The latest Throwdown going on is "Show Off your Pies" located here:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168605
If you've never seen, voted or participated in the Throwdowns, please stop by and join in any or all of the fun. :-D
Somebody had to fire off the opening salvo so I decided it might as well be me/us... :mrgreen:
I figured I'd like to do something different than a traditional pastry pie or a pizza, as long as it fit the "The entry must resemble a traditional pie, cooked in a pie plate or a reasonable facsimile thereof" requirement...
So without futher ado, I present "Mongo's Lobster Mac and Cheese in a Bacon Pie Crust". :thumb:
First off, we start with the bacon... It took a while to figure out how I was going to manage the bacon pie crust, but I finally decided on doing a bacon weave wrapped over the outside of a pie pan.
On to the Traeger to cook the crust, plus some extra strips to both snack on and plan for contingencies... :loco:
Since I knew the bacon on the pie tin was going to curl and shrink, I decided to put another pie tin over it to reduce shrinkage :shocked: and hold it's shape. :becky:
After about half an hour, the crust was pretty much done and the extra strips were either patched into the bare spots or in my belly. :hungry:
At this point, I grabbed another pie tin, put it over the top of the cooked bacon, flipped it over and soaked up the excess bacon grease. :biggrin1:
Once the crust was done and cooling in the fridge, I started working on the bug filling. I picked up these little slipper tails at the store.
I cut the membrane, pulled out the meat
heh and seasoned them up with Old Bay, lemon pepper, crab boil and other spices.
On to the the grill over indirect heat until opaque and about 140 F. :biggrin1:
Off the grill and resting.
And pulled from the shells while doing their best job of recreating the classic "Get off me a$$hole, I'm a french fry" cartoon... :laugh:
At this point, we need to take a brief intermission where I would suggest you all envision me boiling up some seashell pasta, making a white sauce, adding Gruyère and sharp cheddar cheeses, and various spices to make a tasty cheese sauce. To that, I add the pasta, cubed up lobster, other goodies and spoon it into the chilled bacon pie crust seen below.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A little closer shot.
Now fully knowing I could never hope to cook this and even dream of it setting up, or worse yet cutting through the bacon crust, I put it into the fridge to chill for a few hours. Once we got close to dinner, I put the pan in a few inches of hot water to release the crust from the pan and slipped it out to show it in all it's glory. :clap:
Being pretty much stone cold at this point, I decided to put it back in the tin and toss it back onto the Traeger to warm it back up.
Before it got too hot/gooey/sloppy I cut out this quarter, put it on a plate and then back on the Traeger to finish heating up.
And here we have the finished lobster mac and cheese bacon crust pie garnished with green onions, extra cheese and crumbled bacon (please pay no attention to the side salad prop :tsk.
Below is the money shot (sans the salad). :becky:
If you made it to the end of this post without dozing off, just keep in mind you won't need to take your Ambien tonight. :loco:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168605
If you've never seen, voted or participated in the Throwdowns, please stop by and join in any or all of the fun. :-D
Somebody had to fire off the opening salvo so I decided it might as well be me/us... :mrgreen:
I figured I'd like to do something different than a traditional pastry pie or a pizza, as long as it fit the "The entry must resemble a traditional pie, cooked in a pie plate or a reasonable facsimile thereof" requirement...
So without futher ado, I present "Mongo's Lobster Mac and Cheese in a Bacon Pie Crust". :thumb:
First off, we start with the bacon... It took a while to figure out how I was going to manage the bacon pie crust, but I finally decided on doing a bacon weave wrapped over the outside of a pie pan.
On to the Traeger to cook the crust, plus some extra strips to both snack on and plan for contingencies... :loco:
Since I knew the bacon on the pie tin was going to curl and shrink, I decided to put another pie tin over it to reduce shrinkage :shocked: and hold it's shape. :becky:
After about half an hour, the crust was pretty much done and the extra strips were either patched into the bare spots or in my belly. :hungry:
At this point, I grabbed another pie tin, put it over the top of the cooked bacon, flipped it over and soaked up the excess bacon grease. :biggrin1:
Once the crust was done and cooling in the fridge, I started working on the bug filling. I picked up these little slipper tails at the store.
I cut the membrane, pulled out the meat
heh and seasoned them up with Old Bay, lemon pepper, crab boil and other spices.
On to the the grill over indirect heat until opaque and about 140 F. :biggrin1:
Off the grill and resting.
And pulled from the shells while doing their best job of recreating the classic "Get off me a$$hole, I'm a french fry" cartoon... :laugh:
At this point, we need to take a brief intermission where I would suggest you all envision me boiling up some seashell pasta, making a white sauce, adding Gruyère and sharp cheddar cheeses, and various spices to make a tasty cheese sauce. To that, I add the pasta, cubed up lobster, other goodies and spoon it into the chilled bacon pie crust seen below.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A little closer shot.
Now fully knowing I could never hope to cook this and even dream of it setting up, or worse yet cutting through the bacon crust, I put it into the fridge to chill for a few hours. Once we got close to dinner, I put the pan in a few inches of hot water to release the crust from the pan and slipped it out to show it in all it's glory. :clap:
Being pretty much stone cold at this point, I decided to put it back in the tin and toss it back onto the Traeger to warm it back up.
Before it got too hot/gooey/sloppy I cut out this quarter, put it on a plate and then back on the Traeger to finish heating up.
And here we have the finished lobster mac and cheese bacon crust pie garnished with green onions, extra cheese and crumbled bacon (please pay no attention to the side salad prop :tsk
.
Below is the money shot (sans the salad). :becky:
If you made it to the end of this post without dozing off, just keep in mind you won't need to take your Ambien tonight. :loco:
