Grilled Grilled Cheese

Fall is here and grilling season is coming to an end.  So, I thought I’d squeeze in just one more grill recipe before we head toward all things pumpkin and soup!  A friend hit the tomato jackpot in her garden and I got to inherit a whole lotta tomatoes!  We were grilling so I decided to do a little open face grilled cheese appetizer for us to chomp on while the meat cooked.  They are kind of funny looking but, they were tasty!

GRILLED GRILLED CHEESE

Ingredients:

16 Cherry Tomatoes, halved

4 Ciabatta Rolls, halved

8 Slices Havarti Cheese

1-2 Fresh Garlic Cloves

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1.  Fire up the grill and get those coals ready to cook!

2.  Scrape each piece of bread with the garlic clove and sprinkle with salt and pepper for flavoring.

3.  Brush top side of bread with olive oil and place top side down on the grill for a few minutes to brown and get some nice grill marks going.

4.  Flip bread pieces over and top with tomato halves (about 4 on each piece depending on the size of your tomatoes.)

5.  Top tomatoes with a slice of cheese.

6.  Heat until cheese is melted to your liking.

Blackberry Chipotle Glazed Pork Ribs

Since BBQ season is sort of coming to a close, I thought I’d post a rib recipe Mr. Foodie and I made recently after we found ourselves with a refrigerator full of blackberries.  (Oh, the sales!)  I actually got this recipe out of a local grocery store handout and was quite enticed by the picture and the word ‘glaze’.  This came out good, with a balance of sweet and smokey flavors.  Mr. Foodie liked it a bit better than I did, I thought there was a little bit too much tang but I suppose this would also depend on the berries used so this recipe could vary batch to batch.  It was different and a nice alternative to our regular rub with BBQ sauce.  Enjoy these last few weeks of summer and get out there and grill!

BLACKBERRY CHIPOTLE GLAZED PORK RIBS

Ingredients:

3 Racks of Baby Back Pork Ribs

For Spice Rub:

1/4 Cup Paprika

2 TBS Sugar

1 1/2 TBS Chili Powder

1 1/2 TBS Salt

1 TBS Ground Black Pepper

1 TBS Garlic Powder

1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

For The Glaze:

1 TBS Olive Oil

1 Cup Diced Onion

3 Garlic Cloves, chopped

1 TBS Chipotle Chilis in Adobo, seeds removed and chopped

3 6 oz. Packages of Blackberries

1/2 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Tsp Salt

Directions:

1.  Mix all spice rub ingredients in small bowl and rub mixture onto each side of rib racks.

2.  Cover ribs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

3.  In a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat, cook the onion until soft, about 4 minutes.

4.  Add the garlic, saute for 1 minute and then add the chipotle chilies and stir constantly for 1 minute.

5.  Add blackberries, balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt and then stir until well blended.

6.  Bring blackberry mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.

7.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced to 1 1/2 Cups, about 35 minutes.

8.  Remove from heat and place in blender and puree for about 2 minutes, until smooth.

9.  Strain to remove seeds.

10.  Grill Ribs about 20 minutes over indirect heat.

11.  Brush the glaze on both sides of each rib rack and turn to baste about every ten minutes.

12.  Repeat the basting process 2-3 times, until the ribs are cooked through.

13.  When meat pulls away from the bone, ribs are done.

14.  Take ribs off the grill and let rest about 1o minutes, covered in foil before serving.

Elote

Elote is a Mexican street food – basically corn on the cob.  You may see it frequently being sold in some neighborhoods by people pushing little metal carts.  I really liked having my grilled corn like this, it gave it a nice creamy flavor with a little punch.  (Mr. Foodie said it was a little too creamy for his taste.)    It would be a little bit rich to have your corn this way all the time, but it was a nice addition to our little weekend BBQ feast.

ELOTE

Ingredients:

4 Ears of corn, still in husks but silk removed

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

1/4 Cup Mayonaise

Juice of 1/2 Lime

Crumbled Cotija Cheese

Hot Mexican Chile Powder

Lime Wedges

Directions:

1.  Grill corn in husks about 15-20 minutes, turning at least once during cooking time.

2.  While corn is grilling, mix melted butter, mayonaise and lime juice until well blended.

3.  Remove corn from grill, remove or pull back husks and spread butter mixture onto corn.

4.  Sprinkle with desired amount of chile powder and cotija cheese before serving with lime wedges.

Mexi-Dog

With the summer upon us and everyone out there grillin’ and chillin’, I’ve noticed a lot of hoopla surrounding hot dogs.  I subscribe to a good amount of foodie magazines and hot dogs seem like a big summer topic.  Not just what brand of hot dog is the best but what kind of toppings to put on your dog.  I have to admit, the first time I saw all the topics on a Chicago style hot dog, I was repulsed.  There was just too much going on for me.  But that was years ago and I’ve gotten more adventurous with my hot dogs since then!  Mr. Foodie and I decided to fire up the grill for lunch and do hot dogs.  He chose to go with a BBQ Bacon Cheese Dog, which is topped with exactly what it sounds like – bacon, bbq sauce and cheese.  I decided to get my creative juices flowing and came up with this Mexi-Dog.  I actually enjoyed it a lot.  It was definitely a step in a more interesting direction than my usual hot dog, which usually has some ketchup on it…maybe.

