BBQ Corn

Foodie admission of the week. When I see people shucking their corn into the bins at the grocery store, it takes all that I have in me not to shout at them, "Stop! What are you doing? Don't you know the best way to cook corn requires the husks to still be on?!!". So far I've been restrained. This past grocery trip my 4 year old son was not as restrained. We bumped into an acquaintance who was shucking her corn as we were just bagging our unshucked to go. My 4 year old asked her, "Why are you doing that? We cook ours with the green stuff on." She looked at me in question for confirmation which led to the explanation of BBQ-ing corn. For some reason I just assumed that everyone knows about this, so I never blogged about it. But apparently everyone does not know about this, so here is the brief as I can be explanation. Put your BBQ heat to med-low. Put the corn (still in the husks) onto the grill. BBQ for 10-15 minutes, turning every so often. The greens will get dark brown and blackened. Then shuck it. You can stop there and eat, or, you can put the shucked, cooked corn back on the BBQ for a little browning of the corn. Both are delicious. Like really fantastically delicious. As in since we discovered this we have never boiled our corn on the cob again, ever! Enjoy.

Tikka Kebabs

This was a fantastic recent find of mine.  I have a couple of amazing cookbooks by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.  They are a couple who travels in different parts of the world (mostly Asia) and learn to cook in villages by the locals.  They have the most wonderful recipes in beautiful books.  This recipe came from Mangoes and Curry Leaves:Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent.  It just so happened that this book was the end book on my cookbook shelf.  The back cover picture kept staring at me calling my name until I became determined to find out just what that dish was.  This is it.  As my husband said, this was the best marinade he's ever had.  And this is a man who is serious about eating good meat!
The recipe is supposed to be for lamb kebabs (not much in the way of beef recipes in India) but seeing as we do eat beef here and good lamb is harder to come by, I used beef instead of lamb when we did these up.  We've had them twice in the past 2 weeks, once without the yogurt in the marinade as I didn't have any on hand and once with.  Both versions were good.  I even managed to convince my husband to BBQ them for me in the snow - isn't he great?



Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder (I used stewing beef in substitution)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp minced garlic (or garlic mashed to a paste)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4-1/2 tsp ground black pepper (optional)
lime or lemon wedges

Trim the meat of any excess fat and cut into 3/4 inch cubes.  Set aside in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, coriander. oil, 1 tsp of the salt, the cayenne, and black pepper.  Pour over the meat.  Stir with a spoon or your hands to get all the meat surfaces coated with marinade.  Cover  and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or for as long as 12 hours. 
Thread the meat onto metal skewers, without pressing them tightly together, grill over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until browned on the outside and pale pink in the centre (or all the way through if you prefer).
Just before serving, sprinkle about 1 tsp of salt over the meat.  Put out lime or lemon wedges so guests can squeeze on fresh juice.
Serve with flatbread.

Jamie Oliver's Cracking Burger - post 2

As requested from comments in my previous post, here is a picture of Jamie Oliver's Cracking Burger.  This is the reheated version (as are the home fries - I know they don't look great, but they taste good).  Even re-heated my husband was raving about this burger, it's just that good!
After much contemplation I did decide to post the recipe.  It goes along with the premise of the book.   He wrote it with the intention of getting people to cook again.  The recipes are easy to follow and have picture tutorials throughout.  He also wants people to pay it forward with cooking. Well I recently moved and don't know anyone out here well enough to tutor them in cooking so my blog will have to do it for me.  Here's the recipe:

12 cream or plain crackers
8 sprigs of fresh Italian parsley
2 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 pound ground beef
1 large egg
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
olive oil

Wrap the crackers in a kitchen towel and smash up until fine, breaking up any big bits with your hands, and put them in a large bowl.  Finely chop the parsley, including the stalks.  Add the parsley, mustard, and ground beef into the bowl.  Crack the egg and add a good pinch of salt and pepper.  With clean hands, scrunch and mix everything up well.  Divide into 6 and pat and mold each piece into a roundish shape about 3/4 inch thick.  Drizzle the burgers with oil, put on a plate, cover and place in the refrigerator until needed (this helps firm them up).

We BBQ-ed them and melted cheddar on top.  Jamie reccommends using a grill pan as well to cook the burgers.  Place into a toasted bun and top with your favorite burger toppings.  Enjoy!