Chicken Gyros w/ Pickled Beets

State Fair Season is right upon us.  In Kentucky, the State Fair starts today and goes until Aug. 25.  One of our favorite things to do at the fair is eat... obviously.  And one of our favorite booths to visit is definitely one that offers Greek gyros! 

Every now and then, we'll divulge at home with gyros of our own.  They're so easy, and versatile - not to mention completely delicious!

For these, I pickled some beets, made some orange-cucumber tzatziki, and loaded up on some grape tomatoes and lettuce.  Pair those accompaniments with some marinated chicken, and you've got a meal!

Ingredients:

Chicken Marinade:

1 lb. chicken tenderloins
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
juice from 1 orange
juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon red chili flakes
1/2 cup olive oil

Pickled Beets:

2 small red beets, peeled and julienned
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
hard spices - for these, I used a combination of mustard seeds, crushed bay leaf, star anise, cloves, and juniper berries

Pitas
Grape Tomatoes
Grilled Onions
Lettuce
Homemade Tzatziki
Any other toppings you want!

For the marinade: In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, orange juice, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, chili flakes, and olive oil.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Add chicken to the bowl and toss to coat.  Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

For the beets: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, rice wine vinegar, and spices.  Bring mixture to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Let cool slightly. 

Place julienned beets in a medium bowl and strain pickling liquid over top.  Let pickle for a least 30 minutes.

Preheat a propane or charcoal grill to high heat. 

Remove chicken from marinade.  Spray grill with non-stick spray or wipe grates with oil.  Grill tenderloins until white throughout. 

Heat pitas on grill until marked. 

To assemble, place one or two pieces of chicken in the center of each pita.  Top with lettuce, grape tomatoes, onions, pickled beets, and tzatziki (I simple combined plain greek yogurt, orange juice, and finely diced cucumber).  And you've got yourself one heck of a gyro!

Have you ever made gyros at home?  How do you like yours?

Have a great weekend guys!

Secret Recipe Club: Creative Culinary's Grapefruit, Ginger & Honey Flank Steak

After doing my usual stumbling of food blogs one day, I came across a link for the Secret Recipe Club.  It's a group of bloggers that post a recipe from an assigned food blog every month.  The idea is genius!  #1, you get to discover someone new each month.  And #2, someone gets assigned your blog, so you get to see your recipes done their way.  It's win-win!  To find out more, visit here.

So I decided to join last month and this month would be my first post.  I received the blog Creative Culinary for my assignment.  I'd never been to this blog before, but I knew it was somewhere that I'd be back to again and again.  It was so hard to choose a recipe - because they all looked so good!  Then I came across the Grapefruit, Ginger, & Honey Flank Steak.  I knew it would be a hit just from the name.  So that was my chosen recipe!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Creative Culinary's recipe


2 tablespoons olive oil
juice from 1 orange (I mistakenly bought a giant orange instead of a grapefruit - apparently I wasn't reading the tags correctly, hehe)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
about 1 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. skirt steak (I already had some skirt steak in the freezer, so I used it instead of flank)

In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil, orange juice, honey, ginger, coriander, salt, and pepper.

Lightly score the skirt steak both horizontally and vertically on both sides.

Add skirt steak to a resealable plastic bag and pour in marinade.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat.  Grill skirt steak for about 5 minutes per side for a good medium rare.

Let steak rest for about 5 minutes and slice against the grain.


I really enjoyed this meal and thought it was the perfect weeknight meal!  It was one of those things you could just throw together in the morning for the marinade, come home from work, and within 30 minutes, you've got dinner!  I'll definitely be back to Creative Culinary's blog for more fantastic recipes like this!  So if you haven't stopped by there, you really should - and check out the other Secret Recipe Club members too!


If you're interested in joining, head on over here.  Hopefully I'll see you guys next month!!



Mixed Grill w/ Spicy Bourbon Sauce

Happy Monday everybody!  Honey Caramel Ice Cream won out the poll (by a landslide!) last Friday, so look forward to that sometime this week.  We had a pretty good weekend, going out to dinner with friends and just enjoying this beautiful weather!  Which has turned into gray skies and cold rain!  What a way to start a week off huh?

It was a beautiful weekend in our neck of the woods.  Temps were 65F or above and guess who had to work on Saturday?  Me!  Couldn't enjoy any of it!  Well, any of Saturday, anyway.  I did get a pleasant surprise when I came home Saturday night though - found out I got a $2000 scholarship toward the Fall Quarter of Culinary School!  Major score!

Good thing I had Sunday off... and the weather was still just as nice.  So we took the opportunity to bust out the grill for the first time this year and fire up some good meats!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe


For Marinade:


3/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 large garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup mild molasses
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 & 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tablespoon Sriracha
salt and pepper, to taste
3 green onion, chopped

For Meat:

1 rack of baby back pork ribs (2 lbs.)
8 beef back ribs (3 lbs.)
8 chicken drumsticks
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon bourbon

To prepare your marinade, in a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, garlic, molasses, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili powder, ginger, and Sriracha.  Mix until sugar is dissolved.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then add green onions.

Sprinkle meats with salt and pepper on both sides. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Place pork ribs and chicken on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Place beef ribs in a metal baking pan.  Use half of marinade to coat all meats and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.  For remaining marinade, cover and set in fridge until ready to grill.

Position one oven rack in bottom third of oven and another in top third of oven.  Preheat oven to 350F.

Add beef broth to metal pan with beef ribs.  Place ribs meat-side down on top of broth (if not already in that direction).  Cover baking sheet with pork and chicken, as well as pan with beef, tightly with foil.  Place chicken and pork on lower rack and beef in top rack of oven.

