Leeks are root vegetables that look quite like giant green onions, to which they are related. Their flavor is onion-like but much milder. People who avoid leeks because they don’t like onions should try them — their flavor is mellow and not overpowering, and many onion-haters love leeks.–WiseGeeks

I was the proud recipient of some unwanted leeks this week.  Free leeks aren’t exactly the greatest gift a guy can get, I mean they aren’t free bacon, but leeks have become one of my new favorite vegetables.  Up to this point I’ve only cooked leeks in braising liquids with tougher cuts of meat.  They add a great flavor to broth and the resulting gravy.  I love leeks…

Leeks have a wonderful onion flavor and are great for adding flavor to other dishes.  As a side dish they might not be for everyone, but for me grilling leeks gives them a nice little flavor that when combined with a little olive oil and vinegar makes them one of my favorites.

Here’s how I grilled my leeks!

Trim the root end of the leeks off and the leafy tops.  Remove the first layer or two from the leeks.  They should look something like the picture on the left above.  Bring a pot of water to a boil, add some salt and/or a little BBQ rub to the water.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook the leeks for about 12 minutes or until they just start to get tender.  Remove and drain well.  Be careful, you want to try to keep the leeks in their original shape.  Try to keep them from coming apart.  When the leeks have cooled, give them a light coating of olive oil and grill, over medium heat, until they start to char and get grill marks.

Remove the leeks from the grill and immediately rough chop them.  Toss them in a bowl with a little more olive oil and a splash of vinegar.  Add a dash of salt and serve.  The mild onion flavor works great with the acid from the vinegar.  A little sweetness comes out from the caramelizing from the grill.  Great…great flavor.

In the process for cooking I used an interesting salt I picked up at the Winter Fancy Food Show from The Salt Works.  The Hellfire salt is smoked for days with mesquite wood and infused with Habanero and a little lime.  I added 1/2 tablespoons of the Hellfire sea salt to the water during the initial cooking process. The salt with Habanero added an amazing flavor that actually held up through the entire cooking process.  I added a pinch more when I served the chopped leeks.

This salt has a lot of strong smoke flavor and is quite hot from the Habanero, so a light hand is needed.  It would be very easy to ruin your meal with a heavy hand.  I’m going to have to see about ordering some in quantity because I’m already thinking about a new chicken brine using the salt.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

This recipe/blog post is really all about the beans.  It might sound a little strange but I’ve fallen in love with heirloom beans.  I may never be able to eat ordinary, run of the mill dried beans again.  Certainly Yellow Eye beans from “Rancho Gordo” will replace “white” beans when possible at my house.

Yellow Eye beans are related to the kidney bean.  They are normally off-white in color with dark yellow/brown markings around the “eye” of the bean.  They are somewhat sweet with a mild taste that compares to the “white” bean but is far superior.  Yellow Eyes are 1/2 inch and oval-shaped.

This recipe is based/inspired by a dish I saw prepared on the Cooking Channel TV show “Chuck’s Day Off.” It was one of those dishes that I knew immediately would translate to cooking outdoors.  And since I had just purchased my Yellow Eye beans I figured this would be the way to prepare them.  Chuck Hughes prepared this dish with “white” beans and veal, but the transition to Pork Loin Chops and Yellow Eye beans worked just as well.

Stewed Yellow Eye Beans and Tomatoes

Inspired by Chef Chuck Hughes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry white beans or rinsed canned white beans
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups  stock (I used homemade chicken stock)

Directions:

Soak the dry beans overnight in water.

The next day preheat the smoker, grill, dutch oven (or even your oven) to 350 degrees F.

Rinse and drain the beans. In an oven-safe pan, heat the oil and add the shallot, sauteing until translucent. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, yellow eye beans, and stock. Stir and add rosemary and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the smoker, grill or oven and bake for 30 – 45 minutes or until done.  Remove and keep warm while you grill your pork chops.

Season your pork chops with salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings your prefer.  The rosemary is strong in the beans so make sure whatever seasonings you use are going to match with the rosemary.  Grill your chops until done and serve.

For serving: When ready to serve, spoon tomato and bean mixture on top of veal chops. Garnish with lemon zest and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with thick slices of grilled country bread, some olive oil and grated garlic.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

Grilled Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 4 sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into “fries”
• 1/4 cup cilantro or any other fresh herb, finely chopped (Todd’s Dirt Seasoning works well too!)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup  olive oil
• Kosher/Sea Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat your grill to medium-hot.

Mix all ingredients together.  Make sure sugar is some what dissolved with no clumps of sugar.

Grill potatoes on all sides until done.  About 15 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Ingredients:

• 2 baby eggplants
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1/4 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat your grill to high.

With a potato peel remove strips of skin off the eggplant.  Slice the eggplant, long ways, into 1/2 inch slices.  Arrange the eggplant slices on sheets of paper towels.

