Caramelized Onion Smoked Meatloaf, Finished on the Grill

The balmy winter of 2015-16 is a thing of the past.  The 2016-17 winter is shaping up to be like any other winter around here.  Windy, cold, and snowy.  This year I have plowed and shoveled as much if not more than I did last year.  Time to think about some comfort food.  

One dish that I have not had in a very long time is meatloaf.  I had a craving for some on a recent cold and windy Saturday.  I have been wanting to try cooking one on the smoker for quite some time now.  With the Girls baking Christmas cookies in the kitchen on this day, making this meal on the smoker and grill kept me out of the kitchen.  A plan came together.

Caramelized Onion Smoked Meatloaf

2 lb ground chuck.  I used the 80:20 as I was going to lose fat during the smoking and I didn't want to dry it out on the grill

1/2 large sweet onion, diced

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese.  Used as a binder for a gluten challenged friend.

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp celery salt

Olive oil for caramelizing the onion

First, I diced the onion and slowly caramelized the over low heat until half of the onions were caramelized and half were still tendercrisp.  Then I placed the ground meat and the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl and incorporated the onions.  Next, I placed the mixture into a well greased loaf pan.  Once the loaf was formed, I placed the pan outside into the 20 F weather for about 40 minutes to firm up the meat so it would slide out of the pan in one piece.  

I set up my smoker to run at 300 F and added some pecan chunks to the firebox for some smoke.  I slid the meatloaf out of the pan onto a cookie sheet, then I placed the cookie sheet into the smoker.  

I was shooting for 135 F as an internal temperature for the meatloaf.  After an hour, the temperature was 140 F.  So, I removed the cookie sheet and let it sit outside in the cold weather to firm up for slicing.  While I was waiting on the meatloaf to cool, I fired up a chimney of lump charcoal to grill off my slices.  

I apparently did not get all of the air out of my meatloaf before cooking as I did have some splitting after the smoking.  

But, I was still able to get some slices out of the loaf.  As you can see, it was still pink in the middle.  Just was I was shooting for.

I then took the slices of meatloaf out to the grill for a quick sear.  The fire had gone down in intensity a bit, so I ended up grilling them off for about 4 minutes a side.  Yes, the picture is not the best...

I served the meatloaf with some gravy, roasted garlic, dill, and feta mashed potatoes, and some oven roasted broccoli.  

I decided on the grilling step as I generally do not like smoked ground beef.  It has a tendency to dry out and have a grainy mouth feel as well as become over smoked.  But, this meatloaf was good stuff.     The smoke flavor was not overpowering.  The taste was a blend of the taste you remember from the meatloaf you had as a child, along with that good char you get from the grill.  I need to tweak the spices in the meat.  But, I deem this a successful first pass.  How do I know?  The leftovers were gone the next day.  

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Imo's Pizza - St. Louis Style Pizza

This past October, Hope and I were lucky enough to be invited to travel to Kansas City, KS with our good friends from Red Valley BBQ to help them compete in this years American Royal World Series of BBQ.  It was a week long adventure with numerous culinary adventures.  The trip out to Kansas City started early one Saturday morning and was broken up over two days.  We spent the first night in St. Louis.

I told everyone that I did not care where we ate during the whole trip.  But, I wanted to try out this St. Louis Style Pizza that I had read about on the Internet.  So, on night one of the great BBQ tour, we had pizza for dinner.  Go figure.

What is a a St. Louis Style pizza you ask?  Well, it is a pizza made with a dough that does not contain  yeast.  Also, when they slice the pizza, it is done so by cutting squares out of a round pie.  Crazy.  After some consultation with some BBQ friends that used to live in St. Louis, we were steered towards Imo's Pizza, a local chain of some renown.

Other than the dough, the St. Louis pizza is just like any other pie.  Red sauce and any topping that your heart desires.  For one pizza, I chose bacon and hot banana peppers.

The other pizza was a traditional pepperoni and sausage.  

The sauce was perfect.  Savory with just a hint of sweet.  Almost like Pizza Hut from my younger years before they changed their recipe and added a boat load of sugar.  As for the crust, this pizza is the ultimate thin crust.  Very crisp, very tasty. The topping to dough ratio is about 50:50.  Due to the lack of dough, you could probably down a whole pie on your own.  You definitely do not feel bloated  walking away from the table after eating this pizza.  The best description of this pizza I heard was that it was like eating a pizza made on a saltine crust.  Overall, I give Imo's and the St. Louis pizza experience four stars out of five.  

Stay tuned over the next few weeks.  We will be reviewing some of the traditional hot spots on the Kansas City culinary scene.  

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

The Smoking Cow

Earlier this year, The Grilled Cheese Academy ran their yearly grilled cheese contest on the Book of Faces.  $10,000 was to be awarded to the winner.  That would finance a lot of BBQ competitions for sure.  So, I decided to meld my love of BBQ into a gooey grilled cheese sandwich. After some deliberation, I decided upon a pulled beef sandwich with a buffalo twist.  I give you The Smoking Cow.

