Beer Can Chickin

This was the first time I tried the infamous “Beer Can Chicken” and I was surprised at how easy it was to make.  Once you put the chicken on the grill, all you have to do is close the lid and sit there and “watch” the grill.  The following picture describes what I mean by watching the grill:

Here’s the specs on the recipe:

• One Chicken
• About 3 Tbsp of your favorite dry spice rub – I used a combination of salt, course ground pepper, paprika, oregano & rosemary
• One can of beer – I used Heineken
• Some kind of oil or even butter – I used extra virgin olive oil.

I started by making sure all of the extra bits were removed from the chicken.  Then padded the chicken dry with a few paper towels.  Then I rubbed the chicken with olive oil, inside and out, and proceeded to  massage in the dry rub.  I placed the chicken aside and did a salmonella wash and then came the good part.  I open a can of beer and drink about half of it.  After I sufficiently reduced the volume of beer in the can,  I took a can opener and neatly went around the rim.  The top comes off quite cleanly.  I dumped whatever remained of the spice rub in the can, slipped the chicken over the top of the can drumsticks facing downward and went outside to warm up the grill.

I ended up cooking the chicken for about 2 hours on the grill, covered.  I’m guessing it was around 300 degrees in there.  The end result was very good roasted chicken, but it didn’t seem to me like the beer (or BBQ for that matter) imparted a whole lot of flavor.  All I can say is that it tasted like a really good roasted chicken that you would make in your oven.  The best thing about the beer can is that it  keeps the chicken upright so you don’t have to deal with the ubiquitous flare ups or use come kind of rotisserie contraption that is usually needed to cook a large piece of meat over a flame.

When I do this again I’m definitely planning on using a much stronger beer… probably an IPA…  if I can find one in a can.  I’m also going to try to cook it on higher heat for a shorter period of time.

Thanks again to all those who came out, we had such a great time.  Big shout-outs to James, Liz, and Kevin – its nice to have you guys around for another season.  Also I’m liking all the baby time my wife and I got (I think it helps us cope).  Everywhere we go we see babies now.  Shannon and I are way behind the trends, we don’t even have a dog and dogs are so 2008.

Q MVP goes to Molly Morris for the corn salad (Again I’ll try to hunt down the recipe).

I’ll leave you all this week with a very  important announcement.

MISSING GIRAFFE

If you or someone you know has seen this giraffe or has information that could lead to its safe return please contact us immediately.

1-0

It’s always good to start off the season with a win and I think everyone who made it out to the opener would agree that we won big time.   I went with the sure winner… pork tenderloin.  The loins were on sale and you literally cannot mess them up.  In fact I totally forgot what temperature I was supposed to cook them to and left them on the grill for an extra inning and they still came out bomb:

BBQ Pork Tenderloin

• One Pork Tenderloin (~2lbs)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Hawaiian Salt
• Tbsp Fresh Ground Pepper
• Tbsp Fennel Seed
• 2 Cloves of Chopped Garlic
• Some rosemary if you like
• 1oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Rub tenderloin with garlic, salt, pepper & spices.  Place in a gallon zip-lock bag.  Add olive oil to the bag, seal and place in the fridge over night.  Grill on medium heat till the internal temperature is 160.  (I spaced out and cooked these things till about 180 and nobody said anything and all of it was gone by the end of the night).

Q MVP goes to Jean & Don for the fruit salad.  I don’t even like fruit salad but I like this fruit salad.

I’ll try to post the recipe.  I know it involved sorbet which is one of the few sweet things I like.  To me, eating your typical fruit salad is like trying to drink a warm orange soda -  so unrefreshing and you never end up finishing it.  This one was light and tart and most importantly…  sans pineapple (More on that in a later post).

Big mahalo to everyone who made it out and thanks for all the great contributions… wine, sushi, caprese… Shannon and I had a great BobbyQ leftover picnic at Golden Gardens on Saturday. 