Season the the eggplant slices with a generous amount of salt on both sides.  This will cause the eggplant to release most of the liquid they contain, removing the bitterness of the eggplant while causing it to be less watery during grilling.  Let the salted eggplant set for about 15 minutes, then pat dry with additional paper towels.

In a bowl mix honey, olive oil, garlic Sriracha, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Dip both sides of each eggplant slice into mixture.  Oil grilled.  Place eggplant slices on the grill, cover.  Grill for about 3 minutes, rotate 90 degrees and grill for an additional 3 minutes.  Brush  remaining sauce on the slices, flip and repeat process.  Adjust heat through the grilling to insure eggplant is not burning.

Serve immediately.

Each month three or four of my favorite internet BBQ friends will use the same four or five ingredients to cook a meal.  The only real rule is that the “protein” must be cooked outdoors.  It should be interesting to see what each of these experienced outdoor chefs have up their sleeves each month.  At the end of this post you will find a brief description of their blogs and links to the great creations they’ve come up with.

This month’s challenge was to come up with a meal that contained the following ingredients:

• Fish
• Couscous
• Figs
• Eggplant

When the first ingredients were announced I knew I wanted to do a whole fish.  The main reason was that I have very little experience with grilling whole fish and I knew this would be a good time to give it a try.

One of my favorite markets to shop at when I want the nicest produce and fish is our local Nugget Market.  I know that I can always find something different to cook there.  When I walked into the meat department my eyes were drawn quickly to the bright colors of the (farmed) Golden Trout.

California Golden Trout: Once called the Volcano Creek Golden Trout, this species was designated as the State Fish by the California Legislature in 1947. Their range encompasses approximately 120 miles of stream habitat found mostly within the Golden Trout Wilderness high in the Sierras. The California golden trout is a State Species of Special Concern (Source: Fish Species of Special Concern in California, CA DFG, Second Edition, June 1995.) and a Forest Service classified Sensitive Species. The golden is the most likely California-native species to be federally listed as endangered, due to habitat degradation, primarily by livestock, and planting of non-native trout species. (Courtesy California Trout, Inc.  www.caltrout.org)

Coming up with how to  use Couscous wasn’t all that hard.  I bought a bag of Israeli Couscous and just followed the directions on the package for pilaf type version of Couscous.  I’m not sure if there is any difference between couscous and Israeli Couscous other than the size.  So since I was going to photograph the final plate I chose the much bigger Israeli Couscous.

Very few people in my family like eggplant.  We don’t like the flavor and we don’t like the texture.  So coming up with a way to improve flavor and texture was the biggest goal.  I read a lot about eggplant on the internet and it seems my family is not alone in disliking eggplant.  The first technique I learned was that you could eliminate the bitter taste eggplant sometimes has AND firm it up by slicing and salting it 15 minutes or so before cooking.  (Explanation of how to do this is in the recipe below)

Next up, what to do with figs.  I’ve never eaten a fig, that I know of, other than in a Fig Newton so I had no idea of what do with it.  After considerable reading and searching my cookbooks I decided a Fig Butter would be the best way to go.

Here’s the steps to Maple Planked Grilled Golden Trout:
- Soak your wood plank.  (I use wood planks from Rocky Trail)  Most directions for wood planks state you should soak your planks for 30 minutes.  I have found much better luck soaking them for an extended period of time, no less than 2 hours.

- Pre-heat your wood, charcoal or gas grill to hot.  Although I have all three I think it’s much easier to properly plank cook food on a gas grill than wood or charcoal.  Controlling the heat is key to success and it’s just easier on a gas grill.

- Wash, dry and season your fish with your favorite fish seasoning.  I used just kosher salt.  I wanted to be able to taste all the additional flavors from the lemon and figs.

Mrs. Grail also made some great bread.

- Place wood plank in the middle of your grill.  Once the wood starts to smoke you are ready to put your fish on.

- Place a layer of lemon slices on the wood plank.  To really add flavor to your fish you can also layer some herbs on top of the lemon slices.  Place the fish on top of the lemon slices.  Layer another row of lemon slices on top of the fish.

- Reduce heat to medium and close the lid to your grill.  Don’t open the lid again (if your looking, you ain’t cooking) for about 15 minutes.  Check temperature of your fish.  The recommended internal temperature for properly cooked trout is 145 degrees.  However, I prefer to take my fish off the grill about 10 degrees cooler than that.  Just like every other meat if you cook it to the “recommended” internal temp it’s likely over cooked.

- Let the fish rest for at least five minutes while you plate the couscous.  Lay the whole fish on top of the couscous, spoon the fig butter over the fish and serve immediately.

Recipes:

Fig Compound Butter

• 3 tablespoons fig preserves
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt (kosher or sea)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Melt butter in a small skillet.  Add cinnamon, ginger root, salt and zest.  Saute over low heat, just until the ginger is tender.  Add the fig preserves and heat through.  The fig preserves will tak a little coaxing to melt.  Use a whip or hand mixer to completed incorporate all the ingredients.

