Urban Suburban Mommy

Tag Archives: barbecue

Become “Boss” of your BBQ

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes, Domestic Goodness .

Grilling and barbecuing is a summertime tradition. There’s nothing like grilling your meals to add that smokey flavour, while keeping the additional heat out of the house.

Most of us enjoy it so much, that the summer grill Season extends well into fall, winter and spring.

However there are some of us who are intimidated by this process, or have traditionally felt the grill to be a “man’s” domain. Let’st dispel those crazy ideas.

Anyone can use the grill to cook – and just like any new appliance, you just need few tips and tricks to help you along way.

The guidelines of what you can grill have been expanded to include just about anything that will not fall through the grate! This even includes lettuce for salads. Just think about the added flavour to a Caesar salad if the romaine lettuce were grilled… my mouth is watering just writing about it!!

First thing to consider when using your barbecue, is to determine if you want to grill (sear) your food, roast (like in an oven), or slow cook (like you might do in a slow cooker). All can be performed on your barbecue, and sometimes you may even use a combination of both.

Grilling – is a quick method under direct heat, generally under 20 min in total cooking time at a high heat (400° plus). Examples include burgers, steak, vegetables

Roasting – is a longer method under indirect heat, but less than 1 hour in cooking time at a med/high heat (300°). Examples include whole chickens, roasts, tenderloins

Barbecuing – is the longest method under indirect heat, over 2 hrs in cooking time at a low heat (250°). Examples include ribs, pork shoulder

This being said, just about anything you want to cook can be done on your barbecue!

Today we are going to make a Wedged Iceburg Salad with Grilled Steak

What you need: 

– 2 firm plum tomatoes
– 2 small onions
– 1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed and patted dry
– 2 tsp   Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub
– 2 beef tenderloin filets (6 oz/175 g each) or 12 oz (350 g) top sirloin steak, cut 1-in. (2.5- cm thick)
– 1 tbsp of oil (high heat withstanding – eg. Avocado Oil)
– 1 tsp of oil (high heat withstanding – eg  Avocado Oil)
– Your favourite blue cheese dressing (for a homemade option see below)

What you do:

  1. Fire-up your grill, place it on high and cover for 15 min. This will get your grill warmed up and ready for cooking.
  2. Cut lettuce – Keeping the core intact cut into 4 wedges
  3. Cut the Ttomatoes into wedges (plum tomatoes will stay together better than any other)
  4. Slice to top off of the onion, but keep the roots in tact. Wedge the onion. The roots will keep the layers together while grilling.
  5. Season your meat – brush with oil and add the crushed peppercorn and garlic rub, and set aside.
  6. Once the grill is warmed up, clean grill with a grill scraper
  7. Oil the grill using a silicone brush and a tbsp of oil.  (An alternative method is to soak a paper-towel in the oil, then using your tongs, brush the paper-towel soaked with oil over the grill.)
  8. Place your tomatoes and lettuce on the grill  for 2 to 2.5 minutes on each side, enough for grill marks to appear.
  9. Remove from the grill and set aside.
  10.  Leave the primary burner on High and reduce the other burners to medium (the primary burner is the one that must stay on).
  11. Place the onions over the Medium heat burner, turning after 4 to 6 minutes – or when grill marks appear.
  12. Place meat over the primary grill until nicely charred, 4 to 6 minutes on each side, then place your meat over the Medium heat burner for an additional 4 to 8 minutes longer.  Timing will vary due to meat and thickness.
  13. Transfer meat to a covered platter and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
  14. Turn off the grill.
  15. To serve: Evenly divide lettuce, onions, tomatoes and beef among the plates and drizzle with your favourite Blue Cheese Dressing.

Blue Cheese Dressing:

– 1/4 cup (50 mL)   2% plain low-fat Greek yogurt
– 1/4 cup (50 mL)   light mayonnaise
– 1/4 cup (50 mL)   crumbled blue cheese (about 1 oz/30 g)
– 3 tbsp (45 mL)   milk
– 1 tsp (5 mL)   Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub

What you do:

Mix (whisk) all ingredients chill and serve.

Now you can master vegetables or meats on your grill. Let me know what you think or send me pictures of your creations.  I’d love to hear what you think.

Have a “GRILLtastic” week!

Danielle Reid

Independent Consultant of The Pampered Chef

Danielle’s Pampered Kitchen..Healthy Meals in Minutes

Plain as a potato salad

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

Nothing brings back childhood memories of summer family picnics like a good ol’ bowl of potato salad. It’s not one of those dishes that gets made too often during the fall, winter and spring (unless prego cravings!) but come summer, it’s on everyone’s menu.

