Catfish, Corn, And Mango Cucumber Salad...

After my wife's positive reaction to the grouper cook a few days earlier; I decided to go with a new and previously untried fish, catfish. I have had catfish plenty of times and really like it, but it was a new one for the rest of the family.

Decided to make it easy and prepare it the same way I did the grouper; butter, Swamp Venom, and then blackened. I changed this cook up by also making some corn on the cob and still being on a mango kick, a mango cucumber salad that I made up as I went along.

First the salad...

4 ripe mangoes diced
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 green onions chopped
2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped mint
2 the juice of two large limes

Prep the stuff above, add the lime juice, and stick it in the fridge for a few hours...

 For the corn, I cheated a little and bought already cleaned ears...

I spray them with a little olive oil and then coat them in sea salt,  pepper, and a little garlic salt. Add a couple of pieces of butter and wrap them tightly in the foil.

I got my egg set up direct cooking at the normal grid level; and let the temperature go till about 350F. The foil wrapped corn goes on first and cooks for about 40 minutes, turning it a couple times during the cook. After the corn comes off; the cast iron skillet went on for about 10min to heat up for blackening the catfish...

Here are the results...

The mango cucumber and mint salad was crisp and refreshing; the corn tender and flavorful, and the fish turned out really well. Since they are thinner than the grouper, I cooked the catfish for 2min a side. I tried an Orange Vanilla finishing butter from Wegmans on the fish...

The family asked when how soon would we be having catfish again...

Enjoy!

Ed

Fire Roasted Salsa and Grilled Chicken...

Over the 3 day weekend I was able to take advantage of the nice weather and do most of my cooking outside; on the Egg, the way nature intended...

I wanted to try something new; and decided that fire roasting up a bunch of fresh veggies and pairing them with some grilled chicken sounded just right. Fresh, healthy, and not to heavy...

No special recipe here; my basic wing it process applies to this one.

Here the fresh veggies; washed and ready to go...

 Cut, and and removed the cores and seeds from the peppers. I then tossed them all with some olive oil and seasoned them with sea salt and pepper. I had the Egg prepared and was going to cook them direct at about 350 for about 45 minutes or until they got a nice char on them.

Just on the Egg. This set up in from the Ceramic Grill Store, The PSWoo3 and the now unavailable Woo Extender. They make great products and their customer service is top notch as well...

Here they are ready to chill in the fridge for bit before I complete the salsa...

 While waiting for the veggies to cool a bit; I prep the chicken for the grill. Tossed with a little Wegman's Basting Oil and some Dizzy Pig Jamaican Firewalk . Great rub with some heat and touch of citrus sweetness.

 After putting the chicken on the Egg to begin cooking; I finish up on the salsa. The veggies are rough chopped and the tomatoes peeled before being chopped and added. To finish the salsa; I added some fresh chopped cilantro and minced garlic, along with a little extra virgin olive oil and some fresh lime juice. Also added some sliced black olives too...

After the chicken finished cooking; to 165 on an instant read thermometer, it was time to plate the meal. Topped it with some freshly sliced avocado. My family gave this meal two thumbs up and enjoyed the salsa even more the next day with some corn tortilla chips.

Don't be afraid to throw your veggies on the grill and let them get some fire time...

If you do make the salsa or this dish; let me know how it turned out.

Enjoy,

Ed

Another Good Weeknight Meal... Pork

Like my last post; this one is another meal that's possible to get to the table without too much fuss and will leave leftovers for lunches.
 Pork tenderloins are are great source of protein and are low in fat (if you're worried about that sort of thing)... The veggies in this dish are pretty straight forward as well.
  The tenderloins are usually packed in packs of 2; so I would recommend cooking them both. Again, I did these direct on my egg; you can use the grill or method that works best for you. Just a side note; the more I cook outside, the less there is to clean up inside which can make dinner (at least the prep and clean up part) go much faster and leave more time for the important part which is sitting down with your family.
The veggies this time were cauliflower and eggplant. I grilled both on the egg. Cauliflower was a yes, the eggplant? Not so much. Never been a big fan of eggplant, and this cook didn't help. I am going to have to keep trying to find a way to prepare it that will work for me...

 The tenderloins are pretty easy to make. As you can see; when I grill tenderloins, I double back and tie the thin end so it is about the same thickness as the rest of the loin. This allows the entire length to cook more evenly so you don't wind up with the overcooked and burnt thin end. Cooked over direct coals, the dome temperature on my eggs was around 350 with the grid at normal level.

 Here they are on the fire... seasoned them simply with some Wegmans Basting Oil, sea salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

 The cauliflower was tossed with some basting oil as well and dusted with some Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust BBQ rub. I cooked them on the egg in a grill basket once the pork was done. Cooked them until they were fork tender and had a slight char on them. Tossed them in a bowl with some shredded cheese.

And here is the plated meal... was very good (except for the eggplant).

Success on the pork and cauliflower... Fail on the eggplant. But that's what this blog is about; what works and sometimes what doesn't.

Enjoy!

Ed

Good Weeknight Meal...

Like most people; my wife and I can be pressed for time at the end of the day to get something healthy on the table for dinner. Luckily for us; our daughter Elise is pretty adventuresome when it comes to food for a 9 year old, so we can try more things for dinner without having to always have a plate of chicken nuggets nearby (not that's there anything wrong with that)...

This is just a classic meal of chicken, veggies, and potatoes with a paleo twist... The potatoes are actually cauliflower!

This meal is easy and quick to prepare...

The organic chicken breasts can be cooked any way you normally do your chicken. My preferred and recommended method of course is to do them on your Egg or whatever grill you happen to have. Cooking over fire is always better than cooking inside. Another thing I recommend is buying the chicken in bulk and then cooking the entire batch. For me in this case it was 10 breasts. Left over breasts can be sliced up for salad and used in other recipes in the following nights to take care of the protein component of your meals.

The veggies are even easier...

First the strings beans. I used a bag of organic string beans and simply steamed them right in the bag using the microwave. When they were done, tossed them in a bowl with some garlic infused olive oil and some sea salt.

The cauliflower was pretty easy too and turned out to be the star on this plate. I used two heads of organic cauliflower, stemmed and cut up into little chunks, removing any of the tougher stem parts. Cooked them in microwave until tender and then turned them into "potatoes". Used my blender and pureed the cauliflower, adding melted butter, sea salt,  fresh ground pepper, and a little garlic salt. Blended them until everything was smooth and about the same consistency as normal mashed potatoes. They turned out great.

If you want to make this healthy meal even quicker, use chicken from an early cook and just reheat along with the fresh veggies...

Here is the plated meal...

Enjoy!

Ed