Grilled Honey Garlic Eggplant

Ingredients:

• 2 baby eggplants
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1/4 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat your grill to high.

With a potato peel remove strips of skin off the eggplant. Slice the eggplant, long ways, into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the eggplant slices on sheets of paper towels.

Season the the eggplant slices with a generous about of salt on both sides. This will cause the eggplant to release most of the liquid they contain, removing the bitterness of the eggplant while causing it to be less watery during grilling. Let the salted eggplant set for about 15 minutes, then pat dry with additional paper towels.

In a bowl mix honey, olive oil, garlic Sriracha, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Dip both sides of each eggplant slice into mixture. Oil grilled. Place eggplant slices on the grill, cover. Grill for about 3 minutes, rotate 90 degrees and grill for an additional 3 minutes. Brush remaining sauce on the slices, flip and repeat process. Adjust heat through the grilling to insure eggplant is not burning.

Serve immediately.

Two more great fish, fig, eggplant and couscous meals:

The No Excuses Website’s entry.   The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of barbecuing at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world.  Somewhere along the way things got out of control, and two years later the streak is intact and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.  In the process, No Excuses BBQ has become fairly popular and is listed as one of the top BBQ blogs on Alltop.com.  You can read about Paul’s fish meal

The Into The Flames entry:  Rob launched Into The Flames in the summer of 2010 as a way to share his passion for cooking, eating, and exploring food.

Ingredients:

• 1  15 oz can low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 Green Onions
• 4 Matchstick size pieces of fresh Ginger
• 1 Clove Garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Lemon or Lime juice

Directions:

Cut white off the green onions making 2 1 1/2 inch pieces.  Cut the onion whites in half long ways.

Heat oil and saute onions, ginger and garlic until the onions just start to soften.  Add broth and fish sauce and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and add lemon/lime juice.  Spoon over cooked Udon noodles.

Growing up I was never exposed to very many different fresh vegetables.  Vegetables were something you “had” to have on the plate and for the most part not a great deal of thought went into them.  Most of the time they were the frozen type that got nuked in the microwave just before we all sat down at the table.

Winter squash is a vegetable that has always sort of baffled me.  I’d pick them up at the store and wonder just how in the world you could eat something as hard as these appeared to be.  Last year I gave Acorn Squash a try for the first time and really enjoyed the flavors it gave me off the grill.  So when Mrs. Grail sent me to the store with the instruction of “just get a vegetable” I decided to give Butternut Squash a try.  The squash grilled up great and tasted fantastic.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

For my birthday my son bought me a copy of Andrea Chesman’s  The New Vegetarian Grill, Revised Edition: 250 Flame-Kissed Recipes for Fresh, Inspired Meals and I’m going to be using this book for several upcoming Meatless Monday posts.

I’ve been thinking about my Meatless Monday posts and I thought it would be a good idea to have a dessert to go along with the previous and future posts.  This post is inspired by Andrea’s recipe.  The recipe is her’s except I used a special ice cream instead of whipped cream.  If you are all interested in grilling meatless dishes I can’t recommend a better book to guide you.

Maple Grilled Pound Cake With Peaches

By Andrea Chesman

• 8 firm ripe peaches or 16 canned peach halves
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 8-inch pound cake cut into 1-inch slices

If you are using fresh peaches, dip them into boiling water for about 30 seconds to loosen their skins.  With a sharp paring knife, pull away the skin and discard.  Halve and pit each peach.  If you are using canned peaches, drain well.

Prepare a medium fire in the grill

Combine the orange juice, butter and the maple syrup and mix well.  Brush onto the peaches and both sides of the cake slices.  Grill the peaches and cake slices until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side for the peaches and about 3 minutes per side for the cake.

Place a slice of cake and 2 peach halves on each plate.  Drizzle additional maple syrup over the cake and peaches, if desired.  Serve at once.

I wanted something different to eat with this dessert and I wanted something a little savory to contrast the sweetness in the maple syrup and peaches.  My friend Stephan Franklin has come up with a couple of great rubs and his “Simply Marvelous Sweet & Spicy” rub I thought would compliment this dessert.  But how to turn it into a dessert was the question.

The answer was:

Simply Marvelous Brown Sugar Ice Cream

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 3 cups half-and-half or light cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon Simply Marvelous Sweet & Spicy Rub (more or less depending on your taste)

In heavy, medium, non-aluminum saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar until thick. In another medium saucepan bring the cream and half and half just to a boil over moderate heat. Gradually whisk the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture in a thin stream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon about 6 minutes.   Do Not Boil.

Immediately strain the custard into a medium bowl. Stir in the vanilla and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 5 hours.

Pour the cold custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Let the ice cream soften slightly before serving.

This ice cream recipe is adapted from a recipe on www.inmamaskitchen.com