Sophie's Foodie

Just when you thought it was safe to go to BBQ or oven and grill/cook another turkey breast in an unimaginable way along comes some new frightening method to fix a roasted turkey breast in a creative way.
Get over the mundane! A big part of the grilling and barbecuing scene is to have the stuff you fix taste good and not resemble Jane and John Doe's.
I started out with a seven pound, plus frozen turkey breast. Actually, it was so big it could pass as a full-size turkey. But, you can get away with a much smaller one. Let it unthaw and wash thoroughly, inside and out.
Rub the turkey breast with EVOO. Gently part the skin away from the body with a thin bladed knife and sprinkled on a generous portion of Ground Cinnamon in between the skin and the body. Sprinkle more Cinnamon into the cavity.
Place the turkey into either a large plastic marinating bag, or a large plastic container. Pour maple syrup over the bird and brush on evenly. Pour syrup into the cavity also. If you're rich use the real stuff�.otherwise imitation will do. The turkey will never know the difference. Marinate over night.
You say, "That's it?" No "Buzzard's Breath Big Bad Sauce"? "No Hotter Than Hell - You're Going Die Dude Rub"? "What's the barbecue and grilling world coming to"?
Sometimes simple is good! And, this is simple.
Before you get ready to cook the bird let it sit out on the counter for at least thirty minutes while you start the barbecue, or oven. Get it up to temperature. I used my Traeger Grill to cook the turkey breast.
I set the temperature for 325 degrees and this worked perfectly. I placed the turkey in a shallow baking pan lined with aluminum foil so I wouldn't cake-up my grill. You can imagine what a nightmare it would be if you didn't with all that syrup.
At seven, plus pounds the turkey breast took three and a half hours before it reached just a little shy of 190 degrees internal temperature. In the last half hour I misted the bird with a combination of apple cider vinegar and orange juice to help seal in the juices.
Before serving the bird it was wrapped in aluminum foil and allowed to sit out for thirty minutes before carving. The puppy always checks out anything like this first for poisoning. He said it was ok to go ahead and eat.
You can easily do a roasted turkey breast in an oven or on a gas grill. If you use a gas grill, use indirect heat, meaning, heat one side of the grill, and not the other. Place the turkey on the unheated side. A charcoal grill will be a little different. You can place a drip pan on the charcoal shelf and place the coals on a semi-circle around it while placing the bird over the drip pan.
Whatever way you cook the turkey you are just going to love it!

Labels: Cinnamon, Cooking Turkey Breast, Maple Syrup, Roasted Turkey Breast, Traeger Grill, Traeger Grills, Traeger Recipes, Turkey Breast

I keep posting about pork loins. Mainly, because they are reasonably priced, lean, super good and very easy to fix. I have already given you a couple of recipes in past posts, but this one is right out of the "Traeger Grill Owners Handbook".
Ok, I can't help myself I made a few deviations from the recipe, but I will give credit due where credit is due. I am impressed with my Traeger Grill (See Below) and I am very impressed with the recipes that Traeger owners come up with, and above all their level of expertise.
If you are thinking about hitting the BBQ competition circuit, well you might want to bring a Traeger to the gun fight (to borrow a jazz phrase), " With something that Cooks!"
Caribbean Roast Pork Loin

A one pound, plus Boneless Pork Loin

Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

One half teaspoon of Black Pepper

One half teaspoon of Sea Salt

One teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg & one teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

If you don't have one, get one�..a Tupperware Marinating Pan (see below). They are plastic, heavy duty and you can flip them over without spilling the works. Place all the above ingredients in the container and rub over the entire pork loin.
Refrigerate over night. If you don't have a Tupperware pan, use a heavy duty plastic bag. However, plastic bags can get spendy after a while. Don't marinate anything in aluminum foil or anything that is aluminum.
Start the grill, or oven, and maintain a temperature of at least 325 degrees. If gas or a charcoal grill you will want to cook on indirect heat, meaning heat one side and cook on the other.
Before placing on the grill let the pork loin sit out for at least 30 minutes. Also, I don't like to sit my pork loin directly on the grill so I place it in a shallow pan and then onto the grill fat-side up.
Cook for at least two hours. But, don't overcook or your pork loin will be as dry as a bone. In the last 20 minutes of cooking, I like to mist with an equal amount of orange juice and apple cider vinegar. This adds a nice crust to the loin. Make sure the roast reaches a temperature of 170 degrees or thereabouts.
Once cooked, wrap in aluminum foil and let it sit out for about fifteen minutes prior to serving. You will find that a pork loin is as lean, if not leaner than any other meat out there including chicken breasts. There are mucho recipes for pork loins out there and this is just another mucho good one to sink your teeth into!

Labels: Barbecue, BBQ, Pork Loin Grilling Time, Pork Loin Marinade, Pork Loin Recipe, Pork Loin Recipes, Roast Pork Loin Cooking Time, Traeger Grill, Traeger Grills, Traeger Pellet Grill, Traeger Recipes

I know this is basically a BBQ blog, but I also like to include cooking and grilling once in a while. And, my goal is to pass on cool recipes as I make them and this is a fish & seafood chowder one.
One of the basic ingredients in this recipe is leeks. Some of the traditional leek recipes I don't particuliary care for, but this one is super.
So, let's bag traditional and use leeks in an exciting chowder, along with hard body fish, shrimp, Andouille sausage and lots of veggies.
The Andouille sausage is where the grilling comes in. In fact, there is no reason you couldn't do this whole recipe on the barbecue grill. The Andouille adds tons of unique flavor, spice and a little "hot".

2 pounds of red potatoes

3 cloves of finely chopped garlic

3 stalks of celery halved and cut into bite size chunks

3 large carrots sliced

3 to 4 leeks cut length-wise and into small bite size chunks

2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes

4 14 oz cans of low sodium chicken broth

6 Andouille Sausages

� pound of Tiger Shrimp peeled and deveined

2 lbs of Cod, Salmon or whatever (Best half frozen)

Emeril's Original Essence (See Bottom Of Page)

Old Bay Seasoning (See Bottom Of Page)

EVOO

When I make a soup, or a chowder like this, I don't like to take shortcuts and cook everything together in a big pot. My way takes time, but I find that a soup, stew, chowder or whatever comes out much better than if I did the all-in-one thing.
Hope you are not in a hurry!
For best results, nuke or bake the potatoes ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator overnight. This allows them to firm up. Next, cut them up into bite size chunks, and in a separate skillet brown them up in EVOO. Sprinkle with Essence and set aside.
Cut the half frozen fish into bite size chunks. Sprinkle with Old Bay and fry. Cook the shrimpies. Set aside.
Grill the Andouille on the barbie whole, or broil in the oven over a drip pan. Cut into bite size chunks. Set aside.
Now, it's pot time! I have an 8 � quart pot that's just about right. I can use it on the grill (My Traeger Grill), or the stovetop, whatever is convenient. However, things just kind of taste better when cooked outside.
Chop your garlic and cover it with enough olive oil so that you can caramelize it. In other words, you want a nice golden brown touch to the garlic. Before it is fully cooked, add the carrots, celery and leeks. Cook for about six or seven minutes until the leeks soften up.
Add the diced tomatoes, along with their juices, potatoes, Andouille and two cans of chicken broth. Heat up to temperature, but don't boil the nutrients out.
I prefer not to add the fish or the shrimp to the pot that way I don't have to worry about spoilage. As you serve it, add the fish and shrimp to the bottom of a soup bowl and pour the stock over the top just prior to serving. You'll discover that even if you didn't add fish or shrimp it would still be a delicious chowder.

Labels: Chowder Recipes, Fish Chowder, Leek Recipes, Leek Soup Recipes, Lodge Dutch Ovens, Recipe For Fish Chowder, Recipe For Leek Soup, Seafood Chowder, Traeger Grill, Traeger Recipes

I have mentioned in other posts, that I have a gas grill, charcoal smoker and a Traeger Pellet Grill. I use them all, but for slow-cooking my Traeger puts out results that most other grills only dream about.
If you are not familiar with the Traeger brand they use a special wood pellet that is conveyed from a hopper to a small fire pit by an auger. There is a metal plate between the fire pit and the grill so that everything that you cook is done so by indirect heat.
Anytime that I BBQ a pulled pork, ribs, turkey, or if I do a couple of chickens at the same time, I use my Traeger. I have a Lil' Tex Elite and will have had it for two years come this Xmas.

The Traeger Pellet Grill is designed for slow-cooking. I am amazed on how moist and tender the meat turns out. What's cool is the wood pellets come in different flavors, like cherry, mesquite, alder, apple and so on.
The meat takes on the flavor of whatever pellet you are using. Many of the Traeger owners mix flavors to get a unique taste.
The units are built like "Brick Chicken Houses". They are well constructed and built to last.
Personally, I have found my Traeger Grill to be very economical to operate as compared to gas or charcoal. You should get the same results.
Traeger Smokers are very easy to operate. The clincher is: that you will get outstanding results with these grills even after a couple times of using one.

Labels: Apple Valley Westside BBQ, Barbecue, Traeger, Traeger Grill, Traeger Grills, Traeger Pellet Grill, Traeger Pellet Grills, Traeger Smokers