ALASKAN BBQ

I know I'm not in Alaska, but if they BBQ up there this I'm sure was close to what they experience. Just because its winter and I'm in Chicagoland doesn't mean that I have to fold at the idea of BBQ. In fact I don't understand why more people don't do it. In the summer, standing over the grill makes you hotter correct? Well it does the same thing in the winter. I stood outside and cooked in 20 degree weather and didn't notice one bit.

Last night after grocery shopping I was undecided as to what I wanted to grill today. I had a lot of meat thawed so I decided to go ahead and cook up the smorgasboard of meats.

Menu:

Asian Inspired BBQ Pork Ribs

Grilled Italian Spiced Chicken

Candelight Catfish

Candied Yams

Black Eyed Peas

Collard Greens

Pork Ribs: Marinated overnight. The marinade was made of soy sauce, teryaki sauce, beef broth, sesame seed oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic.

Grilled Italian Spiced Chicken: Marinated in italian seasonings, and italian dressing.

Candlight Catfish: Recipe from foodnetwork.com. It had a marinade of soy sauce, olive oil, seafood seasoning, cayenne pepper, and italian seasoning.

The ribs and chicken were grilled until about 2/3 of the way done, then double wrapped in foil and slow baked in the oven. I do not remove the meat until it is falling apart. When I say falling apart, I mean the foil should look almost like a soup. The excess juices along with the meat that can no longer hold its shape due to tenderness.

The fish was thrown on the grill in the foil that it was marinating in. It was opened up and a tent made over the top to help seal in the moisture. It sat on the grill for about 45 minutes boiling in the olive oil and seasoning rub. The combination of those seasonings along with the olive oil marinated in the fish and then cooked in those same oils gave it almost too much flavor. While it was good, next time i will use about a quarter less of the seasonings called for in the recipe.

Candied Yams: Fresh and made from scratch. I peeled two large yams and sliced them into cubes. I then lined a buttered pan with yams, drizzled on some imitation vanilla, brown sugar, butter, and nutmeg. I repeated this process like you would a casserole. Once they soften and the butter begins to melt, the moisture will create a bath for the yams to bake, boil, and swim in. I let them cook low and slow with the meat for about an hour.

Black Eyed Peas: I created a beef broth mixture using bullion in the pot of water. I then seasoned it with garlic salt and cajun seasoning. I fried up about a half pack of bacon and poured the bacon along with its drippings into the water. Then added the peas. I let those cook for about 2 hours. The flavor was amazing, the beef broth along with the pork grease gave it a nice saltiness.

Collard Greens: Pork hamhocks were boiled until tender in a chicken broth bath. Once tender, the collards were added along with some hot sauce and other everyday seasonings. These took about 3 hours to cook fully.

Chicken Tortilla Chip Casserole

I saw a recipe the other day that caught my eye and in the days to follow it still lingered. I decided to give it a try adding my own twist...

Original recipe source: www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/2011/01/chicken-tortilla-casserole.html

Instead of buying tortilla chips I decided to use one of the 100 packs of corn tortilla shells that we have around here for tacos. At pennies a pack, they can be cut up into triangles and fried into a crispy chip. Once sprinkled with salt they taste, in my opinion, way better than any store brought tortilla chip. A friend put me on to this and I haven't bought a Tostito since.

Once I fried, salted, and drained the grease off of the chips, I started on the chicken. I cut the chicken into bite size cubes and simmered them on the stove top in chicken broth. I added some salt, pepper, and a pack of taco seasoning. I continued to let that simmer while preparing the other ingredients.

The recipe called for you to mix a can of chicken broth with some sour cream and spices. I totally trashed that part of the recipe. I added some sour cream, unmeasured, some oregano, taco seasoning to the can of broth. It was really watery and chunky but I rolled with it.

I diced up some green onion, and black olives.

Layered a greased casserole dish with a double layer of chips, top with the chicken, and I used a slotted spoon to add the sour cream and broth mixture. Put on a layer of jalapenos, black olives, and refried beans, and topped with mexican cheese.

2nd layer of everythign repeated.

I did not have anymore mexican blend cheese so I used mozzarella on the very top. Before I put it in the oven I sprinkled it with the taco seasonong and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese started to bubble.

It came out way better than I had expected. I was also worried about reheating it the next day, sour cream and tortillas don't usually microwave well later. The flavors were so combined the following day that the warm sour cream and the gummy chips didn't make a difference. I enjoyed it even better than when it was fresh out of the oven.