BBQ Brethren "Pick the 4th Ingredient" Throwdown!

Chef Jim said:

I had fun, learned something, and we had a great dinner too.

Hope I win! :becky:

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And that is the point of the whole Throw Down, I am glad it worked out for you Jim. I was a little concerned that you ate nuts when you said you can't.

goro25 said:

I used eggplant, but I don't even know what tofu is. Is that something Taco Bell uses in their "beef"?

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How did you guess that.....:shock:

landarc said:

And that is the point of the whole Throw Down, I am glad it worked out for you Jim. I was a little concerned that you ate nuts when you said you can't.

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The nuts will not kill me, and I do love nuts. I used just enough to give the flavor and texture I was hoping for.

Thanks for your concern.

landarc said:

Redhot aims to please, somehow, I don't think that is a secret. Whereas, Guerry is just trying no to miss too bad :becky:

Oh, I am using tofu and maybe peanuts.

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Oh, I "Hit" often enough.:becky:
And I'm using dough in a tube, AND eggplant and peanuts. Heavily Indian influenced.

Chicken And Eggplant Fajitas In A Blanket

For my fourth ingredient I went with eggplant. I decided to make a chicken fajita sausage and add chopped eggplant to the mixture for moisture more than anything else. This idea I got from Ron L's eggplant parm burger, and it does work!


I chopped up 4 chicken thighs, added the juice from 2 key limes, chili powder, salt, black pepper, cumin, white pepper, poultry seasoning,cayenne, paprika, and garlic powder.


Chopped up an eggplant and added it to the chicken mixture.


I coarse ground and stuffed the mixture into natural casings.


I smoked the sausage on the uds, cooled, and wrapped the sausages in the canned dough.




The sausages were baked in the WSM.


Served up in a cast iron skillet filled with sizzling red and green peppers and sweet onions. Please use this as the entry, and thanks for looking!

Looks great.

Blue, that looks awesome. Good luck!

Wow, real home made sausage with eggplant, that is terrific. I always liked the hot dog in a crescent roll as a treat when I was a kid.

Woo Hoo! Here we go!

Here's the recipe for the sauce:

Originally Posted by deguerre
Hi Paul,
Here's what I'm doing. Did the sauce last night so the flavors can blend. All the spoon measurements are "Heaping":

Sauce

3 tbs extra hot Indian chili powder (Heat level about 30K Sc.)
2 tbs curry powder
1 tbs + 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup red wine vinegar and
1/4 cup balsamic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice from two limes 2 tbs molasses
6 chopped green onions

Heated liquids with onion up to a boil then stirred in dry til dissolved and put on simmer for about an hour to reduce (to about 2/3) and thicken. Let cool for a few minutes then added an 6 oz carton of plain Greek yogurt then into the fridge. (This stuff was pretty hot but oh so good)

I'll be grilling rubbed chicken breasts and eggplant to cube and mix into the sauce.

This is going into "something" now since I'm not doing muffin pans, using crescent roll dough as a crust filled with the chicken/eggplant/sauce, which will be covered with feta cheese, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with chopped peanuts then baked in the kettle.

Just got to figure out the "something" now.:becky:

Had to tell somebody. I'm pretty excited about this sauce and can't wait to see how the chicken/eggplant and feta/honey/peanut compliments each other. Michele thought I was nuts when I first suggested the feta and honey...until she tasted the sauce.:thumb:




Cooked Pies:



Working on it:


Sauce ingredients:


TD shot of plated Pies:





Forgot to mention:

The pies had added chopped peanuts, honey and Maple syrup added.

Forgot to add. These were farking HOT!!! The dip added some coolness required as the yogurt negated the chili somewhat.

Holy house of flavor, deguerre!

As much as I hate to admit it, those pies look like they would be very tasty. But I notice Guerry didn't share the taste test results with us. :becky:

Inquiring minds want to know...

zydecopaws said:

As much as I hate to admit it, those pies look like they would be very tasty. But I notice Guerry didn't share the taste test results with us. :becky:

Inquiring minds want to know...

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Farking Hot Hot Hot!!! But the sauce helped temper the heat. :becky:

This dish took two days to prepare. OK. 3rd try getting this submitted, hopefully third times a charm. 1st time, hit back-space, 2nd time, had all there but TD pic, wasn't loaded, deguerre tried - all lost AGAIN. So here I go again! I created 3 distinct recipes for this, all of which I will be using again. 1st, I made my own tomato sauce. 2nd, I made my own homemade breadcrumbs which was an incredibly timeconsuming feat. 3rd, I made my own marinade for the chicken. Pix follow, aint taking any chances of losing this again!















This has been by far the most time-consuming, involved, intense TD dish I have ever attempted. I'm beat but hope you all enjoy the pix as much as we enjoyed the food ! Thanks so much for looking! And wow, I have 3 terrific recipes to use in the future, wrote them down because they are big time keepers!

I also made mini bread twists with olive oil, pepper and salt dipping sauce.:thumb: OK, I'm gonna drop now!!!!!

zydecopaws said:

As much as I hate to admit it, those pies look like they would be very tasty. But I notice Guerry didn't share the taste test results with us. :becky:

Inquiring minds want to know...

