Asian BBQ Marinated Chicken over Roasted Asparagus

Every now and then I stay at home with the little guy and I get to experiment with some new recipes in the kitchen. This is a decently easy recipe to fix and doesn't really take a whole lot of time. I wanted something different and started mixing some stuff together that I knew would tasted good. This is very straightforward and is packed with a ton of flavor. The marinade is quick and is absolutely delicious. Here are the things that you will need: Marinade: 1/2 cup Soy Sauce 1/3 cup Bottled BBQ sauce (I used Stubbs because of its thinner consistency) 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard 2 tbsp Brown Mustard (no they aren't the same) 1 tsp of Sriracha Sauce or Hot Sauce will do. 1 tsp Red Pepper Flake 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1/2 tsp Ginger Components: 1 lb Chicken Tenderloins 1 yellow onion 1 jarred Roasted Red Pepper 1 lb Asparagus 2 tsp Butter Garlic Powder Extra Virgin Olive Oil

You'll need a sheet pan, a large skillet, a small skillet, and a medium size mixing bowl for this recipe. In the mixing bowl mix together the ingredients above for the marinade. Put in the chicken tenderloins and coat them thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes. While chicken is marinating your going to melt a tsp of butter in the small skillet and add in the diced yellow onion and allow them to cook on medium heat until slightly transparent and add the diced red pepper. allow to cook together on medium low for 10 minutes. Once done with the onion and pepper, set them aside for a bit. Melt another tsp of butter in the large skillet and add the chicken tenderloins and cook thoroughly on medium-high heat, takes about 5-6 minutes per side. Dice the chicken once done and put back into the large skillet then mix in the onion and red pepper. Preheat the oven to 425. Trim 1 inch of asparagus off the bottom of each stem so that the bottom of the stems are green. Spread the spears on the sheet pan and drizzle them with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder generously. Once preheated, place the asparagus in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Once done, your going to just place some asparagus on a plate and spoon the chicken, onion, and pepper mix on top of the spears. This is a spectacular dish with a whole lof of flavor. I will definitely be doing this one as a regular because it is very easy to do and is a quick solution.

Smoking Meat in the Oven Part 2

Well I decided to write what I consider as an addendum to my previous blog about a pork butt that I smoked in the oven. Since I had to move back to an apartment, I've had to be rather inventive with the fact that I love to smoke pork. I've come up with many ways to do this and there was always something missing from the flavor. I am a fan of the taste of muted apple in pork. There is just something about it that is both wonderfully sweet and beautiful about it. It's sugary, it adds a needed muted sweetness, it's refreshing, and it takes down the bite of over-smoking the meat or over cooking in an oven. The same idea is evident; cook it low and don't mess with it. Don't poke it, don't open the door to look at it, don't check it's temp for at least 6 hours. Just let it cook and keep it covered to take as much smoke a possible. A far as setting up
an oven smoke device, it's quite easy. Get a cheap aluminum roasting pan and place soaked wood chips in it. Place that on the bottom rung in the oven. Then on the other rack, put the
roast on the actual oven rack and cover it up in foil. Make sure that you rub the roast down and that the fatty side is facing up so that it melts off through the meat to protect moisture. Cooking in an actual oven is different than a grill or a smoker. Set it for about 6-7 hours at 325°F. Like I said earlier, let it sit. I know that you want to mess with it, but don't. Once 6 hours are done, you can uncover it and begin to start basting it and mopping. Jack up the heat to around 425 and baste in a clean pan, fat side down every 10 minutes for an additional 40 minutes to create a bark. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes before cutting or pulling the meat. If you did it right, the meat should be able to fall directly off the shoulder blade. Just dice it, mince it, shred it, do what you will. It might sound like trouble to do this but you will have some of the tastiest pork you will ever want and be able to closely replicate that restaurant bbq taste that you already like. If you would like some ideas for rubs or seasoning ideas, comment and I will add some suggestions. Enjoy your time in the kitchen and remember that cooking isn't a chore, it's an adventure.

Honey Balsamic Peanut Sauce.

Decided to list another sauce recipe today because this one was absolutely wonderful on chicken wings. This is just a classic idea I had from a previous dish that I made with chicken and rice and I loved the flavors so I replicated it into a wing sauce that is very tasty. Here's the things you will need:

1/2 cup Clover or Orange Blossom Honey.
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp red pepper flake
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions: In a small sauce pot, put the balsamic vinegar, honey, oil, hot sauce and soy and mix thoroughly while heating. Go ahead and add the garlic, red pepper flake, and hot sauce and then once you see no separation left, add the peanut butter. Continue to mix vigorously every minute for at least 20 seconds at a time so the peanut butter melts but doesn't scorch. Once the peanut butter is fully melted, add in the chili powder and cayenne pepper. Reduce heat to low and let it just stay warm until ready to use.

