Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Smoked Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms!

















Portobello mushrooms are large, almost meaty mushrooms that are perfect size for a main course.  You can stuff them with just about anything you can think of but here's a quick recipe that I did for dinner.

Simple recipe of::

• Roma tomatoes
• Green Onions
• 4 or so strips of bacon (I had some left over that was pre-cooked to speed up the process)
• Gorgonzola Cheese
• Lemon
• Some nice size portobellos
• Your favorite dry rub or salt, pepper, and granulated garlic

Dice up the bacon strips and the green onions.














Sweat the onions and the bacon.  The grease from the bacon will add flavor and help sweat the onions quicker.  I used precooked bacon (from the night before) so this process took about 5 or so minutes.  If the bacon isn't cooked, get the bacon to the 90% done point, drain out most of the rendered fat and then add the onions.













While the onions are sweating in the onions, dice up the Roma tomato














Remove the stems from the mushrooms, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the mushrroms and give a light dose of your favorite rub.  I used The Rub Co Santa Maria Seasoning for this ride.   All of The Rub Co rubs are awesome.  I highly suggest adding it to your BBQ Spice Shelf arsenal.

Add your sweated onion / bacon mix into each mushroom cap and then top with the diced up tomatoes.
 












Add a heavy dose of Gorgonzola Cheese to top off the stuffing mix.

Add another quick dusting of dry rub / spice mix and some more fresh squeezed lemon juice and get these tasty snacks into the smoker!













These cook up pretty quick - I smoked these over apple pellets at 275F for about 15 minutes.













They came out perfect!  Enough heat and time to get the cheese gooey but the mushroom itself still had great texture and was very meat like.  Almost good enough for a meat eater and definitely a great snack for a vegetarian (except the bacon).

You can find The Rub Co products here:  http://www.therubco.com/store.html

Let's eat!

2012 BBQ Season Results

The results for 2012 have been tabulated and Meat, Inc. had another great year!  Thank you to all the fans who support us at the comps, all the folks on the team that put in a huge amount of effort, and thanks to our sponsors that help make all the magic happen!  We look forward to seeing all of you in 2013!

 KCBS National Rankings:

Chicken - 454 / 6214
Ribs - 394 - 6245
Pork - 264 / 6233
Brisket - 459 / 6207
Overall - 416 / 6299

http://www.kcbs.us/team-of-the-year-results.php?y=2012&c=overall

 California BBQ Association Rankings

Chicken - 45
Ribs - 53
Pork - 24
Brisket - 58
Overall - 51 

http://www.cbbqa.org/wiki/index.php?title=CBBQA_Team_of_the_Year_2012

Smoked Stuffed Dates

Smoked Stuffed Dates!














This is a fan favorite - a really easy recipe that is the perfect appetizer for any type of party.











 Just a couple ingredients to make you the superstar!

• Bacon
• Blue Cheese Crumbles
• Mozzarella
• Dates (I used pre-pitted dates - it saves a few steps)

If you can't find pre-pitted dates you can remove the pits by slicing the date lengthwise.

Open up the date and jam in a teaspoon or so of blue cheese crumbles.














Place a small slice of mozzarella on top of the blue cheese crumbles.













 Last step is to wrap a 1/2 piece of bacon around the date.  If you stretch the bacon as you are wrapping - the bacon will stick to itself as it contracts.  No need for tooth picks to keep the bacon in place.

I smoked these tasty treats on my Royall 3000 over apple pellets at 225F for about 90 minutes.  I smoked the snacks on Frogmats so they didn't fall through the grates.  These are a must have for any serious BBQ'r.

Find them at http://frogmats.com/





 








After about 90 minutes these tasty snacks were ready to be served.

A perfect party snack platter is not complete without Smoked Summer Sausage, Atomic Buffalo Turds, and - of course - Smoked Stuffed Dates!

Let's eat!


Disclaimer:  All products used were purchased / supplied by me.  Royall Grills is a proud sponsor or Meat, Inc. BBQ Team.

Smoked Meatloaf

Smoked Meatloaf!

Classic comfort food that usually has leftovers for some great sandwiches the next day!

• Pretty basic recipe:
• 1 1/2 lbs of ground chuck
• 1 1/2 lbs of ground pork
• A few bell peppers
• 2 eggs
• A sweet onion
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Your favorite rub

Combine ground meats, eggs, and add spices to your taste.

Dice bell peppers and sweet onion.

Combine with ground meats.


















I smoked this meatloaf on a plank.  It allows for maximum smoke on the meat while still allowing the meat to stay together during the cooking process.  Remember to soak the plank and never use planks over a direct fire.

I very liberally coated the meatloaf in one of my favorite dry rubs - Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub.  You can get all the Simply Marvelous dry rubs on line from Big Poppa Smokers.  All the flavors are great and I suggest getting all of them!

I smoked this meatloaf on a pellet smoker using apple pellets at a pit temp of 250F.  I used a probe and set the alarm for 165F internal temp.

I made some garlic cheese mashed potatoes to go along with the meal and when the meatloaf internal temp was about 155F I loaded up the ramekins and put them on the smoker to finish with the meat.


















 I let the meatloaf rest on the counter for about 10 minutes and then sliced!

The ground pork helped make this meatloaf really moist and the bell peppers and the onions added some color and a little sweetness.

The Simply Marvelous dry rub created an awesome bark on the outside of the meatloaf too!

 I plated up the meatloaf with the smoked mashed garlic cheese mashed potatoes and a side of Brussel sprouts sauteed with bacon.  An epic meal!

Let's eat!

2013 Meat, Inc. BBQ Team Schedule!

The 2013 BBQ Season is here and Meat, Inc. is ready to hit the grate running with a full schedule.

Thanks to our sponsors returning this year for another ride on the Meat, Inc. BBQ party tour!

