Breakfast (again)

French Toast

I realize I have been drifting from the "grilled" theme of late, but I thought this french toast was worth documenting for a couple of reasons:

1. The actual cooking was picture perfect thanks to a "guest" chef
2. It tasted REALLY good and it had been a long time since I had french toast
3. I think part of the reason it was so good is that we used homemade vanilla extract, rather than a bottle from the spice aisle.

A little over a year ago I traveled to Madagascar and brought back a package of fresh vanilla beans. Not knowing what else to do with them, I put two in a small bottle of Appleton Estates dark rum and let them sit for several months. The resulting liquor is vanilla "extract" and its amazing. Frankly, I am pretty sure you could get 95% of the way there by doing the same thing with fresh vanilla beans from the spice aisle.

Fall

Pumpkin Pie. From a pumpkin.

Driving around the Eastern Townships this weekend, we found pumpkins. Lots of them. This might be the first time I have ever eaten a real live pumpkin. Buy the small ones. You will only need one. I have two leftover if you are local...

Instructions here.

Breakfast

BLT with Guacamole on Toast

Months That End in "R"

Grilled Oysters with BBQ Sauce and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

I know, I know, grilled oysters and brussel sprouts have been on the menu at every restaurant you have been too in the last month. Either way, it was really good. BBQ grilled oysters from Chris Schlessing's "Grill It".

Smoked Chicken

Pecan Smoked Chicken with Herb Rub

I am very slowly mastering this "smoking on the Q" thing. Hands down the best smoked bird I have done yet.

Q

Bourbon BBQ Ribs, Grilled Corn and Home Made Pickles

I used the coffee rub and bourbon BBQ sauce from my first post on this blog. Set-up in the photo below. The corn is simply grilled. The pickles are from my prior post and they are really good.

The pan below the ribs is full of Coors Light and is sitting directly on the burner. The empty can above the grate kept the lid ajar just a bit so that with the burner on low, the grill maintained an even 250F. Without the can, the temp crept closer to 300F. The pecan wood chunks didn't burn much so next time I think I will soak them and place them on the burner below the grate. I left the ribs on for 3 hours and went thru 6 cans of beer. All and all for a first try, it worked pretty well.

Petit Concombre

Pickles

Lets be honest, I didn't have much going on this weekend, so when I found mini cucumbers at a farm stand and local apple cider vinegar across the street, I decided to try my hand at pickles. It's not very hard. See recipe here. I added a couple cloves of garlic and the leftover half a fennel bulb from the clams the other night.

Stupid Good

Lamb Chops, Green Beans with Shallots and Garlic, Tomato Salad

I spent a bunch of time driving around Quebec farm and vineyard country. These lamb chops were from a local farm where they raise lamb, elk, boar and god knows what else. They are the best I have ever eaten. All the produce also came from local farm stands. The growing season here is short, but they seem to make the most of it.

Urban Clam Bake

Urban Clam Bake

For the last couple years I have gone to Bar Harbor for a long weekend with friends and had a clam bake on the rocks by the ocean. If you have known me for more than a week or two, I have likely subjected you to photos. It is one of my favorite days of the year. This year the trip to Bar Harbor wasn't in the cards, so I decided to throw myself a clam bake for one on the deck.

Above:
-"Wood" Grilled Lobster with garlic-shallot butter
-Clams in a fennel, white wine and chorizo broth
-Sauteed baby squash with mixed herbs

For the lobster you will need:
-1 or more live lobsters
-Butter
-A couple cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 Shallot, chopped fine
-salt and pepper

Start your grill so it has a chance to get hot. I also used some alder wood chips to give the lobster some smoke flavor (see prior post on getting smoke out of the gas Weber Q). This recipe is really best over a wood fire but the lobster seems to absorb flavor readily and so a little smoke on the gas grill makes a real difference.

Side note: If you are new to smoking woods, check out Northwoods Smoke of Minnesotta. There is whole world out there beyond hickory and mesquite from the supermarket. As mentioned in prior posts, I am particularly fond of pecan wood.

Kill your lobster (instructions here) and remove the tail and claws (some fish shops will do this for you cause frankly, its not much fun). Cut the underside of the tail lengthwise but just short of the end fin, so it doesn't separate into two parts and insert bamboo skewers the length of the tail on either side to keep it from curling up on the grill. Crack the claws in several places with the back of a large chef's knife.

Melt the butter, garlic, shallots, salt and pepper in a fire proof sauce pan on the stove.

