09.03.13
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TROUT

We ate the best meal served in Reno last night.

I popped into Raley’s to get some Kind Bars on sale and use the bank machine. I always go by the fish counter to see if anything looks great and the swordfish didn’t look great, but good enough to light the EGG.

swordfish

 

 

 

As the guy was wrapping the swordfish, I saw a couple of whole fish at the back of the case, unmarked. They were pretty big, big as the snapper I grilled whole. “What are the whole fish?” I asked. “Trout, $5.99 a pound. Farm raised, but with a really beautiful red flesh. They’re called Sierra Bow Red Trout. This one’s almost 1 3/4 pounds (1.73), cleaned.” I looked at the inside; beautiful.

 

Knowing the trout was safely resting in my fridge, while shopping at the Farmers Market I dreamed up a swell meal… some Romano beans to grill with the fish, carrots to braise and glaze in an orange juice and sugar and vinegar mixture. Carol said she read where avocados were really good grilled for five minutes — changes their taste and texture… got a couple of those. I got some lovely golden beets to roast and pickle, as well. Sounds like a plan.

Pickled golden beets over chopped endive, Romano beans and that trout, ready to go.

We stopped at World Market on the way to water Brian and Natasza’s plants — they’re in Kyiv at the moment — and they had everything BBQ on sale. I got a round vegetable thingy and some Wine Barrel Staves to use for smoke. Hot damn. Just soak a stave in water for an hour and throw it on the hot coals.

The EGG is smokin’.

I cooked it the same way I did the snapper: rinse, dry, stuff with salt and pepper and lemon slices, slash skin, oil it up and grill for six minutes a side.

You can see the wine barrel stave burning in the back.

I like my Romano beans — or any green beans — tender and cooked, so before grilling, I steamed them for 10 minutes.

So here we are… best damn meal hereabouts.

The golden beets are dressed with ranch dressing. The grilled avocado is filled with a vinaigrette, Romano beans and glazed carrots. The wine is 2010 Champalou Vouvray. All in all, just yummy.

But wait… that’s not all ! ! ! (as they say on late night TV)

That trout produced a generous amount of leftover fish.

trout. left. over.

What better way to get started on it, than warming a piece in the countertop convection oven, dressing it with a bit of sauce from last evening (Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, pickle relish, and lemon juice) and serving it alongside Fallon melon and an O’Henry peach? No better way.

trout. for. breakfast.

That’s all, then.

08.17.13
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Grilled Whole Fish

Love fish.

Have cooked whole fish, usually poached.

We go to Whole Food about once a month to get Newman’s Own Thin Pretzel Sticks. As far as we know, no other store in Reno carries them. When passing the display of whole fish on ice, we often remarked, “Can’t wait till we get the EGG, we’ll grill a whole fish.”

We now have the Big Green Egg and Thursday we bought a 1 1/2 pound Snapper at Whole Food. (We also got two bags of those pretzels, coffee filters, and a cantaloupe on sale.)

The fish lady helped us pick out the fish and cleaned and scaled it. She also gave us a bag of ice. We put the fish and ice in its own bag and put it on the floor of the back seat of our car, figuring it wouldn’t get too hot down there. When we got home, we put the whole shebang — bag, ice and fish — on a plate in the refrigerator.

Snapper waits for the fire.

I went recipe hunting. Weber’s Big Book of Grilling has a few recipes for whole fish — snapper, trout — but they depend on stuffing, or marinating or foil packets — no straightforward grilling. I looked on…

Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue has a number of recipes and tips for grilling whole fish.

“Fish weighing more than 2 pounds will be hard to maneuver on the grill and should be avoided.”
“Rub the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper on the outside as well as the inside.”

“Use a sharp knife to make shallow diagonal slashes every 2 inches along both sides of the fish from top to bottom, beginning just behind the dorsal fin. This helps to ensure even cooking and also allows the cook to peek into the flesh to see if it is done.”

The Big Green Egg Cookbook has a recipe for Whole Snapper with Lemon and Rosemary. Just what I need, except they call for a 4 to 5 pound fish.

“Rinse the fish under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.”

They, too, call for slashing the skin on both sides of the fish, coating the fish with olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper.

