SHAWARMA KEBAB BIG GREEN EGG

 KAMADO BARBECUE COOKING

Winner winner family dinner, this spicy succulent juicy smokey chicken shawarma was woofed down by my family, stuffed into flatbreads and loaded with aioli, slaw, salad and pickled kebab peppers, hot sauce not needed as there is a good chilli kick in the chicken marinade.

Kebab is such a dirty word in the UK, we have so many mass produced cheap doner kebab suppliers that cheapen the food for people who just crave food and fat after midnight, these cheap doner kebabs have their place and I have had a fair few in my days!  But kebabs are a wonderful food when done well, a joy to eat.

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

The Chicken Brine Up To 24 hrs

3 ltrs cold water

150g sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 kg chicken breasts

Combine all the brine ingredients, stir well to dissolve the salt, place the chicken breasts in to the brine and cover, pop in the fridge for up to 24 hours

The Shawarma Spice Marinade 

1/2 cup olive oil

1 leg lemon zest and juice

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and coat the brined drained chicken throughly.  Leave to marinate for a couple of hours or even better over night.

To Serve

6 flatbreads

(want to make your own, recipe below)

1 iceberg lettuce finely shredded

2 lemons halved

1 red onion finely sliced

1 400g jar kebab pickled peppers

Aioli 

3 cloves garlic finely grated

300g mayonnaise 

1/2 lemon juiced

Mix the ingredients together and chill until needed.

Slaw

1/2 white cabbage finely shredded

1 lrg carrot julienne

1 red onion finely sliced

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

200g mayonnaise

Mix the Dijon, apple cider vinegar, turmeric and black pepper in the mayonnaise, then mix through the rest of the ingredients and chill until needed.

KAMADO BARBECUE

Oak and hickory charcoal and one hickory wood chunk 250 C / 482 F

No barbecue then 200 C / 392 F in your oven.

If you want the charr for that extra flavour then on a flat top or cast iron griddle on the stove.

Cut the marinated chicken into large chunks, place on your skewer, simply cook over your coals for approx 7 minutes, turn and repeat, if your using a temperature probe I cook chicken to 78-83 C / 172-181 F, then rest for 10 minutes.

Serve family style where everyone can dive in and stuff their breads or lettuce leaves to their likin.

Flat Breads

Ingredients 

(makes 6-8)

500g 00 caputo Italian flour

10g Himalayan sea salt 

50g extra virgin olive oil 

15g yeast

320g water

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and either by hand or by machine with a dough hook mix for seven minutes, then dust a little flour over the dough mix and gently form into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm area to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size if you want to use after the prove, other options are to prove the dough slowly in the fridge for 24hrs for a even better depth of flavour and texture, this is what I do as it gives me much more control over time and usage, this will keep for 48hrs in the fridge ready to go when you are, you can also freeze any left over dough at this stage, then when ready to use remove from the freezer defrost and once up to room temperature use as you would fresh.

 Take a oversized golf ball piece of dough, dust your work top with a little 00 flour, roll out a large disk no bigger than your skillet if your not cooking in a wood fired oven, heat to a hot heat, place the flat bread in the pan and cook for one and a half minutes on each side, best served warm, so wrap the cooked flatbreads in a tea towel to keep warm.  

Theseare almost as good used later the same day, to use the following day dip the flat breads in water and pop in a pre heated oven for 3-5 minutes and Ta-Da almost as good as fresh.

CHAO FAN RICE WITH STICKY GINGER PORK

 Where has this dish been all my life!  How could I have not had this, especially as my husband lived in Hong Kong and used to go The Mariners Club where this was one of his favourite dishes!

This recipe is easier to throw together after a Chinese feast using particular leftovers, but I did make this from scratch for my husband and it was totally worth the little extra effort braising the belly pork.

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

Chao Fan

200g honey, ginger belly pork (recipe below)

1 thick slice of ham small diced

1 cup of petit pois peas cooked

1 thumb size piece ginger finely diced

1 large green pepper small diced

6 spring onions finely sliced

1 cup of basmati rice

2 cups of light chicken stock

Sticky Honey Ginger Pork Belly

This gorgeous melt in the mouth belly pork is just divine, worth the hour and half wait.

Ingredients 

( 1 1/2 hrs oven cook)

500g belly pork

1 tsp five spice

1 tbsp soy

1 tbsp sliced ginger

1 ltr chicken stock

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp caster sugar

Glaze

4 tbsp honey

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp grated ginger

1 red chilli finely diced

For the glaze, mix all the glaze ingredients together, heat in a pan until the sugar has dissolved and you have a sticky glaze.