When the fire is hot and the wood is smoking, place the lobster on the grill cracked side down. I also put the melted butter dish on the grill which adds a little smoke and keeps it handy for when you turn the lobster. After about 3 minutes, turn the lobster parts over and baste liberally with the melted butter mixture. I find a small brush helpful to get the butter into the cracks you made in the claws with your knife. Grill for another 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the grill and serve with the remaining melted butter.

For the clams, I used a variation on this recipe from Epicurious (here). My edits:
1. Included some diced chorizo with the fennel and onion
2. Skipped the butter and saffron
3. Used some random variety of clam from fish monger, they were out of little necks
4. Used mixed fresh herbs including: chives, tarragon, parsley and mint. the recipe calls for just the mint.
The whole thing came out very well and I ate most of a baguette just soaking up clam broth and chorizo bits.

For the baby squash:
Cut squash in half and saute with garlic and more of the fresh herb mixture from the clams above. When they are in season, there is nothing else to do.

Season everything to taste and enjoy. I washed it all down with some cold rose.

The Weber Q200

Weber Q200

So, this is the Weber I settled on. It works well, but it has taken me a while to figure out the whole "smoking" thing on it. I 'm not sure it's powerful enough to get a traditional tin foil smoker pack going but the technique in the photo below works well.

On the left underneath the cooking surface you can see a cast iron smoker box. Basically a cigar box size cast iron pan with a lid that sits directly on the burner. Having used smoking wood with charcoal for years, i was accustomed to soaking the chips before hand. Here, you have to use at least a certain percentage of dry chips otherwise it won't smoke until the chips dry out.

So far it has worked pretty well for imparting smokey flavor to seafood and chicken, but I have not tried using it to smoke something for a long time. Later this weekend I am going to try a rack of ribs. More to come on that in a day or two.

Lunch

Ham, Tomato and Guac on Sourdough Baguette

When I first started thinking about writing this blog a friend encouraged me and sent me the link for scanwiches. Here is my contribution. Half eaten, but still beautiful (or so i think).

Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I'd been having a pie craving for a while. Even at the farmer's market I couldn't really find anything that excited me, so I had to take matters into my own hands. Good thing Mark Bittman has a recipe for pretty much everything. This fixed my craving.

Looks good

Black Bass with Grilled Corn and Toy Box Tomato Salad

This actually looks better than it tasted. I thought the tomatoes and the corn would go well together, but somehow they clashed with the chopped parsley. I had never grilled black bass before. Not sure the texture of the fish really lends itself to the grill. That said, it photographed well.

Scallops

Grilled Scallops with Red Chili, Cilantro and Lime

Its a Canada Day Miracle

Jerk Grilled Pollack on Garlic Toast with Tartar Sauce

I now understand the gas grill. This took approximately 15 minutes to put together.

Chicken Wings

Spicy Grilled Chicken Wings

I was looking for a spicy chicken wing recipe that was a little different. I wanted something non-goopy that didn't get its heat from a bunch of Tabasco heated with butter or ketchup. These fit the bill and they were not very hard.

The raw garlic in the sauce is a little aggressive, so next time I make them I may either roast it first or use elephant garlic to tone it down a bit. I used predominantly cilantro (and some Italian parsley) for the herbs as I think it is best with things that are "hot". Two of us ate 3lbs of wings as a main course and washed it down with a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

From: Grill It! by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby
For the wings:
3lbs of chicken wings
3T olive oil
2T smoked hot paprika
Salt and pepper

For the dressing:
1/4cup EVOO
Juice of one lemon
1/4 (0r more) chopped fresh herbs (any combo: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano)
2T dry sherry
1T minced garlic
1T red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper

Coat the chicken wings in the oil, paprika, salt and pepper. Let sit. Grill over medium/high heat for ~15 minutes. Longer if cooking from frozen (which works fine).

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and drizzle over the wings when they come off the grill.

City Grill has chosen

Gas Grilled Hot Dogs

City Grill has finally chosen a gas grill. I labored long and hard and settled on a Weber Q200. The primary decision factor here was size. I needed to be able to carry it up the stairs and I didn't want it to take up the entire deck, so that ruled out some 27 burner Charmglow monstrosity with an IR rotisserie and built in propane powered blender. I also wanted something that I might want to own in the future when I was able to use my charcoal grill again and frankly, I wanted a Weber. I would have gotten a Q300, but they are special order pretty much everywhere and I was tired of waiting.