Reser's Fine Foods
Ballast Point Brewing Company
Oakridge BBQ
Royall Grills

January 26 - Havasu

March 16 - Santa Anita

April 6 - The Ultimate BBQ Showdown - East v West - Wildomar

April 27/28 - Stagecoach - Indio

May 10/11 - West Coast BBQ Classic - Long Beach

June 22 - Pechanga BBQ Championship - Temecula

August 3 - Vista Smokin' Q Classic - Vista
August 17 - Ribs, Pigs, & Watermelon - Huntington Beach

October 5/6 - Dana Point BBQ Championship - Dana Point

October 12 - Santee Car Show and BBQ Championship - Santee

Farmer John Ham & Pea Pasta Salad

Farmer John Ham & Pea Pasta Salad

Part 3 in a series of "What to do with your left over Farmer John Ham".  You made a mouth watering ham for your holiday meat guests and there's some left over.  I first had this recipe when I was on my honeymoon in Jamaica and have been waiting to make it again ever since.  I have no idea why I waited so long.  All the unique flavors from the ingredients in this salad add complexity and create a near perfect dish.

Farmer John is a very popular pork processor / producer here in Southern California.  They are responsible for the very popular Dodger Dog as well as the succulent ham we devoured during our previous family dinner.  Naturally, there was some left over.  Time to put those left overs to use to make a tasty dish that goes great by itself or makes a meal as a side.

This recipe has a few ingredients but they are all pretty easy to find:

• Left over ham slices
• Purple Onion  - about 1/2 an onion
• Celery - about 2 large stalks
• Basil - about 10 fresh leaves
• Olives - 1 can or about 1 cup
• Mayo - about 1/2 cup
• Frozen Peas - about 2 cups
• Pasta - 1 lb
• Salt and Pepper - to taste

Medium dice about 1/2 of a purple onion - I think the purple onion gives this salad some bite.  You can use a sweet onion if you want but I think purple is a perfect flavor match with the rest of the ingredients.





Slice up the stalks of celery into 1/8" thick slices.   These add color and crunch and some cool to offset the onion.

I used canned olive but pick out whatever flavor is your favorite.  The olives add some saltiness and color.  I quartered the olives.

 I used fresh basil and I think this is a key.  I used about 10 leaves and chiffon cut them as fine as I could.  The basil adds color and an incredible burst of fresh flavor that matches the rest of the flavors.







 



 I chose left over slices of the ham that were about 1" thick.  I tried to cube the ham into 1" cube pieces that were as evenly sized as possible - mostly for appearance purposes.







I used casarecce pasta but you can use any kind you want - bow tie or rotini are also popular choices.  Boil the pasta until it is al dente and let cool.
Mix all the ingredients together except for the frozen peas.  After all the ingredients are mixed well and you have added salt and pepper to taste, add the frozen peas.  The salad is ready to eat now but the flavors really start to melt together after a night of hanging out.

Why use frozen peas?  If you tried to use fresh peas they will break up and get mushy.  Frozen peas are sturdy enough to handle the mixing and stay whole making the appearance of the finished salad stunning.





Note:  Farmer John supplied me with the Half Ham used in this recipe.  All other ingredients were purchased for this recipe by me.  I might have had some in my fridge. 

Farmer John Ham & Cheese Roll Ups

Farmer John Ham & Cheese Roll Ups

Part 2 in a series of "What to do with your left over Farmer John Ham".  You made a mouth watering ham for your holiday meat guests and there's some left over.  The standard Ham & Cheese sandwich is fine - but let's jack it up a notch.



Farmer John is a very popular pork processor / producer here in Southern California.  They are responsible for the very popular Dodger Dog as well as the succulent ham we devoured during our previous family dinner.  Naturally, there was some left over.  Time to put those left overs to use to make a tasty after school snack for the kids or a treat for the (very loud) kids in the garage watching football!

This extra simple recipe is great for involving the kids too!  Four basic ingredients:

• Left over ham - about 4 slices
• Grated Cheese - about 1 cup
• One egg
• Puff Pastry Sheets (2 pack)

 Dice up the slices of ham as fine as you can - it should equal about 1 cup after you chop it up.

Mix the 1 cup of diced ham up with the 1 cup of grated cheese.  I used colby-jack but there are no rules in this recipe!

Follow the directions on the Puff Pastry sheets and thaw completely.  Open up each sheet onto a lightly floured surface.

Use about half (1 cup of the mix) and lay out the mix evenly on the sheet of pastry.

Roll up the sheet with the ham and cheese inside.  Wrap the roll as tight as possible.

Make an egg wash with the one egg and 1 tablespoon of water.  Brush evenly on the outside of the rolled up pastry sheet.  

Cut each roll / log into 10 or so even pieces - about 1" thick each.

 
 I baked these slices up in two different devices.

This is a picture of the roll ups on the smoker.  I cooked these on the smoker at 250F for about 40 minutes.









The other half I baked in the oven at 400F for about 12 minutes.









 Some more progress on the smoker.

Here's the pieces that were cooked in the oven.  The puff pastry was nice and light - crispy and really great.  I recommend cooking this recipe in the oven unless you can get your smoker up higher in temp.

Here's near the end of the cook in the smoker.  You can see the dough is a wilted looking and the ham kind of dried out a bit.  Unless you cook these on the smoker at a higher temp, I'd stick with the oven.

A plate of tasty snacks right out of the smoker.











Bottom line - this really easy recipe was fun to do with the kids - and they devoured them in about 10 minutes.  This is a  great way to use some of that left over Farmer John Ham.  You won't be disappointed!


Note:  Farmer John supplied me with the Half Ham used in this recipe.  All other ingredients were purchased for this recipe by me.  I might have had some in my fridge.