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Category Archives: Grilling

Turkey Burgers and a Camping Re-cap

Grilling July 25, 2012 Comments: 7

We’re home!

Finally.

(I know you all missed me… I know I missed you.)

It was quite an adventure, let me tell you.  Here are the 10 most important things I learned while camping:

1.  Just because you’re camping at the end of July does not guarantee nice weather (especially in Western Washington).

2. If you end up in the middle of a downpour that lasts for hours (and the biggest excitement for your boys is watching the water drip off your tarp), it’s okay to have a Plan B.

3.  It’s even better if your Plan B involves a gorgeous house, with a state-of-the-art home movie theater, several drinks, a hot shower, and a warm bed – not located in the same room as your children.

4.  Going back to the campsite the next morning after the rain finally stops shows determination (and proves to your husband that you are not a quitter).

5.  Sticks and rocks can keep boys happily occupied for hours.

6.  We have some of the most beautiful views off the coast of Washington.

7.  Camping near a naval air station is great when watching their jet planes do manuevers over the beach during the day… but not so great when they practice those same manuevers every 20 minutes from 10pm until 1am.

8.  Sleeping all-together in one tent with no dividers is not a good plan.

9.  Baby wipes are a Godsend for any situation.

10.  Even though there’s about an 80/20 ratio of work to play, it’s all worth it to see faces like these:

Now for a recipe. :)

The Recipe:

Turkey Burgers, adapted from Cooks Illustrated, July/August 2012

20 oz ground turkey meat

6 oz white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

4 pieces of bacon, sliced into small pieces

1 T soy sauce

1/4 t salt

pepper to taste

Place mushrooms, soy sauce, and bacon in food processor.  Pulse into a paste. Move into large bowl, adding ground turkey, salt and pepper.  Combine using hands until well mixed.  Form into patties and grill.

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

In all honesty, I did not make these, Hubs did – and I forgot to take pictures. But these are the most amazing turkey burgers I’ve ever had (and they even have mushrooms in them!).  I just had to share them with you all.

Hubs had made these a couple of weeks ago and froze the patties – but you couldn’t even tell.  They were juicy, meaty, and a perfect way to treat the burger craving – they taste almost exactly like beef patties.

~~~~

I’m off now to continue the post-camping recovery – which includes a good book and a comfy bed.  :)

(Oh, and I’m trying to catch up with all the posts I’ve missed, so bear with me if it takes a couple days to visit you.)

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Hawaiian Grilled Chicken & Coconut Rice

Grilling June 7, 2012 Comments: 16

The weather has not been cooperating around here.

(Seriously, it’s been in the 50′s, gray and wet, for weeks.)

It’s not good for my mood, let me tell you.

So, I had this idea that if I made something from a sunny place, on the grill, it would give me the pick-me-up I was looking for.

That’s not exactly what happened.

The Recipes:

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken, slightly adapted from A Dash of Thyme

3 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 c low sodium soy sauce

2 c water

1 1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c white onion, chopped

1/2 t minced garlic

1 t of sesame oil

1 (13.5oz) can of coconut milk

Remove visible fat from chicken thighs.  Mix soy sauce, water, brown sugar, onions, garlic, sesame oil, and coconut milk in a large bowl. Marinade chicken for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Grill chicken at a low heat so that the marinade does not burn for 5-7 minutes per side or until done.

Serve with rice or noodles.

~~~~

Coconut Rice, adapted from About.com

1 c Thai jasmine-scented white rice

1 c good-quality coconut milk

3/4 c water

Place rice, coconut milk, water, and salt in the pot and set over medium-high to high heat.  Stir occasionally to keep rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.

Once the coconut-water has begun to gently bubble, stop stirring and reduce heat to low (just above minimum).  Cover tightly with a lid and let simmer 15-20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.  To check, pull rice aside with a fork.  If most of the coconut milk-water is gone, go on to the next step.

Replace the lid and turn off the heat, but leave the covered pot on the burner to steam another 5-10 minutes, or until you’re ready to eat.

When ready to serve, remove the lid and fluff rice with a fork or chopsticks. Taste-test the rice for salt, adding a little more if needed.

{Printable Recipes}

The Results:

Hmmm, let’s start with reading the chicken recipe.  For some reason, in my head, I saw three pieces of chicken – not three pounds.  And then, when I went to gather my ingredients, the amounts seemed vast for such a small amount of meat.  So, I halved the recipe…and still ended up with way more marinade than necessary.

