After a full day ending with a parent/son baseball game with Nathan’s team over at Pine Lake park, I decided that I needed to try out a couple recipes from the books that I got for father’s day.  As a main course, I chose to make Asian spice-rubbed pork chops with wild mushroom-soy vinaigrette from the Bobby Flay book.  As a side, I whipped up some Risotto coupled with grilled asparagus wrapped in pancetta with Citronette; chosen from the Mario Batali book. 

We paired a bottle of 2006 Cinsault (columbia valley) limited release Chateau Ste Michelle with the meal and the results were off the chart.

Of course, I have to include some gratuitous shots of the food.  Guys, remember that the best way to continually justify the purchase of a Big Green Egg is to grill dinner often for the family ;-)  I think Erin would have let me spend 10x the amount on a green egg had she known ahead of time the kinds of meals that she would be served throughout the year.

Be sure to get thick 1+” chops

The wild mushroom-soy vinaigrette zaps the taste buds and tastes amazing with the grilled chops

After you wrap the asparagus in pancetta, refrigerate for an hour and you’ll get the best results when grilling

The citronette sauce gives the asparagus a tangy flavor that pairs well with the main course.

Here’s my plate just before I consumed every bite.

On a recent night out, Erin and I tried a new drink called an espresso hazelnut Manhattan. Manhattan’s are pretty much straight bourbon with a dash of sweet vermouth and a maraschino cherry, so needless to say Erin isn’t much of a fan, but this particular espresso version tastes anything like a real Manhattan. Kind of like comparing a real Gin martini to a chocolate vodka martini. The only thing they share is part of a name, but I digress. Getting back to the story, the espresso hazelnut Manhattan was so good that I had to order two more (1 was for Erin). We asked the bartender what she put in it and she said that it was bourbon + an espresso/hazelnut infused vodka from Crater Lake .

Last month, we dropped into our local liquor store and we found the Crater Lake vodka! We were looking forward to experimenting and I used it as an excuse to pick up a bottle of Makers Mark bourbon. The first several batches favored the bourbon too heavily. I’d say the ratio where it tasted most like the drinks we ordered in the bar was when we mixed three parts vodka and one part bourbon. Mix the liquor with ice in a shaker and pour into a martini glass; garnish with a cherry and enjoy. Here’s another website with a bunch of recipes for crater lake products. They include the recipe for the Manhatten and they suggest the opposite ratio I list. You’ll have to let me know which one you prefer (presuming you the reader is at least 21 years old and not going to drink and drive…)

It’s not Irish, but you could always whip one up on Saturday and chase it with a Guinness
Enjoy!

It’s good to see that folks read my blog, despite the fact I have been bad about keeping it current! A number of you have emailed about the Honey Soy-glazed Chilean Sea Bass recipe, so here it is!

Ingredients:

4 (6-ounce) Chilean Sea Bass fillets

Honey Soy Glaze:
1 cup soy sauce
2 TBS rice wine vinegar
6 TBS honey
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup cornstarch

Ginger Butter Sauce
1/2 cup peeled and thinly sliced ginger
4 TBS finely chopped shallots
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into chunks
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Directions:

Chilean Sea Bass:

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the sea bass lightly with the honey soy glaze
2. place in a greased shallow baking dish and bake for 20 minutes or until done.

Honey Soy Glaze:
1. Preheat a saucepan over medium-high heat. When it is hot, slowly add the soy sauce (It will sizzle and bubble).
2. Stir in the vinegar and honey.
3. Stir cold water and cornstarch together and then add the mixture into the sauce.
4. reduce heat to medium-low and stir sauce until thick (1-2 minutes). Cool slightly before you coat the fish.

Ginger Butter Sauce:
1. Cut the ginger slices into thin strips. Cook the ginger, shallots and white wine in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, reducing by 3/4 (5-10 minutes).

2. Pour in the heavy cream and reduce by half (~5 minutes). Remove mixture from heat. Whisk in butter chunks, a few at a time, until melted. Keep adding butter chunks, stirring until melted. Only return the sauce to low heat if necessary b/c it may separate when heat is added and that wouldn’t be good. Add salt and white pepper and strain through a sieve before serving.

I usually steam asparagus and pour the butter sauce on the plate and place the fish on top of the asparagus and sauce.

Enjoy!

P.S. This recipe is from the Cool Mountain Cookbook. Click on the picture to find it at amazon.

This weekend, I wanted to try out the rotisserie on my new grill, so I picked up a 7 lb rib roast on Sunday. Prep the meat by applying a bit of butter and Montréal seasoning (I usually put the roast inside of a plastic grocery bag to and apply the seasoning and butter inside of it so that it doesn’t make a mess. Usually I then sear the roast in a pan to brown it and lock in the juices, but I didn’t do that this time and I think this is one of the best roasts I’ve made to date.

If you plan to rotisserie, I highly recommend finding a grill with a back burner. That way you can cook the roast using indirect heat and you can place a pan underneath the roast with an inch or two of water, which helps keep it nice and moist. Keep the lid closed until you are checking the temperature or you’ll be waiting a long time for it to finish cooking. I use one of those digital meat thermometers to tell me when it is done. I cook it until it is 140 degrees. Bring the roast inside and cover it with tinfoil for 5-10 minutes. The roast will continue to cook and it will raise it’s temperature another 5 degrees. BTW, when you are checking the temp of the meat, make sure that you don’t hit bone or you’ll get a false reading.

For a good side, I boiled a few pounds of Yukon gold potatoes until tender. Drain then, then add two sticks of butter and maybe 1/4 cup of heavy cream + salt and pepper to taste. I mash them up in the pot and added some parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

I finished it out with a salad and fresh bread. Probably gained a couple of pounds and raised my cholesterol a few points, but it was worth it

Here’s one of my favorite summertime recipes. Make sure and follow the directions though. I wouldn’t want you to end up like Steve (Furrygoat); more on that later….

(more…)