It's Tailgate Time! Open Faced Meatball Sliders on a Kamado Grill

The college football season is just really getting rolling and the teams that I follow are pretty much all already out of contention for a National Championship.  That doesn't matter, it is still fun to watch the games with friends, share a few frosty adult beverages, and fire up the grill, right? 

I have just the recipe for you - Open Faced Meatball Sliders.  They are cheesy, easy, and over-the-top delicious.  Alexis got the idea from So Yummy and this was our spin on it.

These are slammin' for any party, office function, or event.  I like to cook them on one of our kamado grills but you can easily do these in an oven.

We used store-bought dinner rolls, meatballs, and marinara sauce, that just makes it easy and it seems more like tailgate food that way.  But if you get the urge, you could certainly make everything from scratch.

Here's what you'll need

• 12 pack of dinner rolls (we used Sara Lee Artesano Bakery Rolls)
• 12 premade meatballs (we used Carando Sicilian Style)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon roasted garlic or minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 12 slices Sargento Ultra Thin Provolone
• 1.5 cups marinara sauce
• 6 ounces shredded mozzarella (about 1.5 cups)
• 1-2 ounces parmesan cheese, fresh shredded
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• basil or fresh parsley for garnish
• a 9"x13" casserole dish or a half-sized steam pan, lightly greased

Fire Roasted Chicken Breast with Chipotle White Sauce

In November 2016, I was at a hog pickin' in Smithfield, Virginia.  Robyn Lindars, Clint Cantwell and I got to spend a good bit of time with Tuffy Stone.  

He excitedly talked with us about the book project on which he was working, both the ups and downs.  He spoke of creating delicious recipes that were memorable yet also approachable for the home cook.  

Tuffy Stone is renowned in the BBQ world for his achievements 

• Two-time champion at the American Royal
• Three-time champion at the Jack Daniels Invitational (only team to ever do that)
• Judge on BBQ Pitmasters

But a lot of people don't realize that he's also a former U.S. Marine and a classically trained chef.  

At the time, it seemed like it would be FOREVER before the book came out but Cool Smoked - The Art of Great Barbecue finally came out late this Spring.  And a classic BBQ book, it is.

Last week, I decided to make Tuffy's Chipotle White Sauce and use it on some fire-roasted, bone-in chicken breasts.

Brand The Barn #33 - Catering at Wincrest Angus

FTC Standard Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

The Certified Angus Beef® Brand is celebrating their 40th Anniversary this year.  One of the things they are doing is a Brand The Barn campaign in which, they are painting their logo on 40 barns in 25 states across the country.  

Last week, Alexis and I were honored to cater the lunch for 100 people at the 33rd barn painting of the year at Wincrest Angus up in Johnson City, Tennessee.

We arrived at dawn on a lightly foggy morning.  Owner, Sam Widener was already there working.  He welcomed us and got us set up so we could get cooking early.  It was only Alexis and me cooking, so we had a lot to get done.

We would have liked to have just brought the truck; however, there was a high percentage chance for rain, so we brought the trailer along to be on the safe side.  It didn't rain, but it was nice to have the air conditioning.

Set up and ready to roll.  We brought one of our offset smokers to use as a grill and our big gravity fed Deep South.

Here is the menu that we put together with the people at Certified Angus Beef® Brand. It was centered around our Green Chile Crusted Flank Steak Tacos.

NY Strip Steaks with Sweet Potato Fries

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] The Certified Angus Beef® Brand is one of our favorite sponsors; however, this is not a sponsored post.

On weekends, Alexis and I will often do a single mid-afternoon meal instead of lunch and dinner.  

I searched Google and saw terms like lupper, linner, and dunch but none of those really have the catchiness of brunch, do they?  Maybe it's because they don't come with Bloody Marys or mimosas?  Regardless, we like that single meal.  Fewer calories, fewer dirty dishes, and the timing just works for an activity-filled weekend day.  

We made these straightforward steaks and frites for halftime of yesterday's Florida State and Tennessee football games. 

The Prep

Alexis picked up a nice pair of Certified Angus Beef® Brand NY Strip steaks from our Food City.  Before the game, we:

• Patted the steaks dry.  Water is the enemy of the Maillard reaction (browning).
• Lightly coated the steaks with a high temperature cooking oil.  Olive oil isn't good for grilling, it's smoke point is too low.  Go with something like beef tallow, canola oil, peanut oil, or avocado oil.
• Seasoned it all over with a moderate to heavy coat of Meat Church Garlic and Herb Seasoning.  I didn't measure but I would guess about 1 to 1.5 teaspoons.
• Placed the seasoned steaks on a resting rack at room temperature for an hour or so.  
• The resting rack helps minimize the seasoning from sticking to a plate.  
• Leaving it out of the fridge lets the steak temper.
• The hour gives the process enough time so that the salt in the seasoning stops wicking out moisture from the steak and begins pulling back into the steak.  A very brief dry brine.