(And I’m also going to admit here that I’m not a huge fan of soy sauce, so even as I was making it, I was feeling a little turned off.)

After it marinated for a while, it was time to grill.  I kind of forgot to figure in the actual outdoor aspect of grilling…in the rain…and the cold.  I really should’ve had Hubs take a picture of me, in my heavy rain coat, hood up, trying to grill.  A happy griller was not made, let’s just say.

Anyways, on top of being stuck outside in the rain, the chicken decided to take twice as long to cook as mentioned in the recipe.  That’s about 20 minutes standing in the rain.

(By the way, I’d made the rice before I went out, and just left it off the heat, steaming, with a towel under the lid – and it turned out perfectly cooked.)

Finally, the chicken was done (after Hubs had to come out and check that I wasn’t overcooking it, which I wasn’t – but it did get him out in the rain, too, which kinda made me happy… is that bad?).

It looked pretty, though a lot like any teriyaki chicken you’d find at a take-out place.  And it pretty much tasted like it, too.  Now, considering I’m not a huge fan of soy sauce or teriyaki-style food, it wasn’t a big hit with me.  Even the coconut rice tasted a little boring.  But my oldest and Hubs really liked it (huge teriyaki fans that they are) – and cleaned their plates right off.

I think I was also just in a pissy mood from my outdoor adventures.  So, onto some tips…

I only let the chicken marinade for the minimum of four hours – and strongly suggest that if you make this, you do it overnight. The chicken was lightly flavored – and I think it could’ve used more of a boost.

Also, I think I would’ve liked a ratio change in the ingredients…more sweet coconut milk, less salty soy sauce.  And I would’ve considered adding some real coconut to both dishes to try to flavor them up a bit.

Hubs may be making this again, for himself, but I think I’ll stick with something I can cook inside.

Grilled Chicken Sliders with Roasted Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Cooking Fun, Grilling September 22, 2011 Comments: 8

I’ve been eyeballing this recipe for months.

Caroline, at Sweet Caroline’s Cooking, posted her slider recipe right about the time I posted my Meatball Sliders.  (Great minds think alike, you know.)  Anyways, it looked so delicious, but I knew I’d have to gear up to make them.

There were lots of parts to this recipe, and to make my baking-addiction-side happy, I knew that I wanted to make some homemade rolls to serve the sliders on.  So this was a several day project.

So worth it!

You may remember the Hawaiian Rolls from earlier this week.  Well, now you know their purpose and will be happy to hear that their culinary destiny has been fulfilled.

I do so like fulfilling culinary destinies.  It makes me happy.

The Recipes:

Grilled Chicken Sliders with Roasted Tomatoes, Mozzarella Cheese, and Basil Aioli, adapted from Sweet Caroline’s Kitchen

Basil Aioli

1 c good mayonnaise (I actually made my own and will include that recipe at the bottom)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 T dried basil, or to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients.

Roasted Tomatoes

6 T + extra, extra-virgin olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 T dried basil

1 t coarse kosher salt, or to taste

1 t freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

4 large plum tomatoes (about 1 lb), quartered lengthwise

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Stir oil, garlic, dried basil, pinch of salt and pepper in large bowl to blend.  Add tomato quarters and stir to coat. Let stand 5 minutes, or more. Line baking sheet with foil and remove tomatoes from marinade.  Arrange tomatoes, cut side down, on prepared baking sheet (reserve leftover marinade for hamburger buns).

Roast tomatoes until skin is browned and blistered and tomatoes are very tender, about 30 minutes. Cool tomatoes on sheet.

Chicken Sliders

Hawaiian Rolls

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half and pounded

salt and pepper, for seasoning

garlic basil oil, leftover from roasted tomatoes

fresh mozzarella

roasted tomatoes

fresh basil leaves

garlic aioli

Pound 2 raw chicken breasts, then cut into thirds.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spray grill with vegetable spray, then place chicken on the grill.  Cook about 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.  Once chicken is cooked, place a generous slice of fresh mozzarella cheese on top of each piece.  Close grill and cook until cheese is melted.

Brush both sides of hamburger buns with the leftover oil from the tomatoes.  Place buns face down on grill and cook until toasted.

Put together and serve.

[Homemade Mayonnaise, adapted from Anne Burrell foodnetwork.com

3 egg yolks

1/4 c red wine vinegar

kosher salt

1 c vegetable oil

1/2 olive oil

Place the egg yolks in the bowl of the food processor and add the vinegar and mustard.  Season with salt, to taste.  Turn the machine on and VERY slowly start to drizzle in the oil.  Drip, drip, drip until the mixture starts to look like mayonnaise, then a slow steady stream of oil can be added.]

{Printable Recipe}

The Results:

I wasn’t originally planning on making this dish as complicated as it ended up.  I had to make the rolls, though.  I just knew they would be the perfect complement to the basil/garlic/tomato/chicken flavor.

And then, for the aioli, I only had cheapo mayonnaise, so I looked up how to make my own.  It seemed really easy, and I had just gotten my very own fancy mini-food-processor (actually I won it from my friend Kate’s site!!)…so I thought why the heck not?  Well, I accidentally started with three egg yolks.  And then I ran out of vegetable oil, so I had to substitute with olive oil.  But you know what, it turned out really good.  Lots of flavor – that actually worked well with the ingredients in the aioli.

Then I moved on to the tomatoes.  (I had to take this recipe one step at a time or I think I’d've been completely overwhelmed.)

I used fresh tomatoes from our garden – and if you’ve never had fresh vine-picked tomatoes, you are missing out!  Look at these lovely beauties:

Roasting them was extremely easy.  And the smell.  Mmmm…  I didn’t realize that I was such a smell person until I started cooking.  I had to sample a few, of course, after they were done.  Just to make sure they were okay to serve to others.  I am so selfless.

Now came the hard part: raw chicken.  Hubs had me purchase a whole chicken for a variety of reasons, including giving me a tutorial on how to split up a chicken into all its different pieces.  Let’s just say I left after one bone socket was pulled out and cut.  It was a little much for me.

Anyways, I did power through my raw meat issues enough to slice and pound the chicken flat.  I think that’s at least a step in the right direction.

Then it was grilling time.  I was very concerned about the timing of grilling the chicken (to a correct temperature without over-cooking), melting the mozzarella, and grilling the buns.  It was a little hectic, but I got it done.  Done well, even.

I love the colors that the sandwich has.  (Oh, and please ignore my triangular-shaped chicken piece.  Apparently, I have issues with matching shapes.)

And it tasted just as good as it looked.  The mix of roasted tomatoes with the just-spicy and tangy aioli, paired with the moist chicken.  Added to the yeasty-sweet Hawaiian rolls.  Oh, my.

It was all I was expecting and more.

And more is always, always good.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Cooking Fun, Grilling June 19, 2011 Comments: 4

I don’t have a recipe to share today, but I do have a great idea for any leftovers you might have from last week’s Honey Orange BBQ Chicken…

My husband took the four pieces we had left, added some yummy CSA veggies, put it on top of some homemade pizza crust, and viola!  The most delicious BBQ Chicken Pizza ever.

I mean, come on!

Yes, there are even mushrooms on it.  And guess what, I liked them.  What is wrong with me???

Just thought I’d share.

Happy Father’s Day!

Honey Orange BBQ Chicken

Cooking Fun, Grilling June 17, 2011 Comments: 11

I’m all about testing myself these days.

I’ve realized it’s good for the soul — and for the stomach, apparently.

Since I had great success roasting peppers on the barbecue, I decided to try for a main dish using the grill. 

Additionally, I wanted to use something from our very first CSA box.  Yay for fresh, organic (and mostly local) fruits and vegetables!  (And thank you to Val from Val’s Gluten Free Favorites and Jane Maynard from This Week for Dinner for talking up their experiences using a CSA.)

It didn’t take me long to find a terrific recipe on FoodNetwork.com – and from a show I normally don’t even watch…

The Recipe:

Honey Orange BBQ Chicken, adapted from The Neelys on foodnetwork.com

Marinade:

1/4 c freshly squeezed orange juice

1/8 c olive oil

1/8 c hot sauce

1/8 c Dijon mustard

1/2 T grated orange zest

6 chicken pieces, patted dry with paper towels

Glaze:

2 T butter

1/8 c honey

1/8 c freshly squeezed orange juice

1/8 c Hubby’s BBQ sauce (sorry, secret recipe I’m not allowed to share)

1/2 T grated orange zest

1 T Dijon mustard

1/8 t allspice

Mix the orange juice, olive oil, hot sauce, mustard, and orange zest together in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight in the refrigerator.

Prepare the grill to medium direct heat. Let chicken come to room temperature before grilling.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan on the grill. Whisk in the honey, orange juice, BBQ sauce, zest, mustard and allspice. Reserve some of the glaze in a small ramekin for serving.

