Fire sticks - Pheasant style

Since my post yesterday had nothing to do with Ike, and he reminded me that the title of this is cooking with Ike not Steve I thought I should give him some time to shine. Ike is now 14 months old and a great addition to the family. Here are a couple of pictures of him with his first retrieves while in training. He was a natural. Because I had additional pheasants this year due to his training I had to find more than the traditional pot pie so I will intersperce some recipes focusing on pheasant in honor of Ike (and the fact I have so darn many of them in the freezer and had to get creative.)

Ike's training so far has consisted of pointing and retrieving raised birds as for those of you that are not familiar with Illinois hunting, the natural habitat and wild birds have disappeared due to urban Growth and increased intensity farming. Organizations like Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are grassroots organizations working on restoring the habitat and in turn the birds as well. In future posts I will share with you the exploits both culinary as well as hunting of some local sportsman's clubs.

The following recipe is for pheasant breasts but I suppose you could use chicken or turkey cutlets too... but Ike didn't point them, after all this is cooking with Ike. Enjoy!

Remove the breast of the pheasant and skin it as well
Check for shot
Soak them in saltwater for at least an hour
Cut the breast of the pheasant into strips
Marinate overnight in the following mixture:
Olive Oil
Apple Juice
Durkee Hot Sauce (or your favorite make them as hot as you like - after all it is called fire
sticks)
Couple drops of Liquid Smoke
Fresh Garlic sliced thin (this is where I think more is better)
Honey
(I add a couple slices of fresh Ginger here too-wasn't in the original recipe an old hunter gave
me but I figure it is my pheasant I can do what I want)
Prepare a dry breading of Bread crumbs (either Panko or original) cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt
Remove from marinate and dredge in the breadcrumbs and fry in 350* peanut oil until golden brown and delicious.

I tried baking them once, but honestly I didn't like them so I don't recommend that.

Great with a bbq dipping sauce, sweet and sour, or even various mustards, great finger food at a party.

Basil - my favorite herb

Basil- Have you ever thought about herbs and spices? I guess at the basic level the difference between an herb and a spice is an herb uses the leaf and a spice is the seed (OK before you all email me I know, cinnamon is spice and it uses the bark not the seed). We even have the same plant named twice - coriander for the seed (spice) and cilantro for the leaf (herb)... OK no more ramblings... Now to Basil....

I started thinking about this tonight as I was making a grilled pizza - how much I have come to enjoy Basil - I grew 6 different varieties in my aerogarden one winter - Man I was putting basil in everything.. (it was the ONLY thing I could grow well in that machine a testimony to the herb's hardiness I am sure). Anyway, I was thinking, where would we be without it? No Margarita Pizzas, no Bruschetta, and no Pesto. Red gravy (sauce) would never taste the same and I think between that and garlic an entire cuisine would be crushed if not for them. I really enjoy the fresh and earthy flavor of basil when combined with a ripe Roma tomato, fresh buffalo mozzarella, a splash of extra virgin Olive oil fresh cracked black pepper and some aged Balsamic vinegar. A Caprese Salad - Another of my favorite things.... Chinese cuisine has ginger, French has tarragon, but the Italians, they have Sweet Basil.... mmmm

Oh one last little tidbit of info - recent studies have shown the plant is toxic to mosquitoes - like we need another reason to grow, eat and enjoy Basil...

Here's a basic recipe for Pesto....

1 cup (packed Basil Leaves)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Pine nuts

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic (if you really like garlic maybe a little more)

Incorporate dry ingredients in food processor and then drizzle in the olive oil

Store (even freeze) in an air tight container... up to 3 months (frozen) - but I bet it won't last that long.

Try it over gnocchi with a little of the starchy cooking water to thin it out. Or even rev up a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich by spreading a little pesto on the bread before toasting.

Smokin'

For my first post I thought nothing is more representative of summer than cooking some ribs on the BBQ. Well, smokin' them is more like it. Earlier this year I broke down and got a Weber Smoker (ranked #1 by America's Test Kitchen by the way) and have done Country Style Ribs, Baby Backs, Brisket, and Pheasant Breasts wrapped in bacon -(that's a later post, thanks Ike). So today I thought nothing would be more appropriate for my first post and represent summer more than smoking some ribs.
I really like this Weber as it is easy to keep the temp in that smoking zone of 200-250 degrees and it has 2 racks as well as a water bowl to infuse more flavor. For these baby backs I used Lump Charcoal and soaked a couple handfuls of Pecan chips. I really like the flavor of the pecan - not as sharp as Mesquite.

I also want to give credit where credit is due - I use a Kansas City Rib Rub - Sweet with a little hint of heat see the link to A GREAT site for all kinds of rubs http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/Rub_Recipes_Recipes_for_all_kinds_of_rubs_for_all_kinds_of_meats.htm


Here are couple of pics of the middle and end of the process . I smoked them for 3 hours (nice smoke ring and crusty bark on them by then). I then slathered them with our favorite BBQ sauce and put them in a 200 degree oven for 2-3 more hours wrapped tightly in foil. They become fall off the bone tender and carmelize that sweet bbq sauce.... Mmmmm (Props to America's Test Kitchen for this hint)

Now that is a classic summer meal. Hope you like my first post. (Ike gives it 4 paws :)