BBQ Salad

Summer is finally here and it's so nice to stand outside to Barbecue. Don't get me wrong, I was Barbecuing all winter but I had the Barbecue pulled right up to my sliding door and I was Barbecuing from inside the house :)

For dinner was I going to make my "regular" BBQ chicken and rice but I happened upon an Instagram picture of a Salad with Barbecued Peppers and Mushrooms. I wondered about the mix of hot veggies and cool lettuce so I decided to give it a try.



Ingredients:

1 - Chicken Breast (cooked and chopped)
1/2 - Head of Romaine Lettuce
4 - Medium Portobello Mushrooms
1/2 - Peppers, Red or Orange
1/2 - Red Onion
Balsamic Dressing




Directions:

Wash, dry and chop your lettuce, set aside
Cut Peppers in half and remove seeds
Slice Onion into thick slices
Put Peppers, Onion and Mushrooms on BBQ, cover with some Diana's smoky BBQ sauce

Once the veggies are cooked, remove from BBQ and chop into thin slices

Plate lettuce and layer with Pepper, Mushroom, Onion, Chicken and drizzle on Balsamic dressing

And there you have it, I nice BBQ Salad for dinner!

When I started plating I was thinking that this salad could use something else like a feta cheese or some cherry tomatoes but when I tried it, I though it was good on its own.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Creamy Coleslaw

I love making this dish because it’s so quick and easy to do. It’s also a nice change from the plain old (but amazingly tasting) BBQ chicken breasts that I seem to default to.

Ingredients:

1 – Cup (250 ml) coarsely grated carrot

¾ - Cup (175 ml) thinly sliced Savoy Cabbage

¼ - Cup (60 ml) thinly sliced red onion

3 - Tbsp (45 ml) Three Cheese Ranch Dressing

3 – Tbsp (45 ml) final chopped flat-leaf parsley (I used the dry stuff this time)

½ - Lemon, juiced or 1 ½ Tbsp Lemon juice

¼ - Salt and Pepper

4 – Thin Buns

4 – Boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half length wise

¾ - Cup (60 ml) Diana’s smoky BBQ Sauce (Blue Label)

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the carrot, cabbage, onion, ranch dressing, parsley, lemon juice and salt/pepper

Place Chicken on the BBQ and brush on Diana’s Sauce, Flip over after a couple minutes and brush sauce on the other side. Grill chicken until cooked through

Separate bun halves, put on Chicken breast, then top with coleslaw and Serve with a Pickle :)

  

White and Sweet Potatoes Anna, BBQ Chicken with Shallot Red Wine Reduction

I saw this picture in the LCBO magazine and I wanted to make this dish. I love the way the the tops of the potatoes are browned, the sweet potato layer in the middle and the way it's cut and spaced so nicely.

(Image taken from Autumn 2014 - LCBO Food and Drink Magazine)

But.... not all my recipes end up looking as good as in the magazines. As I mentioned before, I really wanted to make this dish but because the potatoes would take a good 50 minutes to cook, I had to wait for a weekend to make this one. The other thing I was repeatedly asked / told in the days leading up to making it was "What's so special about this dish? It's just potatoes." Now granted it is pretty much just potatoes but for whatever reason I kind of took offense to that comment but that's when I realized that it was just a side dish and I needed to make something with it. I went with the classic BBQ chicken but decided to make a sauce out of some Red Wine and extra Shallots.

Note: My directions differ a little bit from the original LCBO magazine do to lack of cookware.

Ingredients (Potatoes):
4 - Medium Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 - Medium Sweet Potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 - Cup Butter, melted
Salt and Pepper
4 - Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1/4 - Cup of chopped sage



Ingredients (Chicken Sauce):
4 - Small Shallots. peeled and sliced
2 - Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1 - Tsp of Rosemary
5 - Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 - Cups Red Wine
1 1/2 - Cups Beef or Chicken Stock
1 - Tbsp Butter

(I really like how this photo turned out)

Directions:
Since the potatoes are going to take the longest to cook, lets start with those. Using three or four medium potatoes, skin and then thinly slice them.

In the original recipe you are supposed to brush butter in an ovenproof skillet or cast iron pan with but I don't have one (Christmas present Idea!!!) so I used this "Stoneware" container thing but I think not having the cast iron pan ultimately lead to my my final product not looking as good as the magazine.

Back to the recipe. Brush butter all around your oven proof pan. Tightly later potatoes (do a better job than I did).

(Layer 1) 

After each layer, brush with melted butter.

(Layer 2)

(Layer 3)

After laying the third layer sprinkle with half the garlic and half the sage. Now lay the three sweet potato layers brushing butter after each layer.

After laying the three layers of sweet potatoes (only two layers shown in the pictures) sprinkle the remaining garlic and sage on top. Lay two more layers of white potato brushing butter after each layer. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

If you are using the cast iron pan, place the potatoes on the stove over medium heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Cover the top with a round of parchment paper roughly the same size as the pan (it should just loosely over the potatoes). Put into the oven at 425 for 45 - 50 minutes or until potatoes are soft and the bottom and edges are golden.

After the potatoes have been baking for about 30 minutes we can start on the sauce. Put the Shallots into a frying pan with some butter. Saute over medium heat for 6 - 8 minutes or until the start to turn translucent. Add in Garlic and Rosemary and cook for another minute.

