Grilled Grownup Sloppy Joes

For Sunday Dinner this week, I tried a recipe from Weber’s Big Book of Grilling, which is one of their older publications. I picked up a copy used for $3 after a friend of mine had posted shots of dry rubbed ribs he’d made using a recipe from the book.

The recipe noted that if you grew up on Sloppy Joes as ground beef and something from a packet, you deserve better.

This was pretty amazing. It called for a (fairly typical) dry rub on a three pound chuck roast, which you then sear for fifteen minutes and cook indirect for an hour or so. The sauce starts with a red bell pepper, a red onion and some garlic. Then you add a little chili powder and flour to make a sort of roux, then add beef stock, canned tomatoes and barbecue sauce. When the roast is done, you carve it into small bits and let it simmer in the sauce for half-an-hour or so.

The result is something with a similar flavor profile to what you may remember from childhood, but much richer and with much more texture. Though it was a fairly labor intensive, it was well worth the effort.

We served this with potato wedges (coated with olive oil and a packet of ranch dressing seasoning, then baked on the grill while the beef was simmering) and a nice green salad.

Lucky for you, if you’d like to try the recipe, it’s online here.

Easter Dinner 2015

We had lovely weather on Easter Sunday this year, perfect for cooking on the Weber Genesis.

Mrs. Noe made a incredible twice baked potato casserole and her delicious Yorkshire Pudding popovers. She and her mom put together another beautiful salad with Wulff family vinaigrette, and I cooked a glazed ham and some asparagus on the patio.

Here’s the recipe for the glaze.

  • ½ cup stone-ground mustard
  • ¼ cup unsulphured dark molasses
  • ¼ cup fresh orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Since the ham was 14 pounds (instead of the ten in the recipe) I decided to double the ingredients for the glaze. We also didn’t have molasses, so I used honey. As it turns out, I mistakenly grabbed the 1/2 tablespoon measure instead of teaspoon, so got way too much cloves. To compensate, I added more mustard, some mustard powder, and then thinned the glaze with a little Schlitz. I also added some of the liquid from the pan drippings after the ham had been on the grill for an hour. As luck would have it, it made a delicious crust.

I scored the ham and put it in a foil drip pan over indirect heat in the middle of the Genesis. For the first 45 minutes or so, I had the temperature pretty hot (near 400 F). Finally got it under control at a steady 300 for the rest of the cook. I started basting with the glaze (and removing excess liquid from the drip pan) after the first hour, and then every hour thereafter. The entire cook took a little more than 3 1/2 hours, which was just a little quicker than I’d anticipated.

I cooked the asparagus on a Weber “Style” grill pan (the one with the slits cut into it), seasoning with olive oil spray, salt, cracked black pepper, lemon zest, and lemon juice at the end.

We served a nice Santa Rita Hills La Tapatia Pinot Noir with the meal.

The glaze was a Jamie Purviance recipe from “Weber’s Real Grilling” and the Weber iPad App. I think I might stick to the proper amount of cloves next time, but I liked how my happy accident turned out. I might be tempted to try it with the molasses just to see the difference.

It was a wonderful day, and a beautiful start to another spring season with the gas grill.

2015 Kettle Rotisserie Inaugural

Yesterday for Sunday Dinner I cooked on the Weber Kettle rotisserie for the first time this year. I didn’t allow for the cooler ambient temperature, so I had to move the chicken and drip pan potatoes over to the Genesis gas grill for about ten minutes at the end to finish them, but everything turned out great.

We especially enjoyed the appetizer: some mini peppers stuffed with cream cheese, herbs de provence and shredded parm that I grilled for a few minutes on the Genesis, using a pepper rack.

We had a bottle of Charles Smith Columbia Valley Chardonnay with the peppers, and a Chilean Chardonnay with the meal. Claudia made crescent rolls and her famous Wulff Salad, and also served corn with the chicken and potatoes. It was cherry pie for dessert.

This rotisserie chicken with drip pan potatoes is one of our favorite meals. I was happy that even though I ran into difficulty because of the weather, I knew how to recover and turn out a decent plate.

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers

For Sunday Dinner this week, I grilled Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers. The recipe was from Another Pint Please.

Mini Apple and Pork Festival

Apple Glazed Pork Plated

For Sunday Dinner this week, we had our own mini Apple and Pork Festival. I used another recipe from our go-to source, Dad Cooks Dinner. This time it was boneless pork chops with apple cider brine and apple butter glaze. For sides, I cooked potatoes in a foil pan on the grill and made some wilted greens with balsamic vinegar on the stovetop. Then for dessert, I layered some thin Granny Smith Apple slices in a pan with brown sugar and cinnamon and baked it on the grill, topped with Cheddar Cheese and served with vanilla ice cream.

This is how the chops looked on the grill. They had some of the best quadrillage I’ve ever gotten.

Apple Glazed Pork Chops on the Grill

In the upper right corner of this shot, you can see my technique for getting some smoke flavor into the food on a gas grill. I simply put a chunk of wood on the grate above one of the burners. If it starts to actually flame, I move it down into the smoker box after snuffing. This seems to work better than soaking chips and putting them into the box, which is the recommended method from Weber.

Grilling Jack Daniels Pork Chops

Grilling Jack Daniels Pork Chops

For Sunday dinner yesterday, I grilled pork chops, marinated in Jack Daniels brine and finished with Jack Daniels glaze.

It’s another one of Mike Vrobel’s creations. I substituted Jack for the Jim Beam in his original recipe.

We served this with Wulff Salad, mustard potato salad and a wonderful cauliflower with mustard and cheese sauce that my wife makes.

We also had a growler of Lumpy Dog Brown ale from Rock Bottom to add to the fun.

Salsiccia con Peperoni

Salsiccia con Peperoni

I cooked the peppers and onions in a pan on the grill, grilled the Italian Sausages, and then added them to a pan where I had sautéed garlic in olive oil, and finally stirred in some fresh-picked oregano and basil.

We served it with mostaccioli.

Longing for Micheladas

wobbly-michelada

With a deep snow cover here, and more on the way over the weekend, I am longing for a hot Summer day on the back patio with a nice Michelada.

Stay warm, people. Spring is just around the corner, right?

Rotisserie Chicken

Rotisserie Chicken

When my wife gave me a rotisserie attachment for our Weber Kettle at Christmas 2012, the first thing I cooked on it was a whole chicken. After a year of experience, I think I’ve finally mastered the process.

I cooked a five pound chicken for Sunday dinner this week, and it turned out better than any I’ve ever made or tasted. I dry brined with salt and pepper on Saturday evening, then sprinkled on some Herbs de Provence and garlic powder before it went on the grill. It took a little over an hour to cook. We served it with drip pan potatoes, salad and green beans.

Learning this recipe changed my entire approach to cooking on the Weber. If you’re interested in the rotisserie, take a look at Mike Vrobel’s blog. His book is the bible on rotisserie cooking outdoors.

Ham-Wrapped Asparagus Batons

Ham-Wrapped Asparagus Batons

For Sunday Brunch this morning, I grilled some asparagus wrapped in ham.

I put the asparagus on a perforated Weber grill pan, hit it with some olive oil spray and sprinkled with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Grilled it for five minutes or so that way (flipping the asparagus over once) and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese before wrapping in the ham. Then it all went back on the grill for just a few more minutes to finish.

We served it with a drizzle of Dijon mustard and honey as a condiment, along with some toast and fresh fruit.

Simple and delicious.