I’m lucky because my sister-in-law makes the best potato salad. In. The. World.

Seriously. I don’t know how she does it, but there’s no better. She’s got all of the big family barbecues and picnics covered. My husband makes a mean potato salad too, though I’m not super crazy about the celery in his.

Me, I like mine on the plain side. I don’t like eggs so I prefer when the potato salad isn’t eggy or have hard-boiled eggs creamed in there.

(Really, who does that?!?!?!)

Because I’m fussy that way, my potato salad ends up being a big hit with kids and vegans. It’s yummy, but plain. I’m always hearing “You should add…” followed with suggestions from fennel to smoked trout.

But it will never happen.

I think this plain as a potato salad will be a hit with the whole family, feel free to make it a bit more funky with your own tasty twist!

What you need:

-6 or 7 big potatoes
-2 cups Miracle Whip (or mayo)
-1/3 cup onion, very finely diced
-2 tablespoons vinegar
-pinch of sugar
-1.5 tablespoons mustard
– tablespoon salt
-pepper to taste

What you do:

Boil potatoes in salt water until soft. Drain and cool. Peel potatoes if you prefer skinless potato salad, I like to leave the skins on sometimes. Cube potatoes and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine all other ingredients and whisk together. You can taste it at this point and see if you want to add anything. Vinegar for more sour, or more sugar for sweet. Salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:

You can add a little bit of Dijon mustard, fennel, bacon bits, sweet relish, or even turmeric – which will give it a brilliant golden colour. You can add sliced radish, celery, beets or even corn. If you’re an egg fan or you really want to sneak the protein in, mash 3 hardboiled eggs and add into the mix.

Toss this dressing over the potatoes and coat well. This recipe is so forgiving, if you want to add more Miracle Whip/mayo it will be more creamy – or halve it to keep it dry.

Garnish it with a little sprinkle of paprika, some sliced green onions or a few sprigs of parsley.

Side dish. Easy, fast and full of summer.

 

Finger-licking barbecued spareribs

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

I know we just featured beef ribs last week, but it gave me a craving. So I made Michelle’s Miami Short Ribs for the fam on Thursday. And then they asked for more ribs. But the butcher was out of the beef ribs, so I picked up a rack of back ribs instead. Got home, got them boiling – but when it came time to sauce them and get grilling, I realized I had no sauce. That’s when I learned how to make this finger-licking quick and easy barbecue sauce.

Ribs are, like, the best food ever, according to my 7 year old.

shane eating ribs

What you need:

– 2 racks of pork back ribs – (we prefer back as they’re meatier, but side ribs are much cheaper, either will do

Sauce
– 3/4 cup ketchup
– pinch salt
– teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
– 1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
– 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
– 2 cloves garlic – pressed
– 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
– few dashes of paprika
– 2 tablespoons vinegar (white or malt)

Optional: 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne or red chili flakes or teaspoon of habanero sauce or hot sauce for some zing

What you do:

Cut the racks of ribs down to a more manageable size – I like sections of 4-5 ribs. Throw them in a stock pot, cover with water and boil for 30 to 45 minutes. The longer you boil, the more fall-off-the-bone tender they’ll be.

While they’re boiling, grab your biggest bowl and mix all of the ingredients together. Stir and blend well until everything is a smooth liquidy paste.

When boiling is done, lift each portion out of the boiling water, give it a quick shake off, and then toss in the sauce. A wonderful Chef friend once told me the secret is to make sure that the sauce is added while the meat is still at its hottest. The pores are open and suck up all of the sauce for the best flavour, he explained.

I believe him.

A basting brush is always handy for getting the sauce into all of the nooks and crannies, in between bones and on the sides.

Fire up the barbecue. Once it’s hot, throw the ribs on medium flame – or high if you want to do this quickly and be very diligent about the barbecuing, otherwise you’ll burn everything.

Place the ribs bone-side down first so that the saucy, meaty side gets to soak up more sauce as the flames caramelize the sugars in the sauce. As the meat shows signs of cooking, flip each portion. You shouldn’t be seeing black – a bit is fine – but the sauce will have darkened. Brush an extra layer of sauce on. Repeat, flipping 2 to 3 times. The more layers of sauce that caramelize on, the better!

To serve, cut the racks into single ribs and let the crowd have at ’em.

