I've been experimenting with recipes to take on our camping trips with us, to keep from having to buy quick and easy convenience foods to make some parts of camping easier.
Now, everyone has seen those plastic bottles of Bisquick pancake mix -- add water, shake, and pour. These are WONDERFUL for camping, but not cheap, and certainly not healthy. I found an old Bisquick cookbook which had campfire flapjacks in it, which involved Bisquick, cornmeal, and water, and tried those out last weekend. This weekend I tried something just a bit different, and they came out So Good. This'll be the mix I bring with me camping.
Whole Grain Campfire Pancakes
1 1/4 cups lowfat Bisquick
3/4 cups wholegrain instant hot cereal (Hodgson Mills)
sprinkling of nutmeg (to taste)
heavy sprinkling of cinnamon (to taste)
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cup cold water
fresh blueberries or chocolate chips
Heat a cast iron pan over medium flame until warm. Spray with non-stick cooking spray (spray just before each set of pancakes).
Mix Bisquick, whole grain cereal, and spices together until well-mixed. Add water until desired thickness of pancake batter. I found a little thinner batter made it cook through better. But the thicker batter puffed up really nicely.
Scoop out onto hot pan. Sprinkle either blueberries or chocolate chips onto pancake as the first side cooks. Wait until edges dry out, then flip and finish off. Serve hot!!
On Friday, Kevin brought home a new toy. Admittedly, it wasn't an expensive one, but we are now the proud owners of a $79 gas smoker.
And of course, that meant we had to go play with it Right Now.
We picked up a center cut brisket and read through various recipes we could find for smoking a center cut. Then we promptly set them all aside and made up our own.
And oh... oh... it was GOOD.
The Rub
6 Tbsp kosher salt
1/2 c loosely packed brown sugar
4 Tbsp granulated garlic
2 tsp cayenne
3 tsp cumin
4 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
3 Tbsp onion powder
Mix all ingredients together and then generously rub all over the brisket. We used all of the rub, and laid it on quite thick.
The Mop Sauce
1 12 oz can beer
12 oz apple grape juice
3 Tbsp horseradish mustard (Beer & Brat mustard)
3 Tbsp raspberry chipotle sauce
3 Tbsp minced garlic
3 tsp salt
Whisk together and mop brisket generously.
The Smoker
Setup the smoker with water for the liquid, and soaked chunks of Mesquite for the wood. Fire up the gas and get the smoker running around 190 degrees -- it'll take some fiddling to keep it there throughout the process. Smoke the brisket for 3.5 to 4 hrs, mopping every hour. At that point, wrap it in foil and smoke for another 3.5 to 4 hrs, for a total of 7-8 hours, or until the internal temperature of the brisket reaches 190. Let it sit for 20 minutes afterwards to rest.
Carve the brisket against the grain in very thin slices. Serve with bulky rolls and the dipping sauce.
The Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
3 Tbsp chopped garlic
3 Tbsp horseradish mustard
3 Tbsp raspberry chipotle sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
cornstarch to thicken
Stir together all ingredients through raspberry chipotle sauce. Heat to boiling and reduce by 1/2. Add butter and stir until melted. Thicken with cornstarch, and serve as a dipping sauce.
I was daydreaming up this recipe while at work. It didn't work out quite like I wanted, so I'm definitely making some changes next go-round.
Multigrain-Sesame Crusted Pork Loin
Stir together
3/4 cup multigrain hot cereal mix (I used one from Hodgson Mills)
1/3 cup black sesame seeds
1 tsp five spice powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder
3 Tbsp brown sugar
Rub one pork loin with olive oil, then coat with above mixture. Dip coated pork loin in beaten egg, then coat again with mixture. Grill over low indirect heat until done.
Next time I'm going to lower the amount of brown sugar and add more ginger to the coating. I'm also going to marinate the loin first in something with ground ginger, chopped garlic, and white wine and rice wine vinegar. Some salt. No soy -- it'll be too overpowering.
We had leftover chicken from the grilled bird, so today's idea was a sudden craving for risotto. This recipe came out different because I had trouble getting the fresh wine open (I broke an opener on it *sighs*) so I didn't have it available for the deglaze. Honestly, I believe that's what made the recipe, in the end.
Garlicky Chicken & Broccoli Risotto
Shred remains of 1/2 roasted chicken (mix of white and dark meat). Set out 1/2 bag of frozen broccoli florets. Shred about 2 c parmesan cheese and set aside. Setup a pan with 3 cans of low sodium chicken broth, and let simmer, covered.
Heat saute pan and drizzle olive oil to coat the bottom. Scoop in 2 heaping tablespoons (I use soup spoons!) of minced garlic. Stir for about 30 seconds, then add 1 cup risotto and stir until translucent.
Deglaze the pan with about 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar. Add in two scoops of the heated broth, stir.
Add in the spices -- about 1/2 tsp each of dried thyme, dried rosemary, and about 1 tsp dried sage. Stir in.
Keep adding broth and letting simmer until it is absorbed, then repeat until all of the broth is gone. About halfway through add 1/4 cup white wine (like the Riesling reviewed earlier today). Before adding the last round of broth, stir in the broccoli and chicken -- it will heat through while the last round of broth is simmering to done.
When all broth is absorbed, stir in 1/4 cup butter until melted. Stir in parmesan cheese, and add freshly ground pepper to taste.
Makes four main servings.
This is a quick rub I pulled together the other night to throw a chicken onto the grill.
Paprika Chicken Rub
Mix together with a mortar and pestle:
1 Tbsp onion powder
2 tsp granulated garlic
2 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp dried thyme
2 small handfuls, crumbled dried sage
1 tsp kosher salt
Drizzle the whole chicken with olive oil and rub into the skin, then pour on the rub -- I used about 2/3 of it for our chicken. Grill on the first side for 30 minutes, then flip and grill for 40 more minutes over indirect heat with the grill running about 300-350 degrees.
Fox Run Vineyards (8/10)
Riesling, 2002
Finger Lakes, New York
$9.99
A white wine that we both agreed on, very quickly. I had this one chilled in the fridge and pulled it out tonight to open it for a risotto. So we poured a couple of glasses to enjoy with our dinner.
This wine isn't too dry, and isn't too sweet. It isn't as sweet as the Relax Riesling, and we both liked that. Very fruity, excellent flavor. I couldn't drink too much, unfortunately, because I wanted to finish the glass I poured. This one is a keeper and we will buy it again. AND it isn't very expensive and it is local!