The Cook

My weapon of choice for this cook was my Big Green Egg Mini-Max set up with GrillGrates. A small kamado grill like this is aces for a pair of steaks.

Cajun Seasoned T-Bone Steaks with Black Beans

[FTC Standard Disclosure] This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

This past weekend I picked up a pair of excellent T-bone steaks when we were out brisket shopping and used one of them to make this Cajun Seasoned T-Bone Steak with Black Beans.

Actually, these were labeled as T-bones but they were actually porterhouse steaks.  T-bone and porterhouse steaks both come from the short loin and both have the distinctive T-shaped bone in the middle.  Both contain an NY Strip steak on the longer side and a filet of tenderloin on the shorter side.  The difference is...

• T-bone steaks have a tenderloin filet that is 1/2" to 1 1/4" across, as measured at the widest point.
• Porterhouse steaks have a tenderloin filet that exceeds 1 1/4" across, as measured at the widest point.

It doesn't make that much of a difference, but I love getting the bigger portion of filet with a porterhouse.  Speaking of portions, this steak weighed in right about 30 ounces, so it was ideal for Alexis and me to share - a beautiful steak for two.

Courtesy of Certified Angus Beef® Brand.

Dry Brine

When possible, I like to give my steaks a dry brine to retain moisture and bolster flavor.

• I wiped this dry and then lightly oiled it with avocado oil.  Canola oil or peanut oil would also work well.  
• Then I seasoned it lightly with sea salt and a moderate coat of my NMT Cajun Beef Rub.  
• I let that rest on a resting rack for about 75 minutes before grilling.  Resting on a rack keeps the seasoning on the bottom from sticking to a plate when you go to grill it.
• The rest period at room temperature also lets the steak temper at the same time it is dry brining.

Tomahawk Ribeye Steak with Spinach and Goat Cheese Orzo

FTC Standard Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

I was excited as a kid at Christmas when my Food City  (Morrell Road) started selling Certified Angus Beef® Brand tomahawk ribeye steaks this past Summer.  

Tomahawk ribeyes are those fancy steaks with a brontosaurus-sized Fred Flintstone bone sticking out of them.  They usually show up on the menu as a "steak for two" because they are often 40-50 ounces each.  They also typically sport a price tag of over $100 at a steakhouse. But I bought this 3+ pound tomahawk for under $40 at Food City.

What is a tomahawk steak and how does it relate to a regular ribeye?  

• It's the same meat, just presented differently. 
• If you cut the rib bone down to where the steak meat ends, it would be a "bone-in" ribeye.  
• If you "french" that bone so it is exposed, it's a cowboy ribeye steak.  
• Cut the bone off altogether and it's the classic ribeye steak.  
• Typically, the cowboy and tomahawks are much thicker than your typical ribeye steak.

Because they are so thick, tomahawk steaks are a prime candidate for either a sear/roast, sous-vide, or reverse sear methods.  I chose to use the reverse sear method on a kamado grill.  Shocker, right?

Tomahawk Ribeye Steak with Spinach Orzo

Ingredients

• 40-50 ounce Certified Angus Beef® Brand tomahawk ribeye
• 1/4 cup NMT Beef Rub v.2 or other beef seasoning
• 2 teaspoons peanut, avocado, or other type of high temperature cooking oil

Chorizo and Poblano-Pimento Cheese Fritters

This is a recipe that we shared at our griddle class at Mannix Pools and Grills last month and it was a big hit. It is a crispy golden fritter that has homemade poblano-pimento cheese and minced chorizo with red pepper jelly sauce.

We got the idea from K Town Tavern here in Knoxville.  See, who says Happy Hour can't be productive?  We were there having drinks and appetizers and tried out their Big Orange Ham and Jam Fritters.  They have chopped country ham, pimento cheese, and panko breadcrumbs.

Big Orange Ham and Jam Fritters at K Town Tavern in Knoxville.

They were the best thing we ate that night and before we left, we were already scheming about how we would make ours.

• We use cured chorizo to boost the flavor of the pork.
• For our homemade pimento cheese, we use fire roasted poblano, not just pimento.
• Instead of deep frying, we flatten our fritters into medallions so that they cook better on a griddle or skillet.
• To take our red pepper jelly sauce to the next level, we use Albukirky's Red Pepper Jelly.

Chorizo and Poblano Pimento Cheese Fritters

Yield: 18-20 fritters