(ZA & AW) New Year smokey lasagne

It's a slightly chilly 5 degrees C outside but we still decided smoking a lasagne was still a really good idea. The benefits of the smokey flavour outweighed the slight discomfort of cooking outside on the first day of the new year! 

The meat sauce was the first for the BGE treatment. two sausages removed from their skins, browned with 300g minced beef, a chopped onion, a grated carrot, a chopped clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp celery salt, a dash of red wine, 1tbsp tomato puree, one beef stock cube and a tin of tomatoes. We smoked it, indirect at 350degF over hickory, for 30 minutes until the meat was cooked and a smokey flavour had been absorbed by the food. I had coated the exterior of the cooking pot with a thin layer of washing-up liquid which makes the pot a lot easier to clean after use.

I brought one pint of milk to the boil with 1/2 an onion, a bay leaf and 1tsp black peppercorns and then remove it from the heat to leave it to infuse for ten minutes before straining. I melted 40g butter in a saucepan and added 40g plain flour. I cooked the flour for a few seconds and then, removed from the heat, gradually added the milk, little by little, stirring constantly. Once all the milk was added, I heated the sauce over a low heat, stirring all the time, until the sauce thickened. 

I place a layer of no-soak lasagne sheets on the bottom of a greased oven dish, topped with a layer of meat sauce, then a layer of béchamel sauce, more lasagne, meat sauce, then béchamel. I continued building until I finished with a layer of béchamel and sprinkled the whole thing with some grated fresh parmesan cheese.

We placed the lasagne back on the BGE, with the hickory smoke still billowing, indirect at 350degF, for 40 minutes until it was golden and bubbling. The smokey flavour that the BGE imparted to the rich, beefy tomato sauce was amazing and took a favourite meal of ours to another flavour level!

(ZA & AW) Amazing, hickory-smoked Spag Bol

Today we are cooking a classic dish and, rather surprisingly, one we have not done on the egg before...Spaghetti Bolognese! I think every family has their own recipe for this meat sauce to go with pasta and this is ours with the extra dimension of hickory wood-smoke and BGE magic.

This recipe serves 3 hungry people. 

First, set up the egg to cook indirect at 300degF and put hickory chunks in water to soak. 

When the egg is at temperature, soften a chopped onion and a grated carrot in some olive oil. Take two, good-quality pork sausages and remove the meat from the skins, break it up and add to the pan to seal. Next, add 500g minced steak and sauté until the meat is browned. 

Add a splash of red wine and de-glaze the pan before stirring in a tin of chopped plum tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1/2 pint beef stock, 2tsp dried oregano, 2tsp dried basil, 1tsp dried thyme, 1tsp dried parsley, a good grind of black pepper and 1/4 tsp celery salt (you can add more of this to taste as it is very strong!) Stir well and add 1tbsp tomato ketchup and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. 

Add a few soaked hickory chunks to the egg and leave the casserole uncovered to absorb all the wonderful, smokey flavour. Check and stir after 30 mins and again after a further 30 minutes then put a lid on the casserole to simmer for a further 30 minutes. 

Serve with spaghetti that has been tossed in extra virgin olive oil and top with fresh parmesan cheese. Goes down a treat with a glass of red and some crusty garlic bread!

(ZA & AW) Feeling chilly? Spicy peri-peri boerwors pizza

Ir's chilly evening in Stotfold UK but November temperatures never stop us from cooking outside and making some epic grub!

We ramped the egg up to over 500degF for this cook. The rib rack means the ceramic stone placed on top, indirect on the grill, is at the perfect height in the dome to cook epic pizza. We shaped our pizzas on the baking sheets that are cut to the size of the pizza stone, spread tomato sauce and grated mozzarella evenly over the dough and then put on our toppings.

Peri-peri boerwors is a delicious, speciality beef sausage from our local butcher (who have links with South Africa) and it is perfect as a spicy beef topping. I simply took the boerwors out of it's skin, broke up the mince and fried until it was caramelised and crispy. This was sprinkled over the prepared base, along with roasted red onion pieces and a roasted, chopped green chilli and sliced, fresh cherry tomatoes.

