explorecostarica.com

Mike "Pit Pirate" Hedrick Char-Broil BBQ All-Star

Mike “Pit Pirate” Hedrick is a crazy-about-BBQ kinda guy.  I think his pillow is stuffed with pulled pork because he seems to dream about it too!  Earlier this spring Mike joined the Infrared Grilling Tour at Memphis in May and gave everyone a run for the money in smack-downs staged between the other Char-Broil BBQ All-Stars.  He’s a BBQ competitor and caterer and, at long last, he’s found a perfect place to cook and serve his style of BBQ every weekend at a restaurant called Waters Edge on the Occoquan River in Northern Virginia.

Starting on Thursday night and all weekend long, Mike cooks dozens of beef briskets, pork shoulders and literally hundreds of pounds of chicken and ribs nearly non-stop for 3 days.  I bet by the end of the dinner shift Sunday evening he’s ready for a cool refreshing glass of ice tea!  Come Monday and Mike has the day off — but he gets a little hungry –  what do you think he does?

The Pirate’s “Day Off” Dinner

Hey CB -  I now cook more than a quarter ton of BBQ each weekend on my big competition catering cooker. So what do I cook for myself on my day off? And what cooker do I use? Steaks, Veggies and Corn on the Grill2Go ICE infrared grill that I got for tailgating at NASCAR!

Veggies, Steaks and foil wrapped corn on the Grill2Go Ice portable infrared grill.

I LOVE this cooker and think (it) works perfect for just the two of us. Look at all that grill space!

Steaks searing on the Grill2Go ICE portable infrared grill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Mike – it sure looks like you are having some fun all weekend long cookin’ tasty BBQ for others, I hope that new partner steps up and helps you cook dinner on the week-nights! (I mean Bones!)

Welcome to the cook-out!

I prefer simple recipes. The 5 ingredient method is perfect for most everything I prepare at home. To be sure – sometimes one of those ingredients is either a prepared or homemade sauce or stock from a previous cook or the protein is from a previous cook. But it’s still a simple approach to cooking.

This last weekend my neighbor had a little get-together in his tropical garden. By tropical – I mean exactly that. Palm Trees, exotic looking foliage, a water fall and plenty of Jimmy Buffet music as background to the conversation of friends.  What makes this so special is it’s in the middle of Seattle, a place mostly associated with moss and rust.

As is the custom these days of belt tightening, we all bring food and beverages to share.  I wanted to make something tasty but didn’t have much time and wheeled into the grocery store on the way home. Walking toward the meat counter I saw the little trays of pink cocktail shrimp – you know the ones at Kroger or Costco – trays of pink cocktail shrimp all neatly arranged in a tight circle with the cocktail sauce in the center. Packaged in a plastic tray and lid, shrink wrapped and frozen into stack-able bricks.  Most people just thaw them and serve cold. I decided to turn up the heat – literally – with some time on the grill to add a touch of flavor and with some bottled sriracha chili sauce.  You’ve seen sriracha sauce in ethnic restaurants, it’s in the bottle with the rooster on it.

It’s an EZ-PZ idea that I wanted to share with you.

Although pre-cooked, the quick grilling added a depth of color and flavor to the shrimp meat. As one-by-one they turned a richer pink, I removed to a bowl. When all were re-heated I tossed with juice squeezed from half a lemon, half a lime, chopped cilantro, 3 cloves of minced garlic, a squirt-to-taste of the sriracha sauce and that's all!

I plated the shrimp, dressed with some lemon rounds and larger pieces of cilantro and served on a tray with toothpicks and the packaged cocktail sauce as a "cooling agent."

Recipe? What recipe?

Thaw the shrimp. Grill it for just a bit to get some flavor marks. Toss it in the lemon & lime juice, add cilantro, garlic and sriracha sauce and serve!  See – I told you. EZ-PZ.

Welcome to the cook-out!

Chicken on the grill or smoker is one of the standard meals prepared in the backyard.  During the summer I  notice the sale price of a whole chicken is generally about 1/3 less than purchasing  a chicken already cut up and packaged.  I like to purchase whole chickens and trim them out for just about all the chicken dishes I cook. Just for reference, the measure of the skill of a cook is often measured by how well they roast a whole chicken.  Over the years I’ve come up with many different recipes  using a variety of methods and techniques.  And – IMHO – I can cook a darn tasty chicken!

But the hurdle for most of us backyard cooks is that the whole chicken is made up of two different meats: white meat & dark  – and these cook according to their fat content; white meat has less fat and takes less time to cook than does dark meat, which has more. Cooking a whole chicken until the dark meat is done often results in the white meat being over cooked and dry. (more…)