Cocktail Confessions

*Santa Fe burger courtesy of FoodTV

So I realize I’ve been a little light on the recipe’s this summer. Not much of a cocktail and grilling blog if you don’t have the content to back it up once in a while. I’m still working on some “how-to” video’s for smoking a brisket…it takes a lot longer than you think, but I made some good headway this past week and I should have the first one posted soon.

Anyway, the kids should be headed back to school soon (if they haven’t already) and summer is starting to wind down, so I think this recipe will fit in nicely. It’s relatively easy, yet looks and tastes like it may have taken some real time and effort, and could be the star of the last summer hoorah.

I give credit to my wife for finding the basis of this recipe from her own online searches. It’s basically a Bobby Flay inspired recipe that stands out great on its own, but like most things, I like to make my own adjustments and spins on discovered recipes and try and make it my own.

This cheeseburger has it’s flavors rooted in the Southwest, a favorite of mine. The queso sauce is rich and spicy and replaces the traditional ‘processed slice’ we’re usually accustomed to, and allows a platform for the roasted pablano chili’s to cling to. Some blue corn chips give the burger an unexpected textural surprise along with their salty crunch.

Ingredients

Burgers

• 1 large poblano chile
• 2 1/2 TBS canola oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5 LBS ground chuck (80% lean) or sub 90% lean ground turkey for healthier alternative.
• 4 large gourmet burger buns, split & toasted. (Check local bakery for fresh goods like a nice ciabatta or potato bun.  Try and avoid the generic burger buns)
• Handful of blue or yellow corn tortilla chips

Queso (cheese) Sauce:

• 1 TBS unsalted butter
• 1 TBS all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups whole milk. (*sub 1/2 cup milk with heavy cream if available for a richer, creamier taste)
• 8 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups).  (*Sub Monterrey Jack for a slightly milder, not as spicy alternative if desired).
• Dash of dried chipotle powder for earthy, smokey flavor (*optional)
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Directions

1. Coat pablano chili with 1 TBS of canola oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place on grill, medium heat, and turn every few minutes until skin begins to char and bubble on all sides.  Remove chili and place in paper bag or bowl covered in plastic wrap and allow to steam for 15 minutes.  Peel, stem and seed chili at this point, then coarsely chop and set aside for now.
2. To make queso sauce, melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add milk/cream, increase heat, whisk constantly until slightly thickened (approx 4-5 minutes).  Remove from heat and then whisk in cheese, a little at a time, until melted.  Season with salt, pepper, chipotle powder.  Keep warm.
3. Divide meat into 4 equal portions.  Form into 3/4″ thick patties and make small depression in the middle of each with thumb.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.  Using remaining oil (or cooking spray), coat grill and cook burgers over medium flame until desired doneness.
4. Place burgers on toasted bun bottoms, top with a few tablespoons of cheese sauce, a few chips, some of the pablano, then of course, toasted bun tops.

So now the beer pairing:  Personally, I really enjoy Mexican lagers with my Southwestern food.  For me, Negro Modelo is a no-brainer.  Maybe even Modelo Especial or Dos Equis.  Make sure you have plenty of sliced limes nearby.  If Mexican beer isn’t your thing, how about other domestic lagers or an ale?  These pair very well with summer beef dishes.  Try a Fat Tire amber ale, or maybe even Land Shark or Long Board lagers.  They all have a crisp and clean taste in my opinion.  And you can’t go wrong with any of the seasonal summer crafts from Sam Adams.

This morning when I first got up I decided I was going to be somewhat proactive today and do some ‘Jayson’ chores about the house.  In addition to do some laundry, watering plants, sweeping the garage, taking the car in for an oil change, I decided I’d take the time to build the free smoker my wife graciously gave me as her 10 year work anniversary present.

Armed with a bloody Mary in one hand, screw driver in the other, and a mix CD of dance trax pumping from my garage stereo, I finally broke out the ’smoker’ box that has been sitting in my garage for the last few weeks and decided to assemble it.  It turns out that the time we got was in-fact NOT the Brinkmann Gourmet Smoker we thought was listed in the catalog, but the lower-end Brinkmann 810-5301-6 Smoke ‘N Grill charcoal smoker.  It actually retails for about $69 and is made in China, which is quite apparent when you start your initial assembly.  The issue straight out if the box is that you can tell that quality control is a low priority with Brinkmann, or at least this model.  But then again, it was free to us, so it all depends on how much you really want to complain.

