By Bbq Dude
Indirect Heat
26 September 2012
25 September 2012
Empanadas
Boston isn't the largest city in the U.S. Not by a long shot. But being a college-town on steroids means that it's a cosmopolitan town that attracts scientists from around the world. Despite living the furthest from Latin America in all the years that I've lived in the U.S., there is plenty of Latin cuisine here. And that often means empanadas are served at potlucks.
We've taken the Argentine recipe from Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way
and cooked them on the grill.
Here we go. Make the dough and the filling the night before you plan to serve these tasty critters.
For the dough:
Bring the water and salt to boil. Remove from heat, and add the lard. Stir until the lard melts, then transfer to a bowl to cool.
When it's cooled to room temperature, mix in the flour, a cup at a time, until you've added 6 cups. Flour a surface, and knead the ball of dough, adding flour until you have a stiff, dry dough.
Split the dough in half.
Wrap and place in the fridge to chill overnight.
Meanwhile, make the filling:
Chop the onions. Sauté the onions in the 6 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of lard over low heat. Cook until clear.
Add the dried spices and the white part of the scallions, sauté for a few more minutes. Your kitchen will smell ridiculous at this point. Remove from heat, and mix in the remaining scallions.
Meanwhile, brown the meat in the oil over high heat. Brown a little bit at a time, we're looking to sear the meat, not boil it (and if you liberate a ton of fluid, you'll end up making beef stew).
As you finish each batch of meat, set aside to cool. Don't make piles, we're not steaming beef here.
When everything has cooled, mix the beef, onion mixture, 3 tbsp of lard and the oregano (so glad we planted oregano in the garden this year, yum!).
Chill the mixture in the fridge overnight.
On day two, peel and chop the boiled eggs, and chop the olives.
Roll out the dough to ⅛" thick.
Cut out 3 ½" circles in the dough and set aside on a floured tray. Repeat until all dough is gone.
Get filling, butter, olives and eggs ready. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in a circle of dough. Add a tiny bit of butter, olives and eggs.
Wet the outside of the circle of dough. Fold across the mid-line, and pinch shut with a fork.
Repeat. A bunch. If you're alone because Mrs. Dude is working late, continue folding for about an hour. Heat up your grill to 350°F. Cook each tray of emapanadas by indirect heat, using a bit of cherry wood for smoke. Cook until the empanadas are nicely browned.
Remove from heat and cool.
Serve. The lard creates a beautifully crunchy crust. And the salty, spicy, fat filling. In the language of the young folk. OMGWTFBBQ. Really. It's that good.
By Bbq Dude
We've taken the Argentine recipe from Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way
and cooked them on the grill.Here we go. Make the dough and the filling the night before you plan to serve these tasty critters.
For the dough:
2 cups water
1 ½ tbsp salt
3 ½ tbsp lard
6 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
Bring the water and salt to boil. Remove from heat, and add the lard. Stir until the lard melts, then transfer to a bowl to cool.
When it's cooled to room temperature, mix in the flour, a cup at a time, until you've added 6 cups. Flour a surface, and knead the ball of dough, adding flour until you have a stiff, dry dough.
Split the dough in half.
Wrap and place in the fridge to chill overnight.
Meanwhile, make the filling:
1 lb well-marbled sirloinTrim the most egregious pieces of fat off of the beef. Then chop finely. Think ground beef, but not quite that fine. That's why you do it by hand, you want it to still have some texture to it, but you want it pretty fine.
coarse salt and fresh pepper
10 tbsp unsalted butter
¼ cup lard
3 medium onions
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp paprika
4 scallions, minced and separating green and white parts
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
3 hard-boiled large eggs, coarsely chopped
½ cup pitted green olives, coarsely chopped
Chop the onions. Sauté the onions in the 6 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of lard over low heat. Cook until clear.
Add the dried spices and the white part of the scallions, sauté for a few more minutes. Your kitchen will smell ridiculous at this point. Remove from heat, and mix in the remaining scallions.
Meanwhile, brown the meat in the oil over high heat. Brown a little bit at a time, we're looking to sear the meat, not boil it (and if you liberate a ton of fluid, you'll end up making beef stew).
As you finish each batch of meat, set aside to cool. Don't make piles, we're not steaming beef here.
When everything has cooled, mix the beef, onion mixture, 3 tbsp of lard and the oregano (so glad we planted oregano in the garden this year, yum!).
Chill the mixture in the fridge overnight.
On day two, peel and chop the boiled eggs, and chop the olives.
Roll out the dough to ⅛" thick.
Cut out 3 ½" circles in the dough and set aside on a floured tray. Repeat until all dough is gone.
Get filling, butter, olives and eggs ready. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in a circle of dough. Add a tiny bit of butter, olives and eggs.
Wet the outside of the circle of dough. Fold across the mid-line, and pinch shut with a fork.
Repeat. A bunch. If you're alone because Mrs. Dude is working late, continue folding for about an hour. Heat up your grill to 350°F. Cook each tray of emapanadas by indirect heat, using a bit of cherry wood for smoke. Cook until the empanadas are nicely browned.
Remove from heat and cool.
Serve. The lard creates a beautifully crunchy crust. And the salty, spicy, fat filling. In the language of the young folk. OMGWTFBBQ. Really. It's that good.
By Bbq Dude
19 September 2012
18 September 2012
Blueberry sorbet
So we've become rather large fans of the local you-pick place, Tougas farms. We spent a quiet morning in August picking 9 lb of blueberries. And for less than $25, I call that a win.
And what do you do with 9 lb of blueberries? Well, we froze a lot of them. But the first thing we made, was blueberry sorbet. I modified a recipe from one of my favourite dessert blogs, Tartelette.
Cool to room temperature. Sieve out the chunks.
And add the vodka. The vodka is in there primarily to keep the sorbet from freezing too solid. And I'm delighted by the texture that this recipe attained.
Chill overnight, then run through your ice cream maker the way your instructions say. With my KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker
, you freeze the ice cream maker for 24 hours. Then run the syrup in it for about 25 minutes.
Transfer the sorbet to a cold container, and cure in the freezer for at least 12 hours to further firm the sorbet.
We found this sorbet rather rich-tasting to serve alone. But holy cow does it taste good with a chocolate angel-food cake.
Not bad, not bad. Enjoy.
By Bbq Dude
And what do you do with 9 lb of blueberries? Well, we froze a lot of them. But the first thing we made, was blueberry sorbet. I modified a recipe from one of my favourite dessert blogs, Tartelette.
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberriesBring to boil all ingredients, save vodka.
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tbsp blueberry vodka
Cool to room temperature. Sieve out the chunks.
And add the vodka. The vodka is in there primarily to keep the sorbet from freezing too solid. And I'm delighted by the texture that this recipe attained.
Chill overnight, then run through your ice cream maker the way your instructions say. With my KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker
, you freeze the ice cream maker for 24 hours. Then run the syrup in it for about 25 minutes.Transfer the sorbet to a cold container, and cure in the freezer for at least 12 hours to further firm the sorbet.
We found this sorbet rather rich-tasting to serve alone. But holy cow does it taste good with a chocolate angel-food cake.
Not bad, not bad. Enjoy.
By Bbq Dude
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