I would recommend this sauce for anything chicken related. It is sweet, salty, fruity, spicy, and will absolutely make your tastebuds flip a couple of times. I'm going to include the picture of the wings that used the sauce on.

Creamy Garlic Cole Slaw.

Here is a simple fix for a side to any bbq or get together. I make dozens of different variations on potato salad and cole slaw because I always like a nice surprise. A lot of people say that they can't make cole slaw because it makes a mess and prep time takes forever. Just use the same thing you see in the supermarket for under two bucks that comes prebagged. It's fresh, its good, its cheap. Just dump the bag of mix in a mixing bowl, add a cup of mayo, 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp of pickle relish, 2 tbsp minced garlic, salt and pepper the mix until you think it tastes right. Stir everything around. You have a delicious cole slaw on your hands. Feel free to write back with some of your recipes. I welcome any feedback you may want to send.

Carolina BBQ Burger

I was thinking of ways the other day to improve on a favorite burger of mine that I enjoyed from my days of working at Rafferty's. Then I thought of one thing I always loved about a Carolina style BBQ sandwich; put some slaw on it. So what you do is fix you're favorite burger, put on some good cheddar cheese, fry up some bacon, and cook a yellow onion in the rendered bacon fat. Top with the onion, bacon, pile on some good creamy cole slaw, and to with some really good BBQ sauce and you're good to go. Making the sauce and slaw from scratch is really simple. I'll put my cole slaw recipe on the blog just in case you want to use it. Just remember that recipes can be altered and experimenting with good flavors is the key to having fun in the kitchen.

Laura's Italian Sausage and Shrimp Alfredo Pizza

Laura and I always go back and forth creating new and interesting ideas in the kitchen and this time, she truthfully came up with an idea that was so insanely good, I actually wanted to slap my mama. She decided to make an alfredo pizza with Italian sausage and shrimp. The flavors on this thing were nothing short of breathtaking. Simple ingredients. Simple preparation. Simple and so amazingly good.

Here's what you need:
2 pizza crusts
1 jar of Alfredo Sauce
1 pound of precooked shrimp
1 pound Italian Sausage
1 package of shredded Mozzerella Cheese
1 large onion.
Garlic Powder

Set oven temp to 425 and preheat. Spread Alfredo Sauce on pizza crust. In shallow pan, start to brown up the sausage, and once seared on both sides, add onion and cook until onion is slightly transparent. Add 1/2 mixture of sausage and onion on top of the crust. Use 1/2 lb of precooked and de-tailed shrimp on sauced crust and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for about 7-9 minutes or until cheese is melted and turns slightly golden. Repeat for second crust.

I'm sure that this will be a hit in your kitchen as well as it was in mine.

Easy Sweet BBQ Sauce

A lot of people I meet think that bbq sauce is some magical concoction that they have to buy. Thing is that it is quite easy to make on your own. Once you do a traditional sauce it is very easy to make other ones. It's very simple to make a good sauce and it usually involves using stuff that you aleady have. Here's a sweet bbq sauce that I make a lot of. The only thing you need to start is a small sauce pot.

Ingredients:

1 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup brown or yellow mustard
1/2 cup Apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
3 dashes of hot sauce
2 tbsp honey or agave nectar
1 tbsp garlic sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chilli powder

Here is the easy thing about it. It takes about 10 minutes to make once you get it simmering. Mix the ingredients in order that I wrote them, working from wet to dry except for the sugar. All you have to do is mix the stuff into the pot on medium heat until it starts to boil and then you reduce the heat to low. I happen to use agave nectar because I like the taste a little better than honey, but to each their own. Remember to be creative in your kitchen and mixing in other ingredients. I've been known to make beer sauce, bourbon and rum sauces, mustard sauce, soda sauces, Eastern Carolina vinegar sauces, and countless others. Once you can taste the ingredients in things you can experiment with different flavor profiles. If you want to add some heat, add some red pepper flake or more hot sauce. More sweetness? Add some more sugar or honey. More smokiness? Add some liquid smoke, or Worcestershire Sauce. Just have fun with it. Hope I can add some more new recipes soon. Until then, love your food.