I hope I can keep the winning streak going.  I’m thinking of beer can chicken this coming Thursday but I’ve already received some flak about Alzheimer’s.  Maybe I’ll try to invent some aluminum free beer can chicken although if people are seriously worried about aluminum & Alzheimer’s, try looking at your deodorant’s active ingredient.  Peace out bean sprout.

Bobby-Q … Literally

I used to have the weekly barbecue on Wednesdays. It was my night off when I was a bartender. Wednesday can be a tough night for people to make it out and in years past I had many a summer night barbecuing solo. This past week was a throwback to those nights. Shannon was out of town and I needed to do a great deal of studying over the weekend. So I didn’t bother to send out an evite and figured I’d just prepare enough food so if people happened to stop by I could at least feed them. It turned out I was the only one who made it to the barbecue on Sunday but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in my driveway on a sunny day, barbecuing steaks, drinking a beer, and listening to the Mariners kill the Padres 9-2. I’m glad I got to do this at least once this year, sometimes it’s good to have a moment for contemplation and think about the things that are important to you. I thought about a lot of stuff that afternoon and for those of you who aren’t into stump speeches I recommend you navigate away now.

I’ve lived a very happy life so far and I’d like to keep it that way. But the problem is there is too much idiocracy going on in this country and I can’t stand it some times. Odd enough it is an election year and politics are invading every inch of my life. I promise I’ll only do this once on this blog but here we go:

Things about this country that I can’t stand:

1) Our president is a big fan of cutting taxes but spends more, billions more… wtf? My extensive training as a financial analyst has taught me that this isn’t supposed to work.

2) Half the people in this country can sleep easy at night knowing our government is doing a crack job of water boarding innocent people until they give us enough false information to justify paying Haliburton to solve the new non-problem. But if the gays marry, we’ve lost our moral center. Hello can I get a constitutional amendment banning torture?

3) The actuary exam that I’m currently studying for is easier to understand than the fraction of the tax code that applies to me, a childless renter.

4) Someone who has more votes than someone else doesn’t get elected.

5) People are still trying to figure out how to get more oil. I’m flabbergasted at the way Americans think about this issue. As if hitting the mother load of cassette tapes is going to be easy to upload on to your iPod.

6) Municipal governments get played by corporations, exchanging tax breaks for tax revenue and in the end your local family owned business is forced to subsidize their large competitor that will eventually put them out of business.

Basically here is my shtick. Even with all this annoying crap going on in our lives it fails in comparison to most people’s problems in this world. I believe the fact that I can sit and relax on Sunday, listen to a ball game, eat fatty steaks, and drink beer is privilege not a right. I’m pretty sure most people, for centuries worked every God given day of their life. We’ve come accustomed to such casual survival and I’m sure many of us, save the men and women of our armed forces, have lived our lives insulated from most real tragedy.

I don’t make a lot of money by American standards but what I do know is that only a small portion of it goes to ensuring my family’s basic survival. And If I want to die a happy man I ought to spend the rest of it in the most responsible fashion I know how. Lowly citizens like me have only two basic powers, the vote and our dollar. The latter by far the more powerful. There’s been a lot of politics so far this year but as Obama’s recent decision to decline public funding shows, everyone answers to cash. So if you don’t like the fact that China’s taking over the world, then don’t spend your stimulus check at Wal-Mart. Or perhaps if you’re unhappy about the way Americans have been running the world and want to give someone else a try then maybe you should shop at Wal-Mart. My point is, the only demand that is met by those in power is economic and real change requires real sacrifice.

A Family Affair

Some of you might have noticed it has been a while since the last post. Truth is I haven’t had a whole lot of spare time since I started at SAFECO and I wanted to give this post its full dues. Last weekend was a busy but special time. Saturday was our cousin Rebecca’s wedding and now we can formally say Anthony is part of the family. Of course he already felt like family from day one and I can’t say enough about how happy it makes Shannon and me. They are truly a great couple, so much so that when we are hanging out with them I always feel a little sad that we don’t spend more time together. Whoa… got a little sentimental there. Anyways mayonnaise, with the wedding and all, we had the family staying with us. Shannon’s Mom & Dad, and also Jason & Hope. Some people might shy away from a weekend with the in-laws but I like it. I like it for many reasons of which I don’t have the time, space, or enough people’s interest to talk about. I will say one cool thing about hanging around Shannon’s family is that I get all the goods about Shannon from back in the awkward days, even if Shannon tells me a particular story, her family’s version with the extra embellishment is much better beef and cheddar. (Also a little shameless plug: for those of you how are into fútbol you need to check out Jason Maxwell’s View from the Couch.

