Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: Grill Roasted Sonoran Beef Wellington

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: Grill Roasted Sonoran Beef Wellington: Around our house we eat Beef or Salmon Wellington on New Years Eve.   They are elegant and so easy to make.   The addition of grill roas...

Grill Roasted Sonoran Beef Wellington

Around our house we eat Beef or Salmon Wellington on New Years Eve.  They are elegant and so easy to make.  The addition of grill roasting and the poblano chile, adds a new depth of flavor to this already amazing dish. Give it a try and Happy New Year to you and yours!

Grill Roasted Sonoran Beef Wellington

Also try salmon, pork or chicken breast Wellington.

1 Tenderloin of beef

2 C   Sonoran Duxelle

1 TBL Extra virgin olive oil

1 LARGE SHEET Puff pastry

2 Eggs, well beaten

Black pepper

Kosher salt

1. Rub the olive oil into the exterior of the tenderloin.  Salt and pepper to taste.

2. Grill over high heat until the internal temperature is 128∞.  Remove from heat and fully cool in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

3. Bring the puff pastry to room temperature.  Lightly flour a flat working surface.

4. Place 1 sheet of puff pastry dough on work surface.  Spoon the duxelle across the of the pastry --  about 4" from the bottom edge and about 3" from the sides.  Spread into a shape 1/2" thick, about the size of the tenderloin.

5. Place the tenderloin on the duxelle. At this point sort of think of this dish as a fancy burrito. You're going to wrap the tenderloin and duxelle in puff pastry.   Fold bottom edge up and egg wash seams, trim any excess dough.  You're looking for about 1/2" overlap.  Fold the sides up and then top edge, egg washing and trimming as you go.

6. Place the Beef Wellington seam side down in lightly greased sheet pan and egg wash the top.

7. Place pizza stone on grill; light burners and turn to low.  Allow grill to slowly heat to about 400∞ then turn off burners directly below pizza stone and adjust heat to maintain approximately 400∞.

8. Place sheet pan directly on pizza stone and grill-bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8.

Sonoran Duxelle for Wellington

a main component of any Wellington dish.

1/2 LB Crimini mushrooms, cleaned and chopped fine

1/2 LB Assorted mushrooms, cleaned and chopped fine

2 Shallots, minced

2 TBL Sweet butter

1 Poblano chile, roasted, peeled and minced

Table salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

1/2 TSP Fresh-ground nutmeg

A few drops of White truffle oil

1. Sauté the mushrooms and shallots in the butter for 5-6 minutes.  Add Poblano and spices and stir well.

2. Spoon into wire strainer and drain well.

3. Cool down in refrigerator in a covered glass bowl.  Add white truffle oil and stir well before using in Wellington.

4. Makes 2C, (enough for 1 Beef Wellington.)

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: New Years Day Black-eyed Peas

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: New Years Day Black-eyed Peas: New Years Day Black-eyed Peas or Getting Lucky at my Age! Every New Years day we have our traditional “lucky” foods.   Black-eyed ...

New Years Day Black-eyed Peas

New Years Day Black-eyed Peas

or Getting Lucky at my Age!

Every New Years day we have our traditional “lucky” foods.  Black-eyed Peas are always a big favorite.  And looking back on our lives I have to say they’ve worked well!  Best to you and yours!

Black-eyed Peas

1 LB dried or fresh Black-eyed peas, in your grocer’s produce section, today… while they last. (fresh peas, skip step 1)

1 Tbl. White vinegar (for soaking the dried peas)

2 carrots, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

½ sweet onion, chopped fine

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 Tbl. Sweet butter

1 large Ham-hock

1 jalapeno, or chipotle, chile, chopped

1 14 oz. can *diced tomatoes (*if living in Texas, Rotel)

Either a few tsp. of fresh thyme or oregano, or 2 tsp of Italian seasoning.

Water to cover by about 1.5 inches

Salt & pepper

1. Remove any rocks or foreign material from peas and rinse well.  Soak overnight in a bowl of water with 1TBL white vinegar.  Drain and rinse.

2.Saute the carrots, celery, onion and garlic, in the butter until soft but not browned.