Straight out of the box, here are some of the issues I came across:

1. Main kettle drum was slightly damaged on bottom rim.  Not a deal breaker, but a minor dent was disheartening for a brand new grill.
2. Top kettle paint job was badly scuffed.  Yeah, right out of the box there was some major scuff and scratch marks to the black enamel paint job.
3. Weld points on the actual chrome-plated grill surface were loose.  On one of the 2 enclosed grill surfaces, I noticed that a few weld points were in fact not secured properly.
4. Drill holes were off-kilter.  On some, (not all), of the pre drilled holes where the handles are to be attached, the holes were not aligned properly.  After some minor bending of the handles, I was able to secure the handles as instructed, but they should not have been as difficult as they were.
5. Kettle was not perfectly round.  This is an issue if you want the top kettle drum to fit on body correctly.  Since the body was ’slightly’ oval instead of round, (as it should have been), it took some additional bending and compression my end to get it to the proper shape.
6. Finally, the sheet metal door that allows access to the front of smoker to add additional charcoal was also bent.  Thankfully, it is thin enough where I could bend this back into shape by hand, but overall, very dissapointing construction for an out of the box product. 

All these items could be fixed easily and shouldn’t affect the overall process of grilling and smoking, but that’s not really the point.  Free or not, when I buy a factory sealed product, I expect it to be as close to 100% mint as possible.  In this case, this ‘freebie’ felt as if it were perhaps a clearance item and no wonder it was given away free to my wife.  I’d say it was closer to 75%-80% condition out of box.

Assembly was fairly easy, even with the re-bending of some of the sheet metal I had to do.  The few other issues I noted are as such: A) The legs are a bit short.  I wish they were slightly sturdier and longer.  B) Thermometer is a very cheap model that indicates ‘warm, ideal, hot’ as opposed to actual degrees.  When cooking a brisket, pork, or chicken, you may definitely want to invest in a separate meat thermometer as the included one will be hard for anyone to tell what the actual maintained temperature is.  C) The included charcoal and water basin plates could fit a tad better as well.  They are exactly the same parts used internally, but how they rest on the internal clips is a little shaky.  A handy person with a drill and some engineering or shop experience may want to employ a little additional efforts and modifications to help secure these items prior to use as this may be a recipe for errors down the line.

Speaking of modification, I came across the following website in which this gentleman vastly improves his own Brinkmann smoker.  Using just a few of his ideas may vastly improve your own cooking experience, and over time I think I will introduce his mods on a more accurate thermometer, gasket, and internal grills surface security.  Check it out here.

So my initial score would be a 2.5 on a scale of 5.  Could be much better, could be much worse, so I guess I gave it a half point for being ‘free’ in my case, otherwise the construction seems a bit subpar for a $70 product…and that’s Amazon’s price mind you.  It may actually be more at BBQ shops or other online grill stores, so this is for sure a ‘budget’ item.  There are higher qulaity smokers out there, but of course expect to start shelling out $100+ at that point.

So once completed, according to the instructions, you should initially cure your smoker to help burn off any excess factory paint inside and help resist and prevent future rusting.  I did this by removing the internal charcoal pan and grill grates and spraying the inside with PAM grill spray.  After a liberal coating inside, I began to start a few pounds of regular Kingsford charcoal in a standard chimney starter.  You can find generic versions of these as low as $10 bucks at most hardware stores.  Anything more than $17 maybe a rip off and I don’t think the higher end ones are all that much better than the $10 ones.

Once I had the charcoal started, I let it burn for approx 15-20 minutes within the starter before pouring it directly into the smokers charcoal pan.  Allowing the 15-20 minute burn allows for any fuel on the charcoal to dissipate for an overall cleaner tastes in your food (no gas taste).  Also, it allows for all the charcoal to get started evenly and reach a more consistent temperature.  When the charcoal turns from black to an ash gray, its ready.

Now that the charcoal is in the smoker, go ahead and put the lid on top.  Within 5 – 7 minutes or so, you should see the thermometer reach  the ‘ideal’ reading.  Go ahead and let the smoker cure for a minimum of two hours.  If you note that the dial begins to dip in the first 45 minutes to an hour, go ahead, open the door, and add some more charcoal briquettes.  But after 1.5 hours, no need to add anything else.  Let it burn through as is and make sure it cools q100% before removing spent charcoal.  At this point your initial curing should be complete and your ready to start your real first smoked effort.