As the recipe title implies, they stuff the cavity of the fish with thin slices of garlic, thin slices of lemon and sprigs of fresh rosemary. (We didn’t have fresh rosemary, so we used fresh dill weed.)

They then go into the grilling method with the EGG:

Set the EGG for direct cooking with the porcelain coated grid and preheat to 350°F.

Snapper over the fire.

The fish was positioned on the grid,  so that it easily could be rolled from one side to the other.

I cooked the snapper 6 minutes per side starting at 400°F and second side at 350°F

It came out juicy and lovely, here served with chard and a bean salad.

Yum !

08.05.13
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5 Guys come to Reno

We got our car washed recently. Kietzke Lane is a major north-south street in Reno. McCarran circles the city. Hutch’s Car Wash is on a corner of Kietzke and McCarran “behind the Union Bank” in one of those tangled shopping areas that makes no sense.

They do a really nice job on our car and there’s always a coupon in the RGJ or one of those “deal envelopes” that get tossed in our driveway.

As we left Hutch’s, we ran smack into 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. We had heard that they opened in Reno, but didn’t know exactly where. Well, they’re in the same tangled shopping area.

It was about quarter to noon on Friday, so we just parked and walked in.

Big noisy place. We found a line on the left side of the room next to stacked bags of potatoes. One woman was taking orders, so the line did not move extra quickly. When we got to her, we found out why. There are choices.

Who knew they could do such a thing? I went into brain-lock trying to quickly decide what I wanted on my “Little Cheeseburger.” Meanwhile, Carol was in my ear saying “I want relish, mushrooms and steak sauce.” Continue reading →

08.04.13
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BEAN SALAD, YUM

Yesterday afternoon, I had some beans soaking and Carol sent me a link to Epicurious bean salads… 23 of ‘em. After reading the first two or three, I said to myself, “They make them up just like I do.” So I stopped reading and put my Iacopi Farms prim mateca beans on to cook.

From there, I hit the refrigerator and pantry. So here’s what went in the bowl, roughly in order of quantity:

assembly of the bean salad

Iacopi Farms prim mateca beans
Bush’s canned black beans, drained
Steamed, grilled and chopped blue lake green beans leftover from yesterday’s steak dinner
Steamed, grilled and chopped Romano beans – likewise
Fresh chopped Cherokee purple tomato
Canned ripe olives, sliced
Chopped spring onion
Diced red bell pepper
Sliced cornichons
Canned Water chestnut, julienned

That was topped with Bumble Bee solid white Albacore tuna and garnished with Castelvetrano Olives and a Cheese Stick.
An olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and mustard vinaigrette dressed the salad.

bean salad served

I served Sun Gold tomatoes on the side. While they are bursting with flavor, I find the skins tough and annoying when mixed in with a salad. (Best to roast or grill them and the skins slip right off.)

That was so good, I had the bit left over for breakfast, with HB egg instead of tuna. Double YUM.

breakfast (Why the knife and no fork? Clean knife left from last night’s dinner.)

08.03.13
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Hot and Juicy

The Perfect Steaks.

I’m still into trying new stuff — new ways of grilling on the Big Green Egg. When I took inventory of the garage freezer I found a Porterhouse steak on the bottom wrapped in white butcher paper. Not sure where or when I got it… probably from Blue Ribbon Meat, they use that kind of paper. Anyway, it was lovely, about 1 1/2 inches thick and with a nice size tenderloin.

I went to the Big Green Egg website in search of a cooking technique, and found this:

The Perfect Steaks (No author or source was listed.)

Ingredients:

2 steaks, 1-1/2 to 2-inches thick, preferably rib-eyes

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Trim the steaks of any excess fat. Mix all of the dry ingredients together and apply to both sides of the steaks. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.
Set the EGG® up for direct cooking. To increase sear marks use a cast iron cooking grid; for extra flavor add wood chips.
When the EGG is heated to 650°F, place the steaks on the grill and sear for two to three minutes.
Open the lid and flip the steaks onto a new section of the grid. After two to three more minutes, flip the steaks once more.
Completely shut down the EGG by closing the damper top and draft door. Let the steaks continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes, until they reach the desired internal temperature (check with a meat thermometer).
Remove the steaks and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

I planned to steam green beans and grill them and grill a peach for dessert, as the steak rested. I had only one steak, but that’s enough for we two.