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Deguerre's dish has Redhot's stamp of approval! Yep, HOT. Yep, wonderful!!!!! Spicy, sweet...I wasn't expecting the outcome to be so amazing...a perfect compliment to my chicken and eggplant parmesan. We're full, and oh so satisfied!!!!:becky:

What I really wanted in my cook thread were the recipes I came up with for various steps of my TD dish...but after losing the whole thing and having to start over...well, I was a bit tiffed! So, I'll just go ahead and copy/paste because I feel others might just want to try these; they are quite good!

Redhot’s Homemade Breadcrumbs
2 tubes Pillsbury Simply Rustic French Bread
Italian Seasoning
Garlic powder
Nutmeg
Sea Salt
Preheat oven to 275°. Spray large cookie sheet (with edges) with no-stick olive oil spray. Roll out dough, pressing lightly to cover cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, garlic powder and salt. Place an insulated baking sheet on bottom rack to prevent burning bottom of dough. Pace cookie sheet with dough on upper rack. Cook for about 10 minutes, remove from oven then cut into 5 or 6 long strips, flip over and return to oven, watching closely. Check every few minutes for crispness. Remove any that are crunchy and snap in half with no resistance. Continue cooking until each piece is crispy.*
*Note – you may have to break “chewy” pieces into ½” chunks, spread evenly on pan and return to oven until crunchy. Allow to cool then place in ziplock bag; using the flat surface of a meat tenderizing mallet, beat until you have fine bread crumbs. When ready to use for coating, spread evenly on large cookie sheet, spray lightly with no-stick spray and sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt and a dash of nutmeg. Mix to evenly coat.

Redhot’s Spicy Lime Marinade

Juice of 1 lime
¾ cup EVOO
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
4 green onions thinly sliced
1 T minced garlic
1 T crushed red pepper flakes
1 T each of fresh sage and thyme, chopped
1 t Sea salt
1 t Crushed black pepper corns

Combine all ingredients in marinating container or ziplock bag, add chicken and marinate overnight.


Redhot’s Lime and Herb Tomato Sauce

3 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 pints grape tomatoes, quartered
2 pints cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup EVOO
Juice of 2 limes
1 whole head garlic, minced
2 T crushed red pepper flakes
4 T fresh chives, minced
2 T fresh rosemary, cut with herb shears
3 T fresh thyme
3 T fresh sage, cut into small pieces
4 T fresh oregano
½ cup chicken broth
2 T turbinado sugar
4 T balsamic vinegar
½ cup port wine
Sea salt and crushed black pepper corns to taste

Heat EVOO in large sauce pan; add tomatoes, lime juice, garlic, herbs, pepper flakes and salt/pepper. Stir for several minutes then turn heat down to medium. Simmer for about 10 minutes to break down tomatoes and soften herbs. Then add chicken broth, sugar, vinegar and wine stir; cover and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, or to desired thickness.

Oh my! That sauce is so killer! All classic goodness. Love the pepperflake shaker too:-D

Thanks bluetang...I've literally been in the kitchen all weekend! The sauce, you gotta try! I've never written a recipe before but wrote this one down as I added. Only thing I might change would be to forego the turbinato sugar and just use 1/4 cup more port. I did this in two batches. Started with a recipe I found online and modified the heck out of it. This sauce screamed "eat me", I must say. That's why I wanted to post it, it begs to be used! Again, thanks, what a compliment coming from you!

This is my official entry. I thought I was playing within the rules when I used Phyllo. My husband told me Landarc said it was ok to use boxed dough and even suggested the bisteeya. I now think he had an ulterior motive since he took them with him to North Carolina last week. There has been some discussion about the use of phyllo, so I figured I'd better submit something else, since Chris probably would disqualify me. I know he's a real stickler for the rules. He once DQed my husband because the extension cord on his OptiGrill didn't reach outside. So, here is my new entry. And to play it safe, I used all six ingredients. I hope I'm not disqualified for that!

First off, I sent my husband off to pick up a chicken. He found some special imported breed from Norway of all places. With the lime as an ingredient, I went with a Chinese-style marinade:



Yes, there's peanut butter in the marinade with the limes. I was concerned about the poor chicken and made a nice nest for her out of eggplant and tofu. The eggplant was brushed in EVOO and the tofu was marinaded in chu hou paste. I grilled these on my Oval



I cooked the hens on my Oval at 350* for about an hour. The marinade was sweet, so I expected a crispy, blackened look to them (they did not disappoint). You can see the wings getting crispy here:



My hen loved the eggplant and tofu and made a lovely nest for herself:



I was a little concerned she might get away, so I figured I'd better do something about it. I figured a cage was in order. That is where the breadsticks come in.



With a mold, you can do wonders:



I also cooked this on my Oval:



Finally, I had a nice home for my hen:



The children liked seeing her in her perch:



but after a prolonged squawk, down she went.

Thanks for looking!

Wow, that is great Ecode, dough in a tube as decoration/breadstick