Pesto Grilled Shrimp

What’s better than grilled shrimp over pasta with pesto sauce? Pesto-marinated grilled shrimp over pasta with pesto sauce.

 
This one is super easy. Next time you make pesto sauce, make about a cup extra, use it to marinate the shrimp for a few hours, and then grill them. Then stir the shrimp into hot, wet pasta and the remaining pesto sauce (microwave the sauce for about a minute since it will have been sitting in the fridge). That’s it.

If you don’t already have a pesto recipe you like, here’s mine. This makes enough to marinate about 1 ½ pounds of shrimp and use the remaining with one pound of pasta.

Pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh basil (or, since basil is pretty expensive, you can save a little money by using 2 cups of basil and two cups of spinach)
½ cup pine nuts
3 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.    In a food processor, puree basil, pine nuts, garlic, and half a cup of olive oil. Taste.
2.    Add salt, pepper, cheese, and remaining olive oil, and puree until smooth.

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Plank Grilled Salmon with Fresh Blackberry and Balsamic Sauce

Ingredients:

4 small pieces salmon or one large fillet.
1 tsp olive oil
Juice of half lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste
Salad – spring greens, spinach or mix (I used 50/50)
Optional: walnuts, shredded parmesan cheese, extra blackberries

Blackberry and Balsamic Sauce:

1 cup fresh blackberries, pureed
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp water



Directions:

1.    Soak wood planks in water for at least an hour, up to 24 hours. Use a large pan and hold the plank down with a full glass of water.

2.    Marinate salmon in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper for 20-30 minutes.
3.    Once your charcoal is hot, place wood planks over direct heat for 15 minutes.
4.    While the plank is heating up, make the sauce. Puree the blackberries, and then combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, then strain.
5.    Brush plank with oil, then place salmon, skin-side down, on plank.

6.    Cover grill and cook, without turning, for about 15 minutes for a large fillet, or 10 minutes if you’re using smaller cut pieces, until fish flakes in large chunks.
7.    Serve salmon over bed of greens, with nuts, blackberries and shredded cheese, and top with blackberry sauce. Enjoy!

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BBQ Pork (or Chicken) Leftover Edition: Crescent Rolls!

Wondering what to do leftover shredded BBQ pork or chicken? Try these delicious BBQ stuffed crescent rolls!

Ingredients:

One 8 oz. can (tin? Roll? I don’t know what to call those things) of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Eight heaping spoonfuls of cold, shredded pork or chicken, with BBQ sauce

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven 375.
2.    Separate dough into triangles. Place spoonful of shredded pork or chicken at base of triangle, like so:

3.    Wrap dough around meat:

 
4.    Bake for 10-12 minutes, and enjoy!

Greek Yogurt Marinated Beer Can Chicken

Greek yogurt is a perfect marinade for chicken. Not only does it add great flavor, but it tenderizes the meat. The results are delicious.
So in my ongoing quest to find as many different ways to make beer can chicken as possible, I present to you: Greek Yogurt Marinated Beer Can Chicken.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
Salt
Pepper

Marinade:

1 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, oregano
1 tbsp: olive oil, lemon juice

Directions:

1.    Combine all marinade ingredients and stir.
2.    Remove chicken neck and giblets, rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.
3.    Coat chicken with marinade, cover and refrigerate overnight.

 
4.    Fill your chimney starter with charcoal and light. Soak some wood chunks or chips.
5.    While your coals are getting hot, drink half a can of beer (soda is fine too).
6.    Set up your grill for indirect cooking, with the coals and wood chunks in a ring along the outer edge of the grill, with the drip pan in the center.

 
7.    Remove chicken from marinade, and wipe off excess. Shove can with remaining beer into the cavity of the chicken, and place on the grill above the drip pan. Use the legs and the can to form a tripod to hold the chicken upright.

(Oh yes, that's right. Mrs. Grill That got me a beer can chicken holder for Christmas. It is awesome. You should get one too: Sur La Table Chicken Roaster (Google Affiliate Ad). Product placement!

8.    Place the lid on the grill. Smoke, covered, for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. The chicken is ready with the temperature reaches 165 degrees in the breast and 180 degrees in the thigh. Juices should run clear and skin will be nice and crispy.

 
9.    Let chicken rest at least 10-15 minutes before carving.

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it - and don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter!

Pulled Pork Leftovers – Nachos!

Looking for something fun to do with leftover pulled pork? Make some nachos! These are guaranteed to be a huge hit at your next party.

There’s no recipe here; just get some tortilla chips and top with pulled pork and anything else you want on your nachos – salsa (here’s a great recipe using grilled corn), black beans, sour cream, cheese of course (you can really step it a notch with this recipe for queso blanco), etc. Get creative and enjoy.

Standing Rib Roast Smoked on the Grill

A standing rib roast is similar to prime rib, although prime rib refers to a specific cut that’s available mostly to restaurants and high-end butchers. They don’t have it at most grocery stores, and they certainly didn’t have it for half-price last week at Harris Teeter. So, rib roast it is.

I started with a Dijon, garlic and herb rub, and then smoked it over indirect heat, using hickory wood chips. You don’t want to go too heavy on the rub or the smoke, because you don’t want to overpower the flavor of the meat.

Enjoy!



Ingredients (serves 4):

1 standing rib roast, approximately 4 pounds

Dijon rub ingredients:

4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon each: sea salt, black pepper, dried rosemary, dried thyme


Total time: About 2.5 hours

Directions:

1.    Mix all rub ingredients, coat rib roast with mixture. Let sit for 30 minutes to reach room temperature.

2.    Soak wood chips in water.
3.    Heat about 15 charcoal briquettes in a chimney starter. Prepare grill for indirect cooking. Place hot charcoals on one side of grill and top with pre-soaked wood chips. Put drip pan on other side of grill. The grill should be at a temperature of about 250 degrees. Add hot coals as needed to maintain that temperature.

4.    Place rib roast over drip pan. Cover grill with lid, with air holes above roast.
5.    Grill for about 2 hours, until the middle of the roast reaches an internal temperature of 125 degrees. Let rest for about 10 minutes. During the resting time, the internal temperature will reach 135 degrees, which is a perfect medium rare. For rare, remove from grill at 115 degrees. For medium, remove at 135. If you want it cooked more than that, then you don’t like rib roast and should eat something else. #Fact
6.    After letting the meat rest, carve into thick slices and serve.

We ate this with grilled winter vegetables – sweet potatoes, butternut squash and carrots.

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Cherry Cola BBQ Sauce

One of the great things about barbecue, and especially barbecue sauce, is that there are seemingly infinite different options. I love experimenting with different sauces and getting completely different flavors, all of which still count as “barbecue sauce.”

My latest creation is a cherry barbecue sauce, flavored with cherry cola and cherry preserves in addition to the usual suspects (like ketchup and apple cider vinegar). It combines sweet and a little heat, with a cool kick from the cherry flavor. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

½ stick butter
1 cup ketchup
1 can cherry cola

3 tablespoons cherry preserves
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon each of the following: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion salt, ground red pepper (add more or less depending on your taste)
2 TBSP lemon juice

Directions:

1.    Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
2.     Stir in all other ingredients.
3.    Simmer 30-40 minutes, until reduced. Enjoy!

Goes great with any of these grilling recipes!

Smoked BBQ Pork

Fall-off-the-bone Ribs

Beef Brisket

15-minute BBQ Pork

BBQ Beer Can Chicken

Be sure to try these other sauces to compare and find your favorite:

Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

Carolina Style Mustard Sauce

Ketchup and Molasses Sauce

Mango BBQ Sauce

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter!