Monthly Archives: September 2012

Pizza

Pizza

September 16, 2012 – 2:13 pm

Pizza on the Big Green Egg

Specifically, Papa Murphy’s Pizza on the Big Green Egg

The Egg is heated to 400 degrees.

Platesetter on. Legs down.

Pizza stone is suspended over platesetter by using 3 ceramic feet.

Used Apple chips that had been soaked in apple juice and water.

  • Pizza: 1 Large stuffed from Papa Murphy’s
  • Corn meal

The Process:

Papa Murphy’s Pizza comes wrapped with a paper plate underneath.

Turn the wrapped pizza upside down and cut the plastic wrap.

Remove the Papa Murphy’s paper tray.

Liberally spread corn meal on the dough that’s on the bottom of the pizza.

Replace the paper tray on the pizza and turn over. Remove all of the plastic wrap.

Place the pizza on the pizza stone and cook with lid closed for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the paper tray from the beneath the pizza.

This is easily done because of the corn meal that was previously added.

It might be a little messy with the corn meal and all, but worth it.

Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes and remove.

Cut with a pizza cutter and you are in business! Delicious!

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Seafood

Scallops Scampi

September 16, 2012 – 1:35 pm

Scallops Scampi on the Big Green Egg

This is a wonderful dish that goes with a nice white wine.

The Egg was set up at 350 degrees. Direct heat.

Used a 12 inch cast iron skillet.

The pasta was cooked simultaneously on the stove in the kitchen.

  • Fresh Sea Scallops: 1 pound
  • Lemon juice: 1.5 tablespoonsful (same as 1/2 Lemon)
  • White wine: 1/2 cup (Chardonnay in this instance)
  • Seafood stock: 1/2 cup
  • Chopped Onions and garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Butter: 1/4th stick
  • Pasta and Garlic Bread (cooked in kitchen)

The Process:

Heated up the cast iron skillet on the Egg using olive oil and 1/4th stick of butter.

Added the onions and garlic to the skillet and sautéed for about 3 minutes.

Added the liquids and reduced for about 5 minutes.

Added the scallops.  Cooked for 3 minutes with Egg lid closed.

Opened the lid and turned the scallops over. Closed lid again and cooked for 3 more minutes.

Pulled the pan off the fire and placed it on a trivet on the table and covered with foil.

Obviously the Scallops cooked a little longer but they still turned out great!

Added to the pasta and served with garlic bread

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Miscellaneous

Apple Pie

September 16, 2012 – 11:26 am

Apple Pie on the Big Green Egg

Used a 50 year old Betty Crocker Cook Book for this recipe and adapted it for the Egg.

Simple enough: Apple Pie. 9 inch

The Egg was at 400 degrees.

Indirect with platesetter in. Legs up.

  • Sugar: 3/4th to 1 cup
  • Cinnamon: 1 teaspoonful
  • Apples: 6 to 7 cups of sliced and pared.
  • Used frozen pie crust in pan and topped with pre-made pie crust
The Process:
Used fresh coals in the Egg.
Mix sugar and cinnamon. Mix lightly through apples.
Heap up in pastry-lined pie pan.  Dot with butter.
Cover with top crust which has slits cut in it. Seal and flute.
Cover the edge with a 1 to 2 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes.  This particular pie took 55 minutes.
Pie is done when the apples are cooked through. Test with fork.
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Seafood

Salmon

September 3, 2012 – 4:30 pm

Salmon on the Big Green Egg

This is a Friday night favorite in our household.

My older brother, Linc first introduced us to this wonderful meal.

It goes great with a nice Pinot Noir!

The Egg is at 320 degrees

  • Salmon steaks – skin on (about 8ounces in size works great)
  • Olive Oil
  • Old Bay Seasoning
  • Wood Plank (s). Soaked. Prefer Alder wood but Cedar wood works fine
  • Honey Maple Glaze Drizzle which requires: 1 cup maple syrup, 1 T of honey, and 2 T of brown sugar
  • Pinot Noir: 1 750ml bottle. optional

The Process:

Soak the planks in water for a few hours prior to cooking.

Prep the Salmon ahead of time with liberal amounts of Olive Oil and Old Bay which is rubbed in well.

The salmon can be cooked either with platesetter in (indirect) or directly over the grate.

The wood planks can be reused if cooked indirectly, but probably not if using the direct method.

To make the Honey Maple Glaze Drizzle, mix up the ingredients in a sauce pan on the stove and heat.

To start, place the wood plank on the grate and warm it up until the whole plank dries up.

Then turn over the plank for preparation to cook on that side.

Start cooking the Salmon with the skin side up, as shown in the first picture below.

After a few minutes, turn over the salmon and finish cooking in that position. Note second picture.

The perfect time to remove the salmon is when it just starts to flake when pressed with tongs.

When topped off with the Honey Maple Glaze Drizzle, it’s quite tasty!

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Pork

Pork Belly

September 3, 2012 – 3:49 pm

Pork Belly on Big Green Egg

The Egg was set up at 240 degrees initially.

Finished at 380 degrees.

Platesetter on the Egg. Feet up.

Drip pan with apple juice setting on Platesetter with green ceramic feet to keep pan off Platesetter.

Used Apple wood chips that had been soaked for several hours.

  • 2.5 lb Pork Belly (no bones)
  • Coarse Sea Salt
  • Big Green Egg brand: Gourmet Seasoning  

 The Process:

Left the skin on with Cross Cuts.

Liberally filled up the Cross Cuts with Sea Salt.

Use the Gourmet Seasoning on both sides, especially the meaty side and placed in refrigerator overnight.

Cooked on the Egg at 240 degrees (lots of smoke) for 40 minutes.

Internal temperature of the Pork Belly was around 120 degrees at that time.

Increased temperature of the Egg to 380 degrees and continued cooking for another 60 minutes.

Internal temperature of the Pork Belly was around 175 degrees when pulled off the grill.

Wrapped the Pork Belly in foil and placed in a cooler for 30 minutes. Removed from foil and cut.

The Pork Belly was delicious when placed on a bun with lettuce, mayonnaise and mustard…and consumed!

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Beef Miscellaneous Pork

Chili

September 1, 2012 – 5:02 pm

Chili on the Big Green Egg

Used a 7 Quart Dutch oven

The Egg was set up at 300 degrees.

On top of the grate was a pizza stone separated from the top of the grate with 3 green ceramic feet.

The purpose of the feet:create space from grate and to prevent burning of chili on the bottom of the oven.

Used 4 kinds of wood chips. Apple. Maple. Cherry. Cedar.

  • Beef (Ground Chuck). 1 lb
  • Spicy Pork Sausage.  3/4ths lb
  • Tomatoes.  3 large. no seeds. 8 ounces net after chopping up.
  • Canned Diced Tomatoes. sans tomatoes. 12 ounces net
  • Bacon. 3 slices
  • Celery. 3 stocks
  • Onion. 1 large
  • Green Pepper. 1 large. no seeds
  • Garlic Cloves. 8 varying sizes. Run thru garlic press
  • Chili Beans. 2 cans mild. 16 ounces each
  • Beef Broth. 1 can 10.5 ounce size
  • Beer. 1 bottle 12 ounce Fat Tire
  • Hersey’s Syrup. 1 dash
  • Balsamic Vinegar. 1 dash
  • Habenero pepper. 1 in cheesecloth sack on top
  • 2 Tablespoonsful of Chili powder
  • 2 Teaspoonsful of Cumin
  • 1 Teaspoonful of Oregano
  • 2 Tablespoonsful of Emeril’s All Natural Rib Rub
  • 1/2 Teaspoonful of Ground Cinnamon

The Process:

Grilled the meat as patties on the egg.

Brought to rare and added the patties (broken up) to the Dutch Oven.

Chopped up all of the vegetables.

Added the other ingredients and mixed up in the Oven and then place on the egg.

Internal temperature of the chili was 180 degrees after about 1.5 hours.

Removed the Pizza Stone and the 3 ceramic feet at that time.

Placed the Dutch oven directly on the grate and cooked for 30 more minutes.

Total Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Brought Dutch Oven in from the egg and placed on stove in kitchen

Fired up burner on stove and boiled off about 1 inch of liquid after 1 hour

Delicious!

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