MEXI-DOG

Ingredients:

Your favorite type of hot dog, grilled

Bun (I suppose you could go really Mexican and use a tortilla but I didn’t.)

Toppings:

Avocado, diced

Onion, diced

Bacon Pieces

Jalapenos (seeded), grilled then diced

Mexican Crema

Cotija Cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1.  Place hot dog in bun (or tortilla) and top with as much or as little of the topping ingredients as you like.

Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad

I was lucky enough to be selected to try the Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken through the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program.  Sometimes things around here get busy on weeknights so I was really looking forward to having an easy go-to food like this to create  recipes for the family.

We love Thai Peanut Chicken  and this recipe would work well not just as a salad but also a pasta dish or even just the chicken mixed with the peanut dressing over rice.  The ease of the Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken makes it very versatile.

CRUNCHY THAI CHICKEN SALAD

Ingredients for Dressing:

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

Juice and Zest of 1 Lime

2 Tsp Dark Sesame Oil

3 TBS Mirin

2 TBS Soy Sauce

3 TBS Light Coconut Milk

3 Cloves of Garlic, minced

1 TBS Ginger, minced

1/3 Cup Fresh Cilantro, finely chopped

1 TBS Sriracha (or less to suit your spice tolerance)

Water

Directions for Dressing:

1.  Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.  Add water a little bit at a time to thin the dressing out to desired consistency.

Ingredients for Salad:

1 Package of Tyson Ready and Grilled Chicken

2 Cups Iceberg or Romaine lettuce, chopped

2 Cups Napa Cabbage Chopped

3 Carrots, Shredded

1 Cucumber, seeded and diced

3 Hearts of Celery, diced

Black Pepper Roasted Almonds (Available in produce section)

Ginger Garlic Wonton Strips (Available in produce section)

Directions for salad:

1.  Add lettuce, cabbage,carrots, cucumber and chicken to a large bowl.

2.  Add dressing a little bit at a time and toss so salad is lightly coated throughout.

3.  Top with desired amount of almonds and won ton strips before serving.

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich

This is great if you are looking for a meatless meal.  It tastes great and is rich and satisfying without being too heavy.  We use a variety of vegetables for this – red peppers, zucchini, eggplant, yellow squash, etc…  I always serve this on ciabatta bread as I find it holds up and tastes the best.  We were not big fans of it on a whole grain bread.  We tried it with halloumi cheese once.  Halloumi cheese is a grillable cheese that originated in Cyprus that is VERY expensive.  Although we thought it tasted fine, it didn’t really add anything to the sandwich so ultimately, we decided it was not worth the hefty price tag.

GRILLED VEGETABLE SANDWICH

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

Ciabbata Rolls

Vegetables of Your Choice for Grilling, prepped/chopped for grilling

Salt & Pepper to taste

Basil Pesto (store bought or homemade)

Directions:

1.  Toss chopped vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

2.  Grill vegetables using an outdoor grill or a grill pan on the stove top.  I like to get them a bit soft and charred, but grill to your preference.

3.  Brush ciabatta rolls lightly with olive oil  and grill (or broil) until lightly toasted.

3.  Spread pesto on bread and layer grilled vegetables on top.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub for Ribs

Raw Ribs with Rub

Grilled!

We like to BBQ year round at our house.  (BBQ’ing around here usually goes something like this:  I prepare all the foods and bring them to Mr. Foodie to put on the grill and then he diligently asks me if I think they are done yet.  When I say yes, he takes them off and I put them on the table.)  One of my favorite things to BBQ is baby back ribs, the only ribs Mr. Foodie will eat.  I always use a rub on the rack and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  While cooking, we baste with our favorite BBQ sauce towards the end of cooking to get a nice glaze.  This is my rub recipe, it’s a little spicy for some but we like a little heat.  This makes enough for two racks of baby back ribs.

RIB RUB

Ingredients:

6 TBS Brown Sugar

3 TBS Each Salt, Black Pepper and Paprika

2 Tsp Garlic Powder

Directions:

1.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

2.  Remove the membrane from each rack of ribs.

3.  Generously rub mixture into the rib racks, on both sides.

4.  Cover each rack with foil and refrigerate overnight.

5.  Grill as you would your normal ribs, basting several times towards the end of cooking with your favorite bbq sauce to get a good glaze.

Grilled Broccoli

We like to BBQ quite a bit around these parts.  Mr. Foodie is partial to his charcoal grill and smoker and has sworn off the gas grill.  Recently, I decided to try grilling some broccoli – a vegetable we do not typically BBQ.  To my surprise, I really liked the results!  The grilling really gave the broccoli a nice texture, just enough crunch and just enough tenderness.  I definitely recommend trying it!

GRILLED BROCCOLI

Ingredients:

2 Small Heads of Broccoli, cut into florets and washed

Juice from 2 Lemons

1-2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed

3 TBS Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste, probably about a 1/2 Tsp of each

Asiago Cheese, shredded

Directions:

1.  Toss broccoli with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Let it sit 15-30 minutes.  (You can let it sit while you prepare anything else you might be BBQing.)

2.  Heat your grill and set aside an area for indirect cooking.

3.  Drain the liquid from the broccoli and put it on the grill.  Grill the broccoli for about 10-12 minutes, using indirect heat.  It will char a bit and still have a good bite to it.

4.  Remove the broccoli from the grill and sprinkle with the Asiago cheese before serving.