Seafood Paella

This was my first batch of Paella on my new paella pan I received for Christmas.  I wanted to cook this on the big green egg, but it was rainy out and I couldn't wait.  Paella takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to cook, but it's not as complicated as you would think.  Here are the ingredients you will need and 8 steps to great seafood paella:

 

Ingredients:

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs
• Shrimp
• Littleneck clams
• Mussels
• Squid
• Chorizo sausage
• Arborio rice
• Chicken Stock
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 scallion or spanish onions
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper
• Olive oil
• frozen green peas
• White wine

Step 1: Cut one red bell pepper into strips.  Cut 2 plum tomatoes into cubes.  Mince a glove of garlic and finely chop 2 scallion onions (or spanish if you prefer).  Set aside for later cooking.

 

Step 2: Place 2-3 chorizo sausages into paella pan.  Add a little olive oil and simmer until the sausages are cooked through.  You should accumulate some good grease from the sausages.  Once cooked set aside.  Next place 3-4 boneless skinless chicken thighes into the paella pan and cook them in the leftover grease.  Once chicken is cooked set aside. 

Step 3: Add the chopped garlic and onions to the paella pan.  Splash in white wine and simmer until mixture becomes translucent. 

Step 4: At this point you will begin to add the arborio rice to make your risotto.  This is the most time consuming process to be done in a couple steps.  First, heat chicken stock into a sauce pan or pot and warm it over low heat.  Once the stock is warm add 1 cup of rice (or the whole bag in my case) to your paella pan.  Add enough warm chicken stock to the rice mixture so that it just covers the top of the rice.

Step 5:  Let the rice simmer until it absorbs most of the liquid.  Once all liquid is almost absorbed add more warm chicken stock again just enough to cover the rice.  At this point you will also add your diced tomatoes and sliced bell pepper.  Let this simmer again until all liquid is almost absorbed.

Repeat this process of adding warm chicken stock until your risotto is nice, fluffy, and creamy in texture.  Overall this could take 1 - 1.5 hours.

Step 6: When the risotto is creamy add 1 cup of frozen peas to the mixture.  I also added the clams as they will take the longest to open up or cook through.

Step 7: Add mussels, raw shrimp, and sliced squid to the mixture.

Step 8: Cut your chicken and sausage into cubes or small pieces and add to the mixture.  At this point all of the seafood should be close to cooked.  Stir thoroughly until everything is cooked and mixed together well.  Enjoy your seafood paella!

Clinched and Planked Rack of Lamb

One of my Christmas presents was an Adam Perry Lang cookbook from my wife.  If you haven't heard of him, I highly suggest you check him out.  His techniques are unique, and I couldn't wait to try one of them out.  My new grill screens presented the perfect opportunity to make his clinched and planked rack of lamb.  

 

Step 1: Seasoning.  I combined equal parts of kosher salt, pepper, sugar, and garlic powder in a coffee grinder along with a pinch of cayenne.  Mix it up and generously season the rack of lamb.

 

Step 2: Blue Cheese mashed red potatoes.  Boil 4 large red potatoes until they are cooked through.  In a bowl combine cooked potatoes, splash or two of milk, butter, and blue cheese crumbles.  Mix together to make mashed potatoes.

Step 3: Prep asparagus by drizzling olive oil and lightly sprinkling with garlic salt.

Step 4: Make the baste.  In a small saucepan combine 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 stick of butter, tablespoon of lard or rendered fat, and chopped scallion onion, garlic clove, rosemary, thyme, and parsley.  Heat the mixture over low heat until the butter and everything melts together.  Make a bundle of rosemary, thyme, and parsley and set aside.  Tie the bundle to the end of a wooden spoon to use as your basting brush during cooking.  Baste the rack of lamb just before cooking and add a little more seasoning.

Step 5: Cooking the lamb.  Clinching is a technique Adam uses that involves cooking your meat directly on a bed of mature coals.  This only works with natural hardwood lump and you should not use briquettes for this technique.  I placed the rack of lamb above and the grill screen directly on the coals for about 3-4 minutes.  I turned the meat several times until the meat clinched up and had a nice char on all sides.  Next I placed the grill grate back on the weber creating seperation between the coals and my new cooking surface.  The rack was placed in a pyramid fashion on a Maple wood plank that had been soaking in water for about 60 minutes.  At this point the grill was very hot, and it created a very nice smokey flavor from the maple wood plank.  Put the lid on the grill so the smoke permeates throughout and flavors the lamb.

