Grilled Salad

"Grilled salad?"  That's is the reaction of most people when I tell them I grill salad.  I used to grill salad as a side dish but it is so good we decided to use grilled salad as a main weeknight meal.  And why not, it so easy to make and quick too, perfect for a weeknight meal when both spouses work.

There really isn't recipe for grilled salad it is whatever you like on your salad.  As you can see the cast of characters in the photo below what I prefer on my salad.

This is pretty typical what I normally like on my salad expect this time I wanted to try the radicchio lettuce (that's the purple and white thing on the right for those of you not familiar with radicchio).  Usually I use romaine lettuce but somewhere, I think it was Bobby Flay, I watched a show about grilling salad and this is what they used.  I never used it before because it can be hard to find in the store.

I start out by cutting up the onions and peppers and tossing them into a bowl with the tomatoes.  I add extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, toss and skewer on wooden bamboo skewers.  I skewer the tomatoes by themselves because they don't take as long to grill as the onions and peppers.

You may be asking yourself "But what exactly does he grill?"  The answer is everything and yes, even the lettuce.  The heat from the grill totally transforms the lettuce into something completely different.  Any bitterness that was present in the lettuce will be gone after it hits the grill.  The heat brings the sugar out of the lettuce, or so that is the way I understand it.

I always grill a few extra onions and peppers.  They are excellent by themselves after they have been on the fire.  They are also good the next day cold, out of the frig.

Our choice of salad dressing was vidalia onion and peppercorn, salad dressing my son, John, picked out the last time he was visiting.  Overall I rate this salad 4.5 out of 5 forks for taste and 5 out of 5 crayons for color (I added the green onion because it lacked green color).  The radicchio lettuce isn't as good as the romaine, in my opinion and the wife's opinion too, but it sure does make up for it in color.

The next time you are trying to figure what to make for that weeknight meal don't forget about that grilled salad.  The recipe is simple, whatever you like, the salad dressing is simple too, again whatever you like.  This is a regular on our summer platters.

Fire Up the Grill!!!!

FIRE UP THE GRILL!!!!!!!  It feels good to be able to say that again.  I haven't been able to do that for over a year now ever since I left Wisconsin.  The wife and I have been living in an a condo, well really a two story apartment, where grilling wasn't allowed.  We decided to live there for a year so we could scout the neighborhoods here in Rockville and decide where we wanted to live.  Needless to say, the scouting is done, we're moved and thanks to my mother my grille is here in Rockville with us.  But this post isn't about my trusty Weber grill, this post is about my new Weber Smoky Mountain smoker. 

A couple of years ago Weber redesigned their smoker and decided to build it in a 22-1/2" model, the same as their every popular charcoal grill. Since I first saw the smoker online I knew someday I would have one.

This wasn't the maiden voyage for the smoker today, last week I tried a new way (at least for me) to cook a steak, which I will share in the near future, and I cooked a cranberry glazed turkey breast, which really needs to be a post for another day too.  You can see from the photo above this baby has the ability to hold a lot of charcoal for those really long smoking days.  As soon as I can find a delicious looking beef brisket recipe and a good beef brisket I am going to find out how long the charcoal will last in this baby.

But today's meal isn't about beef brisket or turkey breast, no sir, today we are talking about the number one food group, baby back ribs.  As most of you know, that take the time to actually read this blog, on my bucket list is to enter a barbecue contest and to win it.  The ribs have been a work in progress for the past 5 years with two steps forward and one back, or so it seems at times. 

Trying to hide behind the ribs are some baked beans.  The wife and I got the idea for these beans from reading the ingredient list on the back of baked beans we use to buy at a meat market in Wisconsin.  Cooking them on the smoker is from a bbq show I once watched on The Food Network.  Once everything is on the grate it is time to sit back and watch the smoke do its job........

......and watch the temperature so it stays between 225 and 250 degrees.  The extra temperature probe you see today is being used to watch the temperature on the lower rack to see how different it is from the upper thermometer.  By the way just as a note do not trust the upper thermometer as I found out when I checked the upper thermometer against my digital it was about 15 degrees off.

Two hours later it's time to pull the lid and see what we got.  Oh boy, it sure does smell good and starting to look pretty darn good too.  While the lid is off this would be a good time to mop a little sauce on the ribs. 

45 minutes later I repeat the process all over.

Oh we are so, so close now but you can't hurry perfection.  Another 45 minute wait, that's 3-1/2 hours for anyone trying to keep score, and we can finally open the lid on the smoker for the last time.  Let's get a close look this time, beans........

.....and baby back ribs.

I should note the ribs are finished off over hot coals and some of my "secret" barbecue sauce. 

On the traditional fork scale these ribs rate a 4.75 out of 5 forks.  I can't give them a 5 because they were a little saltier than I like.  I used a commercial seasoning mix, which I really like, but it contains 75% salt.  The good news is I found the recipe online and now I can start adjusting it more to my liking.  I believe this is the last item to complete for baby back rib perfection and entry into a bbq contest.  That will be one more item off my bucket list.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Honey

Tonight is part III of our Early Thanksgiving Dinner and it features something we watched Tyler Florence make a couple of weeks ago when we went to one of his shows in downtown D.C.  He put on a great show by preparing a Thanksgiving meal for us.  He made the normal turkey, dressing, cranberries and Whipped Sweet Potato and Banana with Honey dish.  Whoa there, what did he just write?  Whipped Sweet Potato and Banana with Honey?  Yep you read that right that's what I said and if you know me you know I don't even like sweet potatoes.

Tyler promised if you make this it will forever change the way you make sweet potatoes, he said this is the ultimate in sweet potatoes.  After watching him make them I decided this is something I would have to try, after all how can you go wrong with bananas and honey.

I didn't change anything from his recipe because I wanted to sample his version exactly the way he made it that day.  The cast of characters is pretty normal with the only odd ball being those pesky sweet potatoes.

  As you can see lots of good ingredients, bananas, butter, pecans, brown sugar, starting to sound more like a dessert than a side dish for Thanksgiving.

The first thing we have to do is roast the potatoes and bananas.  Tyler told a funny story when he was preparing this recipe about the first time he went to his future in-laws house for dinner.  His soon to be mother-in-law put the sweet potatoes in the oven and it wasn't long until they starting hearing exploding sounds coming from the kitchen.  Apparently she didn't poke holes in the potatoes and they exploded in the oven.  Tyler said they had no clue who he was or that he was a chef so when this happened he said "Move over, professional chef here, let me take over."  Pretty funny story when he tells it.  Anyway the moral to the story is to always pierce your potatoes before you bake them.

If you noticed in my ramblings I said to roast the bananas too.  I'll admit I have never actually heard of roasting bananas until that day.  Tyler did explained that they will look terrible when they come out of the oven but on the inside will be sweet banana delight.  What can I say  he was right.

Once everything is roasted the banana and sweet potato goes into a mixing bowl (of course you scrape the insides out of the skins) along with the honey and butter, it just keeps getting better.

We still need to make a topping for the sweet potatoes and bananas and this is where it really reminds me of a dessert, not that that is a bad thing.   The topping consist of more butter (EGADS!), pecans, and brown sugar, a tough combination to beat over anything. 

How did it turn out?  I am giving this one a 4.75 out of 5 forks, after all it still has those pesky sweet potatoes in it.  Tyler really came up with a winner here and I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes or dislikes sweet potatoes.  This recipe turned out to be the star of the entire meal this year and will certainly find a place on our Thanksgiving Dinner table for now on.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Bananas with Honey
(Printable Recipe)
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

You can roast the potatoes and bananas ahead of time, then put it all together just before serving. Then heat it up in the oven.

Prep Time:20 min
Inactive Prep Time:--Cook Time:1 hr 5 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 10 to 12 servings.

Ingredients
•5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
•4 bananas, unpeeled
•1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•1/4 cup honey
•Kosher salt
•1/2 cup all-purpose flour
•3/4 cup dark brown sugar
•1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork, put them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Toss the bananas into the pan and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, until both the bananas and potatoes are very soft. Remove the pan from the oven but don't turn the oven off.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl. Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl along with 1 stick of the butter, and the honey. Season with salt and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until everything well combined and the mixture is fluffy. Spoon into an oven-proof serving bowl and smooth the top.

In a separate mixing bowl, use your fingers to rub together the remaining stick of butter, the brown sugar, flour, and pecans until the mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the sweet potatoes and return to the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.

Printed from FoodNetwork.com on Sun Nov 22 2009
© 2009 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Honey Wheat and Rosemary Rolls

Part II of this years Early Thanksgiving Dinner Episode begins with Big Sis's Rosemary Dinner Rolls, which she borrowed from Pioneer Woman web site, with my twist.  I really didn't want to put my own personal twist to this recipe since it looked simple and looked like it would taste good but I didn't have a choice.  You see for reasons unknown to me we can't find frozen dinner rolls around here.  For that matter we can't even find frozen bread dough around here, go figure.  So what do you suppose I do?  How about make them myself and while we are doing that we might as well do something different.

