Recipes #20 and 21: Balsamic Beer Beef and Spuds on a Stick!

Good old American food!  Steak, potatoes and corn on the cob!!  The recipe (#20) calls for sirloin marinaded in beer, tomato sauce, garlic and spices.  The Spuds on a Stick, (#21) just canned new potatoes marinanded in melted butter and parsley for 15 minutes.  Each was grilled for 15 or 20 minutes and turned once halfway through.

The corn was as described before:  Soaked for 30 minutes in their husks, then grilled for 30-45 minutes in their husks.  Remove the husk and eat.  No better way to make corn on the cob.  Flavorful and al dente!

All in all we'll give it 3 out of 5 stars.  It was pretty good, but it was just grilled steak after all. And the marinade actually overwhelmed the natural flavor of the steak. Nothing new or startlingly original about it, and it probably would have been better smoked with mesquite wood anyway..


Tomorrow:  Bad-Ass Bar-b-qued Chicken.  Hey, I didn't name it.

Recipe #19: Turkey Burgers and Shrooms

My honey is home from hanging wif her sisters for two weeks -- so we commence with the journey through "A Man, a Can, a Grill"-- a cookbook for drunk fishermen.  Okay not really. 

Anyway, today's recipe is GOOD, but a little frustrating.  Ground Turkey, an egg, some breadcrumbs, a half can of cream of mushroom soup and some chopped mushrooms.  You mix it all up and try to form the soggy slabs into patties.  You slurp them onto a hot grill.  When you flip them you hope and pray they stay together.  Some do,  some don't.
But my honey liked them!  She said "The Best So Far!" Of course she has said that before.  We ate them on a bun with lettuce and tomato.  They were pretty darned good. 4 1/2 stars out of 5!

Tomorrow TWO RECIPES: (#20) Balsamic Beer Beef and (#21) Spuds on a Stick!!!

Recipe #18: Vegetarian Greenhouse Grinder

The cookbook "A Man, A Can, A Grill" says that you can buy caponata in any supermarket.  Well, I looked in supermarkets from Mankato, MN to Duluth, MN and I didn't see it ANYWHERE.  So I got a recipe off the internet and made it.  It's basically an antipasto made from eggplant, onion, garlic, celery and tomato.  You saute everything in stages and it is supposed to last in the fridge for quite a long time.  Good thing.  I need it for three of the recipes beginning with this one. (Funny thing, it gets its name from capers in it, but my recipe did not call for capers -- ?!?!?!?)

Okay, as for the "samwitch" -- Two slices of sourdough bread, spread with pesto, then caponata, then (optional) shredded italian cheese, and a layer of mushrooms.  Then spray the bread with PAM and grill to golden goodness.  Actually it was pretty good, but being an omnivore, I have to say a slice of ham wouldn't have hurt it a bit!

I will also be using the caponata for a veggie pizza and a tuna-pizza called "Luca Brasi's Pizza".  Anyone want to guess at that cinematic subreference?

Recipe #17: On the road again - Duluth, MN: Chicken Teriyaki

Saturday grill-out with my married daughter in Duluth, Sarah.  We were commiserating because both our sweeties are gone for a while.    I hauled my little grill and the necessary implements to Duluth.  We grilled Chicken Teriyaki on her front porch overlooking Lake Superior.

We followed the recipe, BUT It all depends on presentation, doesn't it?  This recipe was intended to be marinaded in beer, ginger and teriyaki, then cut in strips and served over rice.  We did the marinade, but we had nice fresh sweet corn, and that works better with meat and starch as separate dishes.

I'm giving this recipe a 4 1/2 out 5 stars, cuz it is GOOD but, hey, it's just marinated chicken for heaven sakes.  Nothing startlingly original, or awesomely new and different about it.

Recipe #17 may be a week from now, when my sweetie comes home to me.

Recipe 16: San Diego Chicken and Grilled Sweet Corn

Once again, it's all about the marinade:  A can of frozen orange juice, thawed, the juice of a lemon and lime, a can of tomato sauce and italian seasoning.  Grill and eat.  Pretty simple but VERY GOOD.

The real treat was the grilled corn on the cob.  SOAK in water for 45-minutes to an hour.  GRILL in the husks on the edge of the rack for 45 minutes.  Remove husks, add butter and salt if you wish and eat.  SO good, so flavorful and so al dente.  You will never want to eat flavorless, mushy boiled corn again!  TRY IT.

Nothing tomorrow.  Sorry.  My bride is visiting her family for 10 days and I am batching it.

Recipe #15: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

My honey said, "I didn't know you could make pizza on a grill!"  Well sure you can, the trick is making sure the topping gets done before the crust burns.

Now, you COULD put anything on it.  The recipe in "A MAN A CAN A GRILL" was spicy chicken, with diced tomatoes, cheddar and mozzarella.  So that's what I did.

Just that:  Tomatoes, spicy chicken and cheese.   I used Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough, rolled out onto a sheet of tinfoil sprayed with olive oil.  You lay it face down on a hot grill and peel off the tinfoil.  Flip it over, put on the stuff and cook it for 5 minutes or so until the cheese is well melted.  

It was pretty darned good too!  But then again, even a bad pizza is better than a most other things.  My honey said she really liked and really wants me to make it again.

TOMORROW:  SAN DIEGO CHICKEN

Recipe #14: Asian-Orange Beef

Good, but you need the best cut of meat you can get.  Our top sirloin was a little too tough, even after being marinated and basted, then boiled in sauce.

Anyhoo -- Marinated the steak for 3 hours in thawed Frozen Orange juice Concentrate -- plus ginger ale, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger.    Grilled it to well-doneness.  Then grilled a red and a green bell pepper.  All were basted with the orange-ginger marinade while grilling.   All were sliced into strips, then boiled in the Orange-Ginger Marinade for five minutes.  Served over lemon-pepper rice.
Pretty Good like I said, except our beef was not tender enough.  I'm giving it 3 out of 5 stars even though the choice of the meat was entirely mine.

Tomorrow:  Buffalo Chicken Pizza -- on the grill!