Rub the belly pork with the soy sauce and five spice, reserve to one side to marinated for half an hour, overnight is even better.

Pre heat your oven to 160 C / 320 F.  Place the belly pork in a casserole dish with a lid, add the rest of the braising ingredients, pop on the lid and place in the oven for around one and a half hours, check after 1 hour, the pork is done when it is gelatinous and you can pull it apart with no effort.

Chop into small bite size pieces and toss in the glaze.

Perfect Rice

1 cup of basmati rice

2 cups of light chicken stock

The key to successful rice is simply do not stir or take the lid off the pan!

Rinse the rice in a sieve and place in your pan along with the stock, pop on a lid and bring to a simmer, turn down the heat to a low simmer, under no circumstances take the lid off or stir the rice!  Simmer for 6 minutes then take the rice off the heat and leave to one side for a further 5 minutes, perfect cooked rice.

Fluff up the rice with a fork and stir in all the chao fan ingredients, that is it, enjoy.

GUY FIERI BURGER WITH SMC, MAC N CHEESE AND DONKEY SAUCE

Best Burger EVER ! 

Kamado Cooking

This is out of bounds as the man himself would say…chuck steak, short rib and ribeye minced together with sweetcure bacon, pickled jalapeños and shallot, seasoned with salt and black pepper, formed into 5 oz  balls, then a single smash (no lace) so make it count, cooked on cast iron over oak and hickory coals in the Big Green Egg Kamado at 230 C / 446 F.

Best eaten in private or with people who love you!

Burger Ingredients

(makes 6 burgers)

500g cold chuck steak diced

200g cold short rib diced

200g cold ribeye diced

3 rashers sweetcure bacon diced

1 shallot roughly chopped

1/3 cup pickled jalapeños

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

Mix all the burger ingredients together, run through the mincer on a medium fine blade, divide the mix roughly by six and form into balls ready to smash.

Donkey Sauce

1 large bulb of garlic

Olive oil

Sea salt

Tin foil

1 cup mayonnaise 

1 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Sea salt and black pepper

Pre heat oven to 180 C / 256 F.  Place the whole garlic bulb on the tin foil sheet, drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt, wrap up the foil around the garlic creating a wigwam structure, bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until you can squeeze the no garlic purée from the bulb.

In a food processor blitz all the ingredients together.

Fixings

6 buns

150g garlic butter

1 red onion finely sliced in rings

3 dill whole pickles thinly sliced longways

1/2 cup pickled jalapeños 

2 tomatoes finely sliced

SMC

(SUPER MELTY CHEESE)

I’ve taken guy’s super melty cheese burger sauce and combined the sauce recipe with a gram flour (gluten free) roux bechamel to make cheese burger slices, this allows for more super melty cheese on the burger!

 INGREDIENTS 

30g butter

30g gram flour (chickpea flour)

3 cups half and half

280g velveeta cheese diced

140g smoked gouda freshly grated

140g white cheddar freshly grated

140g provolone diced

1 tbsp Tabasco or Franks hot sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Melt the butter and whisk in the gram flour, cook on a medium heat for five minutes, add 2/3 cup of half and half and whisk in until you have a smooth thick paste, add another cup of half and half and repeat until all the milk is used.  Cook the sauce on a medium heat for 10 minutes,  add the velveeta and stir until melted, add the rest of the ingredients and stir until melted, at this point take two ladles of sauce and reserve keeping warm for the mac n cheese.   Line a low sided baking tray with baking paper, pour the cheese sauce on the tray, with a spatula level off the sauce, pop in the fridge to chill and set.  Cut into squares to fit your burgers.

Mac n Cheese

Cook your macaroni elbows and stir in to your warm reserved cheese sauce.

COOK AND ASSEMBLE THE BURGER

Heat your kamado to 230 C / 446 F.  Place your plancher or cast iron skillet in on the grill to pre heat.

Take your Pattie balls and place on the plancher, using two crisscrossed burger spatulas or a cast iron burger press, press down firmly and evenly only once to flatten out the burger, cook for around 2-3 minutes until a nice crust has formed, flip over, cook for 1 minute then add your cheese slice, squirt some water on the plancher and cover the burger with a dome, I use a stainless steel mixing bowl.  This will create steam that will melt the cheese without over cooking the burger.

