Showing posts with label barbecue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barbecue. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Crash Hot Potatoes and Cheesy Barbecue Chicken

I am really cheating here. I stole BOTH of these recipes from other blogs. I have made this cheesy barbecue chicken MANY times and we love it at my house. I made it last night because Kaylee has been requesting it. I apologize for the not-so-prettiness of the plate, but these two things should NEVER be photographed together. If you want the original recipe for cheesy barbecue chicken click on the link at the end of the post.
Let's get this party started. Shall we?




The ingredients. You can see my man's legs in this pic. It looks like he is standing in front of my stove. I am sure there must have been some reason for that???
Any barbecue sauce you like, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
bacon, onions, grated cheddar, salt and pepper. You're also going to need a tad bit of olive oil for your pan.


Marinate the chicken in the barbecue sauce. I let mine marinate about 3 hours. You can marinate this for an hour or up to 24 hours.


Cook your bacon up nice and crispy. I like to do mine on a sheet in the oven. It keeps me from getting popped with hot baking grease and keeps Jackson safer too. He tends to be on my hip a lot.




However you do it, get your bacon nice and crispy, drain on paper towels and set aside. You'll need it in a bit.





Grab up your onions. I used 3 because they were pretty small, but I ended up only needing 2.



Cut your onions in half and then slice them up into nice littl half moons.
Like this. I know the picture is horrible and the knife is EXTREMELY ugly, but it's the sharpest knife I own.






After your onions are sliced up all nice and pretty, grab that olive oil and throw about a tablespoon or 2 into an oven proof skillet. I used my cast iron.
Heat that up til it's nice and shimmery and hot.








Throw your onions in and let them caramelize. To do this you just keep giving them a flip, making sure they are turning brown and not black. This took me about 10 minutes.






Like this..........











When they are caramelized, remove them from the pan, and set aside. You will need them in a bit as well.
















Now, grab that chicken that you have marinating. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet you cooked your onions in. When the skillet is nice and hot, throw the chicken in. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, flip it and cook the other side for a 2 more minutes.
I am not sure where my photography skills went?








Now, grab those caramelized onions you made earlier. Grab a big ol' bunch (3 tablespoons maybe?) and place on top of chicken. You can see that I left out some on the chicken pieces in the middle. That's because my sweet little man Trey doesn't care for them. He really only likes this chicken without the bacon and cheese and onions. He's a bit picky in his old age.


















Next your going to use that bacon that's been staring at you begging you to eat just one piece. Put that on top of the onions. I used 1 and 1/2 pieces on each.






Next, scoop up about 1/3 cup of that grated cheddar and put it on top of the bacon.
I never said this was healthy. Just really, really, really good. Everything is fine in moderation.
When that is all assembled, throw the skillet into a 350 degree oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes.





















When it's done, it will look like this.
Oh my it is sooooo good.
Here is the original recipe from Mommy's Kitchen.
















Now, for my second stolen recipe of the day. God bless Ree Drummond, for posting these here. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

I just found this recipe Sunday, and we have had them twice this week. My love told me they were like a delicious cross between a french fry and a baked potato. This is my new favorite way to eat potatoes.

Here is what you'll need.





Oh, and this glorious rosemary that I made Kaylee steal from my neighbors bush.
You will need a couple of tablespoons of that, chopped.
























Put at least 2 tablespoons on the ugliest baking sheet you have. Or maybe that's just me? Anyway, you want oil ALL OVER the pan so these potatoes won't stick. You'll be glad you did. It will also help them crisp up VERY nicely.








Now, I have to apologize to y'all for missing a few pictures here, but surely every one of my 12 DEVOTED followers know how to boil potatoes? right? If not, just call me, I'll fill ya in.
Jackson was getting hungry about this time, and was on my hip while I was cooking and attempting to take pictures and helping Trey with his homework at the same time.
So..............just boil the potatoes until they are tender. I actually boiled mine a bit too long, because they started cracking open. It really didn't make a bit of difference though. When they are done, put them on that ugly baking sheet.



like this........


If you have a potato masher, great! Use it. You just give the potato a mash all over until it's all smooshed down. I don't have a masher (I should get one), so I used the bottom of a small plate. It worked just fine.


See???















cut yourself about 4 tablespoons of butter






and melt it






Sprinkle sea salt or kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper all over the potatoes.