Grill chicken, skin side down, for about 5 minutes.  Flip over and brush the chicken with glaze.  Turn the heat to medium-low and cover the lid of the grill. Continue cooking the chicken until it’s cooked through, about 25 minutes more, reapplying glaze every 5-10 minutes.

Remove the chicken from grill to a platter and serve with reserved glaze.

The Results:

Can I just start off by saying that this truly was AMAZING!  This was one of my best dishes to date – and everyone agreed (including the picky four-year old and the baby!).

I went with this recipe because we had gotten several organic oranges in our CSA box, and I thought they just sounded good with chicken.  Note to self (and others), it is much easier to zest an orange before you juice it.  Just an FYI.

Grilling turned out to be a piece of cake!  Seriously easy.  It was hotter than I thought, and I was a little over-protective of my chicken (I probably checked on it at least 7 or 8 times in the 25 minutes) – but that led to extra glazing, not a bad thing at all…

How can you not want to go back and check on this yumminess?

Since I’ve had issues with chicken in the past, especially when cooking it a new way, I wanted to make sure it was really done.  I wanted to make sure the chicken was a toasty 165 degrees before removing it from the grill.  Hubs was helpful in this, as he showed me the correct way to check the temperature (into the fattest part and not next to a bone). 

I think it turned out looking good.  What do you think?
 

And I served it with a fresh salad, made from our CSA goodies and some lettuce from our own garden.

See, I’m working on healthy.

I can not say enough how awesome this chicken turned out. It was juicy and flavorful – citrusy, sweet yet tart, and the added grill taste made it perfect. Seriously, please try this. I insist.

Overall, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed barbecuing and how simple it really was.

And I didn’t even mind that I smelled like cooked chicken all night. 

Now that’s a sign of good meal.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Cooking Fun, Grilling June 12, 2011 Comments: 11

Last night was another first.  A big first for me.

I cooked for a dinner party.  (For people who are not even related to me, even.)

I have to admit, I was a bit stressed out.  Because family has to tell you good things, but friends can be brutally honest.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, because I do want the truth.  I just happen to like it a little sugar-coated.

Anyways, I was making the full meal.  Salad (yes, veggies!), dinner, and dessert.  All in one day.

The Recipe:

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, adapted from Idiot’s Kitchen, adapted from Ree Drummond

1/2 lb pasta (I used bow ties)

3 red bell peppers, roasted

2 T butter

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 c heavy cream

1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated

fresh basil, chopped

salt and pepper

Melt 2 T of butter in a large pan and saute the onions for 3-4 minutes until tender but not browned.  Add the chopped garlic to the onions and saute for a few minutes more.  Add with roasted peppers to food processor.  Pulse a few times to blend – leaving you with a chunky mix.  Return to saute pan.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it generously, and drop in 1/2 pound of your favorite pasta.  Cook according to directions.

Turn heat on saute pan to medium-low.  Let mixture re-warm.  Add cream and stir until mixed.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  When pasta is cooked, drain and add to pan.  Add grated cheese and basil.

The Results:

I have to admit that I was little freaked out cooking for other people – and in front of them.  It didn’t help that they (and Hubs) were giving me a hard time the whole time I was cooking… but it actually all turned out fine.

I was very proud of myself for actually roasting the peppers.  Even better, I used the barbecue on my own (for the first time)!  For easy directions how, go here.  It was actually quite easy, though it took a little time for them to blacken.

They smelled so good!

And scraping off the skin was a little more frustrating than I was expecting – but honestly, it was well worth it.

My onions, though eventually food processed, were perfectly chopped.  Even my husband was impressed.  It only took six months to get there.  ;)   No pictures, though – I was working in front of an audience, so I had to keep my eye on the prize.
 
Also, since I was trying to not look like an idiot in front of our guests, I may have started skimming the recipe… and I put my garlic in with my onions instead of after them.  As Claudia from Idiot’s Kitchen warned in her recipe version, that can cause the garlic to get a little bitter.  This is true, though no one noticed besides me – since I was looking for it. 
 
 Additionally, I may  have sliced up my finger grating the parmesan.  No skin made it into the dish, though, so that’s good. 
 
I was proud, too, of the basil that I chiffonade-d.  Even my cutting skills are starting to get fancy!
 

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, and our friends, who’ve known us forever were very impressed that I was cooking.  They even took pictures, too, since they’d never seen it happen before. 

Good meal.  Good friends.  Good times!

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