Delicious Garlic Potatoes

Goes with anything! really tasty and delicious.

8 yukon gold potatoes
6 cloves of garlic, thin sliced
1/4 cup of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a wooden spoon as a cradle, place each potato in the spoon and make several parallel slits into each potato top making sure not to slice completely through. Place 3 garlic slices between slits at the crown of each potato. Toss in a medium bowl with butter and olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake until tops are crispy and potatoes are cooked through, about 1 hour. Transfer to a platter and top with Herbed Sour Cream.

Herbed Sour Cream:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Season, to taste, and refrigerate until use.

Kona Crusted Sirloin

If you've ever been to the Capital Grill, you may have ordered the Kona Crusted Sirloin. It's delicious! Definitely, the best steak that I've ever eaten in a restaurant.
I tried to remember to take a picture of the steaks after they were done on the grill, but I was so excited to eat mine, that I completely forgot!


Coffee Rub:
(the recipe I found says this is for one steak, it's a lot of rub. I stored excess in a zip-loc bag in the freezer. it is enough for about 8 steaks!)

1/3 cup sugar
1 cup kona ground decaffeinated coffee
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/4 cup mustard powder
1/4 cup granulated garlic
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons lowry season salt
4 steaks (we used tenderloin on Sunday, although any steak will work)

Mix everything, except the steaks in a bowl. Depending on the cheese, you may want to pulse the blend in a food processor a few times.

dredge the steaks in the rub and pat into the meat. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes while you prep your grill for direct grilling. Grill each steak for 6-8 minutes per side (depending on thickness and desired doneness). The ones that I grilled were pretty thick, so we did all four sides.

Grilled to perfection! Medium rare! Yummy.

American-Italian all'Amatriciana

We saw this recipe on 30 Minute Meals a couple of years ago. It is delicious! Italian flat leaf parsley is a must in every summer garden. Archer Farms (Target) has a nice thick sliced black pepper bacon. I always use the whole package (12 ounces). The sharp white cheddar seems weird to some, but again, it really adds a lot of flavor.

Salt
1 pound whole-wheat cassarecci, rigatoni or penne pasta
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
6 slices lean peppered bacon, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 cup chicken stock
1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen is a good brand of these)
Black pepper
A handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Shredded sharp white Cheddar, to pass at table
Directions
Heat water to boil for pasta, season with salt and cook pasta to al dente.
Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat with extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan. Add bacon and crisp 4 to 5 minutes then add onions and garlic cook to soften, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in stock then tomatoes and season with pepper to taste. Simmer sauce 15 minutes. Toss pasta with sauce and parsley. Serve with grated sharp white Cheddar.

Lemon and Parsley Noodles

Pioneer Woman had a recipe like this on her website a week or two ago. We've been making a similar recipe for several years and wanted to share it. It is one of the reasons that we grow fresh Italian flat leaf parsley in our garden every summer (well, this and another recipe that I'll share later).

Lemony Parsley Noodles

1 pound pasta (we really prefer a whole wheat pasta with this recipe, but something like Fusilli works great!)
1 lemon, zested and then juice of 2 lemons
1 stick butter
1 pint sour cream (don't bother with light or low fat, it's no good in this recipe)
1-2 tbsp chopped parsley (absolutely use fresh flat leaf!)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated (or more if you like it)

Cook the pasta and drain. Zest the lemon, you need 2 tsp of lemon zest. When you're done zesting the lemon, cut it in half and juice it. Melt butter in the pan you cooked the pasta in, remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir in the sour cream and then toss the pasta back into the pan. Once it is coated, pour into a 2 qt baking pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve warm. YUMMY!

The Original Beer Can Chicken

I'm discovering that I have a huge problem when it comes to photos of the food, I never remember to take a picture of the finished product. When it came to the beer can chicken, by the time I remembered it was too late. None left on the platter! It is that good. Enough said.

Beer Can Chicken - adapted from the book "How to Grill" by Steven Raichlen (quite possibly the BEST grilling book ever printed, enough said)

1 large chicken (a big fatty is always good on the grill)
1 12 ounce can of beer
2-4 tbsp of the Basic BBQ Rub (see below)
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Begin 2 hours before you're going to put the chicken on the grill. Brine your girl. Brining keeps her nice and moist. But, don't overdo it. Too long and it's rubbery!
Fill a large container or bowl with 2-3 quarts of COLD water. In a smaller measuring cup, dilute 1/2 cup of kosher salt in warm water. Add to the bowl of cold water and add your chicken, submerging it. I usually will add ice because we never have room in the fridge for the bowl. If you have room, put it in the fridge. (we brine pork and salmon too, but follow a different ratio and amount).
Don't brine the chicken for more than 2 hours.
Prepare your charcoal grill for indirect grilling and medium heat. Place a foil drip pan in the middle of the coals.
Remove from the brining liquid, rinse and pat dry with a paper towel inside and out.
Rub the chicken inside and out with 2-3 tbsp of the rub. Open the can of beer, immediately drink about 1/3 of the contents and then taking a church key bottle opener, punch a few extra holes in the top of the can. Put a teaspoon of the rub and a teaspoon of liquid smoke into the beer can. Sitting the can on a baking sheet, place the chicken legs down on top of the beer can. She'll sit nice an pretty right on the can.
This past weekend was the first time that I added the liquid smoke to the beer can and man o'man was that good! Highly recommend giving that a try, delish!
Stand the chicken on the grill, over the drip pan and cover. She'll be done in a little over an hour. (usually about an hour and 15 minutes). But check it with an instant read thermometer. She should be at about 160 degrees.
Carefully remove from the grill, this is where my purchase of the leather welding gloves comes in really handy! Just pick the chicken right up with the gloves on and remove the can.
Let her rest for a few minutes covered with foil before you carve and enjoy!

You know how the Sam's Club whole chickens come in packs of 2, we always make both of them at the same time and freeze the leftovers (if there are any).
Trust me on the liquid smoke thing too. It's deliscious!

Basic BBQ Rub

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika (I will use Penzy's Smoked Paprika for extra flavor)
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 tbsp course ground black pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl with your fingers to break up the brown sugar. Store extra in an empty jar, it will keep for several months. We make a double batch to last for the summer. This is great on BBQ spareribs too!

Stay Tuned

We're having a grill-a-thon this weekend!
I just have to remember to have the camera handy . . .
We'll be having pizza-on-the-grill, beer can chicken and something else that I haven't decided on yet.
Oh and cake!
Lots going on around here in the next few days.