Since I know little to nothing about baking my first task is to find a recipe I can follow or at least get started with.  My choice was to go the King Arthur Flour web site and see what I could find there.  After a long search through their recipes I finally found one I could use or at least adapt to the ingredients I had on hand.  I decided on King Arthur's Honey Wheat Rolls.  Since I am trying to get more wheat flour in my diet I thought these rolls would be a good place to start, besides honey in anything can't be a bad thing.  I did say adapt because if you look at their recipe it includes instant potatoes and dry milk, a couple of items I don't have on hand and don't intend to have on hand.  So I adapt, overcame and conquered and this is what I came up with....

There is one odd ingredient, at least to me, and that is the orange juice.  Orange juice?  I am just as surprised as you are.  In the comment section fore the recipe in King Arthur's web site someone said the orange juice takes out some of the bitterness of the wheat flour and you won't taste the orange juice in the rolls either.  Hm, since I really don't know I'll take their word for it.

I probably don't need to go through all the motions on the hows and whys of bread making but if you really need to have better directions I suggest you visit the King Arthur web site, a real fine web site for breads, rolls and many other good foods.

I will say I always sift my flour regardless of what I am making.  It helps to get rid of any flour "balls" that seem to show up in bags of flour.

I also use our Kitchen Aid mixer with the bread hook for kneading the dough too.  Once the dough in kneaded I goes in a lightly oiled bowl to take a nap for a couple of hours.  This is the part I like because I get to sit down and watch some football, hard to beat that.  I probably don't have to preach the virtues of cast iron either, you have all heard or read it before.  So if you are wondering how they came out I would have to rate them a 4 out of 5 forks.  For my second time every baking rolls I know I can improve but I think I am on the right track.  I like the wheat flour mixed in with regular white flour, and of course the honey doesn't hurt either.  The rosemary on top adds something a little different which I like because after all rosemary is my second favorite herb (with basil being number 1).

And just in case you can't find those frozen rolls this is an easy, good, alternative to the frozen rolls.

Honey Wheat and Rosemary Rolls

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 packet "highly active" active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

3 tablespoons honey

1-1/2 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1-1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

Sea salt

Directions

:Dissolve yeast with lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.  Combine the dissolved yeast with the all of the ingredients except rosemary, sea salt and melted butter. Mix and knead everything together until you've made a smooth dough.  Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, until doubled in size about 90 minutes to 2 hours.

While the dough is rising, lightly spray a 10” cast iron skillet with olive oil.

Punch dough down and divide into equal balls, approx. 16.  Place the 8 rolls in the 10” cast iron skillet, spacing them evenly so they won't touch one another.  Cover the pans with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the rolls to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. They'll become very puffy, and will reach out and touch one another. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with rosemary and sea salt.  Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, and tent them loosely with aluminum foil. Continue to bake until they're mahogany-brown on top, but lighter colored on the sides, an additional 10 to 13 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce

It is almost Thanksgiving again and since the wife will be back in Michigan while I stay here in Maryland this year we thought we would have a small early Thanksgiving meal for this weeks Sunday Dinner Episode.  I decided I would go item by item this year and let you know how we gorged ourselves this year.

If you tuned in expecting to see a traditional style Thanksgiving you will probably be disappointed.  Since it is only me and the wife we don't need to make a large meal or even a whole turkey.  Last year if you remember I made a  smoked turkey breast.  This year will be a little different since I don't have my charcoal grill yet, but for the turkey episode you will have to tune in later because first we need to prepare cranberry sauce before we get to the turkey.

I know a lot of people like to open up a can of cranberries, dump them in a bowl and serve them.  Making cranberries really isn't much more difficult than that and they will taste so much better.  All it takes is a few simple ingredients.......

Looks fairly normal, nothing to exotic unless you count the ginger but even that is readily available in stores these days. 

Now you have just witnessed the hardest part of making cranberry sauce, lining up the cast of characters to take a picture.  I'm serious because now all that's left to be done is dump all the ingredients into a pan and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Oh so good and the ginger gives the cranberries that little extra kick so people will think "There is something a little different going on here but I can't quite put my finger on it."

I'll give this cranberry sauce a 5 out of 5 forks.  I love cranberry and anything cranberry I just wish fresh cranberries were available all year around.

Now stayed tuned for the rest of the 2009 Early Thanksgiving Episode because this is only the beginning for the cranberry sauce.  Tomorrow night we will revisit Big Sis's Rosemary Dinner Rolls but only with my own personal twist.

Jock's Cranberry Sauce
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients
1 12 oz. Bag fresh cranberries, washed and dried
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 orange, zested and juiced

Directions
In a medium pot, combine the above ingredients. Stir to blend. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until cranberries burst