Category Archives: Recipes

Fosters Can Turkey with Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Posted on August 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

It is what it looks like

Ever heard of beer can chicken? Well, this is beer can turkey. I have been slow grilling a lot recently and am trying to make the most of the ending summer 😦 I had never heard of this and wanted to give it a try. Whereas a standard 12 oz can works well for a chicken, I used a Fosters “oil can” which is 25.4 ounces.

First with the grill. This time I started the charcoal and once it was ashed over, pushed it all to the outer edges to make a ring.

I put a disposable foil baking dish in the center as a drip pan

While the coals were heating up, I prepared the turkey and the can. I covered the turkey with a store bought rotisserie chicken rub. Leave about half of the beer in the can, with the other half you figure it out. Once it was magically half empty, I removed the top with a can opener. This worked really well and there were no sharp edges. I then added bay leaves, garlic, and rosemary to the beer.

Good ol oil can

With the bay leaves and spices

Now the grill, turkey, and can were ready. I placed the can on the grill and lowered the turkey down onto it and pushed it down a bit to make sure that it was stable.

Now for the cooking. I thought that this might be a problem and it was. The turkey was too tall to close the lid all of the way, so I quickly Macgyvered a contraption by using two bricks on the handles for the lid to rest on.

2 bricks, a grill, a novelty beer can, and a turkey, what do you do???

I was concerned about the heat loss from the semi open lid but it was not a factor and the bird cooked much quicker than I thought it would. The whole 12 lb turkey was finished in about 2-2.5 hours.

Sorry we did not get a pic while it was still standing

Towards the end of the turkey, I prepared the mashed potatoes by boiling them and then sauteing the aromatics.

These smelled great!

Once they were tender, add the potatoes and milk and whip with an electric mixer.

It turned out to be great dinner!

Recipe for Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Greg

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Posted in Recipes, Turkey

Tagged beer can, easy, garlic, mashed potatoes, rosemary, slow grilled, turkey

Crispy Fried Eggplant and Mozzarella Finger Sandwiches

Posted on August 24, 2010 | 1 comment

I am sorry to say that most of these pictures are slightly out of focus. Our camera has a mind of it’s own sometimes and I just couldn’t get it to agree with me when I was cooking today. I was also running around the kitchen, cooking and trying to take pictures all at the same time. I apologize in advance, but hopefully that won’t deter you from enjoying this recipe!

Believe it or not, I found this recipe in a Suzanne Somer’s book several years ago. It has been a while since I made it, but I had a bunch of little eggplants and some fresh mozzarella in the fridge so I gave it a go.

These guys were little. I got them from a farmer’s market (this is about half of what I got for $2.50).

The first step was to slice up the eggplant and roast the slices in the oven for about 20 minutes with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

While the eggplant was cooking, I made the herb spread (aka pesto), which was comprised of garlic, basil, oregano (which I substituted for parsley), red pepper flakes, and olive oil. I used the bullet for this.

I also prepped my work station for the next steps of the recipe. I used fresh mozzarella for the sandwiches, but if you don’t have any on hand you can use shredded or sliced. There is something about the way fresh mozzarella melts though that makes it extra special, so I definitely recommend it for this dish.

After assembling the sandwiches, the next step is to dip them in egg and coat them with grated cheese. So I prepped my egg dip and cheese for that as well.

Now for the sandwich assembly…

Basically all you do is take a slice of eggplant and spoon the herb spread over it. Add the mozzarella and then put a second slice of eggplant on top. Easy peasy.

Next, dip the sandwich into the egg and then roll it around in the grated cheese to coat.

Once you have all of your sandwiches coated it’s time to fry ’em up. They just need a couple minutes per side. Enough time for the cheese in the center to melt and for the eggplant to turn a nice golden brown.

When they are done place them onto a paper towel covered plate to drain any excess oil. Serve ’em up nice and hot and feel free to add any fillings you like. I’ve added roasted red peppers before, for example. They are also good served with marinara sauce on the side for dipping if you’d like.

Yum! These are so good!

