Posts Tagged ‘Diva Q’

SO many of my friends and healthier acquaintances talk about the virtues of kale chips. Uber delicate with terrific crunch I thought that maybe a little smoke could improve the chances of me eating them more regularly..

Kale has a lot of good crap in it  - vitamins and all that other healthy stuff that good for you.  So eating it is probably on the list of things I should do more.

 

What happened next is pretty awesome. I think I am in love with smoked kale chips.

I shit you not they tasted like bacon after I smoked them. My husband, my oldest daughter and I are all in awe of this.  Now let me say I have been doing a lot of smoking this week. Mostly pork and maybe its just my cooker that’s giving off some porky goodness extra flavoring  but seriously give these a try. Well worth your time.

• 1 large bunch kale
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper

Preheat your grill to 250F Indirect. (****Very important this is indirect especially when you use frogmats)

Remove the stems from the Kale and tear into bite sized pieces. Arrange the kale in a single layer on frogmats over a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt & pepper.

Place the frogmat on the grill. * I used my Traeger grill for this and it worked out fantastic. Grill indirect for 15 minutes. Turn kale leaves over and grill another 5-10 minutes or just until crispy. They should be a bright green and should not be brown. Serve to your family or hoard them for yourself. Enjoy.

 

I have no idea how long these things last. We ate them all. You are on your own for that decision.

 

This is a hands on no holds barred competition class!!

Come on out and learn the championship techniques that have won multiples of Grand Championships, first place awards and perfect 180 scores.

 

Click HERE to be taken to the Mason Dixon BBQ Website and more information about the class!! Catch you on the BBQ Trail

 

I had a hankering for a kabob today.  I love meat on sticks. Its just so much more fun. My kids love them too. I often thought if they served salad on sticks I would eat more greens. Probably not but its a nice thought. Its snowing like crazy here today so these were done on my trusty Lil Tex Traeger. I used a mixture of Oak & Hickory Pellets. Super easy to make.  Do yourself a favor & double up on this recipe. Freeze a batch for a quick midweek meal.  Can be served in a pita with Tzatziki  lettuce and thinly sliced red onions.

Recipe:

• 4 Chicken Breasts Cut into approx 1″ Cubes
•  1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons dried Greek oregano
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tsp lemon pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt

 

• Marinate for 4-6 hours or overnight if possible.

Preheat grill to medium high heat.

Remove chicken from marinade & discard- Place on metal skewers grill 10 – 15 minutes until the internal temperature is 165F Serve with salad, grilled veggies or rice. This is also an excellent salad dressing recipe as well. Serves 4

We served ours tonight with basmati rice & toasted almonds plus a simple salad of baby spinach, mandarin oranges, red onion drizzled with a lemon poppy seed vinaigrette.

 

 

Making a return trip to Roc City Ribfest to compete & teach. If you are looking for a great contest to compete at I highly recommend it. Its super well organized and absolutely a blast. There are so many really friendly teams.

Our class fills up quickly last year we sold out so please if you are interested sign up soon. We have had some terrific success with past students winning some very impressive & Grand Championships and improving their overall Competition game.

Here is the link to our class listings, application form & shopping cart.

 

 

 

Last summer our BBQ Team was really excited to win 2 Tyson Best Wings on the planet Contests.  This is the recipe we won the Sam’s Club Southgate Michigan Contest with. Absolutely delicious and perfect for a good nosh and of course the Superbowl. There is also a contest running now with the 8 finalists in this contest. You can enter by visiting www.facebook.com/ClubTyson or

Email to contest@clubtyson.com
Subject: Best Wing Vote Submission & by giving them our team name Diva Q. We would appreciate your vote.

 

 