During this process I continued to baste the rack of lamb several times adding layers of flavor.  The lamb was cooked to medium rare or an internal temperature of 125 degrees.

Step 6: This is actually a combination of things that occur while the lamb is cooking.  First, decanter and enjoy a nice bottle of red wine.  Second, melt mint jelly in a small sauce pan.

Third, toast a loaf of garlic bread.  And lastly, cook the asparagus for a couple of minutes.  I do not like overcooked asparagus, so I continually toss mine in a sautee pan until they are cooked but still firm or crunchy in texture.

Step 7: Once the lamb reached a temp of 125 I pulled it and allowed it to rest for about 5 minutes.

Step 8: Slice the lamb and plate.  Drizzle warm mint jelly over the sliced lamb.  Enjoy!

Tom's Christmas

I got a couple new toys for Christmas:

Cookbooks: Adam Lang - Charred and Scruffed & BBQ 25; Smokin with Myron Mixon
Grill screens
Electric Knife
Coffee / Seasoning grinder
Burger Press
Rib / Roast Rack
Paella Pan
Bass Spatula
8th Wonder seasoning
DigiQ for Green Egg (not pictured)

Anthony's Christmas Rib Roast

Meredith and I spent our Christmas this year in Wilmington, NC with her Brother in law, Sister, Mom, and Dad. It was especially important because it was our son Thomas's first Christmas along with our Niece Harper's in their new house. This post belongs to Anthony as he cooked an incredible rib roast on his Backwoods Smoker. Here is the rundown of his cook:

Step 1: prep the smoker.  Kingsford charcoal briquets.



Step 2: Add the woodchips and light the smoker.

Step 3: Trim the roast.  This one was especially large, so Anthony cut some steaks off before seasoning the final product.

Step 4: Season the roast.  This included a number of things consisting of an initial lighter rub of salt, pepper, etc followed by some olive oil and fresh herbs, and then some yardbird (bovine bold I believe) followed by a last drizzle of olive oil and remaining herbs.  The roast was also slotted and stuffed with garlic cloves throughout.  This sat out at room temp for an hour or so until the smoker was fully ready.

Step 5: Smoker is ready, meat on!

 Notice the drip pan underneath.

 2 1/2 hours in

Step 6: Pull the roast around 120-125 degrees for finishing.  This particular roast was finished on a weber kettle until it was medium temp on the outside and medium rare in the center of the roast.

Step 7: Slice and serve.

Step 8: Enjoy!  Notice the perfect medium rare roast alongside creamy mushrooms, green beans, potatoes and bacon & brussel sprouts!  This was a perfect Christmas dinner.  I have to give credit to Anthony for such a fine meal! 

Memphis Review

So it's been a while since my last post (aside from the scotch review).  This is partly because it's mid winter and there hasn't been a whole lot of time to cook much, but there was a pretty good trip to Memphis back on December 7th and 8th.  Here it goes:

This was a guys trip, and a good one at that.  Derek Yancey turned 31 on 12/7, but we all said we somehow figured out how to have a bachelor party without someone getting married.  3 of us arrived by plane at 9am on Friday and were picked up at the airport.  By noon we were at our first food joint: Gus's.  Long story short, this was the best Fried chicken i've ever eaten and it kicked off our 6 hour pub crawl through downtown Memphis.

Dinner Friday night was at Charles Vergos' Rendezvous.  Their claim to fame is their ribs and 'world famous BBQ.'  They had two brick open pits and used Royal Oak Charcoal Briquetts to cook on.  There is no wood or smoke involved, and they cook their ribs at 350-400.  The end result is a rack that is good, but does not have a smoke ring or pull off the bone.  I spoke to the pit master for a couple minutes, and he said they cater to the masses and most people don't know that pink indicates smoke and results in them sending ribs back.  This was not my kind of rib just in my opinion, but they are doing something right.

The first thing we did on Saturday was wake up and head to Double J's BBQ.  Long story short, I had some of the best pulled pork i've ever eaten at this place.  We had to walk past the pit in the back just to get into the place, and you could tell these guys knew what they were doing.  Nothing fancy, just an offset smoker with hickory logs.  This pork had a great bark, perfect pink smoke ring, and you could taste the hickory along with the pork.  This was the best meal of the weekend in my opinion!