Recipe for Crispy Fried Eggplant and Mozzarella Finger Sandwiches

-Eileen

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Posted in Appetizers, Vegetarian

Tagged basil, egg dip, eggplant, fresh mozzarella, garlic, homemade, low carb, olive oil, vegetarian

Tomato Panzanella Salad

Posted on August 21, 2010 | 2 comments

Greg and I were invited to a family BBQ and knew we wanted to bring something good for a side dish. We remembered a great dish that Ash brought over one time, tomato panzanella salad, and decided it would be the perfect thing to make. You can find the recipe here on Ash’s site (I didn’t alter it much as you will see).

We bought the tomatoes at a local farmer’s market. Obviously for this dish the quality of the tomatoes can make or break it. I was so happy to get these tomatoes. As imperfect as they look, they tasted great!

I cut the tomatoes and added some thinly sliced red onion. I actually completed this step the night before the BBQ, as I knew I would be facing some time restrictions the following day.

Similar to the importance of using good tomatoes for this dish, the quality of the bread is also something to be mindful of. We picked up a french baguette from our favorite place on Earth, Pittsburgh’s strip district (wahoo!), the day before the BBQ. On the day of the BBQ I cut the bread into bite-sized cubes (slightly larger than croutons) and baked them for 20 minutes. 20 minutes was about 2-3 minutes too long and some of the pieces were a little too baked for my liking. I recommend keeping an eye on them after the 15 minute mark.

Sorry for the blurry pic! You can get a sense of the size though.

While the bread was baking I assembled the rest of the dish by adding fresh basil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to the tomatoes and red onion.

I just love all the colors in this dish!

Once the bread is done baking it gets added to the salad. You want it to absorb moisture from the dressing and tomatoes while still maintaining some of it’s crunch.

The final step in making this salad is to top it with ricotta cheese and a little olive oil. Since we were transporting this dish to another house I felt it would be best to keep the ricotta and olive oil in a separate container prior to serving. Before dinner was served the ricotta was placed on top of the salad.

Overall, this was a true crowd pleaser! I received several compliments on the dish and answered some questions about it too. People seemed to really enjoy it and want to recreate it themselves.

Take advantage of the Summer tomatoes while they last! Hope you like this one.

-Eileen 8)

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Posted in Appetizers, Salads, Sides, Vegetarian

Tagged basil, olive oil, red onion, red wine vinegar, ricotta cheese, side dish, summer, tomato bread salad, tomato panzanella salad, tomatoes

Slow Smoked Brisket with Horseradish Sauce and Broccoli Slaw

Posted on August 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is our first Kittened dish in Pittsburgh and we have been discovering that food is very cheap. This was a 9lb cut of brisket for $30, and that was not a sale. Plenty more to come on the great deals found. I smoked this similarly to the pork shoulder a bit back. Slow cooked over indirect heat, but this time it was cooked as the debut dish on our new charcoal grill that we got for our wedding (thanks Mo and Stosh).

First to prep the rub

Started with a quick made rub.

Yeah, $30!

As similar to the pork, I started the grill with a large pile of charcoal and once it was ashed and ready, it was moved and kept to one side. I also used a store bought foil baking dish as a drip tray below the meat to limit the mess and possible flare up.

The grill will never look like this again.

Opposite the coals

Now a lot of waiting. The grill was covered with the below air intake about halfway open and the lid air intake also about halfway open. The lid intake was placed over the meat, opposite the coals so that the heat and smoke are forced to go around the meat in order to escape. The brisket cooked for about 5 hours total. Here is is about halfway through. I turned it about every hour to alternate the side facing the heat.

About 3 hours in.

And after all five hours.

Allow the meat to sit for 15 minutes or so before slicing and always slice against the grain. It would be great to have a deli slicer here, but that is a bit excessive!

Patient, patient

Hey guys, Eileen here. I am going to fill you in on the sides, which I was responsible for making.

In addition to the brisket, we served a simple horseradish sauce from all recipes (sorry, no pictures of it) and a broccoli slaw from Smitten Kitchen. I have made this broccoli slaw once before for a cook out and people seemed to like it. I decided to make it again, figuring it would be a nice complement to the meat and tangy horseradish sauce.

