Cubes of tandoori salmon cooked on the grill is always a treat! Bring on the great weather and outdoor cooking.
Tandoori Salmon Skewers
bbq
Non-Alcoholic Berry Sangria
Have you noticed that at parties, there is always fun drinks and cocktails for the drinkers but just a couple options for those not having alcohol? Let’s change that! This berry sangria is a great drink for any get together, to be enjoyed by all.
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bbq’d naan
I think the perfect accompaniment to any bbq is some fresh naan made right on the grill. It’s pairs so well with chicken and beef and satisfies any carb lover. The best is when it’s piping hot and covered in butter. Yes please.
We have tried many naan recipes over the years. Ones with yeast, ones without. Ones with yogurt and eggs. I think we have finally found a winner. I have made this version a few times and they turn out every time.
You don’t even need a tandoor to get soft and chewy naan. A bbq is all you need! They don’t take long, just put them on the grill for a couple minutes a side.
I’m using this recipe from Food.com but changed up the instructions a bit. I always use a mixer to knead the dough – why do more work than you need to? I also liked the results better when the dough had a few hours to rise. If you have less than an hour though, you will still get great tasting naan.
BBQ’d Naan
From Food.com
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 TB sugar
2 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
butter
Combine the water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Add salt and flour and turn the mixer on until the dough comes together into a ball. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place the dough in a warm place and let rise for a minimum of 45 minutes. More than a couple hours is ideal.
After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 8 balls. Place on a parchment lined sheet and cover again with a damp towel. When ready to barbecue, roll the balls out and put them on the grill for a couple of minutes per side. Remove from the heat and spread butter on the hot naan.
skirt steak marinade
Hubby and I took a course last month at the Canada Beef Centre of
Excellence. We both knew we loved our beef but we wanted to know what
the different cuts were and how to prepare each cut. It was a fun day,
learning together and eating beef. We had a great day learning with Master Butcher Abe van Melle and Certified Chef de Cuisine Marty Carpenter.
We ended up loving the skirt steak. Skirt steak is a long cut from the diaphragm muscle of the cow. This cut has an intense beefy flavour and is now one of our favourites.
It’s a great steak to marinate for a couple of
hours and throw on the grill. We prepared some a couple of weeks ago and
loved it in this marinade I threw together. It was sweet and tart and
garlicky, a great combination.
Skirt Steak Marinade
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TB garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup brown sugar
Combine all the ingredients and pour into a large plastic zippered bag. Add the raw steak
to the bag and make sure it is fully coated in the marinade. Place in
the fridge for a couple of hours. Remove from the fridge half an hour
before you want to grill.
naan
When we purchased a tandoor a couple years ago, one thing we wanted to work on was a good naan recipe. It needed to be fast, it needed to be tasty and it needed to stick well to the side of the clay oven.
It’s been fun trying out various versions of naan in the tandoor. Doughs with eggs that were nice and smooth were finicky in the tandoor. Doughs that I thought for sure wouldn’t work well were the ones that worked the best. After a lot of trial and error, we discovered the best recipe.
This naan recipe is very simple and doesn’t need a lot of rising time. Perfect when you want to make a batch at the last minute. Don’t worry, you don’t need a tandoor to enjoy these. We tried these on the grill over the weekend and they turned out great!
Naan
(for the tandoor or the bbq)
1 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 TB oil
1/4 cup yogurt
2 cups flour
butter
In a mixer bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water along with some sugar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it’s frothy. Add the remaining ingredients and knead the dough using the kneading hook. Place the dough in a warm place for about 20 minutes covered with a moist cloth.
Divide the dough into eight balls and roll them out. They can be done either on the tandoor or the bbq. They should only take a few minutes a side. Remove and butter the naan.
superbowl eats
Looking for some ideas for your Superbowl party this weekend? Here’s a round up of some perfect food to munch on while watching the big game.
Beef Bacon-Wrapped Boursin-Filled Prawns
Key Lime Pie
BBQ Beef Ribs
Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Garlicky Tomato & Avocado Bruschetta
Cheesy Ranch Fried Pickles
Jalapeno Hummus
Salsa
Spicy Ranch Roasted Red Pepper Dip
beef ribs with blueberry bbq sauce
Fall is here! You can feel the chill in the air and see the leaves changing colour. It really is a beautiful time of year.