I set up for direct cooking and threw in soaked wood chips. The fire seemed rip roaring, and I had the bottom draft door full open and the top damper full open, but it didn’t look like the temps were going to go above 400°F.

Change of plans. Might as well grill the peach and green beans that I had planned to grill after the steak. When those were done the temps were still hanging around 400 so I just took the top damper off the EGG.

damper off… a new technique

This was not a technique noted in the recipe but Hoo Baby the temps started climbing. At 600 I threw on the steak and the temps just went up to 700 by the time 2 minutes had passed. Flipped the steak for another 2 minutes… by now the temps hovered around 650. Flipped and took the instant read temperature of the steak, about 85°F. Seared another minute on each side, inside temp 98. Flipped the steak and shut all the grill vents. Grill temps stuck about 500.

Left another 2 minutes, flipped; inside temp about 115, another 2 min, inside temp about 130, took off the steak and took its picture.

After resting about 4 minutes, internal temperature rose to 145, a little overcooked, but real juicy with a fine crust.

Accompanied by a baked sweet potato, blue lake beans and Romano beans.

So, the timing for my 1 1/2 inch porterhouse:
2 min + 2 + 1 + 1, shut down vents, 2 + 2 more minutes. Coulda shoulda taken off at 115 to 120°F.
Now I know.

07.24.13
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Crepinettes with smoke.

Duck Crepinettes from Fatted Calf

I’ve done Crepinetts on my Weber Q and the EGG a few times now… On the Q, I preheated to at least 400°F, turned off the middle burner and cooked 8 minutes per side over the (off) middle burner. On the EGG, cook at about 400°F, 8 minutes per side. The Caul Fat holds the moisture in and they turn out perfect every time.

That EGG is smokin’

Today, I tried my EGG with smoke for the first time. I took two hands-full of Jack Daniel’s wood chips and soaked in the little blue bucket for about 90 minutes.Made a direct fire in the EGG and brought to 400°F… drained the wood chips and threw them on the charcoal fire. Much smoke immediately. Put on the grate, and added the oiled Crepinettes and closed the EGG adjusting to hold the temps at 400.
At 8 minutes, I turned the crepinettes and put on yellow beans that had been steamed for 10 minutes.

“Smoke gets in your eyes…”


At 16 minutes I shut down the grill…

served and ate that fine smoked food. What we have here is a whole new flavor treat. YUM.
Sadly, I’ve run out of crepinettes. Fatted Calf promises to start shipping soon. If I can’t wait, I’ll just have to make a San Francisco trip. Let’s see, what other foodie goodies do I need?

07.23.13
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BEER BUTT CHICKEN

You’ve all heard of Beer Can Chicken — probably cooked it. Insert a half-full beer can up a chicken’s keister, put that assembly on the grill and wait for the yummy, moist chicken dinner.

Well, if you happen to own a Big Green Egg — or even if you don’t — BGE is happy to sell you a ceramic conical device called Sittin’ Chicken in which to place six ounces of beer and shove up the aforementioned keister. In this case, you call it Beer Butt Chicken.

Here’s how it goes…

First of all, buy an organic, free-range chicken. I got mine at the Farmers Market, and I’ve visited the farm where it was raised, so I know its a swell bird. Mine was a tad over five pounds.

 

My chicken listed a bit to the right, but did not fall over.

Chicken is on the EGG. The white thing is a “Ceramic Platesetter” and makes the EGG a roaster or smoker.

The chicken is roasted at 375°F and sprayed from time to time with a beer and cider and oil and vinegar mixture. Helps it brown and flavors up the skin.

Here’s my chicken after 40 minutes.

Here’s my chicken after 70 minutes. I took its thigh temperature and called it done.

Here we are, rested and ready to carve.

We invited son Brian and Natasza over for Sunday Dinner and to watch the British Open Golf Championship from Muirfield Scotland that I had taped. It is live at 5am PDT, not a good time for Sunday Dinner. Phil Mickelson — long one of my favorites — came from five strokes back to win. We were all very happy about that, and I won a couple of coin, as well.

Carved. Carcass in the background.

Brian made Vichyssoise for a first course. Its chilled creaminess welcome as it has been very hot in Reno.

And here is our table.

Later in the evening, golf over, guests gone and a cooling breeze on the front porch, Carol and I watched the moonrise.