First, I made the dressing for the slaw, which is composed of buttermilk, mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar and shallots.

Give it a good whisk and set aside.

Next, it is time for the broccoli. I used the slicing blade on my food processor to cut the broccoli for me. This method is a major time saver and produces pretty uniform slices of broccoli. Here it is pictured with chopped red onion as well.

To this, I added dried cranberries and sliced almonds and eventually the dressing.

Give it all a good stir and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.

It’s a great slaw and a bit different than your typical cabbage slaw. If you are looking for something new to have or bring to an event this could be it! The crunch of the broccoli with the tartness of the cranberries and the sharpness of the red onion are all tamed by the buttermilk sauce. It was a great compliment to the brisket too!

All in all, this meal was delicious! We were very happy with the final product and our guests seemed to be too.

Brisket Dry Rub Recipe

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Posted in Beef, Salads, Sides, Uncategorized

Tagged Beef, Brisket, broccoli, broccoli slaw, buttermilk, garlic, good leftovers, grilled, homemade, Horseradish Sauce, low carb, Meat, Slow Smoked

Stuffed Banana Peppers

Posted on August 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

These were simple and good but they sure were hot! Start by making the stuffing which was primarily hot sausage with chopped onion, garlic, and Italian cheese. Make the stuffing with the proportions of your choice.

Cook the sausage about half way and drain the grease.

Add the other ingredients once the sausage is ready and put aside.

Cut the stems off of the peppers and remove the seeds and pulp. You may want to wear gloves and be sure not to touch your face….TRUST ME!

Then stuff as much filling as you can into the peppers and line in a baking dish.

Cover with a bit of tomato sauce and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

We put them on a bit of pasta to cut the heat of the peppers.

Enjoy!

Greg

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Posted in Pork, Recipes

Tagged garlic, Italian, low carb, peppers, pork, sausage, stuffed

Natural Daquiris

Posted on August 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Summer!

These drinks were inspired by fresh farmer’s market summer fruits! They were also inspired by our dislike of premade daquiri mixers and frozen canisters. They end up being so syrupy and overly sweet. So we made some of our own homemade daquiris with all natural ingredients that were easily interchangeable.

This was a watermelon bourbon one.

We also made strawberry with rum, and a strawberry and peach combo with bourbon. No combination turned out poorly and the possibilities were exciting.

They were great, easy, refreshing, and much better than the store bought mixers. Take advantage while the summer fruits last!

Recipe for natural frozen drinks

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Posted in Drinks, Recipes

Tagged bourbon, drinks, frozen, lime, peach, rum, strawberry, summer, watermelon

Pig Roast!

Posted on August 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

Warning! Some of the following post may be graphic and upsetting to some readers!

As a going away gift, our friends graciously sponsored our going away party as we were about to depart Maryland. Roasting a whole pig was decided upon, as the idea has been floating around for a few years and this seemed like the opportunity. They were able to find good deals on a pig and renting an electric spit. We cook, eat, and talk about a lot of different cuts of meat on this site, but being in the whole form does seem to change things a bit. So proceed with caution, and I did omit many pics that could have made it far worse.

The first questions is, what kind of person desires so strongly to roast a whole pig?

This guy does!

The pig weighed about 49 pounds and came pre gutted and basically all prepped for us. We added some seasoning and filled the cavity with onions, garlic and leeks. Then the pig had to be skewered and sewn up to keep the filling in.

Coming together

Filled and ready to be closed up

He makes an excellent seamstress

The rented spit was well experienced but did a great job once we messed around with it, formed it into shape, and got the right tension on the chain to the motor.

We ended up using about 50 lbs of charcoal total

Once the pig was stabilized on the skewer and the coals had ashed over, it was time for the final assembly and a lot of waiting.

The pig ended up cooking for about 8 hours and could have used a little more time and a little hotter charcoal throughout. It was our first time though and everyone seemed pleased with the final product. There was plenty of time to hang out while the pig roasted and it was over 100 degrees this day so…

What up dawg? Ya know staying cool in the pool.