3. Place peas in croc-pot or large heavy stock pot with lid.  Add all ingredients, and salt & pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and let burble (my father’s term for just slight of simmering), until tender, for at least a 3 hours.

Serve with fresh homemade cornbread and ice cold beer!

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: A Bright Note

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: A Bright Note: A Bright Note Political infighting… murder in our streets… unheard of natural disasters… the rich get richer and the poor… well afte...

A Bright Note

A Bright Note

Political infighting… murder in our streets… unheard of natural disasters… the rich get richer and the poor… well after my last post you may be thinking, ‘what’s the use, we’re all doomed.’  And I must admit there are days when I feel like we are all getting crushed under the foot of this fast-food, throw away, life we are being spoon feed, one commercial at a time.

And then it happens, someone that is young enough to understand, that even in this world, life is still what you make of it.

I’m so proud to announce that my niece Stephanie and the world’s best mother has decided after a successful stint in the corporate world to stay home and spend the time with her kids.  But that’s not all she has always loved food and as I’ve said in the past, “she’s a darn fine cook! (I think it’s in the genes ((not a double entendre fat joke))”

She started a food / mom at home / life with kids / all things family blog and the writing is very good.  Please go check her out at Conference Calls to Meatballs  

Personal note, Stephanie I started working from home when Katie Rose went to preschool.  I walked her to school and walked her home every day.  I went to the school at least once a month and got one of the kids and took them to lunch… maybe just a sandwich, sitting on the tailgate of my truck.  But I was there and got to catch them growing up.  Too many parents trade more dollars for this precocious time.  Although there is a cost, you will never regret this decision.

Lots of love, happy blogging.

Uncle Joe

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: What’s at Steak Every now and...

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: <!--StartFragment-->
What’s at Steak
Every now and...: What’s at Steak Every now and then modern life just pisses me off.    Case in point, the modern definition of steak.   Now I know th...

What’s at Steak

What’s at Steak

Every now and then modern life just pisses me off.   Case in point, the modern definition of steak.  Now I know that the dictionary says;

steak |stāk|

noun

high-quality beef taken from the hindquarters of the animal, typically cut into thick slices that are cooked by broiling or frying : he liked his steak rare.

I could disagree with this portrayal of a steak. To me a steak is a tender cut of beef (non-locomotive), grilled to perfection and served medium-rare. 

But, it seems, every time a TV commercial for a fast food restaurant comes on the air, it’s mentioning that they now offer “steak” in their already poorly prepared dishes.  W have tacos with shaved beef and cheese whiz,  breakfast burritos with shaved beef and egg product, and then sub sandwiches with shaved beef and processed cheese.

Incase you’re not familiar with shaved beef it’s best known as the steak on a Philly Cheese Steak.  Our parents knew it from the military, a sandwich made with white bread, canned beef gravy and shaved beef, they called it “Shit on a Shingle”, maybe they were just a little more honest. 

Here’s my beef, (get it?) as with all things in this modern age, the old way of doing and making things gets thinner, tighter, mass produced, and soon the average American starts to call steak what our parents called shit!

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: Things Change

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: Things Change: Okay… this is a little hard for me… I have a confession.   No I meant a confession… CONFESSION!   Look, I was raised, by a Pentecostal...

Things Change

Okay… this is a little hard for me… I have a confession.  No I meant a confession… CONFESSION! 

Look, I was raised, by a Pentecostal mother and a Catholic father.  Mom took us to her church but we knew that Catholics confessed their sins, and to a priest at that. 

So you may be asking, what sin?  Sloth… lacking ambition… not a self-starter… for the love of God, I’m a lazy bastard!

So how did I, at the ripe old age of fifty-five, come to this self-abasing conclusion?

I started off innocently enough.  I was posting an answer to a question, on a discussion group, I belong to, on Linked-in.  A question about which smoker, a member should buy after his was destroyed in a storm.  I gave my two cents worth and that was that… or so I thought!

A few days later, posing as an innocent offer, Jim Van Buskirk, from Green Mountain Grills, sent me an email;

Hey Mad,
Can I get you hooked up with a grill to try out?
Jim

Jim?  He signed it Jim, good old Jim, and like a lamb to slaughter, I foolishly said, Sure.