Product: Tyson All Natural Chicken Wings, Ice Glazed, First & Second Sections
Serves: 4 persons
Serving Size: 6 wings
(sub recipe – BBQ rub)
Ingredients:
• 2 Tbsp – paprika, smoked
• 1 Tbsp – chili powder
• ½ Tbsp – salt, Kosher
• ½ Tbsp – garlic powder
• ½ Tbsp – sugar, granulated
• ½ Tbsp – curry powder, mild
• ½ Tbsp – dry hot mustard, ground
• ¼ Tbsp – black pepper, finely ground
• ¼ Tbsp – cumin, ground
• ½ Tbsp – chipotle chile, powder
Method: Place all ingredients in a gallon Ziploc bag and shake/toss to combine
evenly. Reserve until needed.
(sub recipe – glaze)
Ingredients:
• 1 C – Franks Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce
• ¼ C – Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce
Method: Place both ingredients in a gallon Ziploc bag and shake/toss to combine evenly. Reserve until needed.
Ingredients:
• 24 each – Tyson All Natural Chicken Wings, thawed
• (1 bottle) 5 Fl oz. bottle – Tabasco sauce, chipotle
• from sub recipe – BBQ rub
• from sub recipe – glaze
Continued to page 11…11
“Diva Q Sweet Chili Chipotle Wings” Continued…
Method:
1. Place chicken wings in a gallon Ziploc bag and pour Tabasco Chipotle
sauce over the wings and toss to coat evenly. Marinate 12 hours in refrigerator.
2. Remove chicken from chipotle sauce marinade and place on baking sheet
pan. Evenly sprinkle BBQ rub on both sides of the chicken wings.
3. Smoke wings on your grill, using Kingsford hickory wood, for 1–1 ½ hours
at 225° F or to an internal temperature of 165° F.
4. Remove wings from grill and place in a mixing bowl. Add reserved glaze
(saving some for dipping sauce) & toss to combine evenly.
5. Place glazed wings on hot grill to quickly grill mark & finish cooking. Remove from grill and serve with remaining glaze on the side for dipping.
6. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Hints:
• If desired, chicken wings can be cooked to a final internal temperature of
180° F.
• Using large Ziploc bags to shake/toss/combine ingredients makes for fast
& easy prep and virtually no mess clean up.
• The glaze can be made 1 day in advance and warmed (sauce pan or microwave) just prior to serving the wings.
• Experiment with different types of wood for smoking: applewood, cherry,
mesquite, etc.
• Personalize the recipe using your favorite smoking technique (cold or hot
smoking) and using either a smoker, gas grill, charcoal or wood fired grill
for smoking and cooking.
• Think of this recipe (and any recipe) as a guidepost; where you follow it and then add your personal flair & ingredients/techniques, to create your own signature Tyson Competition Wings.

 

 

Bacon + Whiskey + Maple = Awesome Combination.

The possibilities are endless after you make this. Eat it straight up, in ice cream, cakes, cookies, bacon brownies, garnish for a cocktail & so much more….

I tried a few versions to get to this point of whiskey/bacon happiness. This was the easiest most impactful version where the whiskey was not diminished after smoking or baking.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound thinly sliced bacon

1 cup Crown Royal Maple Whiskey

1 cup light brown sugar

1 -3 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust for your heat preference)

1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper

In a plastic container or glass bowl pour the whiskey over the bacon. Make sure the bacon is fully submerged and place in the fridge overnight.

The following day in a small bowl mix the brown sugar, cayenne and black pepper.

Preheat your oven to 350F or your grill to 250F/300F (Indirect)

If using an oven : Line a baking sheet with foil and place a baking rack over the tray. Spray baking rack with non stick spray. Place the bacon strips on the baking tray and sprinkle on the brown sugar/pepper mixture.

If using a BBQ or grill indirect- try frogmats. Or you can still use the baking sheet & foil combo as above.

Times will vary – in the oven approx 20-30 minutes or on the grill indirect approx 45 minutes to an hour until the brown sugar has been thoroughly absorbed and the bacon crisps

 

When you remove from the oven or grill let the bacon rest for 1 hour to dry out. Fantastic in so many things or on its own.

 

 

Flank

The flank is that portion of the hind quarter which is separated from the loin by a straight cut passing approximately parallel to the lumbar back bones (lumbar vertebrae) beginning in close proximity to or through the flank lymph node (prefemoral) and from the plate by a cut passing between the 12th and 13th rib and cartilage.

Resource: Canadian Beef 

* One of my favorite sites for referencing all things Beef. Super friendly user site*

Flank is a great tasty marinating cut of beef and perfect for the grill. It is also a more economical cut of beef. Being budget friendly makes this an ideal meal for our family. Which is a darn good thing since my furnace broke last night while it is -30 and I am writing this recipe from a Starbucks. (*Dude is coming to fix today but damn those furnace thingys are expensive)

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Flank Steak
• 1 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/2 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Fresh Rosemary finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Minced Garlic
• 2 tablespoons Sorghum Molasses
• 1 tablespoon Granulated Onion Powder
• 1 tablespoon Freshly Ground Butcher Grind Black Pepper

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together. Place flank steak into a 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over flank steak. Seal bag removing as much air as possible.

Marinate overnight in fridge turning bag over a couple of times to ensure even distribution of the marinade.

 

 

  

 

 

Preheat grill to medium high heat.

Remove Flank steak from marinade. Discard remaining marinade. Grill flank steak to rare/ medium rare (120F-130F). Remove from grill and rest for 10 minutes.  Flank steak must be cut across the grain when serving.  I like to sprinkle the slices with a really good kosher or sea salt just prior to serving.

We served ours with a really nice crisp broccoli slaw. The next day I made sandwiches out of the remaining flank with herbed focaccia. It was delicious.

