Pasta Salad
On a HOT Summer day there is only one perfect cool meal…Pasta Salad! In a perfect world I would use my grill’s side burner to boil the water for the pasta…but it was too hot outside to do even that. The area was knocking on 100°· So I cooked it indoors. Key here is to cook the pasta WAY before dinner so it can get cool. I boiled mine before dog-park time, iced it down, washed it with cool water, applied some olive oil, tossed it and put it into the fridge. At this time, put EVERYTHING into the fridge, including canned items like black olives and fresh items like onions and bell peppers. I used Farfalle (bow tie pasta) but normally I use tri-color Rotini. I just wanted to do something new. Ingredients: 1 diced red bell pepper1 diced red onion1...
Surf N’ Turf Smash-burger
A first for us. This just came out of the desire to have a Smashburger, but to do something different. We had some leftover cooked shrimp and Guac from Peggy’s Pier, and leftover rolls from our Harissa Chicken, so we came up with this. And it was delightful! We started with a classic Oklahoma Smash-burger, pressing the 80/20 grass-fed beef into thin sliced onions, seasoned with only salt and pepper. On the right side of the griddle we sauteed a whole onion and orange bell pepper. Once done we tossed a pile of shredded potatoes on top. With the burgers half cooked, we tossed 8 cooked shrimp, marinaded in lemon juice, olive oil and Italian seasoning. At the same time we toasted two sliced rustic buns, using avocado oil. Construction was simple, bun bottom,...
Harissa seasoned shrimp on guacamole and cucumber bites
Our offering for Peggy’s Pier this evening. Harissa seasoned shrimp on guacamole and cucumber bites. A slice of English cucumber topped with a spoonful of chunky guacamole and then a piece of cooked shrimp marinaded in olive oil, lemon juice and Italian seasoning. This was seasoned with Harissa Seasoning and kept cool in a new multi-tray...
Blackened Harissa Fish Sandwich
This is, without a doubt, the best fish sandwich we’ve made. Based off a note of a friend (Chip Gorman) about air fried chick peas, we bought some Harissa seasoning. But when it came it…it was SO good, it needed to be part of a chicken or fish sandwich. So tonight we created this wonder. We used a generous amount of the harissa seasoning with olive oil and put it onto the Blackstone griddle. We used the juices of this to season the bread, a hearty small rustic bread. The construction was a toasted bun, with a slather of my usual mix of Duke’s mayo and Cholula hot sauce, the fish, a pile of garden fresh romaine lettuce, pickle slices and t topping of bread with the same sauce. Served with thin sliced air-fried sweet potatoes. Finished with a...
Easy Smoked Ribs
I’ve been messing around with ribs last year, and now that it’s rib-time again, I’m diving back in. I know I can fill my Orion cooker up with 6 racks of ribs and have every one be perfect, but it’s the short-order I’ve been messing with, usually with my pressure cooker and air-fryer. But tonight I leaned into just the grill. No Orion, no smoker, no air fryer. And it turned out perfect. First, apply the rub. My classic ‘Don Rub’ is like everyone else uses, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, celery salt and a bit of cayenne. For pork, I also use a little turmeric. On a high burner I put some applewood pellets in a foil tray and left the heat off the burners under the ribs. I replaced the pellets 3 times....
Quazi-Cheeto Spicy Chick Peas
Tonight a give you a snack. I’ve been wanting to write up more of my favorite snacks, since I’ve been heavy on dinners and breakfasts. Quazi-Cheeto Spicy Chick Peas I love air-fried chick peas as a snack. Usually I just air fry them with some garlic powder, salt and onion powder. But tonight I tried something different. And yes, I’m eating these while I type this. Open and drain two cans of chick peas (garbanzo beans). Rinse well and drain well. Put them on a kitchen town and dry, rolling them around between towels and remove all the skins you can. Let them dry. Meanwhile, in a food processor/blender mix 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast, a quarter teaspoon of citric acid, and to taste…garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and turmeric....