YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akLb683o30Q

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFDy3Hb0eAk

“So, get a whole chicken, put your favorite herbs and spices on it. Then you open a can of beer and shove it up the chickens wazoo and then you cook the chicken sitting on the can.” That sounds delicious! Doesn’t it?

Here’s what you need:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1/2 can of beer
• favorite BBQ rub
• beer can chicken stand (optional)

Here’s what you need to do:

• cover chicken with BBQ rub
• place chicken on beer can (with or without chicken stand)
• BBQ at 450ºF for 1-1/4 hours (your time may vary)

I had some fun with the video. Hope you like it.

Enjoy!

Beer Can Chicken Recipe video.

Off I went to the grocery store. Butternut squash, check. Now what? Coconut milk! Check. What goes with coconut milk? Thai chili paste. Got that already. Back to the veggie section. Onions, garlic, mushrooms, tomato and… lemon grass! Oooh, this is getting interesting. My first attempt tasted great, but boy was it thick. I served it on a bed of noodles… Meh! The next day (soup is always better the next day) I reheated it and this time served it on rice. We have a winner! But, it was still missing something. What? Seafood! That’s what’s missing.

The following is the actual recipe I served friends at a diner party. Everyone loved it.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 can coconut milk
• scallops
• 1 onion
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 4 large mushrooms
• 1 tomato
• 1 stalk lemon grass

Here’s what you need to do:

• cut the butternut squash in half and place on baking pan (cut side up) and sprinkle Italian seasoning on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Remove from oven and let cool
• crush garlic cloves in press and cut onions. Saute onions and garlic at medium heat
• cut tomato into small pieces and add to onion and garlic. Continue cooking
• Remove skin from squash and then add to onions, garlic and tomato, continue cooking and break squash into smaller pieces
• add a can of coconut milk and mix well
• cut lemon grass into 4 equal pieces about 2 inches long. Add one piece immediately and save the other 3 to be added to the soup once it has been pureed.
• add 1 teaspoon Thai chili paste and mix well
• cover and simmer at low temp for 20 minutes
• puree the soup in a blender or food processor
• cut 4 large mushrooms into small pieces. Sauté in butter or oil over medium high heat. Salt and pepper to taste
• add scallops to mushrooms and continue cooking until scallops are completely cooked
• add remaining lemon grass, mushrooms and scallops to pureed squash and mix well
• serve over a bed of rice

Enjoy!

Video and link below.

Spicy Thai Butternut Squash Soup

Here’s what you need:

• plastic bag or container with lid
• garlic salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, and chili powder

Here’s what you need to do:

• Mix equal amounts of ingredients in the plastic bag or container

That’s it!

Enjoy!

Check out the video below.

Quick & Easy BBQ Rub video

There are a couple of tricks to grilling a steak on a BBQ.

1. Your steak should be cooked at a very high heat. If the heat is high enough you will never need to pre-oil your grill. The grill will be so hot nothing will stick to it. If you do pre-oil a very hot grill, your just wasting oil because it’ll just burn off and add a burnt oil taste to your steak. You don’t want that!
2. If you’re cooking your steak at a very high heat, never put oil or butter on your steak prior to cooking. Same reason as above. If you do insist on using oil or butter, put it on while the steak is resting. This way you don’t get the burnt oil/butter taste.

Lets get started. Here’s what you need:

• your favourite cut of meat about an 1″ thick (you can go thicker or thinner, just make sure you adjust the cooking time).
• sea salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder (and any other spices you prefer).

Here’s what you need to do:

• season your steak
• preheat you BBQ (remember you want it hot).
• once the grill is up to temperature, clean the grill (trust me it’s easier to clean when it’s hot).
• place the steak on the grill at a 45 degree angle, cook for 2 min.
• rotate the steak 90 degrees and cook for 2 more minutes
• flip the steak over and cook for 2 minutes
• rotate the steak 90 degrees and cook for 2 more minutes
• remove steak from grill and put on wood cutting board (do not put on a regular plate, it will cool the steak too quickly).
• let rest for 2-5 minutes
• Serve

The total cooking time is 8 minutes, 4 minutes per side. Just remember, your cooking times will vary due to the temperature of the grill and the thickness of your steak. The above method is a good starting point and you can adjust your cookings times accordingly.

Here is the video:

Fantastic BBQ Steak

Enjoy!

Here’s what you need:

• 2-3 Eggs
• milk
• green onion
• mushrooms
• grated cheese

Here’s what you need to do:

• chop up the mushrooms and green onion

• put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well
• salt and pepper to taste

• melt butter (I used clarified butter… more on that later) in a frying pan at medium heat

• pour mixture into frying pan and turn down heat to medium-low

• cover for 5-10 minutes

• sprinkle grated cheese on top (I used cheddar and mozzarella) and let melt

• serve (making sure to gently remove the omelette from the frying pan, not like I did and destroy it)

Enjoy.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 piece of defrosted BBQ Smoked Salmon
• green onion(s), sweet red pepper, tomato, broccoli
• your favourite dressing

Here’s what you need to do:

• cut all the ingredients into bite size pieces
• put everything into a bowl
• add your favourite dressing
• mix and serve

That’s it!

Enjoy

Cooking on the BBQ is one of my most favourite ways to cook. Add some smoke into the mix and you can achieve some truly great flavours. Grilled salmon is good, but smoked salmon wins hands down. But that’s just me, and if you’re reading this, that probably means you too.

Let’s get started.

What you need:

• Salmon filet
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup honey
• fresh ground pepper

What you need to do:

• mix lemon juice, soy sauce and honey
• brush mixture/marinade on to skin side of filet and grind fresh pepper on top
• flip over and brush mixture/marinade on and grind fresh pepper on top
• cover in plastic wrap and put in fridge for 2-4 hours
• start charcoal on one side of BBQ with wood chips/chunks (I used alder)
• put salmon on other side of BBQ
• put the lid on and adjust vents to keep temperature at 250ºF at grill level (the thermometer on my BBQ reads 300, but the actual temperature at the level of the grill is around 250)
• brush mixture/marinade on to salmon a couple more times about every hour
• remove from BBQ after cooking for about 2-1/2 hours.

That’s it.

Enjoy!

Video above, instructions below.

I love bread, especially fresh baked bread. Cooking is an art, baking is a science. In the past I always thought baking was too tough and I still do think most baking is tough. However, when I found a video for no knead bread online. I thought, “I can do that”! And, you know what? You can too!

Here’s what you need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tea spoon yeast
• about 1 tea spoon salt (most times I use 1/2 a tea spoon)
• 1 and 1/8th cup water

Here’s what you need to do:

Step 1

• mix flour, yeast and salt in mixing bowl

Step 2

• add the water to the flour mixture
• mix together by hand for about 1 minute
• cover with plastic wrap

Step 3

• go to sleep, let stand for 12-24 hours at room temperature

Step 4

• Spread flour on working surface
• put dough on working surface
• fold sides of dough over  and then turn over so folded seams face down
• cover with a clean dish towel and let rise again for 2 hours
• preheat oven with glass, ceramic, or cast iron pot with lid on to 475 degrees F
• put dough in pot with seams facing down and put lid back on
• bake for 30 minutes
• remove lid from pot
• bake for another 20 minutes
• remove from oven and place on cooling rack for about an hour

Step 5

• cut bread into slices

Enjoy!