On my way home from Boston this weekend I stopped at the Hookset, NH Home Depot and picked it up a Q200, rolling stand and the LP tank conversion hose. I figured there was no better way to christen it tonight than with a couple of hot dogs. I can report that it cooks hot dogs and buns well. It also did a nice job on the whole bone-in chicken breast I cooked to make lunch sandwiches. The flavor is definitely a little different, but I am looking forward to learning to use it.

Stay tuned.

A pilgrimage of sorts

One of many gargoyles at Stone Brewery

I was in San Diego a few weeks ago for the marathon. I took an extra day after the race, rented a car and made a trip to Stone Brewery just north of the city. We had lunch at the "World Bistro" and went on a brewery tour which finished with a free tasting. The bistro was just ok, but the beer was of course fantastic and as is always the case, it was that much better fresh from the tap at the brewery.

If you are not familiar with Stone (website here), it's my favorite. I highly recommend the original IPA. They do a whole collection of other stronger, super hopped beers, but having tasted most of them, I can now confirm that the IPA is indeed the best. Fortunately, it is also the most widely available. Unfortunately, it is not available here in Canada.

Flank Steak

Beer Marinated Flank Steak with Tomato and Spinach Orzo

I have made this orzo (recipe here) twice now this weekend. I really like it. I used elephant garlic to keep it mellow and I rough chopped the spinach to make the whole thing mix a little better.

The flank steak is straight out of this month's Bon Appetit. I skipped the guac and I just mixed all the marinade ingredients in a bowl rather than go thru the rub process described in the recipe. It didn't seem to suffer. The flavor is predominantly cumin, which is just fine with me.

This is going to be a problem

I'm gonna need a gas grill

It has been a while since I last posted here. In part it's because i have been traveling and busy, but more importantly it is on account of the following email from my landlord:

From: Genevieve
Sent: May 21, 2009
To: Jonathan
Subject: BBQ and Spiders

Hello Jonathan,

It looks like we have lost the BBQ battle!

The board of the building just sent out a note to all owners asking them to only use propane BBQs (the note is attached to the present e-mail). We will have to follow the rules even though I know you were just trying to follow the other neighbours. I am so sorry about that!

Also, they will do a spider treatement on either Monday or Tuesday depending on weather to get rid of spiders for the summer. We are asked to keep all windows closed Monday and Tuesday during the day in orther to prevent the product from going inside the house.

Once again thanks a lot for your usual cooperation

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Genevieve

So, I am going to need a gas grill. I will let you know where I come out on that.

JAG

Fish and Fruit

Marlin with Grilled Fruit Salad

I love fish with fruit. If there is some sort of fish with mango salsa on the menu, I am a sucker 9 times out of 10. Tonight at the fish counter they had some really good looking marlin. I grilled a piece along with some fruit.

For the fruit salad:

Red, yellow and orange bell peppers
Pineapple
Red onion
Mixed jalapeno peppers

Olive oil
Juice from a lime
Salt
Sugar

Grill the peppers et. al., chop and toss with the dressing ingredients. Don't forget to take the seeds out of the jalapenos.

Burger and Fries

Burger and Sweet Potato "Fries"

I have become a big fan of the grilled sweet potato. I have always been a big fan of the hamburger.

Like Taco Bell...only a whole lot better

Smoked Chicken Tacos with Guacamole, Onions and Lettuce

I have to credit a friend with this idea. On a ski trip, we made a couple of beer can chickens. He made chicken tacos out of the leftovers. I have done this several times since. This particular version used the leftover breast from a pecan smoked chicken.

Shred the chicken, you can use white or dark meat based on your preference and what is left over. Cook it over medium heat in a skillet with just a little bit of tomato sauce and some taco seasoning, store bought or the recipe below which I stole off the interwebs someplace.

Make tacos. Use whatever you have or like on your tacos. There is no science here.

Taco Seasoning:
1 T chili powder
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 t dried oregano
1/2 t paprika
1.5 t ground cumin
1 t sea salt
1 t ground black pepper

Mix in a bowl

Is it still salad if it's covered in pork fat?

Scallop and Spinach Salad

I never realized why spinach salad with bacon-shallot dressing is so good. Now that I have made it, i understand that its basically spinach covered in bacon fat...what could be better? See recipe here from Weber.com.

I substituted canned sweet corn for the grilled corn as I figured at this point in the season corn on the cob probably wasn't going to be good enough to bother. I also remembered to put the crumbled bacon back on the salad after I took the photo.

