"Grill Grrrl" Robyn Medlin

I had the pleasure of meeting Robyn Medlin, aka “Grill Grrrl” in Memphis this spring. She records her grilling adventures in South Florida on a web log by that name and it was good to put a real handshake with the pictures I’d seen.  She’s a diminutive dynamo of dining diva-ness and her style of food preparation on the grill shakes up traditional flavors and pushes techniques to new levels. I’m looking forward to featuring more of her recipes and ideas this fall – particularly an upcoming post featuring some tasty looking jerk-style Cornish game hens!  But, with the last gasp of summer upon so many of us, I thought it might be kinda nice to take a look at something fresh, vibrant and not-your-basic recipe and inspire you to enjoy the weekend with some freshly grilled salsa.  Robyn calls these “Salsa Skewers” and I call them Dee-Lish-Us!

Salsa Skewers = Grilled Mango, Pepper and Avocado Salsa. Grilled fruit and veggies kicks up salsa a few notches!

Scott and I had great fish tacos at Surf Road Taco up in New Jersey and their “baja salsa” had something about it that made it extra special and much more addictive than all the other salsa choices. What was this secret ingredient? Char and Smoke!

Nothing takes a salsa from “good” to “WOW” faster than smokiness off the grill. This was the inspiration for my “salsa skewers”. While I could have grilled each vegetable/fruit separately and then chopped them up afterward, by doing the ingredients on skewers, you effectively cut out the chopping you would need to do afterward. It is also a great way merge the flavor of the ingredients together on the grill.

The salsa skewers below are a mixture of chopped red/yellow peppers, jalapenos (seeded), mango, and red onions. A great addition would be pineapple.

Recipe for Salsa Skewers by Grill Grrrl

CB's EZ Turkey Meatloaf on the Grill with bacon garnish.

Char-Broil BBQ All-Star Julie Reinhardt has been busy this summer. In May she made a whirl-wind tour to promote her book “She Smoke” and then joined us for Memphis in May.  But that was a vacation compared to being a mom to little kidlets and full-time manager of a catering end of the family business. She and her husband run a swell place, joint actually, aptly called “Smoke’n Pete’s BBQ Joint.” It’s not far from my home and I try to sneak in there from time-to-time un-noticed because they always load me up with so many goodies I nearly fall asleep in my car after lunch. (On second thought, not such a bad idea to take a little nap – aids the digestion I’m sure!)

This week the weather turned a bit coolish in the evenings and I saw more leaves turning color – stirring up memories of comfort food dinners my mom would make and have ready when I got home from school and practice.: meatloaf.  I decided to make a meatloaf on the grill and write about it this week. Within moments of pulling my meatloaf off the cooker to rest before slicing I read a twitter by Julie announcing her version of smoked meatloaf she made for her family similar to one served at the restaurant BBQ joint.  I hope one of these recipes will inspire you to make your favorite version of meatloaf on the smoker or grill soon!

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cookout!

CB’s EZ Turkey Meatloaf on the grill.

I won’t bother you with a printed recipe for this – because it’s just a regular meatloaf using ground turkey instead of beef, veal and pork.  All turkey. But do make sure you place it in a colander prior to using to allow some of the moisture to drip out. For some reason ground turkey is pretty darn soppy wet. Here’s a basic recipe for meatloaf you can use to start yours: CB’s Meatloaf Recipes

Form the meatloaf into about a 2 inch thick by 4 inch wide by 7 inches long loaf. Chill to set.  Trade Secret: I use a prepared marinara sauce instead of ketchup in my meatloaf.

Cut bacon to length using sharp kitchen shears.

If desired weave the bacon into a lattice on top of meatloaf. But - don't do as I did - make the lengths of bacon a bit longer to drape well over the sides and ends. You'll see why in just a moment.

Meatloaf on double layers of foil placed on grates of cooker, using indirect heat. I cooked this in a Big Easy Smoker, Roaster & Grill but could also have prepared it in a standard gas or infrared grill. A charcoal cooker requires a bit more hands-on management to ensure the temperature is consistent.

Place on a double layer of heavy-duty foil or in a foil pan and place on the warming rack of your outdoor cooker with the gas turned on Medium or to a setting that will create a cooking chamber temperature of about 375F degrees. Close the hood and allow to come to an internal temperature of just under 160F degrees. You want to use indirect heat to cook this – so make sure the foil is not getting heat from the burners below or you will fry it to the foil!

The sauce had some sugar in it so it blackened when exposed to infrared and the bacon curled a bit. So - what do you do when this happens? (see below!)

Remove and allow to rest on the counter – the internal temperature of the meatloaf should rise to 165F degrees per USDA recommendation for ground turkey and chicken.

The meatloaf was removed from the cooker at 160F degrees internal temperature and left to rest and finish cooking to 165F degrees (USDA recommendation for ground turkey) There's that burned bacon!

Plate the loaf with some grilled veggies, dust with chopped parsley and place the best piece of bacon on the loaf as garnish! Voila! Problem solved.

~~~

Julie Reinhardt’s Smoked Meatloaf (Not your mama’s)
An excerpt of her post is published here and a link to the recipe at the bottom.

Char-Broil BBQ All-Star Julie Reinhardt's Smoked (Not your mama's) Meatloaf

The other day I whipped together dinner using a little of this and a little of that in the refrigerator. I was happy to use up odd bits that were still good, but on their way out.

My four-year old took one bite and spit it out. “Blech!”

I took a taste and though it was edible, I kinda had to agree with him. That night my Facebook status update read, “It was not my best work. More cleaning out the fridge than cooking, really.”

That inspired me to create something really good using what I had on hand in the refrigerator: 2 carrots, 3 mushrooms, 2 stalks of celery, half an onion, a hard end of bread, half a package of bacon, and some ground beef in the freezer.

All I needed was some pork sausage and I had everything I needed for meatloaf.

Not your mama’s meatloaf recipe.

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.

I split the bushel with a friend but still had about 15 peppers to myself. I used an outdoor gas grill, but if you live somewhere without an outdoor grill, you can use your indoor broiler. They’ll require careful watching in either case.

Turn the grill to high and let it preheat. Then just plop the peppers on the grill and close the lid. (Or put them on a cookie sheet in the broiler.) They’ll start to puff up and blacken. That’s what you want to happen.

They’ll start to puff up and blacken.

Turn them on all sides until they’re blackened completely. There’s a fine line however, into blackening the skins and burning the peppers. If you let the blackened skin stay on the grill too long, the meaty flesh will stick to the skin and scorch too. You’ll get a feel for it after you’ve done it once.

Turn them on all sides until they’re blackened completely.

Remove the whole peppers to a brown paper bag. (Well, it could be a white bag too.) Roll the top flap down to seal in the heat. This will help steam the blackened skins and separate the skins from the flesh. Just be patient until the peppers are cool enough to handle. Make sure you put a plate under the bag. Why?

Remove the whole peppers to a brown paper bag.

Because a lot of the water and oils from the peppers will leach out. If you tried to grab the bag, the sack would give way and the roast peppers would come falling out.

Make sure you put a plate under the bag. Because a lot of the water and oils from the peppers will leach out.

Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, you’ll be able to peel off the blackened skins.

Open the pepper, take out the core and scrape out the seeds with a fork and knife. A flat knife, rather than serrated, works best.

Once the pepper is scraped clean, slice it into pieces.

Here are the skins and seeds taken from the 15 peppers.

And here’s the reward for your hard work.

I like to put these away in the freezer for the future. Use small plastic bags and place a small amount in each bag. Place the bags on a cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the freezer. Then after they’ve frozen, you can remove the cookie sheet and stack them on top of each other. Otherwise they’ll stick to each other and/or the freezer shelf.

Place the bags on a cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the freezer.

After they’ve defrosted, you can use them in recipes or just the way they are. If they’ve been in the freezer a long time, they may have ice crystals on them. In that case, defrost them and pat them dry with a paper towel, then add a little olive oil and minced garlic for a half hour or so to gain even more flavor.

They taste great with grilled pork chops.

They’re pretty darn special on a pork sandwich with melted provolone and broccoli rape too.

This article posted here by permission of Ciao Chow Linda.

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!

While I am the one who keeps the fire burnin’ for those long, low and slow cooks of brisket and such – Mrs. Grail (Celeste) is usually responsible for our side dishes.  I asked her to come up with a new pasta salad to go with some grilled turkey we had for dinner.  She came up with a real winner.  ~ Larry

The Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad!

Mrs. Grails "Bacon-Tomato-Pasta" Salad

Mrs. Grail’s B.T.P. Salad

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces Whacky pasta or other pasta of your choice
• 12 ounces lean bacon
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks1
• 1¾ cups frozen petite green peas, defrosted
• 3 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon apple vinegar
• A pinch of sugar
• 4 tablespoons green onions, chopped

Directions:

Cook pasta per package instructions and set aside.

In a large skillet cook the bacon over medium high heat until crisp.  Or bake the bacon on a rack in a 400 degree oven until crisp.  Drain on paper towels.  Reserve 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the pan.  Add tomatoes and garlic to the pan and cook just until warm.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Drain tomatoes and garlic and discard bacon drippings.

Crumble the bacon into bite-size pieces; set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.  Add the peas and 2 tablespoons of cilantro.

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, green onions and sugar together until well mixed.  Pour mayonnaise mixture with pasta until evenly combined.  Season again with salt and pepper if needed.

Allow to refrigerate for a few hours until cold.  Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1 tablespoon of cilantro.

© 2010, The BBQ Grail. All rights reserved.

Hiya CB — I am obsessed with grilling peaches lately. I don’t know why, but they take on a whole different taste and texture when they are grilled. Perhaps it’s grilling them on my Char-Broil infrared grill that is so darn easy and fast! This fantastic summer salad is my new favorite in the summer salad repertoire. I could eat it everyday! I tested it out a few different ways, changing the herbs, oils, and even peach grilling method, and I finally came to the best method, or so I think!

I tried grilling 3 types of peaches, and found the white peaches to stand up best on the grill, the yellow ones fell apart easily; make sure the peaches are not too ripe, almost one day before you would bite into them. They should be firm, otherwise they will fall apart on the grill. I use a guideline of 1 peach per person. Slice the peach into thin slices until you get to the pit. Then turn the peach on the other side of the pit and continue to slice. You will be left with the sides of the peach around the pit, which you are going to use for your dressing. (Cut up any leftover peach pieces and hold for making the dressing.)

Drizzle a little neutral flavor vegetable oil (I used canola) over the peaches and grill on medium heat for a few minutes, turning only once. Use a thin, metal fish spatula to make flipping the peach slices easy. You should have nice grill marks, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

Remove to a platter. For convenience you can make the grilled peach slices ahead, say the night before when the grill is on for dinner – after they cool, keep them wrapped in the fridge. Oh – and you don’t have to make this salad, you can just snack on them like chips, they are so good!

Dressing: (makes enough for 4 salads at least)

Whiz everything, except the olive oil in the food processor. Taste before proceeding. You might want it a bit sweeter or more minty! It should be a nice chunky apple sauce consistency. Add olive oil until you have the consistency you like, about 1/8 cup, and pulse a few seconds.

Lay arugula or watercress on individual plates, and layer fresh buffalo mozzarella slices, alternating grilled peach slices in between the cheese slices. About 3 slices of cheese and peach per person. Place the peach and mozzarella layers on top of the salad and drizzle with the dressing. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and a tiny bit of minced red onion.

Enjoy! ~ Stacey of StaceySnacksOnline

Hiya CB —- You may have noticed I haven’t posted a barbeque recipe for awhile. June and July are our busiest catering months at Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ, and I’m lucky to have two matching clean socks, let alone cook something worth photographing at home. This post ain’t barbeque, it’s grillin’, but it sure is tasty. Korean-style short ribs are one of the quickest meals you can throw on a grill. Marinate them in the morning, throw on some rice when you get home, and sizzle these ribs on a hot hot grill.

Kalbi Short Ribs Grilling by Julie Reinhardt She Smoke

I usually use a charcoal grill, but this time I tried out my Char-Broil Quantum infrared grill. I wanted to see if the infrared grill could really get hot enough for this recipe, because I find regular gas grills don’t.

Kalbi Marinade

Kalbi Ribs Marinating by Julie Reinhardt She Smoke

Make a simple marinade of equal parts soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and brown sugar. Add chopped fresh ginger. Green onion is nice if you have it (I didn’t this time). Chili flakes and black pepper will add some heat (I made mine mild for the kids, but I normally like a little kick of chili). Submerge ribs in marinade for 4-8 hours before grilling. Shake off excess marinade before you put them on the heat.

The Grill
Be it gas or charcoal, you want a hot fire for these babies. They are going to cook fast, and you want to sear the outside, pull them off rare on the inside, and let them finish to medium rare while they rest. Leave some indirect space on your grill in case things get too hot or flare up. I rarely have flare-ups, but I once nearly started a back yard fire while grilling short ribs.

On the infrared grill, I prepped the grill grates with a swipe of an oiled rag before turning it on. I find my infrared needs more seasoning than a standard gas grill. I then preheated both burners on high for a full 15 minutes with the lid down.

The Meat
Throw down the ribs for a quick 1-2 minutes per side. As soon as they are marked, basically it is time to turn or take them off.

Green on the grill
While they rest, grill some bok choy you have marinated in canola oil, rice wine vinegar, and a touch of soy sauce. Grill the bok choy on medium heat or indirectly, so the leaves steam without burning. Serve with jasmine rice.

Kalbi Short Ribs Plated by Julie Reinhardt She Smoke

I thought the infrared grill did better than a standard gas grill. While they weren’t as reddish pink in the middle as I’m used to, the ribs were as tender as the rarer ribs I get on charcoal. I missed the layer of charcoal flavor to the meat, but that’s the trade off when you are going for the ease of gas. ~ Julie “She Smoke” Reinhardt

I want to share the secret I’ve learned for creating a tasty meal:  “balance taste, texture & color.”

This easy-to-prepare meal adheres to this concept from start-to-finish!

Prosciutto wrapped Wild Coho Salmon accompanied by grilled summer squash and a ragout of mushroom, leek and grilled corn over wild rice with fresh summer herbs picked from my garden.

To begin the meal and get my “guest” thinking about contrast, for the “amuse-bouche” I served two fresh oysters taken from Penn Cove earlier that morning – one roasted on the grill and one raw. The cold raw oyster has a fresh sea taste that is slightly metallic and the texture is soft, yet firm.  The roasted oyster comes out of the shell almost hot and the texture is firm, yet soft while the metallic taste is mellowed a bit. This contrast of serving the same ingredient in two different ways really got things going!

For the entree I chose wild caught Coho salmon because it has a good fat content, is firm and has a distinctly fresh fish taste that is not over powering but strong enough to balance with the salty flavorful prosciutto (Italian ham). I would generally grill the salmon directly on the grates – but because the prosciutto can dry out when exposed to direct heat, I removed the skin of the salmon and wrapped the fillet in slices of the ham, criss-crossing to create a package. Then I placed the package on foil and slowly-roasted it while the vegetables grilled. [I read your post, I agree - Just Say NO to Frying Fish on Foil on the Grill!]

I chose to combine the sweet taste of fresh salmon inside the salty flavor of the cured prosciutto ham both for the flavor contrast and the texture contrast. The ham is already firm and the roasting made it ever-so-crunchy to create flavor and texture contrast in each bite with the firm, yet soft, texture of the fish. The fish kind of “roasted-steamed’ inside the package of prosciutto.

Grilling squash produces a tasty contrast of flavors and colors. The uncooked squash is crunchy but when marinated in the Italian dressing and exposed to the high heat of the grill, the searing creates a caramelized finish that softens the flesh of the squash while also adding texture and color.  The grill marks are actually caramelized sugars in the squash – a very pleasant combination of color, texture and flavors.

Prosciutto wrapped salmon served with grilled summer squash, vegetable ragout over wild rise and oysters 2-ways.

It all came together on the plate and made my bride very very happy! And for me - that's what it's all about!

Best to you!

Chef Erik

