TFF: Bring on the cookout
This week for Tyler Florence Fridays I was ready to get the cookout started.
I chose to make Grilled Chicken with Peach Barbeque Sauce and Tolan’s Mom’s Potato Salad, both from the book Tyler’s Ultimate.
Of course I had big plans to use my outdoor grill but then realized we were out of propane… kind of an important part to the whole gas grilling thing. Now I live directly behind a huge shopping center with tons of stores and restaurants selling most everything I could ever need, but I avoid shopping like it’s the plague. Laziness and an unwillingness to go shopping usually leads to some alternative thinking for me. I got to looking around on foodnetwork and saw that Tyler’s BBQ chicken recipe there had you grilling for a few minutes and then transferring to a 350 degree oven for the remainder of the cooking time. I figured with those instructions, me and George (Foreman, that is) could still get this whole grilled chicken thing worked out.
If you look on foodnetwork.com at Tyler’s Top 100 Recipe list you will find that the majority of this list are chicken dishes, tons with 5 out of 5 ratings. So I knew going in that I pretty much was going to get something great. I wasn’t let down. The chicken is brined for two hours prior to cooking and doing it this way it turned out really moist. Cooking on the Foreman grill and then in the oven worked like a charm. The Peach Barbeque sauce was AMAZING. It was sweet, smoky and had a fresh flavor burst from white wine vinegar. I was so happy with it I’m not sure I’d bother looking for any other BBQ sauce recipe to try out this summer.
The potato salad was so different than what I’m used to, which is a good thing. I’ve never been a huge fan of potato salad but would tolerate it if I had to. This one had eggs, red onions, dill pickles, pickle juice and capers – some things you might not expect to see and things that made me interested in testing it out. I liked how he had the eggs cooking with the potatoes, that was a nice shortcut. Wasn’t disappointed here either, this was one of the best potato salads I’ve ever had.
Both of these dishes made up the perfect dinner for me and the boyfriend this past Memorial Day. Neither one of us had any complaints and there wasn’t anything leftover.
Now all I need is to add a few more Tyler dishes to the list alongside this BBQ chicken and potato salad and I’ll have the perfect cookout menu. Oh… and I guess I better get some propane, too.
Tyler Florence’s Grilled Chicken with Peach Barbeque Sauce
Ingredients
Brine:
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a large knife
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chickens, quartered (I used chicken breasts)
The Ultimate Barbecue Sauce:
1 slice bacon
1 bunch fresh thyme
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups ketchup
1 cup peach preserves
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground cumin (didn’t have any, left it out)
1 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
Click here for instructions!
Tyler Florence’s wife Tolan’s Mom’s Potato Salad
Ingredients
2 pounds small Yukon gold potatoes
2 large eggs
Kosher salt
1/2 bunch sliced scallions, white and green parts
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 cups mayonnaise (foodnetwork.com lists as 2 cups – only use 1!!!)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles with 1/4 cup juice, about 2 pickles
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 bunch dill, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Click here for directions!
Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce and Tolan’s Mom’s Potato Salad marks my fourteenth post for Tyler Florence Fridays, a group with the freedom to make any recipe of Tyler’s that they choose and then share their experiences every Friday.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chipster-Topped Brownies
Both brownies and chocolate chip cookies would likely make an appearance on most people’s favorite sweets list. I know both show up on mine. So why not put them together and make Dorie Greenspan’s Chipster-Topped Brownies? This week for Tuesdays with Dorie we got to do exactly that.
The bottom layer is a bittersweet brownie.
The top layer is a chocolate chip cookie.
The end result is pure goodness.
This was a pretty painless recipe, there isn’t too much to say about it. I didn’t have any problems except having to wash a mixing bowl twice. I halved the recipe and baked in an 8×8 pan for about 40 minutes. The only changes I made were I left out the walnuts and used all bittersweet chocolate in the brownies as somehow Unsweetened Chocolate was nowhere to be found in my jammed packed pantry. I’m sure it’s in there… somewhere!