First, I took a chick roast and seasoned liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic.  I brought my smoker to a temperature of 250 F and added some pecan chunks to the fire to use as my smoking wood. I placed the roast in an aluminum pan and placed the pan in the smoker.  After the roast reached 175 F, I covered the pan tightly with aluminum foil and brought the roast to a temperature of 205 F.  I then removed the pan from the smoker and allowed the chuck roast to rest on the counter for one hour while still covered.  Then Hope pulled the meat off of the bone.  I gotta tell you, it was hard not to eat all of the pulled beef at this point.  It was that good.

The rest of the sandwich goes like this.

Buffaloed Cole Slaw

1, 1 lb package of pre made cole slaw mix that contains carrot
1 celery rib, finely diced
1/4 cup of finely diced sweet onion
1/4 cup of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1/2 cup of your favorite buffalo ranch wing sauce

I mixed the ingredients together to use as a topping for the grilled cheese.  By the way, the slaw is so good, you could use this as a stand alone side dish.  I loved the spiciness of the dressing mixed with the creaminess of the Gorgonzola cheese.  The celery and onion just helped to add that buffalo flavor.

Next, it was time to build and grill the sandwich.  For bread, I used asiago cheese bread from Pepperidge Farm.  You could use any bread of choice.  I would probably use something nice and crusty the next time around.

I buttered the outside of the bread and placed two pieces of thinly sliced provolone cheese on each piece of bread.  Then, I placed a generous helping of pulled beef on top of one half of the sandwich.

Next I topped the meat with the buffalo ranch cole slaw and placed the other half of the sandwich on top for grilling.

Hope and I pulled out our trusty cast iron skillet and grilled the sandwich over medium high heat.

I really love how this sandwich turned out.  All of the flavors came together nicely.  Spicy, creamy Gorgonzola, melted provolone, crispy cheese bread.  We uploaded our entry in anticipation of doing well in the contest.

Unfortunately, we did not win this year.  Perhaps we will have better luck next year.  But, we did have fun creating this sandwich.  I suggest that you try this grilled cheese at home.  You won't be disappointed.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Chicken Shawarma Pizza

I'm not the type to go out to lunch too often.  I usually brown bag leftovers from the night before.  If I went out to lunch all the time, I would be broke and weigh 350 pounds.  But from time to time, the guys in the office go out for lunch when we need some time away from the rat race.  Occasionally, we head to this great Lebanese place close to work by the name of Aladdin's Eatery.  They serve a healthy, diverse menu that doesn't break the bank.  One of my favorites is the Chicken Shawarma Pita Wrap.  Marinaded grilled chicken, wrapped up in a pillowy fresh pita with tomatoes and greens.  I also add black olives, crumbled feta, onions, and a dab of their outstanding hummus.  It really is good stuff.

One night earlier this summer, I was in the mood for hummus, but we were having pizza for dinner.  I decided to get creative and see if I could turn this pita wrap into pizza form.

First, I took a boneless, skinless chicken breast and marinaded in a mixture of olive oil, the juice of a lemon, some kosher salt, and a teaspoon of Balti seasoning.

My mom turned me on to this seasoning with some spectacular pork tenderloins.  It is a mild curry type blend.  Not too hot and definitely not lacking in flavor.  After marinading the chicken for about an hour, I grilled the breasts until done.  After cooling, I cubed into bite sized chunks.

While the chicken was marinading, I whipped up a batch of hummus.  My hummus recipe is also from my mom.  I do not know where she came up with this recipe, but I would definitely put it up against any hummus served at a restaurant.  Here is the recipe:

Three Dogs BBQ Homemade Hummus

2, 16 oz cans of chickpeas
Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup of tahini (ground sesame paste)
3 garlic cloves, minced fine
1 Tbsp of Olive Oil, plus more for when serving
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Dried Parsley for garnish
Fine diced red onion for garnish

Drain the water from the chickpeas and reserve.

Process the above ingredients along with enough of the reserved chickpea water to obtain a soft, creamy consistency.  Add salt as needed to taste.  Serve with a drizzle of olive oil along with pita or tortilla chips.  I also add some dried parsley and diced red onion as well.

I couldn't pass up a little snack while I was waiting on the pizza dough to rise...

So, after Hope stretched out the pizza dough, I assembled the pizza.  I took the hummus that I had made and thinned it out a bit with some olive oil so that it could be spread across the dough.  Then I added in no particular order:

The grilled chicken breast
Thinly sliced Roma tomatoes
Thinly sliced red onion
Black olives
Crumbled feta cheese

Then, the pizza went into the hot pizza oven.  Since there was not a lot of cheese to look for the "brown and bubbly" mark of being ready, I kept an eye on the crust.  When it looked brown and crispy, I pulled the pie from the pizza oven.

I declare this experiment wildly successful.  I was worried about how the hummus would turn out after being exposed to high heat.  But, it did not separate and had a nice roasted flavor.  The next time I am craving some Middle Eastern flavor, I am making this pizza again.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill