Steak grilling tips from my visit to the “Weber Grilling School”

June 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

steak grilling tips

On Saturday, I attended the “Weber Grilling School” at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party as a guest of Time Inc.’s Lifestyle Group. During the class, Weber “Grill Master” Kevin Kolman taught the attendees how to grill skirt steak for our own grilled steak tacos with fresh guacamole lunch. It was a fun, fast-paced class…and the results were delicious. See for yourself…

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At the end of the class, we received a Weber gift bag containing a copy of Weber’s, New Real Grilling cookbook along with a couple of grilling tools. When I came home with the bag, Reggie wistfully spoke of how he would love to have a grill someday. We live in a NYC apartment, so there isn’t really any yard space for grilling. However, we plan on being over his parents’ home a lot this summer, so I ordered him a Weber grill for Father’s Day. Although we used an electric grill during the class, Reggie prefers a charcoal grill. That is what I bought him as a gift. (Shhh…)

grill

In case you want to be a “grill master” too, I will leave you with “4 Reasons Why Your Steak Sticks to the Grill”…so that you can make sure that it does not!)

4 Reasons Why Your Steak Sticks to the Grill

1. The grill is not hot enough. You can use a grill thermometer to make sure that the grill is at the desired heat level before placing the meat on it.

2. You didn’t oil the meat. Oil the meat, not the grate!

3. You didn’t clean the grates before grilling. Make sure that you clean any leftover debris first.

4. The meat is not done cooking. The meat will naturally caramelize when it is done.

There were a few other grilling tips that I jotted down during the class…

3 More Steak Grilling Tips

1. When you are coating your meat with spices or rubs, make sure that you don’t forget to coat the sides/ends. That helps ensure that every bite is flavorful.

2. Don’t cut into the meat right after you take it off the grill. Give it time to rest. On average, you should let the meat rest 30% – 40% of the time that you actually cooked it. (i.e. If you cooked it for 5 minutes, let it rest for 2 minutes before cutting.)

3. Cut against the grain of the meat. If you slice with the grain, the meat is chewy. If you cut against the grain, it comes apart/is tenderer.

Are you a grilling family? If so, I would love to hear your tips in the “Comments” below. Thanks!

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8 Great “Man Food” Father’s Day Recipes (Dinner, Desserts & More)

June 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment


Father’s Day is June 16, 2013.  In honor of this special day, I will share 8 of the favorite “man food” Foodie City Mom recipe picks. These are the recipes that my husband, father-in-law and other local guy friends tend to enjoy the most. (If you or your significant other enjoys grilling, be sure to check back on Wednesday. I will be sharing some tips that I learned this past weekend while cooking skirt steak at the Big Apple Barbecue’s “Weber Grilling School”!)

Desserts:

chocolate chip cookie recipe
1. Chocolaty chocolate chip cookies

simple lemon meringue pie recipe
2. Easy lemon meringue pie

sweet potato pie
3.“Not too sweet” sweet potato pie

Main Courses:

spinach meatloaf oven
4. Easy meatloaf recipe

pan fried chicken
5. Easy Southern Pan Fried Chicken

lasagna
6. Four cheese turkey lasagna

ribs in crock pot recipe
7. Ribs in crock pot (The seasoning would work just as well with grilled ribs!)

best turkey burgers
8. The best homemade turkey burgers

If you have any recipes that are consistently “guy friendly”,  please let me know. (I do have a house full of guys! :-) )

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Tipsy Parson Review: I’ll stick to the Snacks, Starters and Sides

June 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

tipsy parson review

Last week, several of my friends took me out to Tipsy Parson, a southern restaurant in Chelsea, for a birthday dinner. Both the conversation and the company were excellent. This is my second time going to Tipsy Parson and I enjoyed my meal both times. (The first time was for a Raleigh, NC lunch in February of 2012.) What I realized is that I tend to like the appetizers/”starters” and sides the most at many restaurants. With that theme in mind, this is what I had…

-Cornbread with habanero jam: The cornbread was good (remember that I’m from the south, so I’m “particular” about southern foods) BUT the habanero jam that was served with it made the combination great. The combination of spicy and sweetish flavors was unexpected, but it worked very well.

tipsy parsons

-Mac & cheese with bacon: It was excellent with just the right level of creaminess. I don’t know the type of bacon that they used, but it was thick…like I love. The portions were also substantial. Since I was having the dish for dinner, I ordered a full portion ($15). I ended up taking half of it home, because I was full. A half portion ($7) would have been plenty! Look at what I had left over:

macaroni and cheese with bacon
I have a couple of “go to” baked macaroni and cheese recipes already, but I want to make a version of this one for a special occasion. (They use Raffetto’s cavatelli – a ricotta cheese pasta – and Grafton’s cheddar cheese.)