Eating in Boston

I lived in Boston for a while and often asked to give restaurant advice to visitors. The following email went to a couple (friends of friends) in Boston for the weekend and staying near the Theater District. Now it is on the web for future reference:

I have been out of the loop for 9 months or so on the boston restaurant scene, but a couple of thoughts:

If they want to wander down to the south end, we always liked:

-The Butcher Shop which is a great wine bar with good food. It is next door to their oyster bar: B&G Oysters. Be prepared to wait if you want a table, but that’s ok cause you can drink wine and eat olives while you do.

-Given what I understand about the weather down there right now, the Hamersley’s patio would be a fantastic place to have dinner. Hamersley’s is a French bistro in the south end on Tremont street that has a really nice patio out front. In the evening it’s lit up with lights and is a really nice place to sit. They are known for their roast chicken. I have found the fish to be generally excellent there. It’s a little pricey. It's also across the street from the butchershop.

-Sage is a good, relatively low key Italian on Washington St.

Downtown and waterfront:

-Neptune is a downtown oyster bar that I have not been too but has gotten great reviews

-Sel de la Terre is a great place to get Sunday brunch (waterfront, not the new location in the Mandarin on Boylston

-the Barking Crab is a boston institution for fried clams, lobster, beer and general slobbery. Its cheap and fun. Big after work scene on fridays

Back bay:

-Casa Romero is a great Mexican place with a romantic patio. It’s a little tricky to find and you will definitely need a reservation to sit outside, but its good and not outrageously expensive.

Not so near where they are staying, the bar at the Liberty Hotel (called Clink) has a patio that will probably be mobbed. Place is upscale and fun. Will be a little scene-y (for boston at least), but would be fun for a couple of drinks.

Wild Card: there is a bar/restaurant called Jacob Wirth on Stuart Street not far from the hotel. Its weird, but sort of an institution. They have a great selection of beer on tap and there is frequently a guy playing piano and leading sing-alongs (I am not making this up). My recollection is that the burgers are pretty good too. Walk by, stick your head in and judge for yourself.

If they are looking for steaks or some kind of over the top dinner one night, let me know and I can make some other suggestions. Good luck

How to eat hot sauce

Umbrian Fish Soup

I have made this twice now, both times faithfully to the Epicurious recipe. On its own, it's not very exciting, but it turns out to be a really great way to eat hot sauce. So far I have used: Thai Chili Sauce (Sriracha), Outerbridge's Sherry Rum Pepper Sauce and Glady's Cafe Hot Sauce (from St. Thomas, I could not find an online retailer to link to). All were excellent. It also freezes well.

Link the soup recipe: here

Surf'n'Turf

Surf' n' Turf

'nuf said.

It's Friday...

Diabolique, Soda and Orange Juice

This is hardly new, but it is still one of my favorite cocktails. Diabolique is small batch spice infused bourbon from Boston. It's fantastic with some soda water, a splash of OJ and a lime.

Bourbon BBQ Pork Chop

Coffee rubbed pork chop with bourbon bbq sauce and grilled sweet potatoes.

A couple of weeks ago the snow on my deck finally melted and I was able to use my grill for the first time. I went down to Atwater Market and asked the butcher to make up a double cut pork chop for me. Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite sides with pork. In this case I simply tossed a few slices on the grill next to the chop.

Cover the chop in rub and let sit. Grill covered over direct heat ~7 minutes on first side, then flip and grill ~6 minutes before adding the first layer of sauce. Coat the chop in a modest layer of sauce, cover the grill for 1 minute or so, flip and repeat several times until the chop is cooked and you have covered it with several layers of sauce. The general point here, is that the sugar in the sauce should caramelize on the chop to form a kind of glaze. If you put the sauce on at the start when the fire is hot it will just burn and if you don't give it time to caramelize at the end it will be "goopy".

Both the rub and sauce are Steven Raichlen's. His "How to Grill" is a very usefull resource for the basics of BBQ sauce and rub. It also contains a lot of information and instruction on fire-prep for charcoal grills and smokers which can be hard to find.

Rub (from "How to Grill"):
6T ground coffee
2T course salt
2T brown sugar
2T sweet paprika
2t ground black pepper
2t garlic powder
2t onion powder
1t ground cumin
1t ground coriander
1t unsweetened cocoa powder
-Mix ingredients in a bowl with your fingers.

Sauce (Bon Appetit via Epicirious):
2 cups ketchup*
1/2 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1/3 cup bourbon (I used Jack)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
-Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer over med-low for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Let cool. Save the extra for later in the season.
*The fancy market I was in only had Stonewall Kitchens' Country Ketchup. One jar was just shy of a 2 cups and it worked really well.