  

 

I love smoking chuck roasts. I think they are so versatile. You can smoke them to a nice rare (125F) or take them to the pot roast stage where you have broken down all of the protein strands.

Shiitake & Herb Crusted Umami chuck roast

2-4lb boneless chuck roasts
4 cups low sodium organic beef broth
2 sweet onions peeled & slivered

Marinade ingredients:
1 cup cold pressed olive oil
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushroom powder (place dried shiitakes in coffee grinder – works great!)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup kozliks horseradish mustard
(Or a combination of 1/8 cup horseradish & 1/8 cup Dijon mustard)
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp granulated onion
2 tbsp cracked black pepper
2 tsp kosher or sea salt

In large sized casserole dish combine all of the marinade ingredients. Completely coat both the roasts in the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours. Turn the roasts over at least once during the marinade time.

Preheat grill to 225F creating an indirect heat zone or alternately directly on the grill if using a pellet grill (Traeger)

Remove each roast from the marinade.
Place roasts on grill – use  hickory & oak chips or pellets or mesquite for chuck roasts * If using chips add a small handful of each every hour until you foil

Baste with the remaining marinade

Grill chuck roasts until the internal temperature is 175F  approx 2-3 hours

Place each chuck roast in a 1/2 size disposable aluminum pan

Add 2 cups organic beef broth & slivered onions to each chuck roast.  Cover tightly with heavy duty foil.
Grill (approx 1-2 hours) until internal temperature is 205F or when the chuck roast easily comes apart with a fork.

Remove from au jus and rest covered with foil.

Strain the fat from the au jus and serve with the chuck roast.

  

  

  

  

Served with some creamy mashed potatoes, veggies and biscuits it makes a great meal.

But….

You can do a lot of things with a chuck roast like:

CHILI!!! Perfect for these fall days! 

Substitute slices or shreds of chuck roast in your favorite Chili recipe. I like caramelizing a big batch of onions first then adding in some tomatoes, garlic, spices and peppers. Last add the chuck roast and bring to a simmer. Where I am from beans are always added too.

Then how about some chuck roast stew? I really prefer to serve my stews over mashed potatoes. Simply take some of the shredded chuck roast add some low sodium beef stock and add your favorite veggies like onions, mushrooms, carrots & green beans. Throw in a handful of whole garlic cloves and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for at least an hour. Then to thicken make a corn starch slurry and add that to the pot. Bring to a boil and serve over mashed potatoes. Super easy.

 

psst.  If by any chance you have any left shredded chuck roast is also awesome in quesadillas, burritos, nachos and tacos too!

Earlier this year I headed up to Ottawa for a fun weekend of BBQ demos with Capital Appliance

 

They asked me to do some short videos on pork butt prep for home.

 

Having been on the road pretty much for the last 6/7 weeks I have been craving a lot of comfort foods. Since coming home last week from filming BBQ Crawl I have been looking forward to getting back to my grills at home.

Its been raining and cold and generally not the nicest weather either. This leads me to making soothing bowls of happiness.

This is not so much as a recipe that needs to be followed exactly but really a lot of what I had at home at home already just thrown together.  No fuss no muss and its ready quickly. All of my kids love it too so no arguments at the dinner table either. PS- You can also add some bacon to this for added goodness.

• 5 cups hominy
• 5 large jalapenos or more to taste
• 3 Chicken Breasts
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 box low sodium organic chicken broth
• 1/4 c Pork Barrel BBQ All American Rub
• 1/8 c Smoked Paprika
• fresh thyme to taste
• fresh chives to taste
• pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp corn starch

 

Generously season the chicken breasts with pork barrel BBQ rub and smoked paprika. Preheat your grill to 250F  Using hickory wood smoke the chicken breasts and the jalapenos until the internal temperature of the breasts is 155F. Remove both the chicken and jalapenos when done and set aside.

In a large heavy stock pot pour in the chicken broth and the cream of chicken soup. Chop the chives and the thyme and add them to the pot.  Add the hominy and the frozen corn. Bring to a simmer. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and add to the pot. Now here is where it gets personal. If you like spicier foods chop the smoked jalapenos and add them to the pot. Or as we do in our house add the jalapenos whole and then for individual portions chop the jalapenos. This way you benefit from the good smokey flavor of the jalapenos but none of the heat.

To thicken I took the super duper easy route. I had no time to make a roux today so I opted for the corn starch slurry program. In a small bowl mix 1/2 c water with a couple tablespoons of corn starch. Mix until completely dissolved and lump free. Add the entire slurry to the simmering chowder and keep stirring until thickened. Bring the chowder to a boil and then serve. I did not add any additional salt as the rub on the chicken was plenty for my family. Adjust salt & pepper to your liking and dinner is done.  Pretty darn easy for a Tuesday dinner.