Nectarine Chutney

I was planning to grill some chicken breasts but wanted to try a new recipe. Wandered through some of my cookbooks, I found something special: peach-pecan chutney! And since it´s summer that means an overload on peaches and nectarines! At the moment I only had nectarines, so I decided to use those. Next time I´ll use white peaches, those are really delicious!

For the chicken, I wanted to try something that would give the chicken a little more action (at least that´s what was mentioned on the jar), so I marinated the chicken breasts a few hours in olive oil and 2 tablespoons of Cajun Foreplay rub from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. 

In the meantime, it was time to make the chutney. I found this recipe in the book `Sauces, Rubs and Marinades` written by Steven Raichlen. Then I found out I didn´t had all the ingredients, so I had to twist it a little.

The ingredients:

5 ripe nectarines

1 cinnamon stick

half a teaspoon of ground allspice

4 cloves

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 dried red pepper (I used a dried and smoked one), finely chopped

fresh ginger, a slice, about half an inch, finely chopped

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup pecans, chopped

1/4 cup vinegar or cider vinegar  (I used rice vinegar)

1/4 cup dark brown sugar (not packed)

First you have to transfer the nectarines to a pan of boiling water, for about half a minute. That makes it easier to remove the skins. Then cut them into pieces.

Now all the ingredients go in a pan and you bring it to a simmer. Reduce the heat and let it boil softly for 10 minutes. After that it´s time to taste the chutney (be careful! HOT!) and maybe you have to add extra sugar of vinegar to get the right taste, the chutney should have a sweet-sour taste.

Transfer to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature.

To give the chicken breasts an extra smokey flavour, I decided to add some peach wood chunks, from Baxters Original. I grilled them indirect until the internal temp was 170F / 73C.  Also had some some potatoes and zucchini with italian herbs on the grill. 

When everything is ready, serve it with the Nectarine Chutney, and it could look like this:

And it was yummylicious!!!  I will make this definitely more often. The chicken was really tasty and juicy, the chutney delicious, the side dishes matched perfect. What more can you ask for....

Oh some wine maybe? I would say a dry and mild white wine will certainly match great!

Enjoy!

Summer Salad

This recipe is a real killer salad! Matches with a lot of food, I´ve tried grilled chicken and fried fish so far. Two totally different tastes, and both were great! The idea for this salad came from a recipe for a salsa, that I´ve read in the Bon Appetit Magazine. As with all salads, don´t prepare it too long in advance, mix it all together 5 minutes before dinner is served, and you´ll not only have a great tasting salad, but also a good looking one!

What do you need for this:

3 nectarines

4 or 5 of the best tomatoes you can get

a big slice of Greek feta

1 tablespoon of dried chili flakes

1 scallion, only the green part

1 avocado

arugula

olive oil

salt - pepper

cider vinegar

Cut the nectarines, tomatoes, feta and avocado into cubes, not too small. Finely mince the scallion. Mix this and sprinkle with the chili flakes. 

Make a dressing of 4 parts olive oil and 1 part vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix the arugula with the nectarines, tomatoes, feta, avocado and scallion, and pour the dressing over the salad.

You want to know what wine paires well with this salad? Try a Shiraz Rosé, I´ve had one from South Africa and it was fabulous!!

Enjoy!

Thanks!

Just want to say Thank You to my friends for all the lovely support of last week !!

I´ll be back soon with new recipes!!

Greek Potatoes, from Cyndi Allison

If you are looking for a new recipe for potatoes (grill or oven) you really have to try this recipe. I´ve made it yesterday, and if I had the chance today, I would make it again!
A friend of mine, Cyndi Allison, had posted this recipe on her fantastic blog and I knew my barbecue would be happy with those mediterranean delicacies (and yes, me too!).

Instead of the Garlic Gold Olive Oil (it´s not available here) Cyndi described, I used olive oil and fresh garlic. Almost a whole bulb. And no, that´s not a typo.
Seasoned it with black pepper, dried parsley and some Lawry´s Seasoned Salt, added water and lemon juice.

As soon as the aluminium pan was on the grill and I had closed the lid, the party began! For one hour I enjoyed a very promising smell coming out of the vents!

