Cooking Outdoors Grilling, Camp and Dutch oven Cooking!

Operation BBQ Relief is responding to Hurricane Isaac!

Earlier this year I became one of the founding members of Operation BBQ Relief, an organization created by BBQ lovers to help provide meals during natural disasters throughout our country. I follow their activities closely as I admire their dedication and purpose to help all those people suffering from their tragic losses, serving hot BBQ meal 24/7 for many days at a time. Volunteers drive for hundreds of miles and business donate thousands of pounds of supplies so Operation BBQ Relief can make all that they do happen.

Hurricane Isaac has landed and is wreaking devastation to the Gulf Coast. Operation BBQ relief has mobilized and they need everyone help. Below is the email they sent me. If there is any way you can help out, please do and thank you!

Operation BBQ Relief, Inc

August 27, 2012

Dear Gary,

Operation BBQ Relief Response to Hurricane Isaac!

Operation BBQ Relief is responding to Louisiana!

We have made the decision to deploy resources to the New Orleans area to provide warm meals to those in need. With over 650,000 people without power and more people being evacuated from the New Orleans area due to flooding there is a need for groups like ours to provide meals to those displaced and first responders working around the clock.

We need your help! Below are our needs:

1 – Volunteers: If you would like to volunteer to help cook and serve food with us in New Orleans please email us at: info@OperationBBQRelief.org We are planning to set up on Friday. The location still needs to be determined, we are working with the local Emergency Operations Center on a good location.

2 – Food and Non-Food Supplies – We are projecting to serve 2500-5000 meals a day. Here is the list of items we need:

Protein – pork butt, pork loin, sausage, chicken, etc

Vegetables – # 10 cans

Chips – individual serve bags

Fresh Fruit

Water and Gatorade

Aluminum Pans (full sized)

Aluminum Foil (large roll wide)

Disposable Rubber Gloves – Large and XLarge

Clam Shells

Flatware

Paper towels

clorox wipes and spray bleach

serving utensils

etc… I am sure we are missing some things but these are the basics.

3 – Monetary Donation – Lastly, if you are unable to volunteer and do not have the ability to help with items needed above you can always go to our website and make a monetary donation. Every little bit helps! Go to: www.operationbbqrelief.org and click the donate button on the left side! As a 501c3 non profit your donations are tax deductible.

Thank you for your continued support!

Stay tuned to our facebook page for updated information!

We pray for all the displaced families that have effected by Hurricane Isaac! Thanks Again!

If you have not liked us on Facebook please go to: www.Facebook.com/OperationBBQRelief or on twitter at www.twitter.com/OpBBQRelief

Sincerely,

Operation BBQ Relief

Have ‘Paella Pan’ Will travel – Guest post

I have the most wonderful surprise for all of you! A recipe that delivers eye appeal, warmth and satisfaction for all of your friends and family! It is a dish that has fascinated me for years. Presented from Spain as it is cooked in Spain from my newest friend and guest writer Lynsey Drake of www.larosilla.info.

Lynsey is a passionate home cook, recipe creator, and hostess of La Rosilla country house restaurant a wonderfully charming culinary school in Inland Axarquia, Spain.

Please enjoy – Have ‘Paella Pan’ Will travel

Paella or Arroces, have become part of my families’ new life, since immigrating from the U.K to Andalucia Spain 7 years ago.

Paella is a dish prepared with love and gusto, to be shared with family, friends & neighbors. It is a dish offered in most Ferias of Spain throughout the year, and comes in many guises depending on the area of Spain you live in. From the traditional Paella Valenciana, with meat & seafood, to modern day arroces (rices) & paellas adjusted to use what it is in season, or to suit the diners.

Paelleras (paella pans) range in size from a 4 portions to massive pans measuring meters across, to feed a whole town. This giant paella is a spectacular cooking outdoor event, when people gather from far around, to watch and taste the local dish. Cooked above a wood fire, these experts tend their giant pans of rice, meat & stock, until the dish is ready, rested and waiting to be devoured. Often taking hours to prepare & cook, eaten in moments.

I like to cook my Paella on a warm summer evenings just as the sun is setting over the mountains. I usually cook a 15 portion Paella, as leftovers are delicious. I use a large pan and special Paella gas burner, which make it very portable, and I can cook anywhere, beach, camping & picnics.

It is a very social affair, often friends gather around the ring whilst cooking, many times offering their suggestions or preferences and expertise for the perfect Paella.

A favorite with my Family is Chicken, chorizo, asparagus and wild mushroom.

Based on 15 servings:

The secret is to have all ingredients ready prepared, so you are ready to cook.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1kg of chicken pieces / skin off – Bone-in fine

1 large chorizo sausage, skinned and cut into 1 cm slices.

1 glass of white wine.

1 onion – diced

1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced

1 green pepper – diced

1 red pepper – diced

Handful of fresh thyme

1 dried ‘Nora’ pepper

1 kg paella rice ‘calasparra’

1 large tin of tomatoes

Saffron

2 sachets of Paella seasoning or ½ tsp each of Paprika, turmeric, fenugreek.