This is the last picture we have of the pig, which is about halfway through. It turned out great though and we will do even better next time!

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Posted in Pork, Uncategorized

Tagged American, bacon, Charcoal, Meat, Pig, pork, roast

Crab Pesto Grilled Pizza

Posted on August 4, 2010 | 1 comment

Yes another crab dish and I think that this may have been the best one yet. We had a hankering for some pizza and being that we live in Maryland, making your own pizza is the only option. So we stopped at Marchone’s Italian Market in Wheaton and grabbed a frozen dough ball.

A thorough thaw is very important

This was about 2 hours of thawing and the dough had expanded to about twice the original size.

Thoroughly thawed and ready to work with

If the dough is not thawed to room temperature, it will be very difficult to work with which I have learned from experience. At the same time, you can’t work with the dough too much and remember that flour is your friend!

I rolled the dough out to the desired size while the grill was heating up. Once the dough and grill are ready, give the top of the dough a thorough spray of oil. You will then put the dough on the grill otherwise plain.

Straight on the grate oil side down and plain

Leave the dough on for about 3-5 minutes. Just until the down side is lightly browned and basically firm enough to pick the whole piece up without folding and flopping like raw dough.

We need a new grill!

The bottom of this piece is uncooked. The top would look better if we had a better grill that cooked evenly(grill companies we are looking for a sponsor!). When we move, the gas grill is not coming. The grill doesn’t know that, but I guess once this is published the news will be out.

Now it is time to dress the pizza with your toppings as you normally would and then throw it back on the grill. Instead of a red sauce we used a pesto base.

Summer basil is great

Next we used some more of the famous leftover crab which was starting to run low. Note that this was published well after the dish was made and we did not keep fresh crab in the fridge for 3 weeks.

We were able to be pretty generous with the crab since we had so much. This was almost but not quite a pound.

Cheese it up

We used a store bought Italian blend.

Fresh tomatoes

We love fresh tomato slices on pizza. Now it is ready to go back on the grill for a little longer than the plain dough.

Close the lid, which will help to melt the cheese. I gave it a few turns because of our extremely uneven grill as you can see the full blast flame or no flame options. It would be a good idea to give it a spin either way though. This stage will take closer to 7-9 minutes to melt the cheese and cook the pizza through.

Summer basil again

It turned out great! Slice it up, cheese it up, and go to town!

Recipe for Standard Pesto with Walnut

Greg

(Since I have been begun posting over the last month, we will start to tag our posts)

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Posted in Pizzas, Recipes, Sauces, Seafood

Tagged American, basil, cheese, crab, garlic, good leftovers, grilled, Italian, Pesto, seafood, tomato

Thai Peanut Stir Fry with Skirt Steak

Posted on July 31, 2010 | 1 comment

When we made the pork and peach spring rolls we also made a delicious peanut sauce to dip the spring rolls in. I intentionally made a lot of the sauce because it is that good and I knew I would want to use it in another dish. Alas, here is what I came up with! The peanut sauce was made in advance and stored for about 2-3 days before I made this.

I started off with some onion, which I sauteed in some toasted sesame oil. I kept the onion pieces pretty big as you can see- I guess they were technically quarters. Typically I add my aromatics (garlic, ginger, etc) once the onions cook for a few minutes, however, this step was not needed here because the peanut sauce already includes these ingredients.

Next, I added some carrots.

And then some spinach.

Time for the peanut sauce! I thinned it out using some chicken broth.

I blanched some broccoli and then added it to the mix.

For my protein I used skirt steak. I went to Whole Foods for lunch and they were giving out samples of their skirt steaks, which were also on sale. One bite and I was sold. It worked really well in this dish too!

I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper and grilled it. When it was ready I sliced it up and threw it in with the veggies and sauce. This dish really came together nicely- I give a lot of credit to the peanut sauce. As I mentioned it packed a ton of flavor, so for this dish it was really just a matter of putting it all together.

I wanted a more broth like sauce, so I thinned it out to my liking, but you can easily adjust this depending on your taste. I ate it as is, but I am sure it would be great over rice or some thin rice noodles. It was also great leftover.