Bake the chicken and pork for about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and open foil.  Cut pork rack into individual ribs pieces and place on a large platter.  Place chicken on platter, as well.  Bake beef for a total of 2 hours, then remove from oven and open foil.  Place beef ribs on platter.

Carefully oil grill racks with a kitchen towel and fire up charcoal grill under medium high heat.

Meanwhile, prepare your bourbon sauce.  Pour the pan juices from pork, chicken, and beef baking sheet/pan into a medium saucepan.  Carefully spoon off the fat.  Boil juices until reduced by half and slightly thickened, about 25 minutes or so.  Add bourbon (I used Woodford) and bring mixture back to a boil.  Remove from heat and season with salt, pepper, and additional Sriracha, if desired.

Place meats on grill (I had to do this in 2 batches - had enough room for the pork ribs and chicken on the first batch, and then the beef ribs on the 2nd batch) and brush with reserved marinade.  Grill until slightly charred, about 10 minutes or so, turning occasionally.

Serve meats with prepared bourbon sauce and your choice of grilled veggies (we stuck with potatoes and asparagus). 

This was definitely a great way to kick off the grilling season, let me tell you.  We tried to invite people over so we wouldn't seem so gluttonous with all this meat between the two of us, but nobody bit the offer.  So they definitely missed out!  So next time you need an idea for a barbecue/cookout - let this be your answer!  Enjoy your Monday guys!

Korean Flank Steaks

Many of you know of the wonderful dish Korean BBQ right? Well, my first experience of it was this past summer. I was at a friend of mine's BBQ and another couple that was there, brought some Korean BBQ over. Being the Asian cuisine lover that I am, I was intrigued. The aroma itself was enough to sell me on the dish. Sam, the griller, is a pharmacist for Kroger and happened to be good friends with the butcher. He said that he would get the guy to cut the ribs across the bone instead of along side the bone. It made the pieces of meat thin and grilled fast. He said he marinated it in soy sauce, ginger, and garlic... the holy trinity of most Asian cuisine in my opinion. So since then, I've always wanted to try to make my own, and this weekend, I had a couple friends over and had to give it a try.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chardonnay, or other white wine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 & 1/2 lb. flank steak, sliced across the grain
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

The marination is pretty much where most of the "cooking" or work is done in this dish. Combine all ingredients (except for steak, cornstarch, and vegetable oil) in a somewhat deep glass dish (like a casserole dish would be perfect). Make sure sugar dissolves and ingredients are well combined. Add in steak strips and coat well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Ideally, you would want to grill these, but since it was bloody cold outside, I opted to cook these over the stove top. Once again, ideally, if you were doing this inside, a grill pan would be best, but I don't have a grill pan, so I just used my skillet.

Heat skillet (or whatever else you want to use) under medium high heat and add vegetable oil. In batches of about 4 or 5, brown both sides of the steak, about 30 seconds to a minute for a nice medium-rare to medium.

Continue with remaining flank pieces and tent the cooked steak with foil to keep hot.

If you want to make a quick "gravy", if you will, using the leftover marinade, just add it to the same skillet used for steak and scrape up brown bits. Heat until bubbling and then bring to a simmer. Combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and mix until dissolved. Add mixture to "gravy". Increase heat and allow mixture to thicken while constantly stirring. Pour gravy on top of steaks! I served this alongside some simple roasted sweet potatoes!


This was definitely a great take on meat and potatoes. The sweet potatoes brought out the sweetness of the marinade, while still maintaining the savoriness of the steak. This is really not close to the Korean BBQ I talked about before hand, but more of a "distant cousin". I know that they were both really frickin' delicious though! Enjoy!

Chicken Teriyaki

Considering my Asian background, I really think I wouldn't do my culture justice if I didn't include some Asian-inspired dishes every once in while. I came across this teriyaki sauce recipe over the weekend and just had to try it. I know, it's a Japanese thing, and I'm Filipino. But hey, I'm broadening my Asian horizons.

Surprisingly, teriyaki is extremely easy to make.
You'll just need equal parts of these ingredients (the recipe says 2 tablespoons of each, but I doubled it because I had a few more pieces of chicken and I love extra sauce):

honey (or maltose)
dark soy sauce
mirin
sake (i used hot sake as opposed to cold)

Then for the chicken brine/marinade: (and once again, I doubled everything)

1/2 C water
2 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
2 Tbs mirin


4-6 skin-on filleted (boneless) chicken thighs (I used breast fillets and a few drumsticks)
As far as the recipe goes, like I said, it's extremely simple and straight forward, practically anyone can make it.

Combine water, soy sauce, brown sugar, and mirin in bag with chicken and let sit in fridge for about an hour or so.


When almost ready to take chicken out of fridge, combine honey, soy sauce, mirin, and sake, in small saucepan and bring to boil, but be careful not to let it get too crazy. You'll know it's done when it looks glossy. It won't be thick, but that's alright, the flavor is still there and that's what matters.


Take chicken out of fridge and prepare a hot grill. I love the char a grill gives chicken so that's why I chose to do it on the grill, but this can be done just as well in the oven.


When chicken is cooked on one side, flip over and baste with some of the teriyaki. Put on as little or as much as you'd like. This is your chicken so it's up to you how you like it. When ready to take off grill, drizzle other side with remaining sauce, or keep a little bit to dip chicken in.


And there you have it, Chicken Teriyaki so easy a caveman could do it... (I hope Geico doesn't sue me for that.)