 A light sprinkling of  little more mozzarella, and pizzas were ready to go in. We were VERY careful to slowly "burp" the egg as the temperature of the dome was a blistering 550degF. Flames were licking through the open daisy wheel on top and through the vent at the bottom! The pizza went in for 12 minutes and came out golden and bubbling with a crisp base and caramelised topping. We enjoyed them with citrus olives and a fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A touch of the Mediterranean in sleepy Bedfordshire!

(ZA) Hot stuff! Tasty chargrilled tuna steaks

Tonight was the night we decided to chargrill some fresh tuna for the first time. The tuna steaks I had, until recently, bought from our local Tesco were always too thin to be suitable for "egging" and always had a slightly unpleasant, dry after-taste. I have switched to Waitrose and the results are astounding! 

The tuna I have bought from them is thick enough to chargrill and both smells and feels really fresh so we though we'd chance throwing it on the minimax with the cast iron grill for just 2 minutes each side at 400degF and it was absolutely delicious. We served it with *hot pepper sauce and buttered new potatoes. 

*1 chopped red onion, 1 chopped red or green pepper, 1 chopped red chilli, 1 stick of celery chopped saute for 5 minutes until softened then add a tin of tomatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes then add juice of 1/2 a lemon, 2tsp worcestershire sauce and 1/2 tsp tabasco sauce and serve. Goes well with fish and also in an omelette with cheese!

(ZA) New gear update - Jalapeño chilli poppers

This weekend is going to be "Hot, hot, hot" when we try out our new chilli pepper grilling rack! 

This rack was from Amazon UK for under £13 including the chilli corer and holds 18 stuffed chillis. We will be trying out several different stuffings this weekend including cheddar cheese, cream cheese and bacon to see how this bad boy performs!

As always, a blog entry will follow.....

(ZA & AW) Cedar-planked salmon with a honey & pesto glaze.

Tonight's tea is another new dish. A delicate piece of fresh salmon with a honey and pesto glaze cooked on a soaked cedar plank. 

We soaked the plank for a few hours in cold water and then set up the egg to 350degF direct with the flat side of the cast-iron grill uppermost. To make the glaze, mix approximately 40g green pesto mixed with 1/2 tsp runny honey, 1/2 clove garlic minced and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to loosen the glaze a little. We placed the side of salmon on the plank and brushed it with pesto glaze before putting on the egg for 15 minutes. 

We then placed the cut lemons on the grill and cooked for a further 10 minutes before serving. The fish was done to perfection, flaked perfectly and still slightly opaque. It made a delicious tea served with crispy, buttered jacket potatoes with peppery watercress. We would really recommend that anyone give this a go on their barbecue or smoker as it really does lift a beautiful piece of fish to sublime but affordable treat!

(ZA & AW) Saturday night mixed kebab (No booze required!)

We decided we wanted to cook our own version of doner kebab this evening but add a special element of turkish marinaded chicken kebabs and serve the whole lot in a toasted pitta with the traditional "manky" salad, sriracha chilli sauce and garlic yoghurt sauce. 

First we blended lamb mince with an onion, 2tsp each of coriander and cumin, and 1tsp salt until smooth. We then formed the meat into a fat sausage shape then loaded it onto our specially-made kebab skewer. We wrapped it tightly in cling film and left it to chill in the fridge for a few hours. Egg set-up direct at 350degF, the lamb went in to start cooking. 

After around 20 minutes, we placed chicken kebabs on around the edges of the grill. The chicken had been marinaded in a new recipe we were trying today for Turkish chicken kebabs. To make the marinade, we blitzed together an onion, 2 cloves garlic, 4 tsp natural yoghurt, salt, 1 tbsp tomato puree and 1 tbsp lemon juice until smooth. We coated the chicken pieces in the marinade and left in the fridge until we were ready to load our flexible wire kebab skewers.  

We cooked the lamb to an internal temperature of 130degF, until the chicken was cooked through and had a good, crispy char on the outside. We carved the kebab meat into thin slices and served with lemon wedges, pitta and salad (finely shredded iceberg lettuce, finely slice onion and tomato wedges) It tasted amazing and we didn't even have to be drunk to enjoy it!