During the curing stage, I went to Lowe’s and bought myself a bag of hardwood hickory charcoal.  It’s not that expensive, about $7.50 for a regular size bag.  Just remember that it takes less hardwood charcoal than standard coal briquettes to maintain the same temperature and they also burn longer.  Follow instructions on the bag and you should be able to make it last longer than standard OTC charcoal everyone else uses at their beach BBQ’s.   Not to mention you’re getting these because the idea is that you actually want to ’smoke’ your meat.  Smoking is all about low temperatures, maintaining that temperature, and long times.  We aren’t grilling hamburgers of chicken breasts here.  No we are smoking for generally 8 or more hours depending on the cut of meat.  A 10 lb brisket will smoke easily for 10-12 hours, so we’re in it for the long haul.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the Huck Finn Jubilee out at Mojave Narrow’s Campground in Victorville, CA.  It was myself, my wife, my good friend Brian and his fiancee, Shea.  I plan on posting some future installments here about the jubilee itself, but there was one small thing I wanted to get out of the way first, the food at Vittle Village.

Now to our overall disapointment, there was absolutely no beer to be found at any of the vendor booths.  That makes one heck of a long day to be sitting out at a beautiful campground, listening to various bands based on early Americana bluegrass and country, with the smell of BBQ in the air with no way to purchase any beer.  There seems to be a lack of verifiable information on whether it was sold or not in the past.  Depending on who I spoke to in my desperate search for amber nectar, I was was pretty much told down the middle there was/wasn’t any beer the year before.

In the hopes of having some really good country inspired food, I had failed to eat breakfast that morning running on only about three cups of coffee until we made our way to the ‘foodie’ area of the fair at around 1pm.  Sadly to say the options were a tad limited.  If I can recall correctly there was on corndog/hotdog stand, one funnel cake vendor, one bratwurst/sausage kiosk, a tent that sold roasted corn on the cob, and another tent that had some plates of BBQ chicken and ribs.  The one that caught my eye was Ptrains BBQ which emphasized hot wings and a wood smoked BBQ chicken pizza.  Each vendor sold cans of soda or bottled water although there were two specialty drink places: one that sold either fresh lemonade or strawberry lemonade, and the other  homemade craft soda’s such as rootbeer and cream soda among some of their offerings.

I gravitated towards Ptrains because of the very large custom made BBQ pit shaped like an 1850’s era style steam train engine, and of course the smell of the wood laden fire.  In addition to my fondness of BBQ and cooking, I also enjoy model railroading, so the chance to learn more about this epic one-of-a-kind custom train pit and the sampling of some good ‘ole BBQ seemed perfect for me.

[View with PicLens]

Ptrains is a family run business based out of Rancho Cucamonga, CA.  You can go to their site and read the family story about Ptrains all there.  By looking at their schedule, it appears they travel to various events all over the place with pit in tow.  I can tell you that the whole family seemed very genuine and nice.  I had a chance to talk to one of the daughters who was overseeing the wings being cooked and she was very pleasant and was happy to share with me the story of the train.  The train itself happens to be a relatively new addition, being only a few months old and was custom built by a gentlemen in Houston, TX.   The man who built it (name escapes me right now) has built other well known grills including the famous Six-Gun Grill, and took so much pride in this train creation decided to drive it out himself to deliver it to the client only a few weeks back.  The Ptrain pit cost roughly $50K and duplicates steam era sound effects as well.

I’m not exactly sure what they offer to grill on the circuit, but on the menu today was only the pizza and chicken wings.  I hope in the future if I run into Ptrains again, they may offer up some brisket, ribs, or pork items.

Anyway, my buddy Brian had the wings and offered me one, but I declined.  I’m sorry that I did in retrospect because I would have liked to have included that experience here as well, but I can tell you Brian said he enjoyed his and they had a pleasant glaze and wasn’t too spicy.

I myself decided to try the wood fired bbq chicken pizza.  I can tell you it had a lot of potential, but just wasn’t there.  It wasn’t the taste per-se because Ptrains ketchup based bbq sauce is indeed mighty tasty (although not too spicy), but the execution of the actual pizza was a tad off.  First, even though the wood smoking induces a mouth watering aroma to the pizza, the crust itself wasn’t completely done.  It wasn’t as crisp as I would have liked it to be and a tad doughy in parts, as if it wasn’t cooked all the way through.  It probably could have stood a few more minutes on the grill to firm up a bit more.  Secondly, it was a bit over-sauced in the BBQ department.  I’m not exactly sure if they were trying to highlight the chicken or the sauce, but it came across as little heavy on the sauce.  Maybe because it was their first time here and it was a busy part of the day or they are still working the kinks out in the recipes, but I could have used a bit less sauce and a bit more chicken.  That being said, it wasn’t bad, but definetly room for improvement.

So I received a few requests for some of my Father’s Day 2010 recipe’s I made this past weekend, so I thought I’d share one of them with you today.  Now most people aren’t necessarily crazy about zucchini, not unless it’s fried and drowning in ranch dressing, and they are even more skeptical if you tell them its grilled. 