Brush or drizzle the melted butter all over the potatoes.





OOPS! I almost forgot the rosemary! Sprinkle that on the potatoes too.


Cook them in an oven that has been preheated to 450 degrees for about 25 minutes. They will be nice and brown and crispy.
like this..........


Now, there is just NO WAY to put these 2 on a plate together and make it pretty. At least I never figured it out. We were hungry and ready to eat, so I just snapped the picture and served up supper.
These potatoes are sooooooooooo good I can't stand it. Even my little picky Trey man ate them up!

































Monday, January 18, 2010

Pulled Pork Barbecue

Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork Barbecue


Let me just start by letting everyone know that my man, Leon, took control of this post. He is the griller of the house. We were fortunate enough for our littlest baby, Jackson to sleep in this weekend. When I say sleep in, I mean til 9:00!!! Our oldest, Kaylee, (she's 8) even came down and got him when he woke up so we could sleep more. Of course, it was 9:00 and we were pretty much ready to get up anyway.
Except for me. I can always sleep for 5 more minutes. Which is exactly why I was trying to get that extra 5 minutes when Leon jumped up and started running. It seems that was when he realized he needed to get his pork cookin'. I reminded him to take the camera and snap some pictures of his progress. I went back to sleep for 5 more minutes. Or 6.

Again, let me remind you that I was still snoozing. Apparently Leon didn't think to take a photo of all the ingredients for y'all. So............you need some of this.

And some of this. The one in the back that is for pork. It is sooooooooooooo good! And you also need 2 Boston Butt pork roasts. Or 1 or 3 or however many you plan on cooking. We cooked 2.


You need to take that olive oil and rub it all over your butt. Well, not YOUR butt. The pork butt. Then you grab that McCormick Grill Mates that you see in the picture, and rub that all over the pork. It should look like this.


Then you want to get your grill ready. We happen to be lucky enough to get free hickory from my Daddy's tree in Ky. Every time he and my Mom come visit, Daddy brings us hickory. That is killer because those little bags of hickory from the store get expensive. Leon split that up all pretty like and threw it on the coals that he banked to one side of the grill. See.......


Then he threw the two butts on the grill opposite of the charcoal side. This way there isn't too much heat on them and they can cook and smoke nice and slow. We happen to LOVE smokey flavor on grilled food at our house. The smokier the better.






When you get the smoke rolling really well, put the top on the grill. You can see we have an old, trusty Weber kettle grill. We love it.




Leon grilled the butts for 7 hours. He skimped on the photos, but know that he did have to add more coals about half way through. He filled a starter chimney 1/2 full and added it. Anytime he opened the grill he sprayed the pork with apple juice. This is something we have seen or read somewhere, not sure where. It's supposed to keep the meat moister. Is moister a word? More moist, maybe?
When it's all done, it should look like this..........




See that yummy bark all over it? YUM!
I can't blame Leon for the blurry picture. I took it. We had our neighbors over, and everyone was ready to eat, and I am not sure they were thrilled with the fact that I needed to photograph it first. But, OH WELL!!!!
Leon grabbed a knife and sliced the fat off the top. We were told SEVERAL times by our neighbor not to do that again, because he loves that part. Sorry Greer! I promise next time, it is all yours. Then, with 2 forks, Leon started pulling them apart. So tender and juicy and delicious. And smokey.





Mmm Mmm Mmmm
I opened 3 cans of Bush's Griller Beans and didn't feel the need to tell y'all how I did that. It was easy. I also made some slaw, but that was way too simple to blog about too. Maybe someone has a really good red slaw recipe that they would like to share with me? That would make me happy.







Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork
The first thing you need to do, (which we didn't because we were sleeping) is get your hickory soaking in water. (Ours turned out just fine anyway.) We use big pieces of hickory and they should really soak overnight. If you are using chips from the store, they only need to soak an hour or so.
1 Boston Butt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (enough to coat butt)
McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub (enough to coat meat)
apple juice to spray on the pork when you open the grill
Get your grill ready, when it's hot, bank your coals to one side of the grill.
Add Hickory to create some REAL smoke
Add the butt/butts to the side of the grill away from the charcoal.
When that wood is really smoking throw the lid on it.
Let the grill do all the work. Low and slow. Cook at about 250-275 for 6-8 hours.
Remove from the grill, rest for 20 minutes, and shred with 2 forks.