Grandhall Egrill

Sorry I have not been around for a bit. Life has been busy lately. Finally got myself another grill and I'm really liking it.

Chili con carne

 

recipe for 4.5L pot.

• 1 tbsp oil 
• 2 large onion
• 2 red pepper
• 4 chili peppers chopped 
• 4 Garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1 heaped tsp hot chili powder (or 1 level tbsp if you only have mild)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1500g lean minced beef
• 4 beef stock cubes
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 2 cans pressed tomatoes
• 1 tsp oregano 
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 cans red kidney beans( one drained)

 Directions

1. fry the beef, salt and pepper it as you fry the beef. 
2. Drain the oil off once the beef is fried. 
3. Put the meat back in pot 
4. add spices.onion, red pepper, garlic
5. mix stock in cup of boiling water and add to mix. 
6. add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. 
7. bring to a simmer and then turn stove down and let it cook with lid for about 4 hours 
8. STIR VERY OFTEN SO IT DOESN'T BURN.  unless you have a pressure cooker. about 90 minutes in pressure cooker

because there is tomato in the sauce it is very easy to burn. be careful to not get the heat to high. you want it to simmer to get the flavor through everything.

* reheat the whole pot again the next day. Chili is one of those dishes that gets better every day you reheat it. Day 4 is where you should be finishing it though. You can freeze chili but it WILL stain your plastic containers so you might want to freeze it in a plastic bag. Enjoy your chili!

Spaghetti with a basil, tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano and chili flakes

Steam Powered Pepper Company sauce

Ribs

Bacon and mushroom Pasta

Bacon and mushroom Pasta

There is an unlimited amount of combinations you can have with pasta. It's an easy meal and can be amazingly tasty if you are willing to mix. Today I made bacon and mushroom pasta. It takes about 10 minutes to make and is absolutely delicious. 

Ingredients

• 100 grams lean bacon per person

• 100 grams fresh sliced mushrooms per person

• 5 balls of Tagliatelle per person

• a large spoon sour cream 34% 

• fresh grated Parmesan 

Boil water and start bacon frying.

Put your pasta in the water and cook 30 seconds less than the recommended time. Tagliatelle is usually 5 minutes.

You want the bacon to be fried, but NOT crispy.

 

Remove the bacon to your cutting board and put the mushroom slices into the bacon frying pan with the grease. Cut the bacon into bite size pieces and put it back in the frying pan. Spice your mushroom and bacon mix with some salt pepper and garlic as they fry.

 

Use your spaghetti ladle  to lift the pasta from the pot to the frying pan and add a couple spoons of the water too the bacon and mushrooms. Add a large spoon of sour cream and mix everything and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

 

Pour your dinner into a pasta bowl and top with fresh grated Parmesan Cheese.

Potato wedges

For most of us we have realized that we really shouldn't eat deep fried food, but for me potato wedges of fries was something I'd really miss. Luckily it's easy enough to do really good potato wedges in the oven. This isn't as much a recipe as it is tips for getting really delicious wedges.

Start by washing your potatoes thoroughly. Then cut your potato into wedges. Try to get them as even in size as you can so that they cook at the same pace. Once you have cut the potatoes you will need to rinse them again to remove the starch. After rinsing put them on a tea towel to dry. You can use paper towels but cloth is better for the pocket book and the environment.

Once you've got them dry, put them in a bowl and pour a little amount of vegetable oil or olive oil and mix well so that they are completely covered with a thin layer of oil. Take a baking pan and cover it with tinfoil. You want to use tinfoil to help them get crispy. Then place them on the foil and sprinkle with a chili based BBQ spice.

Add caption

Preheat the oven to 200C and when it's warm put the pan in the lower third of the oven for 20 minutes. Take the pan out and turn all of them over and then put them back in for another 20 minutes. I like to do some carrots and onion together with the wedges since they take about the same amount of time. The wedges should be fluffy inside and very tasty. Pick and choose what you want to serve them with.

 

 

Today I decided to have my wedges with a homemade burger. One of my favorites. 

Sunset today. Absolutely amazing.

Tonight there was a blue moon. simply stunning. 

Plantation XO Barbados 20th Anniversary

Today I'm going to go away from the whole food thing and go to one of the other things I like in life and that's a good drink. I'm a single malt kind of guy, but this rum is absolutely amazing and both run or whiskey lovers can enjoy. It's a rum that is aged in oak barrels which gives it a spectacular taste.

Plantation XO Barbados Bottling Note

A superb-looking decanter bottle of XO rum from Barbados, aged in bourbon barrels before being shipped to France for a secondary maturation in Cognac Casks from the Ferrand house... The result was awarded 94 points from the Beverage Testing Institute.

Taste

Nose: Hints of spicy oak on the nose, with guava, a little desiccated coconut and dried banana. Buttery.

Palate: Spiced, creamy palate entry, with sweet vanilla notes and caramel. Oaky spices.

Finish: Caramel. Toasted oak.

A little tip for this would be to get yourself a good whiskey stone. This is a premium drink and should not be ruined by watering it down by the same way you don't water down a good whiskey. 