I’m still holding on to summer though, and thinking about how we took advantage of all the summer fruits in our meals. We tried to use them in as many things as possible. Blueberries were used in one of my favourite recipes this summer – blueberry bbq sauce!
I think it was all the yummy BBQ I smelled but it was at the Stampede that I thought I wanted to incorporate blueberries into a bbq sauce. Hubby indulged me and we went right away to stock up on blueberries so that I could play in the kitchen. We also stocked up on ribs, thinking it may be a good vehicle for the sauce.
A little mix of sweet and savoury, this bbq sauce turned out better than I had imagined. It tasted really great in an ooey gooey grilled cheese sandwich. It went amazingly with the big beefy ribs that were cooked in the slow cooker until they were tender and then finished off on the grill.
I froze some blueberries just so that I could enjoy this sauce later in the year.
Bluberry BBQ Sauce
1/2 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 TB coriander
1 TB cumin
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
Heat olive oil in a pan
over medium heat. Cook the onions and garlic until softened.Add blueberries, sugar, vinegar, ketchup and spices and stir to combine. Simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced. Let cool slightly and and then puree in a blender.
Slow Cooker Beef Ribs
Cut a rack of beef ribs into pieces. Smother each rib with the bbq sauce and place in a slow cooker. Add enough water to cover the ribs and let them cook on low for eight hours until the meat is almost falling off the bones. Glaze each rib with more bbq sauce and cook on the grill until they are nicely charred and the sauce is caramelized.
bbq beef ribs – happy father’s day!
Happy Father’s Day! Hope all the wonderful loving fathers got spoiled today! We spoiled our dads with a bbq. When Barbecues Galore sent me this gift basket a little while ago, hubby was itching to grill. We cracked open the basket and did our usual short ribs and chicken.
I saved the barbecue sauce (Gopher Guts and Dr. McGrill’s) though, planning to make those huge beef ribs
like the ones from Tony Roma’s. If we were going to do ribs, Father’s
Day was the day to do it.
We wanted to have the meat just fall off the bone so we had them in the oven early. Once the meat was nice and soft, we slathered them with barbecue sauce and put them on the bbq. The result was a tender, saucy, finger-licking piece of meat.
Barbecued Beef Ribs
Beef ribs
Your favourite bbq sauce
Cut the ribs into pieces and season with salt and pepper. Brush with barbecue sauce, wrap with foil and place in a roasting pan. Cook in a 275 degree oven for 3.5 to 4 hours. Once the meat looks like it is cooked and falling off the bone, place on bbq basting with the bbq sauce. Enjoy!
chicken kebabs
I can’t believe it’s already July. Time is just flying by! We spent Canada Day at Calaway Park which Q totally enjoyed. Luckily he enjoyed the rides, unlike his mamma, and he can’t wait to go back. We just had to finish the day with a bbq. I wanted something easy, that would take a few minutes to pull together. I made the meat mixture for the kebabs before we left for some amusement park fun. Food didn’t take long once we got home and threw the chicken on the grill.
Chicken Kebabs
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, grated
handful cilantro, finely chopped
handful mint, finely chopped
2 TB yogurt
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
salt
pepper
In a large bowl mix all ingredients together. Let the meat sit for an hour or two in the fridge. Make small logs out of the meat mixture using the back of a wooden spoon. I placed the kebabs in a grill basket and placed it on the grill to avoid it from sticking and falling in. Serve with pita and tzatziki.
greek chicken kabobs
We finally had a fabulous hot weekend and it was the perfect weather to enjoy the Kensington Sun and Salsa Festival. We tried many different salsas – spicy, cool, red, green – but my favorite was Broken Plate’s greek salsa made with feta. It was delicious and I was inspired by the mediterranean flavours. I had thawed chicken breasts waiting for me at home for the next day’s dinner, the perfect canvas to play! A little of this and a little of that and I came up with this tasty marinade that left the chicken flavourful and juicy.
Greek Chicken Kabobs
1 cup plain yogurt (Balkan style or homemade)
1/4 cup seasoned feta cheese
2 TB greek seasoning (I used Club House)
2 cloves of garlic
Zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon
3 chicken breasts, cubed
In a bowl, mix first 6 ingredients. Add the chicken and marinate overnight. Skewer the chicken and bbq. Perfect with salad and grilled smashed potatoes.