Well, this easily prepared dish I can tell you was met with rave reviews, even from my own mother, daughter, and nephew who are rarely ever seen even eating anything resembling close to a green cooked vegetable.  My daughter even ate two and I have often seen her ditch vegetables on her plate to the garbage can when she thinks no one is looking.

I guess the secret is in the bacon gremolata.  Hell, I wasn’t quite sure myself what ‘gremolata’ even meant until I looked the definition up to satisfy my own curiosity.  Basically gremolata is defined as a ‘chopped’ herb condiment usually consisting of garlic, parsley, and lemon zest and is Italian in origin.  But then again, everything is better with bacon, in that there is no doubt so you can’t really go wrong in the first place.

Anyway, it’s a great way I figure to introduce grilled vegetables to kids, and it looks very impressive and pretty when presented on the plate.  It appears to be much more involved than it really is and is sure to wow your guests when they think you spent quite a bit on time on it.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium-large zucchini (approx. 6 oz each)
• 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (save the lemon peel for the gremolata)
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
• Bacon gremolata (recipe follows)

Directions (makes 8 servings):

1. Cut zucchini’s in half, lengthwise.  Using a melon baller or spoon, scoop out center to form 1/4 – 1/2″ shells.  Set aside.
2. In small bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt, pepper.  Brush zucchini shells with lemon mixture.  Place shells, cut side down, on grilling tray.
3. Grill shells over medium flame, 5-7 minutes or until cut sides begin to brown.  Turn shells over at this point (cut sides up) and grill 1 minute more.  Remove from grill.
4. Spoon bacon gremolata into shells, evenly, then return to grill.  Cover and grill 2-4 more minutes until cheese begins to melt.

Bacon Gremolata:

In a bowl combine a whole pack of crisp cooked bacon slices, drained, and finely crumbled (you can sub 1 cup finely chopped Canadian-bacon as well), 1 cup finely grated Parmesan and/or Romano cheese, 1/4 cup fresh basil (julienned), 1/4 cup fresh diced jalapeno pepper OR pepperoncini (I actually use a bit of both), 4 Tsp shredded lemon peel (use zester tool), 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 Tsp ground black pepper.  Mix well and spoon into shells.

One of my all time favorite chef personalities is Bobby Flay.  From his early days on Food Network TV, I have pretty much followed him for the better part of a decade after I first ran across one of his earlier shows “Grilln’ & Chillin’“. 

I was pretty much hooked on his interpretation and fusion of southwestern dishes.  Since those early years on TV, no can deny he has garnered quite a following from the numerous shows he has hosted and energetic charisma.  He has opened a few restaurants over the years as well, namely the famous Bolo (now closed), Mesa Grill, and the more recently Bobby’s Burger Palace.

Bobby currently hosts “Throwdown! with Bobby Flay“, “Grill Nation“, “Grill It! with Bobby Flay“, co-hosts “The Next Food Network Star” and of course is a coveted “Iron Chef America“.  He is definitely one of my early inspirations for first wanting to picking up a set of tongs and claiming the BBQ as my outdoor kitchen.  Over the years I have received his cook books, accessories, and pre-packaged rubs as gifts and have enjoyed them all.  I suppose my secret passion is to both eat at Mesa Grill and to also meet Chef Flay in person.

But enough of the history lesson.  Let’s get down to business.  The ‘Cuban Burger’ is actually a Flay re-interpretation of the Cuban classic sandwich that is pressed and grilled as if it were a panini.  Traditionally, it was made with cold sliced pork, sliced Serrano ham, dill pickles, Swiss cheese and yellow mustard, all on buttered Cuban bread (made with lard, not oil). 

Chef Flay made this his own by substituting the pork with a grilled beef burger, buns, Dijon mustard and a garlic mayonnaise spread.  I made it that way when I first saw him grill this and it is was absolutely delicious….a very unexpected treat for a burger.  Simple, yet effective.

As anyone who knows me, I too like to experiment in the kitchen and come up with my own twists on recipes and stylizing it as my own.  I can’t really say its my creation, but it is indeed my spin on the Cuban Burger and every single time I make it for friends and family, I have always had someone ask me for the recipe.  That makes me feel really good, and while in the end it is just a burger, I have had more than a handful of guests tell me it’s one of the best burgers they have ever had. 

The good news is it’s pretty darn simple to make.  There is a little bit of extra assembly mid stream, but it’s not rocket science by any means and you can customize this further and make it your own as well.

Be careful though, a bit too much customization and complexity may be your foil.  You won’t catch a Cuban putting lettuce or tomato on this as it would be considered too much of an American-ization of a classic.  But I say, you could probably swap the bun for ciabatta rolls, maybe try a dab of chimichurri sauce or a banana pepper along with the pickles, and maybe try your favorite mustard. 

