Creme Brulee

I think Spring is really here, my Big Green Egg is more of a yellowish green thanks to a layer of pollen. Yesterday afternoon, I heard an affirmation that winter is over. It was the "chsk-chsk-chsk-chsk - ta-ta-ta-ta-ta" of a pulsating lawn sprinkler.

Another sound I love to hear is the crunch of a spoon breaking through the sugary top of a creme brulee. I don't don't eat a lot of desserts but the other day Mary at Deep South Dishes posted how to make this strawberry garnish. Driscoll strawberries arrived this week and our mint is growing fast so I thought I'd make the garnish. Now all I needed was a dessert to go under the garnish and creme brulee seemed the perfect choice.

Creme Brulee
Source: Rouxbe Online Cooking School (click link for their video recipe)

2 cups heavy cream
1 each vanilla bean
2 tsp orange liqueur (may substitute orange zest)
6 each egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325f.

Heat the cream over medium low heat. Add the liqueur. Slice the vanilla bean open and scrape out the contents with the back of the knife blade.

Add the vanilla to the pot and whisk in to mix. Bring mix to a simmer for one minute. Strain through a sieve into a large measuring cup.

Set up your ramekins or dishes in a 13 x 9 casserole dish for a bain marie. If you really like the custard part of creme brulee and less crust, use a ramekin. If you are like me and prefer more crusty sugar goodness, use a shallower but wider dish the the two on the left.

Put this whole set up into the middle rack of your oven and CAREFULLY pour almost boiling water into the casserole. Do NOT get any in your dishes. Fill until the water level is at least 1/2 way up the sides.

Cook for 20-25 minutes. They are done when you gently shake a ramekin with tongs and only get a slight, uniform wiggle (go back up top and click on the video link for a good example). This time it took me 25 minutes. Last time it was 45 minutes, but my water in the bain marie was only hot tap water. Put on a cooling rack for a few minutes and then store in a refrigerator for 4 or more hours.

To serve, put a liberal coating of sugar on top of the custard and brown with a gas torch.

Let it harden for 2-3 minutes, garnish and serve.

Crunch.

Steak Fajitas

One of the things food bloggers have to contend with is unscrupulous websites stealing our content (words, pictures, and all). A technique I learned on the Food Blog Forum for catching this "content scraping" is to include your blog name in each post and then set a Google Alert for your blog name. I set this up about two weeks ago.

In retrospect, a Google Alert with the keywords NIBBLE and ME can be very interesting.

Anyway, nibble on this: Steak Fajitas.

NMT Steak Fajita Marinade
Source: Nibble Me This

1/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup Lime Juice
1/4 cup Tequila
1-2 clove Garlic minced
1 1/2 teaspoon Season salt
1 1/2 teaspoon Oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes

1.5 lb flat iron steak, flank steak, or skirt steak
1 ea bell pepper sliced
1 ea red onion sliced

flour tortillas, shredded cheese, diced tomato, and other toppings

Whisk together all marinade ingredients. Reserve 2-3 Tbsp of the marinade. Use the rest to marinade the steak and veggies for 1-2 hours.

Grill the steak over direct heat at 500f for 4-5 minutes per side.

Add the veggies to a griddle for during the last two minutes.
If you have an 18.5 or 22.5 inch grill like a Weber or Big Green Egg, the Craycourt cast iron modular grate* is the best accessory you can have for grilled fajitas. You can sear the steak over the grill while you cook the veggies on the griddle at the same time. You could also use a small cast iron skillet on a regular grill as your "griddle" for the veggies.

While the steak is resting, make the simple, easy and super delicious Fajita Finishing Sauce

NMT Fajita Finishing Sauce
Source: Nibble Me This

2-3 Tbsp NMT Steak Fajita Marinade
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix the marinade and cup of sour cream to make the Fajita Finishing Sauce.

Thinly slice the steak and assemble with the toppings you like. Then squirt the finishing sauce on top.

The grilled tender steak, charred veggies, and Fajita Finishing Sauce were stunning in combination.

Now I just have to learn to make my own fresh tortillas. Anyone have any posts or tips about making your own tortillas? Do you HAVE to have one of those presses?

Breakfast Quandry

Another just for fun post. Real food resumes tomorrow.

I couldn't decide whether to make Eggs in a Basket or French Toast this past weekend.


So I combined them.

Oh Hell Why Not Spaghetti?