So on to the barbecue. Sunday was quite a family experience. Pretty much all of Shannon’s family was there and I’m glad everyone could make it out, we all had a busy weekend. Even the groom stopped by and dropped off the left over beer from the wedding the night before. The father of the bride, Uncle Mike, who always sends me a sincere apology when he can’t make it to the barbecue (please don’t worry beef curry) was there along with Aunt Louie. Aunt Jean, Uncle Don and Grandpa Bob, the Antoncichs and of course Kathy, Gared and Deirdre brought little Maeve. Parties like this remind me of my childhood because there were always multiple generations at them, I know Auntie Wendy would agree with me on that one. By the way Shannon told me last night she doesn’t know what people from Hawaii put in potato salad but every time she has potato salad made by a Hawaiian it’s always the best.

We went with burgers this time, I did some hand made patties which included my secret ingredient. I don’t think it mattered much though because I pretty much overcooked each burger. It takes a lot of concentration to work the grill and I usually would rather spend time with all the guests. The biggest props were given to the portabella mushroom burgers that we marinated then grilled and also Shannon’s berry crumb bars were gone before any of the other food was. All the food that everyone brought was excellent. We have been really lucky to eat great left-overs this week. Mahalo to all the family and friends, you’re really what made last Sunday a winner winner barbecue dinner.

PS Shannon is gone this weekend so I’m not sending out an evite this week but as always I’d love to have you over so give me a buzz or post a comment if you want to stop by.

Father’s Day, Sunshine & BobbyQ… sans Shannon

Next week there is a wedding in our family. Sunday was the shower, which means Mom and Dad Maxwell were in town. While Shannon and her mom were at the shower, dad and I whipped out the barbecue. I have to admit, I was worried that things might be a little unorganized without my other half, but overall we did well. Dad is an accomplished cook and stepped right in.

We started off the day at the Ballard Farmer’s Market, it was a good day, the sunshine provided lots of energy and the produce looked better than ever. We bought some beef ribs (the father’s day special), radishes, salad onions, mustard greens, lettuce, and asparagus. You know the signs at the market are incredibly brazen, and they don’t apologize for it either. I figure it makes sense because the whole local organic free range no hormones no preservatives shtick is the only reason all the people are there so what else would you advertise?

In other news my family made it out from Woodinville, It was great to see Joe on father’s day along with my Mom, Gus, Angelo and of course, Ola and Kamele. Dad Maxwell had a great time with the baby. Big ups to Nate, Risa and Natasha. Also thanks to Brian for popping in, I was hoping you would be able to make it to at least one barbecue.

Looking forward to next week.

BobbyQ Number Two

Last week while carousing the farmer’s market we noticed the mint looked really good. Since we had a cheap bottle of rum lying around the house, Shannon thought we could make mojitos. Then we thought we’d just go with the whole Caribbean theme. I barbecued marinated carne asada with carmelized onions and mushrooms for sandwiches. Shannon made chipotle cream sauce and cilantro chutney to go with them. Now there is a little sandwich shop down the street from us that makes somewhat similar sandwiches. They don’t have a sign in front of their tiny little establishment, almost as if to say… we’re so good at what we do, we don’t even need a sign. As pretentious as it is, they truly don’t need to advertise. This place is always packed, except when their closed, which is like every Monday, 3rd Tuesday and like a 2 months in December through January and pretty much any other time I remember to go there. And don’t even bother trying to get a sandwich after 2pm… they have usually have sold out by then. Regulars have no doubt figured out that I’m talking about Paseo’s, well the sandwiches we made at the barbecue stood up pretty good to Paseo’s and since I can make these any time I feel like it, I don’t think I’ll be dealing with the frustration of walking down there anymore and figuring out that they are closed or sold out of sandwiches.

