I BBQ'd some chicken drumsticks today and made this basting sauce with Asian flavors that turned out pretty well, at least to my tastes:
1-16 oz can of tomato puree
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
6 small chopped green onions
2 tablespoons shredded ginger root
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 chopped jalapeno peppers
Salt and Black Pepper
The measurements are approximate.
I tried the butter baste in this recipe on a Cornish Game Hen I rotisserized on the grill tonight, adding a teaspoon of garlic powder* to the mix - very tasty.
*1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 teaspoons rosemary leaves
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
1/4 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 small Cornish game hens (about 1 1/4 pounds each)
1 small lemon, halved
1/4 cup dessert or sweet wine - or a late harvest Riesling
Rosemary sprigs and thyme leaves, for garnish
With a mortar and pestle coarsely crush rosemary and in a small bowl stir together with butter, thyme, zest, and salt and pepper, to taste, until combined well. Spoon mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 4-inch long log. Chill compound butter, wrapped well in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 30 minutes, and up to 3 days.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
Discard gizzards from birds** and trim necks flush with bodies, if necessary. Rinse birds inside and out and pat dry. Starting at neck end of each bird, slide fingers between meat and skin to loosen skin (be careful not to tear skin). Cut butter into 16 (1/4-inch thick) slices and gently push 4 slices under skin of each bird, putting 1 slice over each breast half and thigh. Tie legs of each bird together with kitchen string and secure wings to sides with wooden picks or bamboo skewers.
Arrange birds in a flameproof roasting pan large enough to hold them without crowding. Gently rub birds with lemon halves, squeezing juice over them, and season with salt and pepper. Roast birds in middle of oven 30 minutes (for poussins) to 45 minutes (for Cornish hens), or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh (be careful not to touch bone) registers 170 degrees.
Transfer birds to a platter and loosely cover with foil to keep warm. Add the wine to roasting pan and deglaze over moderate heat, scraping up brown bits. Transfer jus to a small saucepan. Skim fat from jus and simmer until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Garnish birds with herbs and serve with jus.
** Bull Hockey!! Don't waste no Bird Gizzards of no kind!! Either freeze them for later use or Boil Them Now, with yer choice of seasonings, and then freeze them fer later use!! Cain't believe they even suggested that, me!! blford
Mix equal parts of ground pork with ground beef.
A red wine adds some taste - A Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon works pretty well.
Optional Ingredients:
Diced tomatoes are OK - Spiced diced tomatoes work better.
Adding butter and sugar helps.
Other Veggies & Ingredients:
Olives (ripe and/or green)
Sweet Onions
Fresh tomatoes
Mushrooms
Bell peppers (various colors)
Some Jalapeno peppers (if you like spicy)
Black Pepper and Salt (to taste)
Garlic
Sweet Basil and a tad bit of Oregano
Simple stuff works pretty well.
I swiped this recipe from a post of Bob's at the TMF BBQ forum. He says credit for this recipe goes to Sandy Shumard of the Old Peking Restaurant in Galesburg, IL.
Old Peking Chinese Restaurant
1349 North Henderson Street
Galesburg, IL 61401
(309) 343-8822
Here's a Google Map for the Old Peking Chinese Restaurant.
And Bob says, "I like this native recipe better (...and they can be steamed, or cooked in a cast iron skillet, at your preference - I prefer steamed.)."
I checked with my friend to make sure I got how they make it reasonably right. These are rough, as they don't measure so much, but pretty close, in proportion:
Shells
Simply mix and knead water and all-purpose flour.
Filling Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Pork
1/2 lb Chopped Shrimp
1 bunch Chopped Garlic Chives (or 1/2 head of Chopped Napa Cabbage - depending on which you prefer)
1/2 thumb of Shredded Ginger Root
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4-5 tablespoons Sesame Seed Oil
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of White Pepper (optional)
1/4 cup Water
Serving Sauce:
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil
Small handful of Chopped Cilantro
4 Chopped Green Onions
Red Torpedo Peppers - to taste (optional)
4 tablespoons White Vinegar (optional)
Mix the stuffing together with your hands.
After kneading the dough until your hands and arms are numb and letting it rest (...the dough that is...), roll out about golf ball size pieces of the dough into about 4" flat shells on a lightly flowered cutting board or counter top. Stick a golf ball size portion of the stuffing in the middle of the shell, moisten the edges of the shell with egg or water so the edges will stick together well, fold the shell over the mixture in half and crimp the edges together with your finger tips, or you can use a wanton press, if ya' like, but they're, generally, more trouble than they're worth.
Cook 'em around 10 minutes, give or take a min, until done, either in a cast iron skillet with a bit of oil, or a steamer - (I like the stacked bamboo steamers you can get in a number of oriental food and cooking supply stores, and moving the steamer from a wok with boiling water in the bottom to a plate when they're done makes for an oriental-like presentation at the table.), but any steamer will do fine.
After chopping, mix the dipping sauce ingredients together and split portions of it into small bowls.
There are a number of variations of the recipe and instructions available on the Internet, so you can adjust to your preferences. Sometimes my long-time friend and restaurant owner, Sandy (Yu Chen), poaches them in a chicken stock, but they can fall apart pretty easily that way. You should add a dash of oil to the stock.
This recipe (...and instructions...) don't look too bad, (But I think Sandy's ingredients I posted are better and I like them better.):
http://www.absoluterecipes.com/international-rec/pork-potstickers.html
Bob
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