Next stop, Tunica!  12 dudes packed in a limo for 45 minutes and then gambling for 3 hours.  Enough said!  Once we got back to Memphis we went to a place called Local for dinner.  I had an appetizer that consisted of fries topped with blue cheese, bacon, and cheddar and then my meal was lobster tacos which were amazing.  After dinner we went to the Hawks Grizzlies game in the FedEx Forum.  Hawks won and then off to watch some great music on Beale Street.  One memory is my buddy Cory and I finding some commercial pits in the back of one of the bars.  It was pretty cool checking them out until we both got busted back there and almost kicked out!

That about sums up the weekend for us other than breakfast at Waffle House the next day with Ponch.  Memphis is a cool town with some great food and music.  I'll definitely be back!

Scotch Review

My friend Cory turned me on to this stuff. My first taste was on our trip to Memphis back on 12/8, and this is my first bottle. To summarize, it's like smoking a cigar every time you take a sip. Definitely a lowland scotch, very smokey, you can taste the peat and iodine.  It's good as a one glasser, but very strong beyond that.  This bottle will likely last a while!

 

SEC Championship Saturday

 

Saturday turned out to be an awesome day of smoking, grilling, and great football.  Above is a picture of Cory and me sometime in the middle of the day with all three grills going at once.  Cory came over around 11:45am.  He was 100% in charge of the ribs which went on around 12:15pm.  His ribs are pictured below along with some Nathan's little smokes I had left over after ABT prep.

Next up in the lineup for Saturday were the chicken wings.  Sean came over around 1:30 with 3 excellent batches of wings: traditional buffalo, lemon pepper, and sweet and spicy asian.  I added some myself just seasoned with salt and pepper.  Pictured below is the weber smokenator which worked like a champ all day. 

 Tom's wings:

Full 22.5 weber kettle with smokenator insert:

Finished product:

 

Cory had ribs, Sean had wings, and I was in charge of the ABTs.  ABT is short for Atomic Buffalo Turd.  I was first turned on to these things by our neighbor Eric at the National BBQ Cup.  I did some research on the internet and ended up with this:

 

Cut Jalapenos in half length wise and de-seed them.  Mix garlic vegetable cream cheese in a bowl with diced up Nathan's little smokies.  Mix together thoroughly.  Fill the jalapeno boat with the mixture and wrap in bacon.  I put these back in the fridge until they were ready to go on the grill.

 

These were put on direct heat first and then added to the weber smokenator once the wings came off.  The finished product after smoking for close to 2 hours is pictured below.



All in all this was a good day.  There is however one thing that could have made it perfect, a Georgia win.  Great game though and i'm sure we'll be back next year!

Bacon Wrapped Venison Backstrap Medallions

This was my last venison backstrap from my deer last year.  I'm hoping to replace it with more in the freezer when I hunt on my birthday this year.  Venison is a very lean meat and takes a little extra care to cook it right.  Here is a break down of how I prepped and cooked this backstrap.

  

 

 

Ingredients:

• Venison Backstrap - cut into medallions
• Applewood smoked bacon
• Marinade: fresh thyme, brown sugar, honey, molasses, red wine, worchestershire, pineapple teriyaki marinade
• Fresh okra
• Baby bella mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic
• Seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, sugar
• Reduction: cherry marmalade, balsamic vinegar, red wine 

Step 1: The day before I will prep the medallions and marinade them overnight.  From here it is the evening of the dinner: Precook the bacon.  Cook it about halfway so it doesn't take as long when you put it on the grill.  I do this because I want to cook my venison medallions medium rare to medium and cooking the bacon entirely on the grill would result in a well done backstrap.  The purpose of the bacon is to add flavor and some fat into the venison.

 

 

Step 2: Season the venison medallions, wrap in bacon, and put them on a skewer.  Quarter the baby bellas and cut the tops off of the fresh okra.

 

 

 

Step 3: Add 3-4 heaping tablespoons of cherry marmalade to a sauce pan.  Splash in red wine and balsamic vinegar.  Let simmer over medium heat.  Add minced garlic cloves and mushrooms to the leftover bacon grease. Sautee over low to medium heat. 