With that one little word… sure, things changed.  And not just a little. But I digress.

I’m thinking about my next book and I have two titles in mind.  One on the baking of Artisan breads and the other on 50 years of cooking with fire.  As I said in my first book “The Sonoran Grill,”  I believe that cooking with fire is deeply ingrained in our DNA.  Some hidden code that was developed, when those that ate meat cooked over a fire became stronger, faster, more able to meet women!

Likewise, as a young man I found that food cooked over a fire was nurturing, delicious, it brought people together.  I could be good at something and so I put a large amount of my attention to learning and then developing my natural talents as a grill cook, a few short decades later and I had a name for myself. The press called me a “Grilling Guru!”

But back to good old Jim, he arranged for me to pick up a Green Mountain Grill at The Barbecue Island it south Tempe, Arizona, about an hour from my home.  The staff was great and there was even a rep form the company.  Looking back now I see I was like the mark getting those free drinks in Las Vegas.  They got me all hooked up, explained everything about pellet smokers… what?  Didn’t I mention pellet smokers yet?  We’ll the Green mountain Grill is a pellet smoker.  The idea is this, a side hopper holds different varieties of wood pellets, oak, mesquite, pecan… what have you. A screw drive feeds a small fire chamber, which in turn creates smoke and heat at a well thought out rate.  All of which, is controlled by a small computer, that keeps the smoker at a very precise temperature.  

Jason, the sales rep (and evil minion of good old Jim) even had the balls to offer me the remote control model which allows a person (me), that once had pride in their ability to control a pile of burning wood and craft it into an amazing meal (really amazing), to sit on their ass watching television reruns, while the smoker does all the work for you.  It even has a meat thermometer, so with one touch I can not only see what the internal temperature of the meat is I can also see what the internal temperature of the smoking chamber is, and with one more touch, I can raise or lower that temperature to speed up or slow down the cooking process, or even raise the temperature enough to sear and finish if need be. 

I once had a friend that was a resident of the state for 5 years for implementing an import scheme that violated several Federal Statutes.  While a guest of the state he read the entire DOS manual.  Upon regaining his freedom he felt ready to conquer the computer world as a well-trained tech, but a funny thing happened, The Macintosh computer and Windows.  The world no longer needed a guy that knew several hundred shortcut key commands, they could just click on the command from a drop down menu.  I remember him saying, “What next?  If this doesn’t change anyone will be able to use a computer… even children.”  Being a friend I assured him saying, “ what’s the chance of that happening?”  And so I thought, well what do you expect.  And that was okay but now this is happening in my world, with these pellet smokers, busy housewives can turn them on (clearly lighting the grill is a man’s province), toss the meat on the grill and walk away.  While doing other things she (yes boys, I said she) can produce fantastic, ribs, tri tip, and even the hallowed, brisket, while chatting with her mom… Ahhhhh no it’s too cruel, CHATTING WITH HER MOM!  Oh the humanity!

And once they know this (remember the garden, the snake, the first woman, and the tree of Knowledge,) will we, be able to stand out by the grill with our buddies drinking beer, Beer that I might add creates jobs, saying to her every time she needs us to do some little chore,  I can’t honey I’m watching the grill.  She might even say it’s okay honey I’ve already got the grill going and the ribs look great, so you can vacuum before my Mom gets here.

And here’s the worst part, like a junkie saying I’ll only try it once, then I’ll do every now and then, and soon you’re doing unspeakable things in a bad part of town just to get a fix.  I tried out good old Jim’s Green Mountain Grill.  I wrote him a nice thank you note.  But told my wife, “oh it’s okay, but I like working the charcoal, watching the meat as roasts, you know, a hands on approach!  But two days later we had a small dinner to cook and as always we were busy so I thought, why don’t I just save a little time and use the pellet smoker.  It’s been a few weeks now and my big grill hasn’t seen a fire since the Green Mountain Grill showed up.

Well there you have it, What did Patton say in North Africa, “Mechanized Warfare… no valor, no heroes, nothing reaffirmed, not for me, no sir!

Listen I gotta go, I have some vacuuming to do!