As you can see, I also made planked salmon, some zucchini, and served it with a green salad.

Note: next time Í need to adjust the amount of water. I used half a cup but that was a bit too much for the amount of potatoes I had. Therefore they didn´t get a nice brown color, but the taste was fabulous!!

To make this dinner complete, there was a bottle of Chardonnay. This one was from South Africa. It was good, but a Chardonnay from Chile would have been perfect.

Thank you Cyndi!!

Nasi Goreng, or, Indonesian Fried Rice

As promised, today I’ll give you the recipe for Indonesian fried rice: Nasi Goreng. Leftover Nasi you can keep in the freezer.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked or steamed rice (the rice has to be cold when you start making the Nasi)

2 thin slices of bacon, finely chopped

2 thin slices of bacon

One half boneless chicken breast, cut into pieces

Peanut oil

2 cups cabbage, shredded coarsely

1 leek, sliced

2 cups bean sprouts

1 teaspoon shrimp paste

½ teaspoon cumin, ground

½ teaspoon turmeric, ground

½ teaspoon coriander, ground

(Instead of these spices you can also use a package spice mix for Nasi Goreng)

1 tablespoon sambal or red chilies

3 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

For the marinade:

Corn flour

2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce

For the omelet:

2 eggs

some black pepper

¼ teaspoon sweet soy sauce

The marinade:

Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes in a mixture of sweet soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of water and some corn flour.

Start with the omelet. Pour some oil in a frying pan and cook until done, let it cool on a plate and cut the omelet into small slices, set aside.

Pour some oil in the wok, and fry the 2 slices of bacon until almost crisp. Remove them, this is just to give the oil an extra bacon taste. Fry the chicken and the chopped bacon for a few minutes.

Add the vegetables and fry for a few minutes.

Now you can add the spices (or mix) and sambal/chilies and sweet soy sauce. Fry this on a high heat for 1 minute.

Add the rice, a little at a time, until well mixed and heated through. Now’s the time you can taste it and maybe add some more sambal, soy or other spices. The last thing you add are the omelet slices.

Serve the Nasi Goreng for example with satay and peanut sauce, a fried egg and shrimp crackers. The vegetables is bok choy, with a sauce of dark soy sauce, some water and sesame oil.

And if you can find this when you’re visiting an Asian market, buy it:

It’s a mixture of peanuts, coconut, potato pieces and dried onions. It's very tasty on the Nasi Goreng, but it’s optional!

Enjoy!

Satay and Peanut Sauce

Are you familiar with Indonesian food? If not, let me introduce you to this versatile cuisine. In fact, you can’t speak of a Indonesian cuisine, every region in this country has it’s own specialties and varieties. I really like these spicy and various dishes a lot, and eat it very often, homemade or takeaway.

I’m sure you’ve heard or are familiar with dishes like satay, rendang and of course sambal! The recipes are mostly very simple and easy, and you can make as many dishes as you like for a real Indonesian meal. But it all starts with rice. That’s the most important ingredient. Later this week I’ll give you the recipe for fried rice (called Nasi Goreng), which combines very well with the recipe of today: satay!

Skewered marinated pork loin from the grill, served with peanut sauce…makes you hungry?? Okay, let’s start!

For this recipe you can also use chicken breasts (4 halves) instead of pork loin (1,5 pounds).

First of all, the marinade! This is the best recipe, trust me, and guess where it came from?

Martha Stewart! Funny, an Indonesian dish, made by the Dutchess with help from an American! How international can it be!

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
1 small onion, cut into chunks
2 garlic cloves
1 cup soy sauce
1,5 teaspoon sambal
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
0,5 teaspoon cumin (ground)
2 tablespoons sesame oil

combine all the ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth.

Cut the meat into big chunks, and transfer to a bowl or bag.

Pour the marinade over the meat, and mix it well with the meat. Let it marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

The best is to grill this on your BBQ, but it's also tasty in a cast iron grill pan for example. I grilled them for a couple of minutes indirect, and when they were almost ready to be served, I moved them directly above the hot coals. Be careful not to grill them too long!