Anyway, with out further ado, here is the Cocktail Confessions Cuban Burger:

• Preheat grill to medium-high heat. (Make sure grate is clean and seasoned. Use a non-stcik spray if need be)
• Form fresh ground chuck into 1/4 inch patties.  While most burgers are ‘ground beef’, I prefer ‘ground chuck’.  It is slightly leaner at 15-20% fat whereas regular hamburger meat is closer to 30% fat.  This means that not only is chuck a healthier choice, but won’t shrink or flare up as much on the grill.  In a pinch, you can find frozen pre-made patties (in different qualities and grades) at the store, but make sure you thaw them out before the next step.
• Season patties with fresh ground black pepper and kosher or sea salt.  Please try and avoid iodized table salt and pepper if you can, I guarantee your taste buds will thank you later.
• Have slices of good quality Swiss cheese on standby.  Should be one slice for every patty, and don’t skimp here by using processed cellophane wrapped slices.  Also have slices of good smoked ham and kosher dill pickles stacker’s on standby.
• Tear off sheets of aluminum foil that you’ll be able to wrap your burgers in and place aside for the time being.
• Grill patties 2-3 minutes each side for medium doneness.  Longer if desired, but remember, we’re not done cooking these yet.
• While grilling the meat, you can combine 2-3 smashed or pureed cloves of garlic to about a 1/2 cup of mayonnaise.  For a healthier choice, go ahead and substitute Smart Balance mayo (I can’t really tell the difference in taste to be honest), and to save this step even further, Kraft has recently introduced a Hot & Spicy mayo in a squeeze bottle.  This stuff is the bomb.
• Spread both sides of your split bun with your mayo and mustard.  Here, I use high quality Dijon mustard (not yellow) which is either smooth or stone ground.  I also use my Kraft Hot & Spicy here.  My buns are a slightly higher quality than generic hamburger buns.  I like mine with sesame seed sprinkled on the top, or I’ll use potato buns large enough for a burger, or ciabatta rolls if I have a bit extra to spend.
• Begin assembling your burgers by placing the cooked meat patties down on lower bun, followed by slice of Swiss, followed by a slice or two of your smoked ham, and top off with at least two long strips of sandwich stacker dill pickles.  Put bun top on and now wrap each assembled burger in a sheet of tin foil.
• Using your hands, press down on the wrapped burger, not smash, but enough to compact them to a slightly flatter shape.
• Lower heat on grill to medium, and place wrapped burgers back on for approx. two minutes, then flip for an additional two minutes.  This should be long enough to not only heat the bun and meat, but melt the cheese inside.

That’s it.  I know my directions may seem a tad lengthy, but once you assemble the first one the rest are a snap and pretty much fool proof.  Like I said, this is pretty close to the spirit of a real Cuban sandwich, and you change a few ingredients, but I wouldn’t deviate that much.  This is one of those recipe’s where less is more, or “keep it simple, stupid”.

Once you unwrap these I’d be surprised if you didn’t get a few compliments.  I’d probably have a side dish of grilled watermelon, maybe some ranch style beans, some southwestern potato salad, or other Latin/caribbean inspired sides such as a jicama slaw.

Drink wise I’d shoot for a mojito or some other tropical light rum cocktail.  Try some iced watermelon or traditional sangria, or maybe a good cold IPA or medium bodied beer.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy this recipe, and I’d love to get your feedback.

This is more or less a quick entry on the state of affairs over here at my blog.

I’ve got a few things lined up in the coming days and weeks including some additional video’s and a podcast I just recorded with my buddy Brett who visited from Idaho this past week.  I’ll have some new recipes up soon, including Cuban burgers (that were a hit at this Friday’s last BBQ), grilled zucchini boats with a bacon gremolata, a new cocktail recipe dubbed ‘The Camel Toe’ for you vodka and tropical drink lovers, and a refreshing watermelon sangria.

I’ll have a few stories to share that took place with my friend Brett, especially our afternoon visit to Turq’s in Dana Point where we get talked to death by druken senior citizens, some additional video of the San Clemente Pier, a review of the Original Pedro’s tacos, some random shots at Cook’ Corner, Dana Point Harbor, S.C. Pier, and more.

This upcoming weekend, my wife and I are going to the Huck Finn Jubilee up in Victorville, CA with our friends Brian and his fiance Shea as well as my college friend Sam and his wife Alicia.  We’ll be there for the beer, food, and good ‘ole bluegrass music and banjo championships.  I expect to get some good vittles there and hopefully taste some good brews.