It was a gorgeous evening tonight. The white blossoms and green leaves of the Bradford pear trees were cast across the brilliant blue canvas of the sky. A frisky male cardinal shrilled loudly, trumpeting the arrival of Spring. And the smell of spaghetti sauce on the grill wafted through the air.

What? What do you mean you can't cook spaghetti sauce on a grill?

This isn't a recipe, I wasn't even planning on posting this. It was just a fun cook tonight. I took our normal spaghetti sauce outdoors.

Got the Big Green Egg up to 350f and put on the cast iron dutch oven to preheat. Then we browned Italian sausage.

When the Italian sausage is almost browned, I added in our aromatics (chopped onion, peppers, and garlic).

Next came the spices & stuff (oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, brown sugar), tomatoes and water. By now, the opening and stirring brought the Egg temp up to 400f.

I let it simmer uncovered in the closed Egg until the sauce thickened almost to the consistency I wanted. Then I put the lid on the dutch oven and let it go another 10-15 minutes.

Here is the one serious tip from tonight: Ever notice how "spaghetti" is often so much better leftover than the first night? I made "leftover spaghetti". I added about 3/4 lb of cooked angel hair into the Dutch Oven, stirred it around, put the lid back on and let it sit for 30 minutes. The cast iron kept it warm and the noodles soaked up the sauce. It was perfect "leftover spaghetti" on the first night.

Now if only I could figure out a way to keep those *%$&ing noodles from falling through the #(@* grill grate when I try to grill them.....

PS: I promise a real recipe is coming Friday night but this one and the next post were just me having fun.

Boursin Cheese Mashed Potatoes

One of the best things about food blogging is the inspiration you get from others. For example, this past weekend, I was reading Kathy's blog Eat Food Not Money and her post about Garlic and Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes. Her use of cream cheese made me think "what if?". What IF I added Boursin Cheese to mashed potatoes?

The results were ridiculously tasty.
Boursin Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Source: Nibble Me This

5 ea russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
5 cloves garlic, peeled and root end sliced off
1 package Boursin Cheese (5.2 oz)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream*
salt and pepper to taste

Fill a 3 qt pot about 2/3rds full with water and bring to a boil Add about 1 Tbsp of salt, the garlic and the potatoes. Cook about 8-10 minutes or until the potato pieces are fork tender.

Drain the pot into a colander. If you like smoother potatoes, press the cooked potatoes and garlic through a ricer into the pot. If you like more coarse mashed potatoes, just put them back in the pot and mash them with a masher or just a wooden spoon.

Stir in the Boursin cheese. The residual heat should melt the cheese quickly. Stir in the sour cream. *If the consistency of the mashed potatoes call is too thick, add the heavy cream.

Now just season with salt and pepper to taste. You can garnish with a few crumbles of extra Boursin cheese.

And what are mashed potatoes without a good gravy? I made a quick roux with 2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp of flour in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Then I whisked in the 1/2 portion of au jus from the roast. The gravy was still just a touch too thick so I whisked in about another 1/2 cup of beef stock to get it where I wanted. Then I added in about 1 tsp on cracked black pepper.

Time for a game of Versus-Comfort Food in the comment section: Mashed Potatoes or Mac and Cheese?

Roast Beef with Baby Bell-Au-Jus

Our dinner last night was perfect except I totally screwed the pooch on the bread.

It's no secret that I have shied away from baking breads. While everyone has been into the HBN5 bread making craze, I sat idly by like the awkward teen at a school dance. Well yesterday, I got the nerve up to ask "her" to "dance" and "she" laughed in my face.

For the first time ever, I decided to make fresh yeast rolls for our roast beef dinner. Alexis and I were making it together. We mixed the ingredients and took turns kneading the dough, since we don't have a stand mixer yet.


I kept saying it felt like the dough was too dry but we persisted. We let the dough rise for an hour and as we got to the point of dividing the dough (about 1 1/2 into the effort), I looked at the recipe and realized that both of us had failed to put the two eggs in at the beginning! DOH! Oh well, I just laughed it off.

Bread 1 Chris 0

This is my favorite way to do roast beef. Cooking it over a steam pan with stock catches the drippings and makes an au jus that can't be beat. You could convert this same process to the oven, just pan sear the roast before putting it in a 250f oven.

Roast Beef with "Baby Bell-au-jus"
Source: Nibble Me This

3 lb beef eye of round
1 Tbsp NMT Cajun Beef Rub
1 Tbsp smoked black pepper
2 cups beef stock
3/4 cup Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
2 T green onion, sliced

Rub the roast with the seasoning and let sit at room temp for 1 hour.

