Grilled Strawberries with Grilled Cinnamon-Sugar Tortillas

If you’re looking for an easy, delicious grilled dessert, look no further. Fresh, juicy strawberries served over sugary, cinnamony (new word), buttery, crispy tortillas, with just a hint of grilled flavor. Best of all, it takes just a few minutes to prepare and even less time to grill.

Ingredients (serves four)

4 soft-taco-sized flour tortillas
1 pint strawberries
About 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
Approximately 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions

1.    Cut the stems off the strawberries. Sprinkle them with brown sugar and about one tablespoon of granulated sugar. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour, so the sugar forms a nice syrupy texture.
2.    Skewer the strawberries (and save the juices that should be left in the bottom of the bowl they’ve been sitting in).
3.    Brush both sides of each tortilla with melted butter or margarine, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon to taste.
4.    Grill the strawberries skewers over direct heat for about three minutes, turning once.
5.    Grill the tortillas for about one minute, turning once, so they get crispy but not charred.
6.    Serve the strawberries over the tortillas, drizzling with the remaining sugary strawberry juice.

Thought for next time, because I’ll definitely be doing this again: top with some chocolate sauce? Honey? Fresh whipped cream? Vanilla ice cream? Go crazy . . .

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Pork Tenderloin and Red Cabbage Slaw Tacos

Looking for a pork tenderloin recipe with a little Latin flavor? Try these pork tenderloin and red cabbage tacos! They have a little heat, a little sweet, topped with some cilantro and lime juice. The slaw adds some tanginess and helps cool down the spice in the pork tenderloin.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Eight soft flour tortillas
Cooking spray
Pork tenderloin

Dry rub ingredients:

3 TBSP brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 TBSP salt
1 TBSP black pepper
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP smoked paprika

Red cabbage slaw ingredients:

½ head red cabbage, shredded
2 large carrots, shredded
½ cup cilantro, loosely packed
½ white vinegar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ TBSP salt
½ TBSP black pepper
2 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP lime juice

Pork tenderloin directions:

1.    Combine all dry rub ingredients. Rub generously over pork. Let sit at 2 hours, preferably overnight.
2.    Grill over direct heat for 15 minutes, turning once.

3.    Let meat rest for 10 minutes, then slice.

Slaw directions:

1.    In a large mixing bowl, combine shredded cabbage, carrots and cilantro.
2.    In a smaller bowl, mix all other ingredients.
3.    Add oil and vinegar mix to shredded vegetables and stir well.
4.    Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Putting it all together:

1.    Spray both sides of tortillas lightly with cooking spray (or lightly brush with oil). Warm on grill for about one minute, turning once.

2.    Place slices of tenderloin in tortillas, then top with slaw. Enjoy!

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BBQ Beef Brisket – Smoked on the Grill

Looking for smoky, moist, tender, flavorful beef brisket on the grill? Give this recipe a shot. Remember the key – low and slow!

How to buy beef brisket: When you’re buying brisket, you have a few different options. You can get a whole brisket (or “packer cut”), which is boneless and cut from the breast section of a side of beef. Since each cow produces two whole briskets, this is a huge piece of meat. It consists of a “flat” section, and a “point” section, and you can also purchase those separately. The flat section is basically just a lean, flat cut of beef. This is what you usually see sliced when you order beef brisket. The point section is a much fattier, so it has a lot of flavor and moisture, but it also falls apart easily, so it’s usually chopped or used for burnt ends.

If you go with the whole brisket, be prepared to smoke it for a good 15 hours. That’s an awesome way to spend the day, but you probably won’t be able to find a whole brisket at your local grocery store. They probably won’t have the point section either, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find a flat cut, which is what this recipe calls for. Look to buy a flat cut that has a layer of between a quarter-inch and a half-inch. If it’s more than a half-inch, trim it a little bit. If it’s less than a quarter inch, keep looking for a better cut!

Ingredients:

One beef brisket, flat cut, 5-6 pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

Dry rub ingredients:

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup salt
¼ black pepper
¼ paprika
2 tablespoons onion salt
 2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons chili powder

Directions:

1.    Combine all dry rub ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Set aside two tablespoons of the dry rub mix.
2.    Brush brisket with the olive oil, then coat generously with the dry rub. Refrigerate at least two hours; overnight is preferable.

 
3.    One hour before you’re ready to cook, take the brisket out of the fridge. Start soaking your wood chunks in water so they’ll be ready to go.
4.    Fill a chimney starter about halfway with charcoal and heat. Once the coals are gray, pour them onto one side of the grill, so you’re set up for indirect heat. Place a drip pan on the other side of the grill.
5.    Use a thermometer to monitor the grill temperature carefully. You want to keep the temperature between 225 degrees and 250 degrees.
6.    When the grill has reached the target temperature, place the wood chunks on top of the coals. Place the brisket, fat-side up, above the drip pan.