Add in 5 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar. At this point you should probably start the Chicken.

The Balsamic will bubble and start to reduce.

Let it reduce until almost completely gone.

Add in Red Wine and Stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat. The Sauce should reduce by about half at which point you can mix in some butter.

(I didn't let mine reduce enough)

Pull the Potatoes out of the oven and uncover.

Invert plate over pan and flip both pan and plate to turn out. Cut into Wedges (not as easy as it sounds...)

(As you can see, not exactly as the LCBO Magazine picture)

Plate the Potatoes with BBQ Chicken, top with the Wine Sauce.

As you can see, the potatoes didn't turn out as nicely as they did in the magazine and they were pretty much just potatoes.... If you think my sauce looks a little runny then you are right. I didn't let it thicken long enough or I should have added in some corn starch to help with the thickening. On a positive note the sauce tasted really good and went well with the chicken.

Mini lamb (turkey) meatballs with Feta

I was intrigued with this recipe because it's similar to how I make hamburgers but adds cheese to the mix. I was supposed to use lamb as the meat but I couldn't easily get any on the Sunday afternoon that I made these so I decided to use ground turkey and they turned out really good! I'll post an update once I actually try them with lamb.



Ingredients:

1 - lb ground lamb (turkey)
3 - oz Feta crumbled
2 - Cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 - Cup breadcrumbs
1 - egg
1 - Tbsp green onion, chopped
pepper
36 - Cherry tomatoes
1 - Tbsp melted butter
4 - Springs of thyme
1 - Bay leaf



Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 then chop up some garlic.

(I like chopping up garlic!) 

In a bowl, crack the egg and beat. Add the breadcrumbs, green onion, garlic, feta and pepper. Mix together, then add the ground lamb (turkey) and mix again. To be honest, I forgot to add the egg and everything turned out just fine without it.

mix, mix, mix and form into a giant ball

pull off little pieces and form into 1 inch balls. Place onto a baking sheet

Cook meatballs in oven for 20 - 25 minutes.

While the meatballs are in, it's time to start on the tomatoes. Place Cherry tomatoes in an oven safe bowl, coat with butter, thyme and the bay leaf.

Cook in oven for 10 minutes

Serve meatballs with roasted cherry tomatoes

I also ended up using a Diana's BBQ sauce for a dipping sauce.

Parmesean Sage Turkey Burgers

This is another variation from a LCBO magazine recipe, Parmesan Sage Pork Burgers! Only I used Turkey instead of Pork. It was pretty easy to make but I still perfect my Beef Burgers over Turkey Burgers ;)

(I'm pretty happy with this photo, I just needed a nicer looking bun)

Ingredients:
1 - lbs (500g) Minced Turkey
1/2 - Cup (125 ml) Milk
1/4 - Cup Breadcrumbs
3 - Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 - Tbsp of Sage
3 - Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 - Tsp of Black Pepper
1 - Tsp of Salt

Directions:
Add the Bread Crumbs, Cheese, Sage, Garlic, Salt, pepper and combined.

Mix in the Milk.

Add in the Turkey and mix / fold together until everything is mixed together nicely. I did notice that this mixture was a lot sticker then when making normal beef burgers.

Split out into patties separated by parchment or wax paper. I normally get 4 - 5 depending on how thick I want to make them.

Freeze for later or cook right away on the BBQ.

When they are almost done, you can top with cheese.

Then top with your favorite topping.

Roasted Beets, Carrots and Sauteed Beet Tops

I'm not really sure why but I've always seemed to like beets. From Pickled beets to Roasted beets or Borscht, I've always liked them. During the winter months it's really easy to throw together some roasted root veggies like potatoes and carrots but after a while you want something a little different. That's where the beets come in. For tonights meal I'm using the whole beet so if you are one of those people who don't like the beet tops then try this out as it might just change your opinion of them!

I only had normal red beets for this recipe but using a split of normal and candy cane beets will add some colour and different flavors.



Ingredients:
1 - Bunch of Beets (5 - 6) including Tops
4 - Large Carrots
3 - Cloves Garlic
2 - Tsp Butter
2 - Tsp Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper



Directions:
Peel and chop carrots into pieces

Put into a medium size bowl

Chop the tops off the beets leaving about 1 inch on the top of the beet. I specifically do this because the leftover stem will get all nice and crunchy. I find that it really adds to the taste. My kids don't like the crunchy stem but they will use it as a handle when eating the beets.

Scrub the beets clean or use a peeler on them, chop off the root and cut into 8's or 4's depending on the size of the beet

Put the beets into the same bowl with the carrots

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sometime I put on a little bit of oil if you have problems with things sticking to your baking sheets. Put them on a baking sheet and cook at 400 for about 40 - 45 minutes

Wash the beet tops

Cut into three sections

Put into a large frying pan, add butter and put on over medium heat (wait until the beets have been cooking for about 30 minutes before starting these)

Cook for a couple of minutes then add in the 2 Tbp of lemon juice

Chop up the garlic and after about 5 minutes of cooking, add in the garlic

The beet tops should be a lot softer now

Pull the Roasted Beets and Carrots out of the oven

Plate the Roasted Beets, Carrots and Sauteed Beet Tops with a Main like BBQ Chicken