Most of us ordered the mac & cheese. One of my friends was kind enough to share her Warm Crab Dip ($12 – gruyere, onions & peppers, toasted bread) starter though. She thought that it was a bit spicy from the peppers, but I thought that it was perfect. Then again, I like spicy food. It was so good that I will order my own dip the next time. Another friend enjoyed her shrimp & grits meal. I am one of the few southern people who actually don’t like the taste of grits (it’s a texture thing), so I passed on sampling that. Although I don’t like the taste of grits, I do know how to cook them. Like cooking rice, so many people have a problem with cooking grits. One day, I will do a simple tutorial. Sometimes visuals help.

In any event, I had a great time. While none of the entrees or desserts on the dinner menu was especially “calling” me to pick them, I left the restaurant happy and full. If you visit Tipsy Parson, I think that you will enjoy it.

Tipsy Parson
156 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 620-4545

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“Just Right” Baked Turkey Ricotta Meatballs Recipe

June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

turkey ricotta meatballs

The great thing about cooking is that it’s not brain surgery. If you make a mistake, you can start all over again! That’s good, because I made a couple of measuring missteps before I arrived at this ricotta turkey meatball recipe.

After eating some of the lentil meatballs that were prepared by my friend Jennie at her book launch party, I decided to give ricotta a chance in my meatballs. Previously, Parmesan was my cheese of choice for oven baked turkey meatballs and stovetop three-meat meatballs. I felt like Goldilocks as I tried to come up with the correct ingredient mix for this particular meatball recipe. Once, I decided to use ricotta, I started with 1 cup of the cheese in the recipe, which was too much/made the meatballs too cheesy. (Although my sons enjoyed them, my husband did not.) Then, I considered ¼ cup of ricotta…but that was too little/not enough cheese. Finally, I found the “just right” amount of ricotta to add: ½ a cup. Since my little chefs like to help me make meatballs, the process of figuring it out was fun. Enjoy!


“Just Right” Baked Turkey Ricotta Meatballs
Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb of lean ground turkey
  • 1 slice of the end of a bread loaf, crumbled up (or you can use ¼ cup of dried bread crumbs)
  • 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 1 ½ tsp of fresh oregano (or ½ tsp of dried oregano)
  • 3 cloves of chopped garlic
  • 1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:


1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Spread the olive oil on the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square Pyrex baking dish.

3. Thoroughly mix all of the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl.

4. Use the mixture to roll golf ball sized meatballs and place them into the baking dish closely together.

5. Cook the meatballs in the oven for 20 minutes.

That’s it. Once the meatballs are cooked, take them from the dish and let them simmer in marinara sauce over a low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. You can serve them alone, as part of a meatball sandwich, with Italian spaghetti…or however you please.

Did I mention that if I would have read the Meatball Shop recipe correctly the first time that I would not have had to go through my trial and error? They had said 1 cup of ricotta for 2 pounds of meat…and I forgot to halve the cheese along with the meat! (Duh!)

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Super Easy Spinach Meatloaf Recipe

May 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment

spinach meatloaf oven

Barbecue meatloaf is a dinner favorite at our home. Sometimes I serve it in loaf form. When I’m pressed for time, I usually shorten the baking time by making meatloaf muffins. Another thing that I do sometimes is to put spinach in between layers of the meatloaf mixture. Once the meat/veggie mixture is ready, all I have to do is add a carb and dinner is ready.

easy spinach meatloaf recipe


Super Easy Spinach Meatloaf Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound cooked and blanched fresh spinach
  • ½ medium onion, chopped
  • ½ medium green pepper, chopped
  • 1 lb of ground beef
  • 1 slice of the end of a bread loaf, crumbled up (or bread crumbs)
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup barbecue sauce (1/4 cup for the mixture; ¼ cup for the topping)
  • Seasonings, to match your tastes (I like to include 1/2 an onion soup mix pack with my other seasonings – seasoned salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.)


Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Chop 1/2 an onion and 1/2 a green pepper. Sauté them together in a frying pan until they start to get tender – approximately 3 minutes. (You can use the vegetables own “juice” or a little olive oil to sauté them.)
3. In a large bowl, use your hands to mix together the vegetables, beef, bread, egg, ¼ cup of the barbecue sauce and the additional seasonings.
4. Place half of the meat mixture into an ungreased 9” x 5” loaf pan. Place the spinach on top of the meat mixture. Then, place the remaining meat mixture on top of the spinach.
5. Bake the meatloaf in the heated oven for 45 minutes.
6. Remove the loaf pan from the oven and drain any excess liquid.
7. Cover the meatloaf with the additional ¼ cup of barbecue sauce.
8. Place the loaf pan back into the heated oven and bake the meatloaf for an additional 15 minutes before removing the dish from the oven.

Recipe Notes:

-I prefer fresh spinach, but you can use 10 ounces of frozen spinach instead. You just need to cook it according to the directions on the package. Once it is cooked, place it in a colander and rinse it with cold water. Press out any extra water before using the spinach as a meatloaf layer.
-I try to let the meatloaf set for up to ½ an hour before serving, so that it will be firm, but that is not necessary.


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