07.19.13
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ORANGE SUMMER

So many orange things are around in the summer. I’ve been eating some orange and yellow things for my breakfast and lunch. You’ll see:

Orange and Yellow Lunch
Melon
Canned pineapple chunks
A very fine cheese on crackers:

Fat Bottomed Girl, Bleeting Heart CA
Pasteurized Sheep’s Milk
Peter, at Wedge: A Cheese Shop got this cheese in for the first time recently when I was in the shop. He gave me a taste and I was hooked. Has a cool name, too.

Orange Breakfast
Hard cooked egg
Melon
Peach
I don’t know how you do your peaches, but I peel mine with a vegetable peeler, then cut it off the pit in wedge sections. Be sure and do all this peeling and cutting over your plate so you capture all the juices.

Another Orange Breakfast of melon and peach layered over thin sliced baked ham.
We get both our melons and peaches at the same farm stand at the Saturday Farmer’s Market on California Avenue near Keystone. I don’t remember the name of the stand, but I’ll look when I’m there tomorrow. Minton Family Farm, Yuba City CA

Here’s melon and a hard cooked egg accompanied by home made pimento cheese spread on crackers.

And finally, for now:
Ambrosia melon, “yellow” watermelon, and peach for breakfast…
More cut up peach soaking in rum for dessert tonight.
My peaches went beyond ripe, so I had to peel two at once. Turns out that’s not such a bad thing. Sadly, the “yellow” watermelon had almost no flavor (the rum-soaked peaches had lots of flavor).

07.16.13
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EGGstatic

I’m so excited,
I just can’t hide it,
Got ourselves a BIG GREEN EGG
And I think I like it…

Big Green Egg

It all started seriously when we visited Carol’s brother Mark in September 2012. They’ve had a Big Green Egg (EGG) for years and always cooked on it when we made our annual visit. The first time we ate from their EGG was the summer of 2010 where Jannie cooked salmon, zucchini, tomatoes and corn all at once. That planted the EGG seed in my brain. By September ’12 we had already moved from San Francisco to Reno, so we were about ready to rock n roll.

And why had we wanted to move from the beautiful San Francisco after 20 years?
Reason No. 1, the hills and steps.

Count the steps.

Reason No. 2, we liked the idea of walking out the back door and throwing something on the grill without the hassle of walking through the entire house and out onto the tiny back deck.

Our back “deck” off the second bedroom

Oh yes, before we left Ohio, Mark and I happened to make a small wager…

Mark’s Cincinnati Reds and my Giants are both in NL playoffs. Mark wants to bet.
I said, “I’ll bet the Reds don’t win the NL championship.”
He said he’d take that for $10.
I said, “If you lose, you have to give me my ten dollar bill in Reno.”
He said, “Only if you cook in Reno on a Green Egg.”
We shook on it. Jannie and Carol hooted.

We were outta there for the airport at noon. Continue reading →

07.06.13
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caramelized onions

Hebrew National hot dogs over onions, grill roasted potatoes

These are caramelized onions hiding beneath grilled hot dogs. If I cooked the onions on the stove, I would go low-and-slow for 30 minutes to an hour, watching and stirring to get them just right. I did these on my Salt ROX in about six minutes — could have gone eight — and I didn’t have to worry about them burning because the ROX maintains an even temperature and holds the moisture that comes out of the onions.

I wouldn’t caramelize onions this way for something serious like a tart or onion dip or onion soup; but to languor under a hot dog… perfectomente.

You remember my swell Salt ROX, don’t you? Since I first got it and used it, I’ve been trying all manner of stuff. There’s the regular grillables —  stuff like burgers, Crepinettes. And the grillable fishes; sockeye salmon and swordfish steak.

grilled “dover” sole

Holy smokes… I even grilled “dover” sole (not the real Dover sole, found in Europe, but what the supermarket calls any sole caught in the north Pacific). Anyway, its a very thin fillet one could never put on an actual grill.

Then there was the quail and the spinach that I already wrote about.

Shrimp and artichokes

Shrimp and artichokes are good, too.

The first of June, I moved my Q grill from the front porch, where it was sheltered to the back yard. And I “perminately” installed the salt ROX on the side so I can grill on the grill surface and the ROX at the same time.

Lovely back yard sun.