It's Grillin' Time - Finally!

Well warm weather has sure been a long time coming to Northern IL, and when it has warmed up it proceeded to rain 8 inches over 2 days so  today when the sun came out and the temperature hit the upper 70s it was time to break out (and break in) the new grill.

I decided I didn't need that big grill with the fridge and warming drawer any longer and sold it on Craig's List...  I planned on getting a smaller gas grill and perhaps getting a bigger smoker.. But while at Sears I saw this model on sale and decided to pull the trigger on it.  It is pretty cool, it has a side burner, and rotisserie as well as Sear burner so I should be all set for grilling...  But what it also has is a small oven with separate controls and burner..  Not too big but I bet it would make a pretty good batch of that new cornbread recipe I shared last month!

 All Stainless Steel and if I had natural gas piped to it, it could be converted....



The Oven is on the right side  - it even has it's own timer....  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I broke it in with a steak and pork chop and really what I wanted to really talk about from a cooking standpoint.  Recently I have been seeing these mini-sweet peppers in resealable bags.  Small sweet peppers in red,  yellow and orange.  Even though they are small (and usually the smaller the pepper the hotter the pepper) these are not hot at all.  So I thought hey how about stuffing them with some cream cheese and roasting them.  They were GREAT but I think I will have to invest in a pepper roasting rack shortly...  Anyway - had them with some yellow corn and butter noodles with a Charred RARE Strip Steak tonight...  (Sandy had the pork chop)

Ikey watched intently from the back door.... and he sure enjoyed the nice weather - running like a mad man chasing the rabbits out of his back yard...

I know I should have more color on the plate but  it sure tasted good!

 

Pheasant Poppers

Just a quick post here. A couple of posts back I posted some pheasant breasts wrapped in pepper bacon and grilled... So my mind started working I was watching a cooking show about appetizers and one was a jalapeno popper and that started me thinking.... So bear with me on this one, as the recipe is a little "loose" in it's construction but I'll think you'll get the idea.

2 whole pheasant breasts (boned out)

4 oz cream cheese

1 tsp of paprika (sweet or smoked either one)

1/2 tsp of Chili powder

1/4 tsp granulated garlic

few drops hot sauce

small can of water chestnuts (sorry only need 6-8 slices of them total - depending on the number of pieces of breast meat you get)

either pepperocinis or jalapeno pepper slices (same thing one per piece of breast meat

1 cup bottled Balsamic vinegar dressing

4-6 slices of bacon

6-8 toothpicks

First bone out the breasts and pound each fillet to a about 1/4 " thin.

Mix next 5 ingredients together until well blended.

Place Tablespoon (more or less depending on size of breast) of cream cheese mixture near one of the short ends of the pounded breast)

Place one slice each of the water chestnut and pepper on the cream cheese and roll.

Secure with one toothpick.

Take bacon slice and wrap the pheasant roulette in a covering of bacon, and secure with another toothpick.

Marinate refrigerated in dressing for 20 mints to hour.

Place on hot grill - watching for flare ups due to oil. Cook until bacon is cooked and cream cheese starts to run out.

Serve with favorite dipping sauce.

Ike, thanks for getting me these birds.. Couldn't do it without you buddy.