7.    Grill, covered, For the first two hours, add more wood chunks approximately every 30 minutes to keep the smoke going.
8.    Mix the cider vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce, and reserved two tablespoons of the dry rub mix together.
9.    After two hours, pour the cider vinegar mixture into a grill-safe pan. Remove the brisket carefully from the grill, and place it in the pan, like so:

 
10.     Cover immediately with foil, and continue cooking over indirect heat.
11.    Cook for about 3-4 more hours, continuing to monitor the temperature of the grill carefully. Add more charcoal as needed. Be sure to only add hot coals in order to maintain a steady temperature. TIP: I found it works best to add about 8 hot coals (heated in the chimney starter) approximately every hour.
12.    When the meat reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees, it’s ready to go. Remove the pan from the grill, then remove the brisket from the pan and the vinegar mixture. Place on a cutting board and cover with foil.
13.    Let the brisket rest for 15-20 minutes. Then slice across the grain – this is important for breaking apart the fibers that run through the brisket. You don’t want to spend all day slowly smoking this brisket only to render it tough and hard to eat because you sliced it the wrong way.

(See that pink ring around the edge of the brisket? That's how you know the smoke has penetrated just enough to give it great smoke flavor, without adding so much smoke that the meat gets bitter.)

 
14.    Serve it with your favorite barbecue sauce – on a bun or straight up – and enjoy!

(Served here with gooey, cheesy grilled macaroni and cheese)

Try it with You Can Grill That’s Dr. Pepper Sauce, Ketchup and Molasses Sauce, or even let your worlds collide with Texas-style beef brisket and Carolina-Style Mustard Sauce!

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BBQ Pork – In 15 Minutes!

There’s nothing better than barbecue pork that’s been smoked, low and slow, for 10-12 hours, until it just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. And if you’d like to smoke a pork shoulder (also known as a pork butt or a Boston butt) on your grill, click here to find out how.

But some days you’re craving delicious barbecue pork, and you don’t have 12 hours. You may not even have one hour. It may be 105 degrees outside, like it was in DC last weekend, and you just don’t want to spend that much time outside over a hot grill. So how do you satisfy that BBQ pork craving?

With this recipe, you can grill tender, juicy pork that’s packed with savory barbecue flavor, and you can have it in less than 15 minutes. Instead of using a whole pork shoulder, you can use bone-in pork shoulder steaks – it’s the same cut, just sliced. You use the same dry rub as you would for smoking a shoulder, grill the steaks for 6-7 minutes on each side, slice the meat, and serve it on a bun topped with your favorite barbecue sauce.

Of course, it’s not the same as “real” barbecue, but on those days when you have the craving but not the time, it’s a very worthy stand-in. So give it a try!

Ingredients (serves 6-8):

4 pork shoulder steaks, about 12 oz each

Dry rub ingredients:

½  cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
½ tablespoon chili powder
½ tablespoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon onion salt

Directions:

1.    Mix all dry rub ingredients together. Rub generously over meat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

 
2.    Soak some wood chips in water while your coals are getting hot. When the coals are ready to go, add the wood chips, then place the pork shoulder steaks over direct heat.
3.    Grill the steaks, covered, for 12-14 minutes, turning once.
4.    Remove the steaks from the grill and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

 
5.    Cut the pork into thin slices. Serve on a bun with your favorite sauce.

Give it a try with my ketchup and molasses sauce, Carolina-style mustard sauce, mango BBQ sauce, or my new personal favorite, Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce!

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Triple Grilled Caesar Salad

This a great, refreshing salad for the summer – cool, crisp, and a hint of smoke. It combine three great grilled ingredients – grilled chicken, grilled homemade croutons, and grilled hearts of romaine lettuce, then topped with a fresh Caesar dressing a little shredded parmesan. Enjoy!

Serves 4.

Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

-    4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-    About 1 tablespoon olive oil
-    Salt
-    Pepper
-    About 2 teaspoons each of Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes

Directions:

1.    Brush chicken with olive oil.
2.    Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes.
3.    Grill for about 15 minutes, covered, turning once. Chicken is ready when the juices run clear.

Grilled Croutons

Ingredients:

-    ½ baguette, cut into slices about one-third of an inch thick
-    1 tablespoon olive oil
-    1 teaspoon Italian season

Directions:

1.    Stir Italian seasoning into olive oil.
2.    Brush both sides of each baguette slice with olive oil mixture.
3.    Grill slices over direct heat for about 3 minutes, turning once, until gold and crispy on each side.

Grilled romaine

Ingredients:

-    2 hearts of romaine, cut in half lengthwise
-    1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1.    Brush lettuce with olive oil.
2.    Grill lettuce for about 2 minutes on each side. You want it to get a little crispy without wilting.

Caesar dressing

Ingredients:

-    4 cloves garlic, crushed
-    ½ cup olive oil
-    2 tablespoons mayonnaise
-    1 teaspoon lemon juice
-    1 tablespoon white vinegar
-    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
-    About ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

Directions:

1.    In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together garlic, olive oil, mayo, lemon juice, vinegar and mustard.
2.    Add salt and pepper to taste.

Putting it all together:

1.    Roughly chop grilled lettuce and toss with dressing. Plate lettuce.
2.    Slice grilled chicken and place over lettuce.
3.    Top chicken and lettuce with croutons.
4.    Sprinkle with shredded parmesan and enjoy!

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Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

This Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce has just the right amount of sweet and heat. The Dr. Pepper flavor (or should I say, the 23 Dr. Pepper flavors) shines through without being overpowering. It goes great with grilled ribs, chicken, pork, pretty much anything, and it’s really easy to make – no chopping, no blending, just combine a bunch of ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen and simmer. So give it a try!

Ingredients:

½ stick butter
1 cup ketchup
1 can Dr. Pepper
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
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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!

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