Lasagna On The Big Green Egg...

I have never attempted to make a lasagna before; either in the oven or on my Egg... A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to give it a shot...

I found this recipe online and basically followed it except for using my Egg as the oven... It was better the next day as it had time to really set up nicely. After letting it rest for about 30 minutes once it was finished, it wasn't the prettiest dish, but it was certainly tasty!

Here are some images of the cook and the recipe will follow...

 Decided to shred my own provolone. The Egg has helped me to expand the use of my kitchen gadgets. I have used them more since I got my Egg than I have in the first 11 years of our marriage...

Here are the veggies getting prepped...

 Here is the sauce bubbling away... it was just a little too sweet for me. Next time I might cut down on the wine a little and increase the hot sausage a bit.

Constructing the pan of lasagna... I think it ended up with 4 layers if you count the top. The whole pan weigh around 10 pounds when I finished putting it all together...

Here it is resting after coming off the Egg. I let it cook at around 350 until my Thermapen showed an internal temp of 165...

It tasted much better than it looked on the first day; but after setting up in the fridge overnight, it looked a lot more traditional when it was served.

Hope you enjoyed the cook as much I did... Let me know if you try this and how it turns out for you...

The recipe is below...

Enjoy!

Ed

Lasagna

Prep Time: 1 Hour

Cook Time: 1.5 Hours

6043083

Ingredients

• 2 pound dried lasagna noodles
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 pound ground Italian sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups red wine
• 2 (28-ounce) cans tomatoes (recommended: San Marzano)
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 quarts ricotta cheese , (2 containers)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 pound provolone cheese, shredded
• Grated Parmesan and mozzarella, for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven (or Big Green Egg set up for indirect cooking) to 350 degrees F.

Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Drain the noodles thoroughly and coat with olive oil to keep them moist and easy to work with.

Coat a large skillet with olive oil, add beef and sausage and brown until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. In a food processor, combine the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, basil, parsley, an oregano. Process until pureed, add to the pan with the ground meat and stir to combine. Stir in the flour. Add the wine and cook until it has reduced by half. Stir in the tomatoes and add the heavy cream and the cinnamon.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta and the Parmesan. Stir in the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

To assemble the lasagna: Coat the bottom of a deep 13 by 9-inch pan with olive oil. Arrange 4 noodles lengthwise in a slightly overlapping layer on the sauce. Then, line each end of the pan with a lasagna noodle. This forms a collar that holds in the corners. Dollop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the pasta, spread to the edges with a spatula. Spread 1/2 of the meat mixture over the ricotta. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella and provolone on top of the ricotta. Top with a ladle full of sauce, spread evenly. Repeat with the next layer of noodles, ricotta, sauce, and cheeses. Top last layer with noodles, sauce, shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. Tap the pan to force out air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Let lasagna rest for 30 minutes so the noodles will settle and cut easily

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Brisket... Finally Got One Right!

This past weekend; during the snowstorm that wasn't (at least where we are) I wanted to do a low and slow cook and see how my egg did in the heavy snow and high winds. We had snow, a very little, but we did have wind...

I picked up a 12 pound Choice packer brisket from Shady Maple and decided to do a straight low & slow cook, no foil crutch during the cook, no in a pan braising either. Get my egg to between 225 and 250 on the dome thermometer and let her go until done.

I prepped the meat by injecting the flat portion in several spots with some simple Herb-Ox beef broth; and then rubbed it with a heavy coating of sea salt, cracked pepper, and Tasty Licks Black Bart's Brisket rub.

In order for it to fit on the large egg; I need to use an inverted roasting rack to raise the middle, allowing the ends to fit inside the dome. The egg settled in at 230 around 7:30PM and the smell of hickory was all over my deck as the wind picked up. I sat and enjoyed some Woodford Double Oak along with a good cigar while a sturdy umbrella protected me from most of the weather.

I called it a night around 12:30AM as the snow was winding down and the wind was really howling. Slept in and checked on the egg around 8:30AM to find it still at 230 with delightful aromas coming from the daisy wheel on top. Here it is around 10:30AM as it is coming out of the stall and at about 185 internal temp. My target internal temp was 205...

And here it is; at 205 internal and ready to be foiled and loaded into a cooler with some towels for a few hours rest until dinner later that day. The brisket came off the egg at about 1PM. This was a total egg time of about 18 hours and then about a 5 hour rest in the cooler.

The result; the best brisket that I have done so far in my almost one year of egging... the meat was tender, moist, and had great flavor... Got thumbs up from everyone on this one.

This was my 4th brisket packer and I think I am on to something. Despite my egg's lack of gasket; waiting till Spring to put the replacement on, it held temperature in the cold and wind without any issues. Don't be afraid to try this particular cut of meat... learning how to do it is all part of the fun!

Served it with some simple slaw and Bush's Black Bean Fiesta...

Enjoy!

Ed

Crispy Wings...

The last time I made wings was on Super Bowl Sunday. I have only made them a few times on my egg; and while they tasted really good, most everyone was hoping they would be a little more crispy...

After reading for a bit on the BGE forum; I decided to try something a little different with this batch. Rather than put the wings in a pan and sprinkle the rub over them; I decided to use a zip lock bag and shake them like I would do for stew beef and flour. Also, rather than going straight rub, I added some corn starch to the rub. Based on what I had read, the corn starch would help the skin crisp up while the wings cooked indirect and the meat stayed moist.

Here are wings, washed and dried, with the rub and cornstarch mix. The rub is Dizzy Pig Swamp Venom. I mixed the rub and corn starch in about a 3:1 mix.

After a few vigorous shakes, they went into the fridge for a while as the I got the egg set up. I set the egg up for indirect cooking using the plate setter. Got the temperature settle in about 400 and used some mesquite chunks for flavor. The wings were on for an 1:15 and came off looking good.

These were the best wings I have made so far...

 
Served with a simple sauce made up of Frank's Red Hot mixed with Blue Cheese dressing...

Let me know if you try this method or have one of your own for really crispy wings!

Enjoy!

Ed

Smoked Meatloaf And Mashed Cauliflower...

It's been a while since my last post. My apologies...

Meatloaf is one of my wife's favorite meals. She it requested for her birthday recently, being a great husband how could I say no? We have been watching our carb intake in an effort to get a little healthier and more creative in our meals; so instead of making some kind of potato dish, I decided to do some mashed cauliflower. The meatloaf was cooked on my Big Green Egg, set up for indirect, and cooked at about 400 with some hickory chunks until the internal temp was 160.

I am always looking for new ways to try making old staples; and meatloaf is no exception. I did a little searching on Google and found several mentions of using a mixture of saltine crackers and milk to the meatloaf to keep it moist. There where also tips on the how finely ground the meat was before being mixed. Sauteing the veggies until they are tender before using them in the mix was also something I hadn't done before. Well, here we go...

Ingredient List

For the meatloaf...

• 3lbs of 80/20 ground beef
• 2 medium onions diced small
• 1 large green pepper diced small
• 4 slices of bacon
• 2 cups of crackers (didn't have saltines, so I used some Cheese Nips)
• 1/2 cup of milk
• About a 1/3 of cup of seasoned bread crumbs

For the mashed cauliflower...

• 1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
• Butter
• Milk
• Salt & Pepper
• Garlic ( to taste, it doesn't  take much) 

Now for the pictures...
Saute the bacon for a few minutes; once it renders a little fat into the pan, add the peppers and onion. Cook on medium heat until they are tender. Add a little salt & pepper.

 While the veggies where on the stove top, I began to prep the rest of the meatloaf. Here is my crackers and milk mixture. In hindsight; I think I would continue to use these instead of saltine crackers. The cheese crackers added some really good flavor to the meat.

 Once the cheese nips and milk were blended well in the food processor; I began adding the ground beef to the mix of crackers in the processor. The meat was originally a courser grind, and as I was going for better texture, I decided to blend the meat in the processor with the cracker mixture.

 Then it was time to add the rest of the ingredients. Once I had it all mixed up; I placed the mixture in an aluminum loaf pan and set it in the fridge for a few hours.

 When the egg was up to temp; I took the loaf pan and turned it upside down in a baking dish so that when cooking the meatloaf, it could get more of crust over more of the meatloaf. I have it a quick coating of Dizzy Pig's Dizzy Dust as well...

Once the meatloaf was on it's way, I started to make the side dish. I simply cut the cauliflower up and cooked it until tender in the microwave. Then into the food processor with some milk, salt, pepper, melted butter, and garlic. Process just like if you were making potatoes...

 

Once the meatloaf reached an internal temperature of 160, I pulled it off the egg and set it aside to rest.

 

Here is the finished meal...

My wife loved the meatloaf; saying the taste with the addition of the cheese crackers out it over the top. My family also like the texture of the meat, saying it was unlike any meatloaf they'd had before. The cauliflower was a big hit...

I will have to continue practicing making meatloaf, while this tasted very good, it didn't stay together as much as I wold have liked.

Please let me know if you try a meatloaf of your own; what worked and what didn't...

Enjoy,

Ed

BBQ Beef and Red Cabbage Slaw...

This past Sunday; I wanted to enjoy some playoff football, some family, and the nice weather... Can't think of a simpler or tasty way than to do some BBQ on Egg!

Decided that this time it would be beef instead of pork for the slow smokey cook. After doing a little reading on the BGE Forum; I decided to try Clay Q's Pulled Beef from Dizzy Pig's recipe page. Friday night I was up at Shady Maple and picked up two 4 pound chuck roasts for this cook.

Like most directions; I always take them more as suggestions rather than hard and fast rules. Certainly makes cooking and egging more interesting and entertaining...

Clay Q's recipe advises to expect about an 8 hour cook. With the football starting at 3PM; I wanted to have the beef ready around 5PM; so doing some sophisticated figuring, that meant I should be shooting to have to beef on the Egg at about 9AM.

Got the Egg cleaned out; filled with a new load of lump, and fired her up. Once the temp stabilized at 250F on the dome temp I threw in about half a dozen chunks of hickory and put the plate setter on legs up for an indirect cook..

Here are chucks in the rack... The night before I injected them with the Wegman's Santa Fe marinade. Under the rack and in the pan was going to be a couple of onions and and two cans of Guinness. I gave them a good dusting of Tasty Lick's Black Bart Brisket Rub. Following Clay Q's suggestion; I applied a layer of bacon to help with both the flavor and to add some moisture to the party.

And here they are on the Egg... Stage one involved getting the internal temp to 160F before moving onto the braise portion of the cook.

Once the beef was on it's way; it was time to make the Red Cabbage Slaw. I wanted to be tangy and a nice counter point to the richness of the beef. Decided to keep about as simple as possible; red cabbage and a basic vinaigrette. Olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt, pepper, onion powder, and seasoned salt. Shredded the cabbage, coated the cabbage with the vinaigrette and put it in the fridge to get happy for several hours while the beef cooked.

Here is the beef after about 6 hours. Not sure why; but these chucks never got to 160 when expected, they stalled around 151 before I pulled them off the rack and they went right into the pan with the onions, Guinness, and drippings. I covered the pan tightly with foil and put it back on with the dome at about 300F to wait for the beef to come up to the end temp of 210F.

 
In the end; all was well... Based on the way the chucks smelled cooking on the Egg in the crisp air I had to abandon plans for doing step 3 of Clay Q's recipe and simply shredded the beef and served it with the slaw.

Everyone loved it, especially the bacon  being left into the mix as well... Sorry for the very informal plating picture; but we were being very causal at that point in the evening. Did I mention that Monday was holiday for President's Day?

A good time was had by all...

A pretty easy cook overall with some really tasty results...

Enjoy,

Ed