Bring your grill to 450f. Sear the roast over direct heat for 1 minute per side. Reduce heat to 250f. Switch to indirect heat (plate setter "legs up" in the Big Green Egg) and place the roast over a 1/2 steam pan filled with the stock as shown.

Cook until the roast reaches an internal temperature of 140f. This took roughly 1 1/2 hours yesterday.

Let the roast rest for 15 minutes AT LEAST before slicing. Here's a tip I got from Rouxbe Online Cooking School: Rest your roasts on a raised rack and wait 5 minutes before tenting with foil. Leaving it flat on a plate or wrapping it in foil tightly causes the fibers on the edges to open up and release juices. I tried it and this seems to be true.

While it is resting, saute the mushrooms in clarified butter for about 5 minutes.

Add in 1/2 of the au jus from the steam pan (save the other half for making gravy for the mashed potatoes) and the green onions.

Bring to a simmer for a minute or two and then taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Thinly slice the roast beef and ladle the baby bell-au-jus over it.

I served it with Boursin cheese mashed potatoes (recipe coming Tuesday), grilled zucchini, and absolutely no yeast rolls :)

It was pretty fantastic (being modest).

Quick Pizzas and info on BBQ Classes

Last night was the first night of a three day weekend and a gorgeous Spring evening, so we made some pizzas outside on the Big Green Egg.

I've often said that my Egg is not only a smoker and grill, but also a wood fired oven. That is possible thanks to this critter known as a "plate setter".

As you can see, it is a ceramic piece with three legs that can be inserted into the Egg either "legs up" or in this case "legs down". "Legs up" is a set up for indirect cooking and it lets you insert a drip pan and standard cooking grate.

"Legs down" turns your Egg into more of a convection oven. The heat from your natural wood coal fire down below rushes up through the three gaps. There it hits the curved top of the Egg at the edges and reflect inwards, creating a circular current of hot air. Instead of using a grill grate, I just put my preheated pizza stone directly on the plate setter like this.

This one was simply our standard sauce, mozzarella, red onion, yellow bell pepper, baby bella mushrooms, and mini pepperonis.
I swear there is something special about pizzas cooked like this that you can't capture in an oven. Fire roasted pizza joints are popping up everywhere in Knoxville. I just use the one on my deck.

BBQ Boot Camp
The Bloomin' BBQ & Bluegrass Festival is a great event held in Sevierville, TN in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains each Spring. In addition to the BBQ contest, they will be having a BBQ Bootcamp for those wanting to learn from the best.

Mike Davis of the Lotta Bull competitive BBQ team is a real champ. You may have seen him win the BBQ Championship series on the Versus channel a few years ago. He has also won the American Royal Invitational (2006), the big daddy of them all. I met Mike the following year at then 2007 Tennessee State BBQ Championship, which he also won.

Mike will be teaching two of the three courses. If you have ever priced BBQ classes, you know this is a bargain! Here's the text from the festival website:

What better way to kick off a BBQ Vacation than to attend the all new BBQ Boot Camp presented by Bloomin’ Barbeque & Bluegrass? Learn BBQ techniques from world champion Mike Davis (Lotta Bull BBQ – Marietta, OK) and sweeten it up with a Pastries & Desserts class taught by Chef Catherine Hallman. All classes will be hands-on and eat-what-you-make so come ready to cook and maybe just a little bit hungry.

BBQ Boot Camp can pick and choose which classes they want to take for only $50 each or take all three for only $125! Supplies and meats are included. Each class takes place between 5:30-9:30pm so there’s plenty of time to check out the great attractions, shopping and dining in the area during the day. Also, special room rates will be available for BBQ Boot Camp attendees.

BBQ Boot Camp classes will be taught at the Rel Maples Institute for Culinary Arts at Walters State Community College in Sevierville, TN. This new facility offers state-of-the-art kitchen facilities rivaling major cooking schools nationwide.

May 11 –
Spices, Rubs & Sauces ($50) –
Instructor World Champion BBQ Cooker Mike Davis

May 12 –
Advanced BBQ Smoking – using The Big Green Egg ($50)
Instructor World Champion BBQ Cooker Mike Davis

May 13 –
Pastries & Desserts ($50) –
Instructor Chef Catherine Hallman

Did you notice he'll be using the Big Green Egg? I'm signing up today. Here's the sign up form if you're interested.

Have you ever taken any cooking classes like this and if so, how did you like it?