If you can't find good whiskey stones give me a heads up and I can help you. 

Nacho plate

This is a simple meal or snack that anyone can make.

Ingredients 

• Lean ground beef
• Taco seasoning 
• Onion chopped 
• Nacho cheese
• Salsa 
• Sour cream 
• Nacho chips
• Water 
• refried beans recipe

Fry ground beef chopping into small pieces. When beef is done, drain off fat and put beef back in frying pan. Turn to medium heat and add taco seasoning and water. 

Preheat oven to 175C. 

Put baking paper on a baking sheet. Lay out a layer of chips. When beef is done, put a couple tablespoons of meat on the chips. Spread out some nacho cheese, chopped onion and put the tray in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the edges of the chips are starting to turn brown. 

Warm the beans in the microwave or along with the beef. 

Top nachos with salsa. In one corner put a few spoons of sour cream and refried beans.

Best Chocolate Brownies

 Best Bistro Style Chocolate Brownies

This is an amazingly easy recipe for Brownies. Great if you are simply feeling a little peckish or if you have someone drop in and you want something delicious to serve with a cup of hot tea.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted butter
2/3 cup pure cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 whole eggs
1/2 cuo of all purpose flower
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
optional: you can add some chopped walnuts into the batter.

Preheat over to 175 C.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until everything is combined. prepare an oiled baking form and spread the batter evenly. Put the form in the oven and bake for 25- 30 minuted. check with tooth picks after the 25 minutes.

 

 

after testing I needed another 5 minutes to get it done.

Chicken and Bean Burritos

For those who know me they will tell you that I love my Texmex. Today I made Chicken and refried bean burritos.

Chopped chicken Fillet
texmex spice
Refried beans recipe
Salsa
sour cream
burrito wraps
grated cheddar cheese

Put some texmex spice on your chicken and fry using a little olive oil. When the chicken is almost done you can warm your beans in the frying pan or warm them in the microwave. Heat your wraps to make them more flexible. lay some chicken and beans in the middle of the wrap in a straight line. Add some grated cheddar, sour cream and salsa. I like some hot sauce as well. Fold up the bottom of the wrap and than roll it together. Dinner is done.

 

Bacon and Jalapeno wrapped chicken

This is a very simple meal to make.

ingredients

1 chicken fillet per person
1 Jalapeno per chicken fillet
sliced bacon
your favorite BBQ seasoning.

Cut the chicken fillet into two even slices. Lightly spice. Cut Jalapeno in half and remove the seeds. Place half of a Jalapeno on each slice and then wrap with bacon. I usually use 2 slices of bacon for each piece. Use tooth picks to hold the bacon, jalapeno and chicken together. Place on hot grill and grill about 3 minutes on each side (all 4) Bacon should be starting to get crispy when they and that's when you know the chicken is done. Makes sure to get the bacon on all sides grilled. The tooth pics will help with standing the pieces on their sides.

Today I made oven baked potato wedges, roast onion and roast carrot to go with the meal.

Oven baked potato wedges recipe

 

Banana Bread Recipe

Banana Bread Recipe 

 

 

I'm a little fussy when it comes to bananas. I think they taste best when they are yellow but before the skin starts getting spots. I really don't like them once they get soft. So banana bread is a great solution. This is an easy recipe from my favorite cook book.

Ingredients

• ½ cup of butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 medium sized over ripe bananas mashed
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup sour milk*

Cream the butter and sugar together thoroughly. Beat the eggs well. Add eggs to mix and beat well. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into the batter and mix. Add banana and sour milk to the batter and beat thoroughly. Grease a bread pan and pour mix in evenly. Bake in  oven preheated to 175°C for 60 minutes or until bread tests done.(use toothpick test)

*to make sour milk add ¼ teaspon lemon juice to milk and let stand for 20 minutes.

 

 

I've been BBQing all week. So what if it's raining every day.

grilled salmon

grilled strip loin

Homemade burgers

There are a few things that are important to insure that you get good burgers, the quality of ground beef should be the highest on your priority list. Get very lean beef that is freshly ground. Another big contributor is to make sure you don't over mix your burgers before pressing them. If you mix them too much you will end up with tough burgers. Another big thing for me is that you should NOT use bread crumbs.  Use freshly ground Parmesan instead.

recipe

• 4 pounds lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 onion grated into juice
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pinch oregano
• 4 tbs tomato paste
• 4 tbs Heinz ketchup
• 5 egg yolks

Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and  mix until ingredients are mixed together. You can use a kitchen assistant or a hand held mixer with the dough hooks. Weigh your burgers and press them. I like to weigh mine in small freezer bags so they can be pressed in the bags and then frozen. This prevents the burgers sticking in the press and they will if you put them straight into the press.

If you don't have a a burger press you can cut the top ring off a plastic container and use the bottom to press the burgers in the ring. for every day burgers 100grams is a good size to aim for. I like to do some super burgers that can be used with or without bread at 225 grams. But burger size is a personal preference things. Test and see what you like.

Amazing full moon this week