With all that said, we had a great barbecue, I got to see a lot of my friends from the Nuffsed crew that I haven’t seen in a while and people brought some great dishes as well, thanks to everyone who attended. I especially noticed we had quite a few canine Q’ers today: Henry, Mia, Rosie, Freida, (Sorry Jill I can’t remember your dog’s name), and a very special shout out to Buster, who wasn’t feeling very good today, you’re a champ buddy and I’m glad you made it, even when you weren’t feeling so hot.

Season Opener

First of all… a great big thanks to all of those who braved the cold and made it to the opener, Shannon and I were worried that the weather would affect attendance but there was quite a turn out and we were lucky it didn’t rain. I was happy a lot of friends and family planned to come because it gave me an excuse to head to Cash & Carry, a place which I frequented during my stint as a restaurant manager.  Now I just enjoy putzing around in the store . I know I know… you might be asking, What about the farmer’s market? Well when it comes to cooking for 30 people, you have to go through the proper channels. Besides I checked and they didn’t have THIS at the farmer’s market. I used the massive chunk of meat and some pasta to make Pork Souvlaki and Greek Spaghetti. Shannon made some beautiful Crostinis, Cesar Salad, Little Lemon Pie Cup Cakes, and Sangria. I am terrified that if I start naming names here I’m going to forget somebody but I just have to give it a shot… Grandpa thanks for the photos and the great salad. A big shout out to the Publicis crew for being such enthusiasts. Thanks to Molly & Damon for breaking the ice, you guys are always fun to hang out with. Kelly, Rob, Lara and Nichole were the last standing… congrats to you four. Big mahalos to Mom, Joe & Gus for KP duty. John and Judy thanks so much for coming, it’s really great to see you guys. James Kelly, true bbq vet – call me about lunch. Bahavna and Kayla (Did I spell that right?) great to see you guys again and it’s nice to know I have another neighbor. Keola thanks for hanging out and bringing Kamele along, Shannon and I love the two of you. I’ve compiled a little slide show of some pictures from this week’s Q.

And if anyone would like to contribute a recipe post for an item that they brought, for example, if SIMON would like to share a SALSA RECIPE with viewers of the blog feel free to shoot me an email or post a comment and I’ll be happy to set them up as contributors. See you all next time.

Crostini Three Ways

Pork Souvlaki and Greek Spaghetti

Shannon and I love the Olympia Pizza II on 45th and every time I go there I get the same thing, pork souvlaki and spaghetti with browned butter. The marinated skewers of pork have a light tangy flavor and how can you resist pasta tossed in nothing but butter, garlic and cheese. I did my best to reproduce the classic Mediterranean dish and I thought it worked out pretty good. I used pork butt* instead of the usual loin which is more tender and probably would have yielded better results. None the less I thought this would be a quick, easy and inexpensive dish to serve at the first BBQ of the season.

• Pork* (13 lbs)
• Minced Garlic (3/4 Cup)
• Dried Oregano (3 Tblsp)
• Olive Oil (1/2 Cup)
• White Wine (About 3/4 Cup)
• Lemon Juice (About 1 Cup)
• Salt & Pepper

Cut up the pork into one inch cubes and toss in a bowl with salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. Then place into ziplock bags. Pour in lemon juice and wine, split evenly among the bags. Squeeze out all the extra air and let the meat marinade for at least a couple of hours. If you want to marinate over night leave out the lemon juice till the day of, otherwise the acid could turn your pork into seviche.

Browned Butter Spaghetti with Myzithra

• Spaghetti (1 pkg)
• Butter (1/2 a stick)
• Minced Garlic (as much as you want)
• Salt & Pepper
• Grated Myzithra Cheese (about 1 to 1-1/2 Cups)

Boil the spaghetti slightly al dente and strain into a colander. In a pan on medium heat, melt the butter and garlic until it starts to brown. Then toss the spaghetti together in a large bowl with the browned butter and myzithra cheese. Two laps around Green Lake should work off half a serving.