Butter your buns with the garlic butter and toast on the plancher.

To load the burgers up…

Bun base

Donkey sauce

Cheese burger

Donkey sauce

Cheese burger

Cheeseburger

Red onion slices

Tomatoes

Dill pickles

Jalapeños 

Mac and cheese

Donkey sauce

Bun lid

Remember to tuck and roll when eating this!

KAMADO HICKORY OAK SMOKED CHIPOTLE CHICKEN FAJITAS

Big Green Egg

NEXT LEVEL FAJITAS

 This recipe uses natural oak and hickory coals from Big Green Egg and hickory wood chunks to add great smokey and charred flavour to an already marinated Gran Luchito smokey ancho chipotle chicken fajitas.  What takes this fajitas to an over the top level is from charring the peppers, tomatoes, onions, spring onions, jalapeños and lime wedges on the kamado.

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

4 chicken breasts sliced

1 tbsp gran Luchito Mexican BBQ fajitas mix

1 tbsp gran Luchito chipotle chilli paste

2 green peppers cut into 4 pieces

4 tomatoes whole (for the pico de gallo)

4 fresh jalapeños whole

8 spring onions trimmed whole

2 limes cut in half

2 red onions sliced rings

Guacamole 

2 ripe avocados

1/4 red pepper finely diced

2 spring onions finely sliced

1 fresh jalapeno finely diced

1 lime juiced 

4 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

Pico de gallo

The 4 charred tomatoes from the grill, finely chop

1 small red onion finely diced

1 fresh jalapeno finely diced

2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

1 lime juiced

Accompaniments 

16 small or 4 large corn flour tortillas

1 iceberg lettuce finely shredded

1 large tub sour cream

1 cup pickled sliced jalapeños 

Grated cheddar optional

Fire up your kamado grill, for this cook I like to control the temperature around 250C / 480 F.  When your ready to cook pop in one or two hickory wood chunks.

Marinate the chicken in the gran Luchito dry rub and chipotle chilli paste, place on skewers and place on the grill to cook, don’t turn the chicken until half way cooked, this ensures the chicken is seared and sealed and will not stick when you turn the skewers over, also this adds a gorgeous charred flavour.  Cook the remaining side for two minutes, then take off and rest for five minutes.

At the same time as the chicken place the peppers, tomatoes, red onion rings, spring onions, jalapeños and lime halves on the grill, charr slightly for the same time the chicken is grilling, adding great flavour.

Once charred slice the peppers and mix with the onions, slice the jalapeños and spring onions then reserve the tomatoes for the pico de gallo.

Guacamole

Deseed the avocados and mash roughly

Mix in the red pepper, spring onion, jalapeños, lime juice and coriander.

Pico de gallo

Mix all the ingredients together and season with salt and black pepper.

To serve mix the smokey chipotle chicken fajitas with the charred peppers, onions, spring onions and jalapeños, squeeze the juice from the limes over the fajitas and serve family style piled high with the accompaniments of corn flour tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, pickled jalapeños and optional grated cheese, enjoy your wraps to your own style.

KAMADO BARBECUE KOREAN SHORT RIBS

 BIG GREEN EGG

Barbecue by

Miss Kristi-Lou

Aromatic sticky ginger Korean short ribs, marinated in a soy, sesame, ginger, garlic and honey paste, cooked over direct heat in the BGE adding that extra depth of flavour only cooking over coals can give you.

I urge you to marinate these ribs over night as this really sets the flavour in and makes a big difference.

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

Marinade

5” piece ginger roughly chopped

1 shallot peeled and halved

2 cloves garlic peeled

4 tbs honey

5 tbs soy sauce (gluten free for me)

2 tbs mirin

2 tbs sesame oil

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 kg Korean cut short ribs

Ask your butcher for the LA galbi cut, this is where the short ribs are cut in very thin slices across the bone.

To serve

Garlic saffron rice, with ginger and green peppers.

Blitz all the marinade ingredients together and on a flat baking tray massage into and all over the short ribs, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

Fire up your kamado for direct heat cooking, maintain a cooking temperature of 200-220c / 392-428f.

Place your ribs on the grill and close the lid, every 2 minutes turn until the ribs are caramelised and have charred in places, around 4-6 minutes in total.  Remind your family there are three slices of bone in the rib as they dive in, serve with a side of rice or stuff into iceberg leaves with a sweet chilli sauce.