On the technical side of things, I just upgraded the NextGen Gallery here to v1.5.3 and I also finally purchased a ’shoot & share’ video camera in the form of the purple Kodak Playsport along with a 8GB SD card.  I’ve posted a few videos up at YouTube, and I hope to not only use it this weekend at the Jubilee, but also do some grilling recipe and preparation “How-To” videos here in the future.  I also have to finish the Earthbox series that I began a few weeks back.  I already have some great jalepeno peppers and tons of cilantro that we are using.

I did have one bummer issue that happened over the weekend.  This past Saturday my Behringer 502 USB mixing board died on me.  I was actually right in the middle of recording a podcast with Brett and at about the 40 minute mark there was a slight pop in my earphones and when I looked at the screen for status I noticed a flat line on Audacity.  The board is just over a year old (March ‘09)  and I purchased it through Amazon.  Of course I don’t have the box anymore, so I’m gonna try and get an RMA straight from Behringer, and looking at their support website it appears that they make you jump through hoops for repair. *Sigh*.  The good news is I picked up my Zoom recorder and was able to finish our podcast, but I’ll have to mash the two files together and do some additional editing before I get the next episode posted….maybe in another week since this weekend is already claimed.

As promised here is part 2 of my grilled portobello mushroom recipes.  First off we have a another somewhat easy recipe with a bit of Asian flair.  Second recipe is a bit Italian inspired but could be adapted for mediterranean tastes easily if you substitute in some black olives and goat cheese.

Asian Flair Portabello Mushrooms

Clean and stem mushrooms.  You can clean the gills out with a spoon by scraping them out and discarding.

In a bowl, make a paste my combining the following: 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 bunch of fresh parsley (chopped fine), 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 cup of fresh olive oil.  *As an option, you can add a little fresh ginger (oh, say 1/2 tsp or so) and maybe a little bit of Asian sriracha sauce for heat).

Rub oustide of caps with 1/3 the paste you made in the prior step.  With remaining paste, fill inside of caps and season with salt and pepper.

Grill on BBQ over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to shrivel on edges. Remove and serve.

*Optional: Sprinkle a tiny bit of sesame seeds on finished mushroom for extra flair.

 Serve with a good Japanese beer like Kirin or Sapporro.

Spinich and Sauage stuffed mushrooms (intermediate and adaptable)

Clean 4 large portobello mushrooms (get the biggest ones you can find)

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.  Using a grill safe frying pan (or I suppose you could do this on the kitchen stove as well) heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and crumble in 12oz of mild or hot Italian sausage until brown and then remove to bowl. (*Sub turkey sausage for health conscience diets)

In same pan, add 1 finely chopped white onion and saute for approx. 2 minutes.  Then add 1/2 tsp or more of freshly minced garlic to pan and continue to cook until onion begins to brown.

Add sausage back in along with 1/2 cup tomato sauce or finely chopped tomatoes (*and optional pinch of red pepper flakes) and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Add in about 8oz of coarsely chopped spinach leaves, stir until evenly distributed and allow for them to wilt down.

Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup mozzarella, and optional 2 Tbsp each of fresh chopped basil and fresh chopped parsley.

Brush gill free mushrooms with olive oil and place on grill face down for about 4 minutes or until they begin to soften.

Remove mushrooms and now carefully stuff with sausage mixture.  Top of with sprinkled mozzarella cheese and place back on grill, stuffed side up.

Grill, covered, for approx 5 minutes or until cheese begins to melt and brown.

Remove and serve immediately.

As I stated at the top of this post you can adapt the above recipe for varying tastes.  Using the same basic principles, how about stuffing with a grilled chicken sausage and pesto filling?  How about instead of using Italian sausage you were to brown minced lamb, and then add in some black olives and goat/feta cheese for something a bit more Mediterranean.  Use your imagination.  Pair with a good Italian red wine.

I wasn’t a big fan of mushrooms as a kid.  As a matter of fact I dreaded just about every dish my mother prepared for my father and I as I was growing up that had anything to do with mushrooms, especially cold, chopped mushrooms in salad.  I’m not exactly sure I can pinpoint why I didn’t care for them.  Perhaps it was a texture thing.  Maybe I thought they didn’t have much of a taste onm their own, or maybe because most of the time they were’nt cooked.

For years I struggled with teh various dishes presented before me by picking off mushrooms, one by one or pushing them off to the side.  Sometimes my mother would then force me to eat them anyway as she wasn’t having anyone dismiss any vegetables or food she prepared.

