Happy Man Food Monday! Happy Veterans day!
With the holidays rushing towards us I figured that this week I would work on a side dish that my wife introduced me too. I like vegetables and Michelle makes a baked winter root vegetable dish that we all love here. We talked and I suggested that I cook this on the smoker to see how it changed/enhanced the taste.
I used a Square grill basket which did not quite fit under the top of my Brinkman smoker, this was a mistake on my part and extended the cook time significantly. Make sure the grill pan you are going to buy to use on the smoker fits. I will be buying a round grill pan that fits for the next cook.
This is the grill basket I used.
I lined the bottom with foil to hold in the oil and moisture from the vegetables.
Let me start by saying that any winter root vegetable is good to use here, but the rutabaga in my opinion is the anchor to this dish. YUCK rutabaga right? <grin> It really is good cooked this way. Mix and match the other veggies as you want using the HARD thick vegetables of winter just try to keep them in equal parts. Don’t over load the grill basket because the food will take longer to cook. Depending on the depth of your grill basket I suggest no more that 2 inches deep in vegetables IF you have a large crowd to feed you may want to have 2 baskets going on the different levels.
The size of the vegetable pieces should be some what uniform so that they cook evenly. So lets get started.
I used:
Turnips
Rutabaga
Beets
Carrots
Sweet potatoes
Butternut squash
You will also need:
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Apple wood chunks for the smoke
Wash and peel all your veggies, cut them into about 1/2 inch pieces mix them together.
At this time I would get the smoker started and bring it up to a temp of around 300 to 350.
Toss your vegetables in olive oil to evenly coat. Salt and pepper and toss again. Load this mix into your grill basket remember not to over fill, if you have too many veggies to use you can opt to put them into a baking pan and cook them in the oven at 350°, you will not get the smoky flavor but they will be good none the less. Load the apple wood chunks into the smoker and adjust till your running a consistent temp between 300° and 350°. Add the grill basket(s) and using your BBQ thermometer monitor the temp so that it does not fluctuate too low.
The veggies are done when you can stick a fork into the harder ones with little effort. It “should” be about 1 1/2 hours could be longer if your temperature fluctuates to much. If when you check them for tenderness they look dry spray them with more olive oil and cover.
If you get in a bind and need to get these done quicker you can finish them off in the oven at 350° they will retain the smoke flavor.
The smoky flavor is worth the effort these were great with the chuck roast we had for dinner.
Well that’s it for this week. Please let me know if you try this and what you think.
Go hug a Veteran today because they did what they did we can do this!
Until next week, keep warm winter’s Coming!
Steve
Portobello mushrooms are a species of champignons. This mushroom tastes real nice and can become a great substitute for meat during Lent. You can make soups with it, cook over a grill and even make barbecue after marinating for just 15 minutes. I was making two kinds of dish from it – no-fast and Lenten.
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I looked at a lot os smokers and did a lot of research on the internet. I took what I liked from all that I saw and we also did some trial and error. Several times we would tack a piece on to see how it was going to work or what it looked like, sometimes we wouldn’t like it or it just did not look right or would not work – So we would cut it off , grind it down and start again. We did not have to do that much. We took our time, checked and re-checked our fit and Ratio Calculator before we welded solid. The moor I cook on it the more comfortable I get with it. The smoker really cook great with even temps.On our plate that runs under the pull out racks, we made in two pieces of 1/4″ . On the firebox end we have a piece of plate that is about 6″ wide welded in solid then we have the two pieces that but up against each other that lay in resting on angle. about 6″ open at the other end. plenty of heat and smoke. That way they can be removed for cleaning. They are also at a slight slope so the excess grease and drippings will run down to the drain end. I have checked it several time to make sure I am not getting any build-up. Drains great.
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Grilling is no different than cooking and usually takes place only a few feet from where the daily cooking occurs. There is very little difference between frying an egg in a frying pan and grilling some pork chops and vegetables on a grill. You will get much farther by practicing regular kitchen techniques on food to be cooked on the grill. Good temperature control, good hygiene, a little planning and a little logic will do miracles.
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