Although I'm a huge fan of and will continue to post on SUWYC, it seems the posting of full blown cooks with recipes included has fallen off quite a bit. I for one enjoy the great pix from everyone but sometimes I really want to get into the cooks mind and see how it was ultimately prepared. Anyway, I encourage everyone to post more in the main recipe channels.
Today I've gone a little Mediterranean. We had a bumper crop of pomegranates this season and outside of making juice, I decided to whip up a pomegranate-orange barbecue sauce to glaze some quail that I planned to Vortex roast in my kettle.
As I was dry brining the quail, I also decided to whip up a Tabouli salad to stay with the Mediterranean theme. For those who have never had the classic salad it very popular in the Middle East, it's a grain based salad with lot's of veggies and citrus. It's usually made with bulgur wheat but for my salad I used quinoa instead. It's also delicious with cous-cous, which is a pasta rather than a grain but the texture is very similar, I actually prefer it to the grain based....
Tabouli
1 1/2 cups of cooked grain (bulgur, quinoa or cous-cous), allowed to cool in the fridg
1 diced cucumber
1 diced red onion, small to medium
1 pint cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 bunch of cilantro (classically it's lots of parsley but I prefer the cilantro) finely chopped
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 and juice from 1/2 an orange
1/2 cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Simply combine all dry ingredients. Make the dressing from the lemon, orange and olive oil and mix with the salad. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld all the flavors. Serve cold.
Now for the star of the show. After seasoning with Oak Ridge Secret Weapon, I set up the Vortex and let her rip wide open. Here are my quail about half way through the cook......
Like all poultry I ran it hot and fast, total cook time about 45 minutes. During the final 20 minutes or so I glazed them with a pomegranate-orange sauce I cooked up.....
Pomegranate-Orange BBQ Sauce
1 small onion chopped
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup of molasses
3 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper
Sweat down the onion in a pan with a little oil until translucent. To that add the juices, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle boil then reduce by about 1/2. Salt and Pepper to taste. Once it thickens and reduces, take it off the burner and allow it to cool a bit. Add the ketchup and the Dijon. Whisk until all ingredients are combined. Should be rather thick, coating the back of a spoon.
After glazing I cooked the birds for about 15 or 20 minutes. The glaze nicely caramelized and surprisingly didn't leave a sweet after taste as I thought it might. Was delicious.....
Round 2 saw the kettle loaded with some bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and some halved peaches for dessert served with a little vanilla ice cream....
Turned out to be a pretty good meal. Family gobbled it all down, just a few leftovers. That in and of itself says a lot !! Of course I also had to wash it all down with some local brew fondly called GWB.....
"These are great days we're living bros !! We're jolly green giants walking the earth....with spatchulas !!"
Troutman Steve is out !!!! Show me your Recipes !!!
Today I've gone a little Mediterranean. We had a bumper crop of pomegranates this season and outside of making juice, I decided to whip up a pomegranate-orange barbecue sauce to glaze some quail that I planned to Vortex roast in my kettle.
As I was dry brining the quail, I also decided to whip up a Tabouli salad to stay with the Mediterranean theme. For those who have never had the classic salad it very popular in the Middle East, it's a grain based salad with lot's of veggies and citrus. It's usually made with bulgur wheat but for my salad I used quinoa instead. It's also delicious with cous-cous, which is a pasta rather than a grain but the texture is very similar, I actually prefer it to the grain based....
Tabouli
1 1/2 cups of cooked grain (bulgur, quinoa or cous-cous), allowed to cool in the fridg
1 diced cucumber
1 diced red onion, small to medium
1 pint cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 bunch of cilantro (classically it's lots of parsley but I prefer the cilantro) finely chopped
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 and juice from 1/2 an orange
1/2 cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Simply combine all dry ingredients. Make the dressing from the lemon, orange and olive oil and mix with the salad. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld all the flavors. Serve cold.
Now for the star of the show. After seasoning with Oak Ridge Secret Weapon, I set up the Vortex and let her rip wide open. Here are my quail about half way through the cook......
Like all poultry I ran it hot and fast, total cook time about 45 minutes. During the final 20 minutes or so I glazed them with a pomegranate-orange sauce I cooked up.....
Pomegranate-Orange BBQ Sauce
1 small onion chopped
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup of molasses
3 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper
Sweat down the onion in a pan with a little oil until translucent. To that add the juices, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle boil then reduce by about 1/2. Salt and Pepper to taste. Once it thickens and reduces, take it off the burner and allow it to cool a bit. Add the ketchup and the Dijon. Whisk until all ingredients are combined. Should be rather thick, coating the back of a spoon.
After glazing I cooked the birds for about 15 or 20 minutes. The glaze nicely caramelized and surprisingly didn't leave a sweet after taste as I thought it might. Was delicious.....
Round 2 saw the kettle loaded with some bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and some halved peaches for dessert served with a little vanilla ice cream....
Turned out to be a pretty good meal. Family gobbled it all down, just a few leftovers. That in and of itself says a lot !! Of course I also had to wash it all down with some local brew fondly called GWB.....
"These are great days we're living bros !! We're jolly green giants walking the earth....with spatchulas !!"
Troutman Steve is out !!!! Show me your Recipes !!!
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