Of course, you can't serve this without a spicy, hot Peanut Sauce! You can use any brand you like, or make it yourself:

1,5 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more if you like!)

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon sambal (or more if you like!)

1 tablespoon sugar

lemon juice

water

Put the first 6 ingredients in a blender, and purée until smooth. Transfer to a pan, add lemon juice to taste and use water to thin the paste until you have a thick sauce. Transfer the pan to the grill or stove to warm the sauce.

You can serve this with fries and a green salad, or, as I mentioned before, go Indonesian with fried rice and bok choy (recipes follow later).

Serve with a cold beer, and enjoy!!

Ribs Ribs Ribs

Tell me, what can be better than ribs from the barbecue?? Oh okay, I admit maybe a few things, but they are definitely in my top 5! I've made them several times but I felt something was missing, I just couldn't find the best combination of marinade, rub and glaze. But now....this recipe comes close to what I'm looking for! Bet you'll wonder why it took me that long to find a (almost) perfect recipe, oh well, I'm a demanding person… and taste is personal!

Now, where have I found this recipe? It's coming from the book "Jamie’s America" from Jamie Oliver, and I first enjoyed these heavenly pieces of meat when a friend of mine had made them. She made them in the oven, and I was surprised by the taste which definitely had potential, but wasn’t quit convinced. Then I thought I just had to make them myself. On the barbecue, of course!

Now this is gonna be a long post, so get something to drink, and continue reading. The original recipe is slightly different, I think this recipe is better, but…I’ll let you judge that!

First we'll start with The Rub:

2 tablespoons smoked paprika powder
the zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon thyme (dried)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
sea salt and pepper
3 cloves or garlic
Grind this in a pestle and mortar.

Next step:
Take a big shallow bowl and pour in 2 cups of apple juice and a splash of vinegar (I used cider vinegar).
Remove the membrane from the ribs and plunge them in the apple juice. Take them out and rub them with The Rub. Put the apple juice in the fridge for later use, and let the ribs marinate in the fridge for 24 hours.

The next day you'll start with making The Barbecue Sauce.
The ingredients for The Paste:
1 onion, peeled and quartered
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 red chili pepper
olive oil
Make a paste (use a blender or pestle and mortar) of the onion, garlic and pepper. Put a little bit of olive oil in a shallow pan and fry this (low) for about 5 minutes.

Herbs and Spices:
8 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
8 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked
10 sprigs coriander
6 bay leaves
1 teaspoon cumin powder
3 tablespoons smoked paprika powder
5 cloves
Put it in the blender, grind it coarsely and add:
the zest of 1 orange
Add the herbs, spices and orange to the paste, and fry for 1 minute. Then add:
1 cup brown sugar
Fry this for a couple of minutes until the sugar is almost resolved. Add 2 ¼ cup water and let it simmer for 2 minutes.
Now you can add:
the juice of 2 oranges
5 tablespoons balsamico vinegar
1 cup tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons english mustard
1 cup apple juice
sea salt and pepper
Let is all simmer for 10-15 minutes. Strain The Sauce twice.
Let The Sauce cool completely. You can keep this in the fridge for a week, or maybe you want to preserve this in small jars.

And now it’s time for the fun work!!

Prepare your barbecue. The temperature of the barbecue in this recipe should be 130C / 265F. When you want to smoke the ribs (I recommend!), and using wood chips, don’t forget to soak the chips first. I used cherry wood chips. Make an indirect fire, add the wood and put the ribs on the grill (away from the coals, needless to say I think).
After 90 minutes smoking the ribs, they look like this:

Now you’ll need the apple juice you used yesterday and some firm aluminium foil.

Carefully fold the foil around one rack, leave one side open and pour in some of the apple juice, make sure you close the foil tight! Repeat this with the other racks and put them back on the grill. This way the ribs will steam in the foil, this will take 60 minutes.

Unpack the racks and baste them with The Sauce and put them back on the grill.

After 15 minutes turn them over and baste them again. My ribs were perfect after 30 minutes.

I served them with fries, a green salad and no wine this time: beer!

Hope you’ll give this recipe a try, and if you have some other suggestions, let me know!

ENJOY!!