Seared tuna steaks

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .
seared tuna steak

seared tuna steak - on the fireWe barbecue everything, and we barbecue all year long – whether it’s snowing, raining or the sun is shining. There’s nothing like the flavour of something hot off the grill. We have a great barbecue, I bought it for my husband from the boys for Father’s Day the year we moved into this house. I even assembled it for him. But the fact is, I like using it just as much as he does – and I’ve got quite the knack for cooking with fire. The kids will eat anything off of the grill.

Anything.

One of the simplest, fastest dishes I make on the grill is Seared Tuna Steaks. I first tried this dish in Jaco Beach in Costa Rica about 16 years ago, and have since had it in a few restaurants, but my version is my fave. Just 2, maybe 3 ingredients, this takes all of 20 minutes from marinade to table.

What you need:

– Tuna steaks (one per person)
– Soy sauce
– wasabi or hosreradish dijon mustard (optional)

What you do:

Get a baking dish that is big enough to put all of the tuna steaks flat into the bottom of the dish, in a single layer. Pour a quarter inch of soy into the dish. Turn barbecue on high while they marinate. Flip the tuna steaks over and let other side marinate until the barbecue is nice and hot.

seared tuna steakCooking is fast work and a little finicky. You need to cook each steak for 1 to 2 minutes per side, plus the edges. Put them down and close the lid. After a minute turn them to create cross-hatch marks. Flip and do the same on the other side. After both sides are cooked, turn one side down to low. Put the finished steaks on the upper shelf on the low heat side while you use tongs to hold the tuna steak up so that you can sear it around the edges. Do this for all steaks. outsides will be cooked and meaty looking, but when you cut into the steaks, they should look cooked about a centimetre or two around the outside, but completely pink through the middle. It’s so deliciously tender with the rare centre.

Serve it hot – these cook quickly. Or serve them cooled. You can serve the tuna steaks whole, or slice them into thin strips, almost like half-cooked sashimi. The flavour is amazing on its own, or you can serve it with a side of wasabi soy: Mix wasabi with soy in a small bowl or ramekin. The amount of wasabi depends on how much heat you like. For a different kind of a kick, serve with horseradish dijon. I’m addicted to Kozlik’s Horseradish Dijon, but you can mix your own (or order one – it’s worth it!! Their other flavours, like curried dijon or lime and honey dijon are pretty mouthwatering too, a good pairing for Tuna Steaks.)

Barbecued ginger salmon

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .

barbecued ginger salmon My boys love fish. Actually, if I ask my 7 year old what he wants for dinner, he’ll usually say “sea creatures.” I think he’s secretly holding out for blowfish, but he’ll try any type of seafood, and he’s open to most any flavours when it comes to fish. I was at the market and they had the most beautiful bright pink organic Irish salmon – I had to grab a few fillets for dinner.

Needless to say, my boy was thrilled. He insisted on cutting the lemon.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to prepare it when I was at the market. Dill. Blood orange juice. Lime and lemongrass. Honey and soy – salmon is so versatile. But when I got home I had a ginger craving, and my kids love ginger. (My husband, not so much. Actually, he’s not into fish at all. I picked up a thick, juicy rib steak for him when I was at the market.)

What you need:

-salmon fillets
-salt
-cracked pepper
-powdered ginger
-fresh lemon, sliced into thin circles
-2-3 tablespoons melted butter

(and a rib steak for the husband, prepared like this)

What you do:

Brush a light coat of melted butter over the fillets (you can also use olive oil). Salt and pepper them to taste. Dust them with ginger. I use a fair bit, we love the strong flavour of ginger, but if you want to go mild, it’s great as a hint of ginger too.

barbecued salmon on plateHeat the barbecue. Drop the temperature to medium and put the fillets on, skin side down. Layer lemons on top of the fish. Close the lid and grill 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Flip so that the fillet is sitting skin side up, but atop the lemon slices for another 5 to 10 minutes. My fillets were very thick so I went closer to 10. The lemons will char but the fish will stay juicy and tender. Fish should be very flakey, cooked through.

This one is great with sauteed mushrooms, French green beans or a zesty vinaigrette salad. If you’ve got leftovers, ginger salmon is great cold, tossed with greens.

Enjoy!