 

 

 

Step 4: At this point I will have the BGE preheated to around 400 degrees.  Put the venison medallions on the grill and turn ever 3 minutes.  The cherry marmalade reduction should be pretty syrup like at this point, continue cooking over low heat.  Add the okra to the sautee pan and cook for a few minutes.  Okra is best crisp and can get overcook if left on too long.  Right about the time the okra is cook and the reduction is finished you can pull your venison from the grill.  Again, it's best to cook backstraps medium rare to medium as they can dry out if overcooked.

 

 

 

Plate the vegetables and venison medallions, and drizzle some of the reduction sauce over the meat.  Enjoy with some red wine and watch the Falcons beat the Saints!

Oyster Po Boy Wraps & Fried Green Tomatoes

After Thanksgiving weekend at the beach, my mother in law sent us home with some oysters and green tomatoes.  What should you do with those two items, fry them!  Let me preface this post by saying we rarely fry stuff in our house, mostly grilled food, but when we do fry I like to do it right!  Here's a rundown of this delicious dinner:

 

Ingredients:

• Oysters
• Green Tomatoes
• Romain lettuce
• Whole wheat wraps
• Pepperjack cheese
• Eggs & Milk
• Batter: Flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, and garlic powder
• Spice Remoulade Sauce: mayo, pickle juice, spicy mustard, sweet chili sauce, cayenne, paprika, horseradish, clove of garlic, hot sauce (franks or texas pete)

Step 1: Make the spicy remoulade sauce.  In a food processor, combine 1 1/4 cup of mayo, 1/4 cup spicy mustard, garlic clove smashed, tablespoon of pickle juice, tablespoon of horseradish, dash of cayenne and paprika, tablespoon of hot sauce, 1/4 cup of sweet chili sauce.  Blend together until smooth consistency.  As with any sauce, you can adjust the amount of ingredients to suite your preference.



 

Step 2: slice the romaine and green tomatoes.  Pour some white wine to go with it!  In a bowl combine 2 eggs and some milk.  In a ziploc back combine 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of cornmeal, 1 tablespoon of pepper, tablespoon of salt, and tablespoon of garlic powder.  Shake the bag up to mix the batter together before emptying into a bowl.

Step 3: Add olive oil to a cast iron skillet and heat.  Dip green tomatoes in the egg & milk mixture until coated.  Add to batter and cover.  Fry the green tomatoes until golden brown!

Step 4: repeat step 3 above for the oysters.  I drained the oil and added new olive oil just to be clean.

Step 5: On a whole wheat wrap add fried oysters, cheese, and lettuce.  Top with spicy remoulade and roll it up.  Serve fried green tomatoes as the side and enjoy!

Sunday Baby Backs & Falcons Football

These were some leftover baby backs I had in the freezer after the National BBQ Cup.  The Falcons were playing the Bucs and the weather was perfect for grilling.  The Falcons won and the ribs turned out pretty good as expected.  Here's a quick rundown of the cook:

 

 

Step 1: remove membrane from back of rack.  spray exterior with some apple juice to help the rub stick.  Rub was kroger brand sweet and spice rub.  Coat top of ribs with an extra layer of brown sugar and allow to set in for about 30-60 minutes before placing on the smoker.

Step 2: Preheat the BGE to 225, add apple wood chips.  These racks went on around noon on Sunday.  Cook unwrapped for 3 hours.  Every 45-60 minutes open up the egg and spray the racks with apple juice to help them retain moisture.  It also adds a little bit of flavor back into the meat.

Step 3: Lay a sheet of foil out and create a bed of brown sugar, honey, and squirt butter.  Lay the ribs meaty side down and curl the foil up creating a boat like shape.  Put some more honey and butter on the underside.  Now add 1/2 cup of apple juice and 1/2 cup of Pineapple Teriyaki marinade (measurements not exact).  Seal the ribs in foil and place back on the grill for 1.5-2 hrs. 

My parents came over for dinner around 4:15pm so I pulled the racks back off around 4:30pm after cooking in foil for 1.5 hrs.  Place the ribs carefully back on the BGE to finish meaty side up for another 30-60 minutes.  I use the word carefully because the ribs are about to fall off the bone at this point.  Spritz the racks with apple juice every so often to keep them moist and glossy in appearance.

I pulled the finished product around 5:15pm and sliced them up.  These were served with BBQ sauce on the side.  The ribs were intact but the meat would pull off the bone with a gentle tug!  Sides included grilled Bush's baked beans and collard greans.