Smoked Pork Chops with Roasted Pepper Sauce

This is a meal that took a little more effort and planning, but it was well worth it in the end.  The pork chops turned out delicious with the perfect amount of smoke, and the Roasted Pepper sauce rounded out the meal perfectly.  Here is how to prepare it:

 

Ingredients

• Bone in Pork Chops (marinade in mojo overnight)
• Red bell pepper
• Corn on the cob (rubbed in basil butter)
• Quinoa with zucchini and sweet potato (trader joe's brand)
• Sauce: heavy cream, garlic cloves, 1/2 an onion

Step 1: Fire up the grill with half set up for direct and the other half indirect.  See the picture below with my fire bricks separating the two parts of the weber kettle.  Roast the peppers over direct heat until they are soft and charred.

 

 

Step 2: Wrap corn on the cob in foil after coating generously with basil butter.  To cook the pork chops I first put them over direct heat and rotate in a fashion to create nice grill marks (see picture below).  Then move the corn and pork over to the indirect side of the weber. 

 



 

Step 3: Add some wood chips to the coals (cherry in my case) and let it ride. 

 

 

Step 4: Make the sauce.  While you're starting the grill, finely chop a 1/2 onion and a couple cloves of garlic.  Once the red pepper is roasted on the grill, remove the crispy exterior until you have a soft pepper remaining.  Chop this somewhat finely as well.  In a medium saucepan, cook the onions with a little spray or olive oil until they are tender.  Next add the garlic, and then the roasted red peppers.  Cook these all together for another minute or so.  Finally add about 1/2 cup heavy cream and let it simmer.  I covered this and allowed it to cook down for about 10-15 minutes.

 

 

 Step 5: Prepare the quinoa by adding a little chicken broth and allowing to simmer. 

 

 

Step 6: Pull the pork chops when the internal temp reaches 145 degrees.  Notice the nice golden brown on the chops from the smoke.

 

 

 

 Step 7: Plate and enjoy.  Top the pork with the roasted red pepper sauce.

 

Grilled Salmon Pasta

This is one of the better meals that we've had in a while, but I think it's partially because we haven't had pasta in a while and eating Salmon is even rarer.  My wife isn't a huge fish fan, so I had to find a way to blend this into a meal that was tasty. 

 

Ingredients:

• Salmon
• Angel hair pasta
• Zucchini
• Thai Shrimp Salad
• Olive Oil
• Everyday seasoning
• Minced Garlic
• Frozen Spinach

Step 1: Cook the pasta.  Drain the water and mix in a little olive oil, frozen spinach, and a teaspoon of minced garlic for flavor.  Stir well and cover until plating.

 

 

Step 2: Grill the salmon and zucchini.  I put a little everyday seasoning on my salmon and zucchini.  I cooked the salmon over indirect heat and added some orange wood chips for a hint of smoky flavor.  The zucchini was cooked simultaneously in a grilling bowl over direct heat.  the zucchini was tossed in olive oil and everyday seasoning.  At the very end I lightly coated the salmon with some orange sauce I had in the refrigerator.

 

 

Step 3: Plate the food.  I first put down a bed of angel hair pasta, then a bed of zucchini on top, and then I add the salmon.  My final garnish was this Thai Shrimp Salad that I found at whole foods when I bought the salmon.  I thought it looked good, so I gave it a try.

 



 

The end result was fantastic.  This is a perfect example of pulling together a couple of things to make a delicious meal.  My wife was pleasantly surprised!

 



 

Venison Basil Pizza

In my previous post I referenced this week's mission to clean out the refrigerator and freezer.  Well tonight's meal included frozen pizza dough, sauce, and leftover stuffing from last nights meal you can see here.  However, we did use fresh mozzarella chunks on this particular pizza.  I cooked this pizza the same way I do any other, which can be seen here.

 

 

 

Venison Stuffed Peppers

This was one of those weeks were we took advantage of what we had in our refrigerator and freezer.  If you were to ask my wife, she would say that I'm know for overbuying at the grocery store and always having leftover materials or meals in our fridge, so this week we cleaned some of that out and make some pretty tasty meals in the process.

 

Ingredients:

• Bell Peppers
• Ground venison
• Mozzarella
• Frozen Spinach
• Feta cheese
• Zucchini
• Italian Seasoning
• Fresh Basil leaves

To make the stuffing, start by browning the ground venison in a sauté pan.  You could also just substitute ground beef here.  Once it's cooked, add it to a mixing bowl.  In the bowl combine the browned venison, 1 cup of feta, 1 cup frozen spinach, chopped fresh basil leaves, and Italian seasoning.  Stir this mixture together well and stuff the peppers.  Top with grated Mozzarella.

 

 

Cook on the grill over indirect heat for about 10-15 minutes or until the sides of the pepper feel soft. 

Fresh Fish Tacos

What do you do when you catch fresh fish at the beach?  Make fish tacos!  These are three decent size Black Drum I caught off the Ocean Isle Beach pier just recently.  I fileted them on the spot and froze them for only a couple of days.  They were as fresh as can be by the time we made our fish tacos.  For the full recipe, please visit my previous post by clicking here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilled Stir Fry

This is the new Weber Grill Wok I recently found and purchased at a garage sale.   After using it only once I question whether the previous owner had even used it at all.  Woks discolor with use and heat, and this one was in perfect condition when I bought it.  It is now seasoned and will certainly be used again.

 

The first thing I did was build a very large coal base.  Let the coals mature and then spread them throughout the weber for even heat distribution on the wok.  You want the wok to be very hot for cooking, so don't worry too much about adding too many coals.

 

 

 Once the wok was hot I added some wok oil which immediately smoked once it hit the wok surface. This told me the wok was at the right temperature.  The first food I added was some chicken sausage. I've heard that it's really good to season a wok with bacon, so I figured sausage would be the next best thing. 

 

 As you can see, the sausage seared and cooked rather quickly.

 

 

 Next I added some shrimp which were peeled.  This also cooked up quick at which point I pulled the shrimp and sausage and placed it in a serving bowl.

 

 

Everytime I add something new to the wok I add a little more wok oil.  Next up were the veggies which were partially frozen.  I sautéed these in the wok until they became tender.

 



 

 Next in the stir fry was pad thai noodles which I precooked.  These were part of a package, but I only cooked the pasta and reserved the sauce packet that came with for the grill wok. 

 

 

Once the pasta was separated and mixed with the veggies I began adding a little bit of soy sauce and orange stir fry sauce.  I added a little more sauce in three separate stages while continuing to stir the food.

 

At this point the stir fry is nearing completion.  I add the shrimp and sausage back to the wok along with some sesame seeds.

 

Lastly I add one more batch of sauce and really stir everything together.

 



 

Pictured below is the finished product topped with some crushed cashews.

 



Garage Sale Find

Last Saturday I found all of this at my neighborhood garage sale. I happened to be on daddy duty that morning and took my son for a walk around 8am. Right next door I noticed what appeared to be a brand new Weber. $30 later I walked away with a barely used Weber kettle, charcoal chimney, and Weber brand wok which they don't sell anymore.  I consider this a pretty big score for a grilling fanatic!  Needless to say, these are now used goods.