The really odd thing is, as much as I hated mushrooms, I did actually enjoy them in two dishes: 1) I love cream of mushroom soup, and 2) I enjoy them on pizzas.  Now I know that doesn’t make any sense, and even today I cannot venture to explain why I would accept them in those two dishes, but would rather die on all the rest.  Perhaps the cheese and sauce of the pizza, or the creamy gravey of the soup helped masked my conception of previous bland encounters.  I dunno.  But like most foods children hate in their youth, often as adults we come to appreciate and even savor them.

Mushrooms are no exception, and even though I still tap dance around them with trepadation when served in salads or plain, I have come to enjoy them in other forms.  I actually make a really good wild mushroom rissoto with shitake and button caps truth be told.  However, it was Bobby Flay of FoodTV Network that helped me change my mind.  And since I like to share BBQ recipes with you all, I’m going to rattle off a few portabella mushroom pleasers that are pretty easy to make, are relatively healthy, and in some cases can be meals in and of themselves.  Some people even describe the taste to have some ’earthy’ undertones, what ever the hell that means.

So what is a portabello mushroom?  Basically it’s a white or button mushroom grown to maturity and averages 5″ to 6″ in diameter.  It’s ‘top’ skin darkens with age, to a flecked or freckled biege color.  It’s gills are dark in color, and the flesh is known to be quite meaty and very high in vitamin D.  It can be usually found in grassy areas and if one were to think it has a season, it would be late spring through autumn.  Anyway, enough of that, lets get to the good stuff:

Basic Grilled Portabello

I think the outcome is very good and most people are impressed by the touch of pine nuts.  I often use this as a side dish, and in some cases am able to cut in half to make two servings along grilled porkchops and potatos.

Take 4-6 large portabello mushrooms and lightly clean under water.  Pat dry with towel and careful not to damage gills if possible.

Using a small pairing knife, cut down the stems so they they are flush with the remaining mushroom.

Being careful, randomly press in fresh pine nuts (arrow side down) into gills until covered all around.  This is the most time consuming part of the whole recipe, and make sure the pine nuts are fresh.  Older nuts can taste funny if the natural oils go rancid.

Brush olive oil on both sides of mushroom and bring to preheated grill.  Season with fresh black pepper and kosher or sea salts.

Using tongs, go ahead and place portabello’s gill side down on either indirect or low-to-medium heat.  Grill about 5 minutes.

Turn mushrooms over and now grill an additional 10-15 minutes to desired color or until mushroom begins to shrivel on ends.  Be careful not to burn and avoid flare-ups from oil.

Serve immediately with main dish, or cut in 1/2 to double prepared servings.

Now, you can do also ditch the pine nuts and just plain grill them and use the finished mushroom like you would a patty in a hamburger.  They are meaty and large enough to be placed on a bun with all the traditional fixings, and thus quite healthy and great if you have any stinking vegitereans at your party.  You know, they’re the ones drinking wine coolers and talking how great Obama is off in the corner.  Serve with a good beer.

Now I only included one recipe here, due to the length of my introduction, but look for part 2 in the coming days with some additional recipes and tips.  Look for part 2 in the next few days!

This past weekend we celebrated my wife’s 40th birthday with a BBQ at our house. Not only was it a celebration of her birthday, but also a few of our neighbors birthday’s as well that all fell around the same time frame these past two weeks.

I’m not exactly sure how and when it happened, but it seems that our house is the goto house for parties as of late, since our other neighbor picked up his family and moved out to Texas last year.  See, we used to have block parties that spanned the end of our culdesac street that primarily centered out of his driveway and that of his neighbor. But now that they are gone, the street scene now tends to migrate down to our house. Not that I’m complaining. We enjoy entertaining and hosting cookouts. We have a corner house with nobody behind us, and a nice sized backyard. The only issue for me is I kinda do get tired of cleaning it up the next day. In that respect, I wish my neighbors volunteered their homes a bit more often.

So the main theme was somewhat latin in flavor. We decorated the house and backyard with Mexican themed streamers, banners, and cutouts.  Tacos, Spanish rice, ranch style beans, and margaritas were on tap, but these weren’t your typical tacos. I ended up making two different gourmet style types. The first were three large top sirloin steaks in a citrus-chipotle marinade that were cooked out on the grill and then cut up for easy service.

The second was a slow cooked pulled-pork shoulder that I had marinated in an achiote paste recipe served with roasted peppers and grilled pineapple. All the usual condiments were present: sour cream, shredded cheese, red onions, cilantro, various salsas and hot sauces. Monica happened to make a salad as well, and we had plenty of margarita’s, Jack Daniels, wine, and beer on hand.