2 litres chicken stock

1 hand of Asparagus, trimmed.

500 g mixed fresh wild mushroom or preserved in brine

Lemon to decorate

Preparation

Prepare the chicken by marinating in olive oil, thyme, slat and pepper.

Make up stock and add saffron to infuse.

Put a layer of Olive oil in your Paella Pan to cover the bottom.

Heat gently, add your whole Nora pepper, then chicken and thyme.

Brown the meat nicely, then stir and fry 10 mins.

Remove the Nora pepper

Add onion, garlic and peppers – Fry for 5 mins until soft.

Add chopped mushrooms and Chorizo – fry for 2/3 mins

Add tinned toms, and break up in pan, add white wine & stir & bubble.

Season with Salt & pepper

Stir in seasoning / spices.

Add handfuls of rice around the pan, to let rice absorb some of the juices, stir.

Pour in stock and saffron, stir so rice is distributed evenly.

Simmer for 5 – 6 mins then reduce heat to medium low.

DO NOT STIR ANYMORE cook for 20/25 mins until all liquid absorb, you may need to add a little more – you want you rice to be ‘al dente’.

5 mins before end of cooking, lay the Asparagus on the top in a circle, it will cook in the steam.

Turn off heat, and cover with a clean cloth, foil or as sometimes in Spain newspaper, to rest and flavor infuse.

Decorate the edge of the pan with lemon wedges, and sprinkle on some more fresh thyme.

Buen Provecho x

Thank you Lynsey! What a great recipe.

You can find more about Lynsey, her blog and her classes at:

Lynsey Drake La Rosilla – Lifestyle & Food.

www.larosilla.com www.larosilla.info

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Daeji Bulgogi – Korean pork BBQ

Guest post! Korean BBQ from one of my twitter friends Jim Lindley. Jim sent me a picture of his Korean BBQ on the grill, it looked so good that I asked him to send some more pictures and tell us how he prepared it. Guess what? The next day he goes and prepare his dish and creates a fantastic step by step photo esay for us! Wow!

Here is Jim Lindley’s recipe:

Daeji Bulgogi – Korean pork BBQ

Before you start preparing the meat you need to cook your rice. I prefer a medium grain rice. Jasmine rice is also good for this. Rinse the rice a couple times till the water runs clear, then add water till it is almost twice as far up as the rice. We added some dried grains and beans to the rice before cooking this time. If you do, be sure to let them soak for a while before cooking. If you use a rice cooker it will take care of all your timing for you. If you cook it on the stove, bring the rice and water to a boil, cover and turn the heat down, and let cook for 30 minutes. Once the rice is done, turn the heat off and fluff with a rice spatula or large spoon.

I used a commercially prepared marinade because it tastes good and is a lot easier than mixing it from scratch. It is available in oriental stores and in the oriental section of your local megamart.

1 pork tenderloin or boneless center cut pork loin

Minced ginger and garlic (We put fresh garlic and ginger together in a food processor, then keep it in a jar in the refrigerator.)

Green onions cut into 1″ lengths and split lenthwise

1 medium onion sliced lengthwise into strips

1 jar pork and chicken bulgogi marinade

Cut pork into thin slices across the grain. Your butcher may do this for you.

Add minced ginger and garlic.

Add green onions.

image007 225x300 Daeji Bulgogi Korean pork BBQ

Cut onion lengthwise, then separate pieces.

Add onion to meat.

Shake jar of marinade to mix, then add to meat. And no, they’re not kidding on the label when they say it’s hot and spicy. After pouring marinade into the bowl with the meat, run a little water into the jar and cover tightly, then shake jar and pour into the bowl with the meat. You don’t want to waste any of this delicious liquid.

This is what it looks like before mixing.

There is no better way to mix this than to just get in there with your hand, breaking the onion ribs apart and making sure the marinade gets well mixed with the meat.

If you’re going to take this with you camping, at this point put it into a freezer bag and freeze it. Then you can thaw it out at the campsite when you’re ready to cook your pork bulgogi.

If you cook this on the stove, use a well seasoned cast iron skillet or griddle. Heat on high. You can also cook this on a grill, covering the grill with foil to keep it from falling through and to keep from losing the juices. In this case, I cooked it on the stove in a cast iron skillet.

Cook in batches so your skillet stays hot. Use one set of tongs to handle the raw meat and another set for turning the meat while cooking. Cook till pork is well done.

This is how it looks when it’s done. The top bowl has the rice with grains and beans.

This is a serving suggestion. The yellow circles are tamogi, also called daikon. You can also add kimchi or any other side dishes you want.

My wife says I passed the test. She’s a good teacher, and it has to be good to pass her test.

Well if this doesn’t make you go out and give this a try ……… well, we need to talk! Jim, I can’t thank you enough for sharing this with all of here at Cooking-Outdoors.

Gary