On The BBQ Brethren Forum each week we have a Throwdown. Each member who wants to participates uses the “theme” for that week to cook something. Their entry is then posted and the membership votes. It seems each week the Throwdowns are getting more and more outrageous. This weeks theme is bacon and some of the entries are just plain crazy. Great stuff, but crazy. I decided the best course of action was to take it “down” a notice with a simple Bacon, Avocado, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich. Nothing spectacular, just simple comfort food.
I stopped at The Fatted Calf yesterday on my way through Napa to pick up a little bacon. The Fatted Calf produces some of the most amazing cured meat products in Northern California. Their slab bacon is simply…amazing.
Continue reading A Little Bacon, Avocado, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich
Mrs. Grail (Celeste) is usually responsible for our side dishes. I asked her to come up with a new pasta salad to go with some grilled turkey we had for dinner. She came up with a real winner. The Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad!
Continue reading Mrs. Grail’s B.T.P. Salad
One of the “Meatless Monday” challenges I face is coming up with meals that actually appeal to me. When my copy of the Gordon Ramsey cookbook, Cooking for Friends
, arrived I was glad to find a veggie dish that both sounded good and could be done outdoors on the grill.
So here’s my take on Gordon Ramsey’s Grilled Vegetable Lasagna. The main different between the recipe below and what I did was the vegetables were all cooked on my Weber kettle. The original recipe also uses the oven, as I did, but it could be done in the smoker or indirect on your gas or charcoal grill.
Continue reading Meatless Monday: Grilled Vegetable Lasagna
Pizza! Is one of the greatest food items ever created. I’ve loved pizza my whole life and it’s been part of some defining moments in my life. I’ve eaten the worst pizza on earth at the Navy Exchange Cafeteria in Yokuska, Japan while going to high school there as a Navy brat. I’ve spent many a Friday evening in high school eating pizza at Fillippi’s in Lemon Grove, California after Mount Miguel High School football games. In 1982 when I gave up drinking I even thought I’d never be able to eat pizza again because the thought of not having a beer with my pizza was beyond my understanding.
Tonight was another of those defining moments. Pizza without meat! I’m sure I broke some obscure law of nature with a veggie pizza. It has to be so. But what’s worst of all is that I actually enjoyed it. This will have to be our little secret. Now before anyone thinks I’ve gone off the deep end and become a vegetarian I’d still prefer a pizza loaded with sausage but for Meatless Monday this was one darn good pizza.
Continue reading Meatless Monday: Very Veggie Pizza with Marinated Artichokes
Ingredients:
12 Vine Ripened Tomatoes 2 tablespoons Olive Oil 2 garlic gloves, peeled and smashed 3 cups Vegetable Stock 1 cup Tomato juice (I used V8 Juice. Next time I’ll use Spicy V8 for a little more kick.) Pinch of Chili Flakes Pinch of sugar Salt (Kosher or Sea) 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese,
Continue reading … Meatless Monday: Grilled Tomato Basil Soup