 

Top 5 host gifts – according to Urban Suburban Daddy

Posted on by Posted in Mommy Approved, Urban Suburban Daddy .

urban suburban daddy headphonesOur Urban Suburban Daddy is onto something here. Usually it’s a ‘Hostess Gift’ and it’s either something for the home or something with a feminine touch – flowers, wine, candles… Yes, we love these things, and it’s too true, Dad usually isn’t the one bringing the homemade pie to the neighbour’s holiday party. But since our Urban Suburban Daddy is quite the socialite, accepting invites far and wide, we asked him what he thought would be the coolest host gift if he were laying out the spread at our house.

What he wants:

1. Wine, Alcohol or Beer (why am I not surprised) Gift Basket

Nobody’s shocked at this one, it’s a pretty typical answer. Think outside the wine box – we suggest curating a themed gift of spirits, ales or wine.

Try this: Buy an ice bucket, select 5 or 6 flavoured, international beers such as Friuli (Strawberry beer from Belgium) or Wells Banana Bread Beer (UK). Place the beer inside the bucket, wrap with cellophane and a bow. You could do the same with red wines for example or little bottles of vodka.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Recipe Book

Our Urban Suburban Daddy is a budding foodie, and has finally admitted he’d like to be able to cook as well as some of those chefs we make him (like we have to twist his arm!) watch. One of his picks is from the selection of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks. Feel free to inscribe it and mark off the recipe you want him to make the next time you come for dinner.

3. Barbecue Grilling Set

You can pick up a Barbecue Grilling Set at a department or big box store. Have a look at this great set from BergHoff. You can even get creative with the theme and combine gifts numbers 2 and 3, just grab a grilling recipe books such as Bobby Flay’s Grill It (an oldie but a goodie) and pair it with a Barbecue Grill Set.

4. Hot Sauce, Flavour-Makers & Jams

Like the hopped up gift basket suggested above, our Urban Suburban Daddy thinks it would be very cool to be on the receiving end of a selection of delectable and different hot sauce, rubs, marinades and even jams.

5. Play List

Our Urban Suburban Daddy is a DJ by night, so the perfect gift for him is music. It’s also one of those great personal gifts. With the help of iTunes you can make your own playlist and present a USB stick full of awesome music for the holiday party or burn a CD if you’re old school like that. We are crushing on Drake and The Weekend right now – who doesn’t love a little Hotline Bling? Another suggestion is to go the old fashion route and pick up a copy of a CD – Adele is smoking hot this holiday! (And gratuitous video because you know you can’t get enough – we can’t either!) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A&w=560&h=315]

What’s your beat? Bring it to the party!

Rib steaks on the grill

Posted on by Posted in Delicious Dishes .
rib steak

Luckily my boys share my palate and prefer a wide variety of foods and flavours, but my husband is a real ‘meat-n-potatoes’ kind of guy. One of his favourites is steak – rib steak to be precise.

When we first started dating I couldn’t cook a steak to save my sanity, but over the years he’s taught me a thing or two about preparing meat, and I’m now an accomplished barbecuer and meat-maker. I don’t know if there’s an award for that, but this steak recipe he taught me does deserve a medal. It’s simple and flavourful. We’ve been to some of the finest steakhouses, and I think this steak is every bit as good (though I do prefer someone else doing the cooking!).

rib steaksWhat you need:

– two steaks (or however many you want to make)
-salt
-fresh pepper
-garlic powder
– mustard powder
– olive oil

What you do:

Lightly drizzle a bit of olive oil all over the steaks. Crack fresh pepper (to taste) over the steaks. My guy is a real pepper lover so I go heavy on the pepper. Sprinkle salt liberally. Spread a pinch of garlic powder sparingly. Sprinkle mustard powder liberally. (I think the secret is in the mustard powder.)

Lightly rub the spices and oil in, flip and do the same to the other side.

You can cook these right away, though the flavour just grows more delectable by the hour if you let it sit. I like to prepare these 24 hours ahead.

Preheat the grill. Throw the steaks on. We like them medium rare to medium, so we do about 6-7 minutes per side. I like to do a quarter turn every 3 minutes so that I have perfect grill marks on the steak.

rib steaks I prefer my steaks “Chicago style,” which is basically  charring the outside very lightly. I do this by turning up the heat on the barbecue at the very end, and letting the flames flare up as I gently press on the steak, releasing some of the oil onto the flame.

Plate the steaks and let them sit in their juices for 3 to 5 minutes, then serve.

That’s it – 6 basic ingredients, 7 minutes a side, char it and let it rest before serving.

It goes great with brussels sprouts, Caesar salad, potatoes, corn, squash – anything really. This steak is delicious and hearty – and so easy.

Enjoy!