Char-Broil BBQ All-Star Larry Gain has that kind of memory for fried bologna “sammies” aka sandwiches. In this post on his web log, which I am grateful to re-post here, he shares his method for smoking two pounds of really good delicatessen bologna, then grilling a slice to satisfy his childhood taste memory.

Thanks and…

Happy Grilling!

Childhood Memory Kicked Up a Notch

My maternal ancestors grew up as somewhat poor country folk.  Whether it was the dust of the Red River basin in East Texas or the farms of Northern Alabama they were people who struggled to feed families through the 1800’s.  The simple comfort country foods they ate, to make ends meet, made their way to Southern California where I enjoyed them, not because we had to, but because they just tasted great.

One of my favorite lunches was a simple fried bologna sandwich.  Bologna, fried on the stove, slathered in mayo on Wonder Bread it was my “go to” after school sandwich whenever I had a chance.  I’m not a huge fan of bologna normally.  The flavor just doesn’t appeal to me.  But fried, bologna takes on a whole different flavor.

This “enhanced” fried flavor is complimented by mayo, and makes even the cheapest, plain white bread edible.  So when I got the craving for a fried bologna sandwich this week I decided that I needed to go a little over the top.  Of course it has to be done on the grill.  And in this case, the smoker and the grill.

I started with 2.5 lbs of bologna that I rubbed down with olive oil and seasoned with “Simply Marvelous Season All.”  Besides the olive oil and seasoning rub down I used a knife and cut slits all the way around the bologna.  This allows the seasoning and smoke to get a better penetration, thus improving the flavor.

© 2010, The BBQ Grail. Thanks to Larry Gaian for the opportunity to share his original post here at Sizzle on the Grill. Check out his web log for great commentary on outdoor cooking.

]]> http://www.sizzleonthegrill.com/blog/2010/06/28/smoked-grilled-bologna-sammies-bbq-all-star-lary-gaian/feed/ 5 http://www.sizzleonthegrill.com/blog/2010/06/21/meatless-monday-grilled-vegetables-are-sooooo-tasty/ http://www.sizzleonthegrill.com/blog/2010/06/21/meatless-monday-grilled-vegetables-are-sooooo-tasty/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:05:31 +0000 CB http://www.sizzleonthegrill.com/blog/?p=13665 Stacey of Stacey Snacks Online is officially one of my favorite food bloggers and cooks. Her culinary tastes are far-ranging and she explores both traditional and the exotic. But most of all I get the feeling she just loves to cook and feed folks tasty food and that gets my vote every time!

One of the trends for many “foodies” these days is to set aside one day a week for preparing food that is meatless – for health and for exploring great tasting recipes that maybe cost just a bit less without the meat. I like the idea but find it difficult to stay on task because, well – I am so drawn to the taste of a grilled steak, smoked chicken or a lightly smoked piece of pork. Here’s a post that Stacey shares for her version of grilled veggies — and it just might be something the meat eaters in your family will enjoy. The taste of grilled veggies is complex and provides the satisfying flavors we all appreciate: smokiness and that indescribably “grilled flavor” that seems to go with summer and outdoor cooking.

Thanks for sharing this helpful tip for grilling veggies Stacey and for being oneof our Char-Broil BBQ All-Stars!

Happy Grilling!

_________________

Grilled Vegetables 101
Stacey Snacks Online

A platter of grilled veggies can be a meal, a snack or a side dish! Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil after grilling for the perfect antipasto plate with your next home-made lasagna or pasta meal.

It’s simple.

First, choose the vegetables you are going to be grilling.

I like zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, red onion, asparagus and eggplant. These 6 are my favorite and they don’t fall thru the grates of the grill (I do the asparagus on the top grate).

Grilling veggies is easy once you get a sense of it all and have the grill set to the correct temperature. It's all about timing and getting some experience!

Place your vegetables in a large bowl and drizzle olive oil all over to coat. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and mix with your hands to make sure all the veggies are coated.

I place all the vegetables on my Char-Broil infrared grill at the same time. The zucchini & asparagus will be the first vegetables to be done. Keep a close eye on them, they cook fast. The red bell pepper will finish cooking last. You will know they are done, once they have nice grill marks on both sides.

Arrange them in sections on a platter and drizzle w/ good balsamic vinegar while still warm. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with fresh herbs. These are great served warm with fresh mozzarella, or cold on sandwiches kept in the fridge all week. 

~ Stacey