[View with PicLens]

Listen to the podcast on how I prepared the pulled pork, and check out my earlier post on achiote paste and powder to know what it is and how to make. I can tell you it was delicious and I got some solid thumbs up from our guests.  I also discuss the preparation of roasted pasilla/pablano and Anaheim chili peppers (on the grill or in the oven), along with grilled pineapple.  I guarantee the added color and texture of fresh roasted peppers along with the sweet caramelized taste of fresh grilled pineapple bring these pork tacos full circle as a treat to the taste buds.

Monica did very well in the gift department as you can tell by the pictures, that is if you like alcohol as a gift. The more I think about it though, it may appear that by the amount of Crown Royal she received, one would think she has a problem. But I’m sure that Crown will be used up by everyone in future parties and I’m sure I’ll have a slug here and there.

As the night marched on, one of our friends Anthony found himself taking a liking to the Jack Daniels…perhaps a bit too much…and we had an entertaining ‘exit’ show as his wife (who drove) was rounding him up to leave.  There were plenty of hugs to go around initiated by Anthony, as well as multiple ‘good-byes’ and the almost wipe-out of our entertainment center which includes a 42″ plasma television, blu-ray player, stereo system, XBox and Wii gaming systems.

Even later when the natives got restless an impromptu session of Rock Band 2 broke out, with yours truly attempting to sing, and sing badly I did.  Girls took turns playing the drums and guitar and even singing.  Needless to say, there were plenty of pictures taken and all had a good time. 

The part at its peak was about 30 people strong, enjoying each other’s company, the outdoor fireplaces, drinks, jokes, games,and of course, food.  It wrapped up by 1:15am, and I did some preliminary cleaning until I finally crashed at 1:45.  The next day consisted of cleaning the house and resting.

Show Notes:

• Intro Song: Cumbia De Los Muertos (track 3) of the self-titled debut album, Ozomatli.
  

  Ozomatli

• Pulled Achiote Pork preparation along with roasted peppers and grilled pineapple.
• The Crown Royal Easter bunny.
• Anthony almost takes out the entertainment center.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (37.3MB)

Found to season and color an increasing number of dishes in Latin American, Jamaican, and Filipino cuisines, recado rojo, aka ‘achiote paste’, is becoming quite popular.  While it has it’s own distinct and unique flavor, it was primarily used to color foods as a substitute to the more expensive saffron.

Achiote paste or powder is a derivative of ground annatto seeds (aka bixin) that come from the fruit of the Bixa Orellana tree that is found in southeast asia and was brought to the America’s by the Spanish in the 17th century.  The spiny red fruit contains a capsule fulls of seeds, which when dried is a brown and hard.  When combined with other spices, this paste became very popular as an additive in numerous Latin American dishes.

In the states, you may recognize this ingredient in slow cooked pork dishes in Latin and Mexican dishes, often known as ‘al pastor’.  It has a rich, deep red color and often smoky and earthy taste.  It can also be found in the drink, tascalate, (Chiapas, Mex.) and conchinita pibil (spicy pork dish).

Okay, enough of the history lesson and National Geographic discussion.  Why do you care about any of this?  Well, chances are you won’t unless you find yourself playing drunk Jeopardy at a backyard BBQ and want to impress your guests with useless Cliff Clavin trivia.  People always like to know what they are eating, and I always find people think dishes taste better if they come to believe the background on the ingredients is a bit exotic and there is some additional preparation behind your work.

The recipe below is pretty easy to make once you have everything, and I think it is pretty versitile.  You can use it a wet rub when marinating pork, and even with some south of the border fishes (brush it on while grilling).  It can be used in slow cookers as a base broth, or added as a sauce topper to enchiladas, tacos, and what ever else you want.  It accompanies great with grilled pineapple.

There are a few various brands of achiote on the market in both paste and powder forms and can usually be found in Mexican specialty markets or neighborhood grocery stores.  You can also find it online.  However, if you want a fresh and powerful homemade taste, the I offer up the following easy recipe. (Please send me your own recipes and dishes and let me know how it turns out):

Ingredients:

• 5 TBS achiote (annatto) seeds
• 2 Tsp cumin seeds
• 1 TBS black peppercorns
• 8 whole allspice berries
• 1/2 Tsp whole cloves
• 3 habanero peppers, seeded (wear gloves and avoid eye contact)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 8 cloves garlic
• 2 TBS coarse salt, (or sea salt, or kosher salt)
• 5 lemons, juiced
• 1 Tsp premium tequila

1. With a clean spice grinder, grind annatto seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, allspice berries, and cloves to a fine powder.
2. In a blender or food processor, mix the ground spices, habaneros, orange juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt.  Blend until smooth.  Mix in lemon juice and tequila.