Italian Beef and Sausage

Every now and then I just go through what I have available at the time and this is one of those occasions. I decided to take a cheap sirloin roast that I bought, poor some marinara sauce onto it and cook it with some smoked sausage. Took about an hour and a half. But it was mighty tasty.

Things you'll need:
1 sirloin tip roast (approximately 2 lb)
2 packages of smoked sausage
1 large jar of marinara sauce.
1 bottle at traditional American Lager Beer(Yeungling is a good choice)
Hot sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
Italian Seasoning Mix
Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the roast in middle of baking dish or pan and place inch long cuts of sausage around the roast. Cover with marinara sauce. Pour the beer around the roast and sausage and season the dish thouroghly. Cover with foil and bake for about an hour or until internal temp of the roast is about 150 degrees. Remove and let the roast rest for 10 minutes. Slice the roast thinly and serve with sausage and whatever other sides you want. Bursted with flavor and tasted fantastic. The beer gives some extra sweetness to the roast and makes the sausage taste fantastic. Will be making this more often.

Crab Hushpuppies

I decided to get into the kitchen one day this week and make these and I was rather happy with the way they turned out. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, slightly spicy, and they have that wonderful taste of salty crab mixed in. It's actually pretty simple. Here are the things you'll need.

2 cups of dry hushpuppy mix
1 cup water
1 can crab meat
2 tbsp old bay seasoning
1 tbsp raw horseradish
2 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp lemon juice

Mix hushpuppy mix and water together in mixing bowl and mix with fork until there is no more white powder from the mix. Mix in the meat until fully mixed then mix in the remaining ingredients. Either deep fry spoon size lumps for 3-4 minutes on 350 degrees or pan fry on medium heat for 3 minutes a side. If they come up a little dark, don't worry about it, its natural if you deep fry something with old bay in it. Enjoy these with your favorite cocktail sauce or some honey butter. I have recipes for both if you want them. I made a vinegar dill sauce for mine. Any questions you can hit me on facebook or email me at jarrred.dunlap@gmail.com. Thank you and enjoy.

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Laura's no longer experimental Guinness Burger.

Laura decided to surprise me with what smelled like what the Guinness Brewery when I walked through the door from work. I knew that Guinness made roast and steak taste amazing but never thought of making Guinness burgers. She not only put beer in the precooked meat, she put some of the rendered burger fat into the cooked hashbrowns and then cooked onions into the potatoes and added more Guinness into that. Here are the things you'll need.

1 1/2 lbs Ground Beef. (no leaner than 80/20)
1/2 bottle of Guinness Extra Stout
15 tater tots
1/2 White Onion
2 Cloves Fresh Chopped Garlic
Horseradish
Bread Crumbs
Kosher Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Fresh Brie Cheese

Put meat in mixing bowl and mix 1/4 of a bottle of Guinness, garlic, bread crumbs, salt, Worcestershire, and a tsp of raw horseradish. You need to add bread crumbs until meat is firm. Form meat into patties and place then into a pan and cook on medium heat for about 6 minutes on each side. While Burgers are cooking, add tater tots into a pan with a drizzle of olive oil and start to sautee them. Once tots are heated through all the way. Drip renderings from the burgers into the potatoes then add 1/4 bottle of guinness into the pan and chop the tots in the pan. Chop 1/2 an onion into the same pan and cook until the onions become transparent. Add cheese onto the burger and then put potato and onion mix onto the burgers.
Try these suckers out. You won't regret it.

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Irish Red Lager Chicken Wings

"I'm back. After a brief hiccup in my blogging recipes, I finally decided to jump back on the horse and write again. Last night I decided to play around in the kitchen and made a killer sauce to go onto some chicken wings. Here are the things you will need.

2 small cans of V8
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown mustard
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp horseradish (raw)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated onion
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 bottle of irish red lager (i used Samuel Adams Irish Red)

Start a simmer pot on low heat and add all of the wet ingredients (except for the beer), add the dry ingredients, and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the 1/2 bottle of beer and about 1 tsp of agave nectar. Simmer for about 5 more minutes. Allow sauce to cool and put fresh chicken wings in a ziplock bag along with enough sauce to coat the wings. Place wings onto a grated pan and cook on 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Pour remaining sauce onto wings and then broil them for about 5 minutes and you are done. What you get its a very flavorful chicken wing with a deep beer kick that you will definitely go wild over. I'm going to make these wings again because they are just that good. Feel free to use other types of beer on these but be careful because the sauce will taste very strongly of the beer that you use. Just remember to make your tummy happy.

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