Artichoke Mozzarella Turkey (Organic)

Entry number four (4) in Cookbook II...Enjoy!  Keep On Eggin'

Spatchock Chicken and Steamed Cauliflower (Organic)

Started my BGE Recipe Book II tonight with one simple variation on my original Spatchocked Chicken and with some Steamed Cauliflower (first time I've made it on the Egg).  Enjoy!

Grilling Grass Fed Beef - Organic Sustainable

Here is a sampling of some of the snippets of information I included at the back of my BGE Cookbook (see previous posts).  Enjoy and Keep On Eggin'

Bacon Chicken and Dumplings (Organic ingredients)

This recipe does NOT qualify as healthy but it does include a few organic ingredients.  Sometimes you just can’t help yourself and have to eat comfort food.

Ingredients

• 4-6 slices bacon
• 5 Medium white potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 Medium Sweet Onion, diced
• 4 Skinless, boneless chicken breasts  (organic) – diced and seasoned with poultry seasoning.
• 3 Cups – Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 Tsp. Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Poultry Seasoning (to taste)
• Coarse Sea Salt and Fresh ground Black Peppercorns (to taste)
• 1 14-15 Oz. Can, Whole kernel corn, drained
• 3 Cups, Low Fat Half-and-Half

• 1 ½ Cups Bisquick  
• 1 Cup Organic 2% Milk

Directions

1. Place bacon in an extra large Cast Iron (CI) Skillet or 6 Qt. Dutch oven and cook until done (or microwave in advance and save grease).  Crumble Bacon and set aside.

2. Keep or put the bacon grease in the skillet and bring up to temperature.
3. Add the diced potatoes, onion and chicken to the bacon grease and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently (it will cook slower in a Dutch oven due to smaller pan area). Note: If using a Dutch oven add a little EVOO to keep the chicken from sticking to the pan during simmering.   
4. Add the chicken broth, corn, more PP’s poultry seasoning, sea salt and fresh pepper.
5. Pour in half-and-half and bring to a boil; add crumbled bacon.
6. Biscuits: In a medium bowl, combine the Bisquick with milk and mix well (dough should be thick enough to ‘drop’).
7. Drop tablespoon sizes of dough into boiling mixture; reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes uncovered.  Cover the pan and simmer another10 minutes. Be careful NOT to stir while simmering, or dumplings will fall apart. 

Jalapeno Tri Tip - Free Range Beef (Organic)

Description

Jalapenos mixed with the other ingredients give a spicy and delicious jolt to a Tri Tip; the marinade is divine and marinating longer is better for more infusion of this great marinade. 

Ingredients

1 ½- 2 ½ Lbs. Tri Tip Beef Roast (Missouri Legacy Beef) 

5 medium/large Fresh Jalapeno peppers, (cut off the stems)

6 cloves, Fresh Garlic, peeled (adjust to taste)

1 ½ Tsp. cracked Black Pepper

1 Tbsp. coarse Sea Salt

1/4 cup Lime juice  

1 Tbls.Oregano

Preparation and Cooking

1.    Marinade:

1.1.  Combine jalapenos, garlic, pepper, salt, lime juice and oregano in a blender. Blend until smooth.

1.2.  Place steak in a large resealable plastic bag. Pour marinade over the steak, and tumble to coat. Seal bag; marinate in the refrigerator 6 – 24 hours.

2.    Cooking the Tri-Tip:

2.1.  Preheat Big Green Egg for high heat; indirect (plate setter legs UP, Grid with Drip Pan) I usually lightly oil the grill grate.

2.2.  Drain and discard marinade. Cook Tri-Tip to desired temperature (I recommend using a continuous monitoring style thermometer) to approximately 125 degrees internal or to your desired doneness.  

2.3.  Remove and let rest for 15 minutes.  Slice across the grain and serve.  Makes approximately 6 Servings, Prep Time: 20 Minutes, Cook Time: Approximately 60 Minutes indirect; cook to temperature not time!

Jail Break Steak Rub (are spices all considered Organic?)

Computer specialists a.k.a. nerds, refer to breaking the code to the operating system for a computer system as a ‘jail break.’  Cooks refer to cracking the code to recipes and spices as a breakout or a copycat. 

I like to refer to this rub as a Jail Break…of course “if I tell you what steak rub this copycat recipe is formulated from I’d have to kill you” I think the common lingo goes. 

Hint: A very famous high-end American consumer retail company that sells kitchenwares, furniture and linens, as well as other housewares and home furnishings, along with a variety of specialty foods, soaps and lotions no longer sells this rub!   

Ingredients in Equal Portions – You determine the size of the batch you want to create.

3 portions - Granulated Roasted Garlic (NO POWDERED GARLIC)

1 portion - Coriander powder (or two portions coriander seeds)

2 portions - Coarse Sea Salt (original recipe probably had 3 or more portions)

2 portions - Black Peppercorns (not ground pepper)

2 portions - Red Pepper Flakes (original recipe probably had 1 portion)

2 portions - Dill Seed

2 portions - Yellow Mustard seed

Put it all in a blender and grind into to medium coarse mixture.  Shake mixture before applying each time you bring it out.  Enjoy! 

Gnocchi Soup - Inspired by friends...

This soup was inspired by Chris at ‘nibblemethis.com’ that apparently got his inspiration from Copykat.com's clone of Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi soup.  I added a cup of pre-cooked chicken back to this recipe to complete my variation.  The results are amazing, however about half way through preparation I remembered why soups are not my favorite cook e.g. estimated prep to table time is 2+ hours, lots of prep and babysitting. 

Ingredients
5 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
1 Cup, Sweet Onion, diced
½ Cup Celery, finely diced
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
5 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Half and Half
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Cup Whole Milk (or whatever you usually have in the fridge)
3/4 cup carrots, shredded and then chopped
2 Cups, Beef Stock
2 Cups, Fresh Spinach, rinsed, stemmed and chopped
1 Large roasted Poblano Chile; seeded and chopped (roast in the microwave after chopping)
1 Lb. Potato Gnocchi
1 Tsp. ground Thyme

¾ Tsp. Black Pepper
1 Tsp. Sea Salt
Strong ¼ Cup Corn Starch

14 oz. Can, Pre-Cooked White Meat Chicken
Garnish: Homemade croutons (sweet wheat buns, cut into cubes and toasted lightly)

Preparation

1.    In a large stew pot melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and sauté the onions, garlic and celery until the onions start turning translucent  

2.    Sprinkle in the flour while stirring and cook for a few minutes to make into a light roux[1].

3.    Remove from heat and stir in the half & half, heavy cream and milk.    

4.    Return to heat and simmer until thickened and starting to reduce (about 15-20 minutes); Note: From this point on in the preparation the heat should be at simmer. 

5.    Add the carrots, stock, spinach, poblano, and seasonings the simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently until liquid have reduced.   

6.    While reducing these ingredients, boil water and cook the gnocchi until it floats to the top of the water; drain and set aside.

7.    Remove 1-2 cups of the mixture and liquefy in a food processor. 

8.    Whisk in the starch and return mixture to the pot.

9.    Add the cooked gnocchi, cooked chicken. Stir and let warm through.

10.  Serve topped with homemade wheat croutons

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[1] Roux (pronounced /ˈruː/) is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally clarified butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a thickener for gravy, other sauces, soups and stews. It is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight.^[1] When used in Italian food, roux is traditionally equal parts of butter and flour.

Happy New Year!