Chipster-topped brownies reminded me of something my Mom would’ve packed in my lunchbox growing up. It has an “on the go” type feel to it – something you could wrap in plastic wrap and enjoy away from home. Or bake for a bake sale. This type of thought was probably due to the fact that I preferred them at room temp instead of warm. Maybe vanilla ice cream would have changed my mind on the warm ones, though. Also, leaving out the nuts seemed to take away some of the crunch these would have had, the chocolate chips didn’t really come through as much of a textural difference. We did really like these though, the pan of brownies kept getting smaller and smaller as the day progressed.
Thanks to Beth of Supplicious for choosing Chipster-topped Brownies for the May 26th, 2009 week of Tuesdays with Dorie. Please stop by Supplicious for the recipe here or check out Baking: From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan on pages 94 and 95. Next week, Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures chose Cinnamon Squares on pages 210 and 211. See you next Tuesday!
TWD – Fresh Mango Bread
Kelly of Baking with the Boys selected Fresh Mango Bread for the May 19th edition of Tuesdays with Dorie. I was real excited about this choice, this bread has always interested me because, well, mango bread is not something you see every day. Or ever.
This bread is spiced perfectly with ginger and cinnamon and has big chunks of mango and raisins. It’s similar to a banana bread but soooo much better.
I bought a mango but it go too ripe so I ended up using pre-cut mango chunks instead. I switched out light raisins for dark, dark brown sugar for light, and left out the lime zest because I simply forgot to put it in. I made a full recipe and baked for about one hour and 30 minutes. Stirring up this batter really hurt my arms, it was some THICK stuff. I felt totally weak and made a vow to do my 30 Day Shred video for more than just one day (have I done it for more than that first day?…. no). I used a foil tent the entire baking time so the top didn’t get too brown – better safe than sorry, and also followed the instructions about double lining the pans so the bottom didn’t brown too much either.
I had a piece soon after taking it out of the oven but, in my opinion, you really need to leave this bread alone for an entire day wrapped in plastic wrap. It was good that first day, but the second day it was perfection. The flavors and textures needed time to develop.
Also, the top gets kind of crispy which is one of my favorite things to have happen in baked goods. Can you tell I liked this bread? I really did. I even talked about it with a friend the next day and since I bake a lot more now than I ever have, I don’t talk much about individual recipes anymore outside of this blog.
Thanks to Kelly of Baking with the Boys for choosing this week’s recipe. Head on over here to view the recipeor you can check out Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours on page 45. Next week, it’s Chipster-Topped Brownies chosen by Beth of Supplicious.
TFF: Peach Couscous
This week for Tyler Florence Fridays I wanted to do something different. I’d been interested in trying the Apricot Couscous for a while so I thought I’d go with that. As I was buying all the ingredients I found that dried peaches were less than half the price of apricots. Since I really like saving all the money I work hard for, less than half price really spoke to me and Apricot Couscous turned into Peach Couscous.
This is a great idea for a quick, easy side dish. Or dinner if you’re like me and generally only make one thing to eat. It’s light, but packs a lot of flavor. The combinations of orange, peach and scallions was interesting and different to me. Both the boyfriend and I thought this was pretty good. There’s a amped up version of this recipe on foodnetwork here from Tyler’s Ultimate but I just went with the more basic version below this first time around.
Tyler Florence’s Couscous with Apricots
Show: Food 911 Episode: Moroccan in Miami
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups couscous
2 cups hot chicken stock
10 dried apricots, chopped
2 scallions, sliced thin, green parts only
1 orange, juiced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish (I used extra scallions as the garnish)
Directions
Put the couscous in a medium bowl; pour the hot stock over it and stir to combine. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Barefoot Backtrack: Croque Monsieur
First things first… Kate of Warm Olives and Cool Cocktails was up to select the first May recipe for the Barefoot Bloggers. She chose Ina Garten’s Tuna Salad. Now, I’ve already made the Tuna Salad in the past. The boyfriend loved it. I was so-so about it mostly due to the textures of the tuna and avocado together but flavor wise it was fine. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about making the required recipe until I saw a post about a new feature called “Barefoot Backtracking” where every once in a while you have the opportunity to switch out the required recipe for one of the ones you missed in the past. Woo hoo!
I haven’t actually missed that many BB recipes since joining the group – only four: the Butterflied Chicken, Real Meatballs and Spaghetti, Meringues Chantilly and Croque Monsieur. I knew without a doubt that the Croque Monsieur was what I was making for the backtrack. I got too busy at the end of April to get that recipe completed and I saw the posting due date come and go in a flash. Even still, this French version of a hot ham and cheese sandwich stuck in my mind and tortured me as I read through my Google Reader. 
Now, this isn’t the most photogenic thing out there but let me assure you that looks aren’t everything!
These were delicious. Crunchy toasty bread, mustard, tons of melted cheese, Black Forest ham and a peppery Cheese sauce…. MMMMMMM!!! I made them for an afternoon lunch on Mother’s Day and we really enjoyed them. The recipe called for Gruyère cheese which my little local store wasn’t carrying last week. I just used a regular $3.00 block of Swiss instead with no complaints. For the mustard I tried both a whole grain dijon as well as a spicy brown mustard. The ones with the spicy brown mustard tasted a little better. I would make these over and over again but next time would double or triple the amount of ham. One little piece of ham just didn’t seem to be enough on a sandwich smothered with all this cheese!
Kathy of All Foods Considered chose Croque Monsieur for the second April 2009 recipe. Check out her post here to see what she had to say about her choice.
The Fabulous Ina Garten’s Croque Monsieur
Book: Barefoot in Paris
Show: Barefoot Contessa Episode: Working Girl
Rated 5/5 stars based on 68 foodnetwork.com reviews
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups hot milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch nutmeg
12 ounces Gruyere, grated (5 cups) (I used Swiss cheese)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
16 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
Dijon mustard (I used whole grain dijon and spicy brown mustard)
8 ounces baked Virginia ham, sliced but not paper thin (I used Black Forest ham)
Click here for directions
Next time for Barefoot Bloggers it’s Ina’s Outrageous Brownies. Can you believe I’ve never made these before?? I’m looking forward to trying them out, I know many people use this recipe as their one and only brownie recipe.
Tuesdays with Dorie – Tartest Lemon Tart
Tartest Lemon Tart was selected by Babette of Babette Feasts for the May 12th edition of Tuesdays with Dorie.
Lemon Tarts are yummy. This one is interesting because it uses whole lemons. After I had already made and tasted this, I read some tips from other bakers about removing the white pith from the lemon before using. This is definitely what I should have done because at times it was a tad too bitter. Not really tart… just bitter. But I was able to overlook that and still really enjoy it since the crust and powdered sugar did a good job of cutting it down. I used Dorie’s plain sweet tart dough and doubled the egg yolk while decreasing the butter. I’ve found that increasing the egg yolk in her tart dough recipes works better for me as it reduces crumbliness. I made the lemon filling as directed.
Thanks to Babette for choosing Tartest Lemon Tart. For the recipe, stop by Babette Feasts. Next week, it’s Fresh Mango Bread!
TWD Tiramisu Cake
Tiramisu Cake was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie.
I was excited by this choice because it was cake and it wasn’t chocolate. But it was a layer cake… eeek! Things don’t always work out 100% with me and layer cakes.
Tiramisu (translates to “pick me up”) is a popular Italian cake that’s usually made with ladyfingers soaked in espresso, layered with a mascarpone filling and then dusted with cocoa powder. This version uses a sponge cake for the ladyfingers. There are a few other parts to this: an espresso syrup, an espresso extract, and the frosting. No step is hard.
My experiences: The cakes rose a ton in the oven. I was surprised when I opened the door how they were towering over the pans. This made for some big layers and I didn’t think there was enough frosting to really cover like I like things covered. I would double it next time. I used Kahlua for the flavoring. Mini chocolate chips for the chocolate. I only added the espresso extract to the frosting, so to me there wasn’t a real strong coffee flavor (which I liked). I drink TONS of coffee but I don’t like it as a flavoring in foods. I used a few organic chocolate covered coffee beans on top.
This cake was good and very moist. I would make it again. Even though me and layer cakes aren’t the best of friends, this one was really pretty painless.
Short post, I’m late for work!! Thanks to Megan for a great choice this week. To see the recipe, head on over to Megan’s blog My Baking Adventures. See you next Tuesday!
